Private car sale - urgent

shaun_from_Africa

lindze wrote: »

The car should not fail due to the back door. My car has had one of the back doors permanently locked (for at least 4 yrs) due to lock failure and my MOT garage said as long as they can easily test the rear seatbelts and has one working door it is a pass.

If any of the rear doors can't be opened from the outside of the car then it is a fail.
http://www.motuk.co.uk/manual_620.htm

What the test entails:

c.
any other passenger doors can be opened from outside the vehicle.

and the reason for a fail:

c.
a passenger door cannot be opened from outside the vehicle using the relevant control.

Not that this matters to the OP as the door not opening was made clear to the buyer and they were happy to accept it after negotiating a discount.

Money_maker

£1100 for a car with a months MOT. Wonder what it was.

AnnieO1234

Exactly what Blackbeard of Perranporth said, she bought the car with little MOT. She should've asked you to MOT it. I would say you've been very lucky selling a car with so little MOT left though, and especially if you sold it at an undervalue it could be argued that you were aware that it would fail.

If she does issue court papers, I'll be surprised, but I would just tell her you want no further contact, it was sold as seen. And then block her number.

If you think there's a potential to get a few heavy's at your door (as it were) then maybe find some money to appease her. Some things aren't worth arguing about! xxx

hollydays

AnnieO1234 wrote: »

Exactly what Blackbeard of Perranporth said, she bought the car with little MOT. She should've asked you to MOT it. I would say you've been very lucky selling a car with so little MOT left though, and especially if you sold it at an undervalue it could be argued that you were aware that it would fail.

If she does issue court papers, I'll be surprised, but I would just tell her you want no further contact, it was sold as seen. And then block her number.

If you think there's a potential to get a few heavy's at your door (as it were) then maybe find some money to appease her. Some things aren't worth arguing about! xxx

Well said.
However... Unless you post the listing you provided..

If you're Looking for advice it would be, don't sell ( get involved in your partner selling) a heap of junk for good money if you are going to worry about it.:(

loufrance

Thanks for the replies. I wasn't worried about the vehicle in the slightest.
It was a 56plate Fiat Punto and had done 65,907 miles. I've never had any major issues with the car and it passed it's last MOT with 2 advisories which were minor things.

I've received a letter in the post from her this morning advising me that the car failed the MOT on the following isues -

centre front Exhaust has a major leak of exhaust gases
nearside rear passenger door cannot be opened from outside the vehicle (6.2.B.1c)
offside front Tyre tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (4.1.E.1)

Advisory -
nearside rear Tyre worn close to the legal limit

I've sought legal advice and they said its argued that as private seller i do not have the knowledge of that of a trader and therefore it cannot be proved that I was aware of these issues.

She stated in her letter that she thought I was "Nervous and suspicious" during the test drive.

If you thought someone appeared suspicious, why would go ahead with the sale?

She's also says in the letter that I lied about the mileage on my ad, but I actually have a photograph of the mileage, it was taken on my camera and has a date and time stamp on, the picture was taken two days before the sale took place.

Also, the car was taken to used car garage (Evans Halshaw) a week before the sale took place.
The car was inspected and valued. Upon inspection, both rear doors worked fine. I have spoken to the garage today and they still have a copy of their inspection.

She's rambled on in the letter about how she is traumatized that I have sold her such a dangerous vehicle and put her life at risk.....

I was worried about this, but I'm starting to think that she's only trying her luck with me!!!

Should I respond to her letter?

tykesi

loufrance wrote: »

I was worried about this, but I'm starting to think that she's only trying her luck with me!!! She is

Should I respond to her letter?No

.

Ignore her, private sale so it's buyer beware.

m0bov

Ignore it.

naedanger

loufrance wrote: »

Should I respond to her letter?

Personally I would reply in writing because I would want my side of the dispute to be in writing.

In addition if the buyer takes the case to court then the court will expect both parties to have tried to resolve the matter reasonably before going to court. If you ignore all correspondence that may be viewed as being unreasonable. (However if you have previously answered questions in writing I would just refer back to your previous answers.)

I would mention in my reply right at the start the point about you having had the car inspected and valued a week prior to the sale and that the inspection report did not identify any [significant] faults. (This seems a very strong point.) Then I would reply to each factual point of her complaint but would not respond to any rambling points about how she is traumatised etc.

s_b

hi
do not reply to anything
wait for the lba signed for to postman and reply to this within 14 days signed for by her of all the points you have raised
do nothing more at this stage
wait see if she sends the lba which in my opinion will fail but involve costs for your buyer when its thrown out
you have acted very sensibly

Hintza

loufrance wrote: »

centre front Exhaust has a major leak of exhaust gases
nearside rear passenger door cannot be opened from outside the vehicle (6.2.B.1c)
offside front Tyre tread depth below requirements of 1.6mm (4.1.E.1)

Our Panda passed its MOT in mid October centre section fell off completely in January. Up to about a week before there was no sign of trouble.

You have already given her £200 for the door (about 4x what it will cost to fix)

Tyres she could have inspected those herself and she has driven x number of miles since.

To me your £200 discount will just about cover all the faults.

Absurd claim.