Please help - Sold car and its now got a fault, buyer wants refund/bring car back

dan_cup

Right here is a breakdown of my problem:

Sold a car via ebay through my own personal ebay account. It was sold for a family friend on thier behalf. My in laws have a garage so the car was also on thier forecourt but has no associtation with them. My ebayer account has been used to sell some of his cars in the past but its nothing to do with them.

The buyer has had the car 2 weeks and has got back to me this week saying that it has a knock, likely a valve/rocker/piston.

He wants to send the car back for a full refund but when I say he will have to sort it out with the owner (whose on holiday at mo) he says no. Its my issue and becasue he came to garage to pick the car up (legally its the collection point?) its the garages responsibilty and he has long distance rights (travelled 300 miles) of 28 days to get a refund.

Hes also fired a load more legislation at me as he says its his profession.

The garage has no links to this vehicle, it was sold as seen as any private auction sale is and I mentioned in the listing I was selling it for a customer of the garage. I assume he believes the garage is trading on my ebay account which it isnt and certianly not in this case.

as a good will I offered £400 refund, paid £1450 for it. he wants £1000 if we wont take it back.

Can anyone help me out with what right myself and the buyer have?

Hes adamant its the garages fault but it has nothing to do with them, he says hes going to the small claims court on monday to get his costs back.:beer:

techspec

Did you put sold as seen?

You are somewhat responsible in my book - and the garage is implicated - sorry.

Wether true or not - this looks like a trade sale.

They could get trading standards down on you.

At the very least - you misrepresented the vehicle by having them collect it from a garage.

sharnad

Private sale so he has no come back if it was sold as seen

techspec

sharnad wrote: »

Private sale so he has no come back if it was sold as seen

But is it a private sale?

Joe_Horner

Potentially this could be a nasty one for you.

Your rights and his depend on whether you sold as a private seller or a trader. If it was a private sale then he has very little comeback on you. If it was sold by trade then he's entitled to a refund.

If he can convince a court, on the balance of probabilities, that you were acting as a trader then they'll find in his favour regardless of any bits of paper saying "sold as seen" - otherwise every trader out there would be escaping their resonsibilities by doing the same.

The problem you have is that you've sold other cars "for the garage" through the same account, and this car was also offered on (and collected from) the garage forecourt. That could be seen as at least prima facie evidence that you're selling as trade on behalf of the garage (and trying to dodge the tax man into the bargain).

I'm not saying that's what's happening, but there's certainly enough in what you've posted to make a court think along those lines unless you can show pretty convincingly that it's not the case, and I'm really not sure how you'd show that.

dan_cup

Did you put sold as seen? No - just selling for someone else

You are somewhat responsible in my book - and the garage is implicated - sorry.

Wether true or not - this looks like a trade sale.

They could get trading standards down on you.

At the very least - you misrepresented the vehicle by having them collect it from a garage. The guy was informed that it was not a garage sale but it was easier to get it picked up from thier as thats wher it was, we picked him up at the train station, we could have just sent him on his way from there

dan_cup

The car belongs to a friend, not the garage so there was no tax or any other thing due from the garage.

it was only there to get exposure on the forecourt.

The account is my own and not linked to the garage. I dont work for the garage, my only connection is that its my fiances parents

techspec

The perils of selling for someone else. Hear what you are saying and you could hold your ground.

But the buyer could still try and implicate the garage.

I bought a 'brand new' dishwasher off ebay. Seller dropped it off in the dark in a local council van.

When he had gone, i noticed it was not new. I still decided it was worth the money. Then i got an electric shock. Fine - it was a loose earth wire. Then it didn't clean the pots properly. I told the seller i wasn't happy and he said tough - theres nothing i can do. Fine i said - i will send a letter before action to the council. He asked what it had to do with them. I said they delivered it. He immediately gave me a partial refund.

My point is - i know the council did not sell it me - but it was delivered in one of their vans. So they were implicated by the seller using their van - just as the garage might be in this sale for having it on their forecourt.

That said - wether anyone might be interested and help the buyer is another matter. But small claims might.

Can't you get it fixed at your inlaws garage?

forgotmyname

How many years have your friends owned the vehicle and whose name was on the V5C?

Picking it up from a garage forecourt would also have me wondering if they had offloaded some dodgy trade on me as a private sale.

How many cars have you listed on your account? What other items do you sell?

Chopper_Read

You've sold a few cars that weren't yours and you also put them on the garage forecourt but you're not a trader?

dan_cup

techspec wrote: »

The perils of selling for someone else. Hear what you are saying and you could hold your ground.

But the buyer could still try and implicate the garage.

I bought a 'brand new' dishwasher off ebay. Seller dropped it off in the dark in a local council van.

When he had gone, i noticed it was not new. I still decided it was worth the money. Then i got an electric shock. Fine - it was a loose earth wire. Then it didn't clean the pots properly. I told the seller i wasn't happy and he said tough - theres nothing i can do. Fine i said - i will send a letter before action to the council. He asked what it had to do with them. I said they delivered it. He immediately gave me a partial refund.

My point is - i know the council did not sell it me - but it was delivered in one of their vans. So they were implicated by the seller using their van - just as the garage might be in this sale for having it on their forecourt.

That said - wether anyone might be interested and help the buyer is another matter. But small claims might.

Can't you get it fixed at your inlaws garage?

Yes they could fix it, but why should they, its not thiers and they would have to stand the cost? they buyer wont pay for the work.

The guy has had it for 2 weeks, he could of been thrashing it. You cant expect a 2 week test drive surely?