used car I sold claimed unroadworthy

thistledome

I've been in the position of OP's buyer.

I bought a Ford Fiesta that had hidden accident damage and was dangerously unroadworthy. Even though the private seller knew about the damage and didn't disclose it, nobody was interested in taking up the case.

I had to point out to trading standards, the police and even a solicitor who described themself as a motoring law specialist that this seller had committed an offence.

Eventually the police came round and looked at the car, but all they were interested in was checking the VIN number to see if it was stolen.

All those people who believe that private sellers can legally sell unroadworthy cars are just plain wrong. It is an offence (unless as already mentioned above it is sold as being unroadworthy and only for spares or repair).

However, the OP can rest assured that nobody in authority will give a hoot about it, so sleep easy and have fun spending the £800 your luckless buyer has lost on your new car.

Joe_Horner

londonTiger wrote: »

what if the buyer claims it's unroadworthy and comes back to return it driving it here? Does their claim go thrown out the window?

Thanks to the last para of the RTA S.75 (that the contents of the section don't affect any contract) there isn't a claim per se for the buyer even if it is unroadworthy. What it does give them is leverage to get it sorted if you don't want to risk prosecution. Bear in mind that the RTA isn't concerned with consumer rights - this section is about road safety.

So, if they drive it back having told you that it's unroadworthy they're kind of opening themselves up to a counter complaint of knowingly driving an unroadworthy car - which is likely to be taken more seriously than a complaint of selling one in good faith

john_white

thistledome wrote: »

I've been in the position of OP's buyer.

I bought a Ford Fiesta that had hidden accident damage and was dangerously unroadworthy. Even though the private seller knew about the damage and didn't disclose it, nobody was interested in taking up the case.

I had to point out to trading standards, the police and even a solicitor who described themself as a motoring law specialist that this seller had committed an offence.

Eventually the police came round and looked at the car, but all they were interested in was checking the VIN number to see if it was stolen.

All those people who believe that private sellers can legally sell unroadworthy cars are just plain wrong. It is an offence (unless as already mentioned above it is sold as being unroadworthy and only for spares or repair).

However, the OP can rest assured that nobody in authority will give a hoot about it, so sleep easy and have fun spending the £800 your luckless buyer has lost on your new car.

So you are saying the OP sold an accident damaged car?

I wasn't aware rust was only caused from accidents as you suggest.

Joe_Horner

Don't think that's what thistledome was suggesting. His point was that he, like the OP's buyer, bought a car that turned out to be unroadworthy.

The reason for unroadworthiness doesn't matter (be it rust, or accident damage, or whatever). It's still an offence under the RTA to sell it whether or not you know there's a problem.

That's not saying the OP should take it back, rust on a 10 yr old Ka is more a design feature than a fault and the buyer should have looked. But the law still says it's an offence if the rust is sufficient to make it unroadworthy within the definition given in the Act.

The fact that one mechanic didn't pick it up and another did suggests it's probably not actually all that bad so probably wouldn't amount to unroadworthiness as far as the RTA is concerned.

Strider590

Can we be sure that the buyer didn't drive down to Crapfit and get the cr4p scared out of them buy one of the salesmen *cough* I mean technicians?

Chopper_Read

Strider590 wrote: »

Can we be sure that the buyer didn't drive down to Crapfit and get the cr4p scared out of them buy one of the salesmen *cough* I mean technicians?

It would need new brakes and tyres if they had.

motorguy

I think there are some people getting up their own !!!!!! about this.

Its an old car. It has some rust that can easily be fixed.

That makes it no more unroadworthly than probably 70% of all the cars on the road that only ever are 'roadworthy' on the day they pass their MOT test.

motorguy

thistledome wrote: »

I've been in the position of OP's buyer.

I bought a Ford Fiesta that had hidden accident damage and was dangerously unroadworthy. Even though the private seller knew about the damage and didn't disclose it, nobody was interested in taking up the case.

I had to point out to trading standards, the police and even a solicitor who described themself as a motoring law specialist that this seller had committed an offence.

The seller here did NOT sell an accident damaged / repaired car. They sold an old car with some rust that 2 minutes on the internet would tell you is very typical for that type of car at that age.

thistledome wrote: »

However, the OP can rest assured that nobody in authority will give a hoot about it, so sleep easy and have fun spending the £800 your luckless buyer has lost on your new car.

!!!!!!. They HAVENT lost £800. They have a car that needs a typical amount of maintenance for a car of its type and age. No one in their right mind would expect an £800 car to be fault free and to not need some work for its upcoming MOT

The one thing that the O/P's buyer and yourself DO have in common is, if you're not experienced enough to know what you're looking at, then get an expert to help BEFORE you buy.

motorguy

Joe_Horner wrote: »

Thanks to the last para of the RTA S.75 (that the contents of the section don't affect any contract) there isn't a claim per se for the buyer even if it is unroadworthy. What it does give them is leverage to get it sorted if you don't want to risk prosecution. Bear in mind that the RTA isn't concerned with consumer rights - this section is about road safety.

So, if they drive it back having told you that it's unroadworthy they're kind of opening themselves up to a counter complaint of knowingly driving an unroadworthy car - which is likely to be taken more seriously than a complaint of selling one in good faith

^^^^

THIS

Even IF the car was defined as unroadworthy, it does NOT give the buyer the right to their money back.

The car was as described and in typical condition for a 10 year old KA, therefore the OP met their obligations as a private seller under the SOGA.

Chopper_Read

londonTiger wrote: »

what led you to assume that OP was dishonest based on their post?

Dishonesty would be to say the car was service just a few months ago when it's never been serviced.

99.9% of car owners would never know about rusting/corrosion under their car. This is what the MOT is for - because people just don't do DIY on their cars any more. If a MOT says the car is safe then it is safe.

The new owners have no comeback for this.

I never said the op was dishonest.