Selling a car under company/business name

gravemind

I have three cars which are registered under my business name. I have had problem with a buyer before on a private sale. My question if I sell the vehicles registered under my company name will I be obliged by law to provide the same service as a Dealer/Motor Trader. My company is in no way related to any motor trade activity. Also Autotrader wants me to sell as a dealer as I will reach their limit on the number of cars that can be sold. Will this imply that I am a motor dealer/trader?

Foxy-Stoat_3

Sell as you would normally, just give the buyer a receipt using company headed paper.

Autotrader do have restrictions as to the number of cars you can sell as a private seller. Use ebay or gumtree or others.

gravemind

@Foxy Thanks. But will it be classed as a Private sale between a company and a individual or will it be implied as a Trade sell. And if it is classed as a Trade sale will I have to shoulder the same liability as a motor trader?

Foxy-Stoat_3

Depends on what your company does....If you own a sweet shop and the shop sold a vehicle, it would not be classed as a sale by a motor trader.

If you own a company in any way connected to the motor trade then it may complicate things, like in your previous thread.

AdrianC

Foxy-Stoat wrote: »

Depends on what your company does....If you own a sweet shop and the shop sold a vehicle, it would not be classed as a sale by a motor trader.

If you own a company in any way connected to the motor trade then it may complicate things, like in your previous thread.

Foxy is right.

Whether the vehicle's being sold by a limited company or by an individual is irrelevant. It's whether the vehicle is being sold in the course of motor-trade business which is relevant.

Car_54

Presumably you're registered for VAT, in which case the sales documentation will have to be in the business name.

londonTiger

i would have thought it would be better for the buyer as a commercial entity is much easier to sue if the car is not as described.

I know that a lot of plebs on the forum think that car sales are "sold as seen". But a number of users are reporting that they have been sued after private sales because the car has gone kaput.

This is because the buyer has the benefit of an "expert witness" in the forum of a mechanics report which they have paid for. The seller no longer has access to the vehicle therefore cannot counter it with an "expert witness" of their own.

Thisd country is becoming more and more litigious like america.

agrinnall

londonTiger wrote: »

i would have thought it would be better for the buyer as a commercial entity is much easier to sue if the car is not as described.

I know that a lot of plebs on the forum think that car sales are "sold as seen". But a number of users are reporting that they have been sued after private sales because the car has gone kaput.

This is because the buyer has the benefit of an "expert witness" in the forum of a mechanics report which they have paid for. The seller no longer has access to the vehicle therefore cannot counter it with an "expert witness" of their own.

Thisd country is becoming more and more litigious like america.

Have you actually seen any evidence of such attempts to sue being successful though?

AdrianC

agrinnall wrote: »

Have you actually seen any evidence of such attempts to sue being successful though?

In that people give in to the hollow threats...? Absolutely.

BeenThroughItAll

londonTiger wrote: »

I know that a lot of plebs on the forum think that car sales are "sold as seen". But a number of users are reporting that they have been sued after private sales because the car has gone kaput.

Those 'plebs' are right though. A private sale is, if honestly transacted, subject to the principle of caveat emptor. Just because a few people have posted about being threatened and then caved in to empty demands does not make the majority's belief in the legal principles which should be applied in any way plebeian; a word I'm not convinced you actually understand the meaning of based upon the context in which you, rather insultingly, use it.

agrinnall

AdrianC wrote: »

In that people give in to the hollow threats...? Absolutely.

Yes, I should rephrase my question to londonTiger:

Have you any evidence that anyone threatening to sue has actually carried out that threat and been successful in court?