Trade Seller - Sold as Seen

LadyMorticia

Hey everyone.

We've seen a Vauxhall Signum that we would like to buy from a trade seller. The car is listed on Ebay and Auto Trader as £1450 but in the car window it says £1995. When I got in touch with the trade seller, he said that the £1450 was "sold as seen" and we're going to have a second look at the car today (we went to look at it last Saturday but the Saturday salesman didn't know anything about the car and wasn't very helpful for this reason).

The MOT runs out in January and we were going to offer the seller £50 on top of the £1450 to get a new MOT for it (there is an MOT garage on site) but I'm not sure if we can do this is the car is "sold as seen"?

My DH found something in trading standards that said that only private sellers could sell something as "sold as seen" and trade sellers couldn't but I'm not sure how true this is?

It's a really nice family car and has enough room for my wheelchair and for when baby has arrived so we really don't want to let it go but I'm not really clued up on this sort of thing.

Thank you in advance.

AlexisV

There is no such thing as 'sold as seen.'

He can point out all the faults on the car (and would be wise to provide evidence of doing this), or advertise it as a non-runner, for breaking for parts, but he can't sell a working car as sold as seen.

I'd run a mile though because even if it did go wrong you're evidentally going to have an uphill struggle getting anything out of him. If it seems cheap, there must be something wrong with it. There should be plenty of legit Signums out there.

jase1

Seems to be a common ruse on ebay to advertise cars at £250-500 below the asking price for "trade/sold as seen" then when you get there they give you the spiel about no MOT/guarantee/tax etc if you take the cheaper price.

It's a ploy to get you through the door and pay full price for the vehicle.

colino

Your not in the trade, your looking for the "security" of a years MOT, it cannot be sold as seen.

spiro

I have a friend who is in the trade and when he wants to sell an 'old banger' he always advertises it as 'sold for repair or spares, will require traillering or towing'. In lots the cases you could probably drive the car away but that wording makes it very clear to any buyer not to expect anything other what they can see.

TadleyBaggie

If the MOT runs out in January, then a new one cannot be performed until 1 month before the expiry date, i.e. sometime in December.

BertTheRaccoon

If he is a bona fide trader, not just someone flogging cars occasionally from then side of their house, then I believe the car has to come with a 3 month warranty.

he is trying to get around this with the "sold as seen" malarky, which doesn't wash.

To be honest, if he doesn't fancy his chances with the car not sh*tting itself in the first 3 months (hence the sold as seen rubbish)and you coming back for warranty claims etc, I would just avoid it.

BertTheRaccoon

TadleyBaggie wrote: »

If the MOT runs out in January, then a new one cannot be performed until 1 month before the expiry date, i.e. sometime in December.

You can MOT a car at any time as far as I know. The 1 month before rule is for when you can get effectively a 13 month MOT period from the date of the car being tested, providing the current MOT has no more than 30 days left on it when you take your car for a new MOT.

skivenov

Lee_Jones wrote: »

If he is a bona fide trader, not just someone flogging cars occasionally from then side of their house, then I believe the car has to come with a 3 month warranty.

he is trying to get around this with the "sold as seen" malarky, which doesn't wash.

To be honest, if he doesn't fancy his chances with the car not sh*tting itself in the first 3 months (hence the sold as seen rubbish)and you coming back for warranty claims etc, I would just avoid it.

So long as they are clear on the implications of it being sold as seen / trade sale, they are well within their rights not to offer a warranty.

s_b

non of you seem to have hit the nail on the head
dealer wants £1995 header board price
advertised elsewhere no comeback
has an in house mot centre but only 3 months max left of mot

anyone going to a dealer to buy this car at all these terms seriously should not be posting on a money saving forum because they havent learnt a jot

McKneff

Just thinking of you LM. Over the years Ive seen so many disappointed people buying cars this way and within a month they have needed expensive repairs.

Sold as seen is a big warning, the seller knows there is something wrong and will need fixing.

I wouldnt touch it with a barge pole,
There are reputable dealers out there who will give you some sort of guarantee but this one, ? I really would walk away.

If he is giving that much of a discount you can bet your bottom dollar that it would cost him more than that to fix it.