purchased vehicle with a dodgy MOT :(

ester83

So I recently bought a vehicle privately (small horse lorry, they don't come up from dealers) it was MOTd 27th March this year with the only advisories being tyres, also passed last year with flying colours. It has done 215 miles since that MOT, mostly with me driving it back from kent.

It went straight to my garage after purchase as it needed a new cambelt and some other odds and sodd/good service etc.

Unfortunately he has deemed it unroadworthy and come up with a whole list of MOT failures let alone advisories.
I provided the seller with this information and they have said they will not take it back.

I have filled in the dvsa MOT complaints form which means that they will get me to take it to a local test station in 5 days and will provide me with an independent report (as corrosion should still pass 3 months post MOT and they are all corrosion issues... the list is long!

Now I think legally this is going to get a bit tricky because they didn't knowingly sell an unroadworthy vehicle, and some of those items are only viewable if you get it on a ramp and with wheels off the floor (I did take a more knowledgeable mate to purchase with me). And I think legally I only have come back if I can find something specific that wasn't as described and it had an MOT at the time so as far as they were concerned it was road worthy? Equally I have no contract with the MOTers so will not be able to go after them for costs either?

I spent 3K and budgeted 1k to put right the things were knew were wrong. - and would say it is a 4kish box in good nick and up together.
The work to get it to pass an MOT now has been quoted as over £1000, it is not a 5k+ box.

Any MSE advice at this point would be welcome, I am going to seek legal advice too, I am waiting for them to ring me back.

khcomp

You have two issues here: A private sale of a vehicle carries no warranty, and you'll have no recourse against the integrity of the previous MOT due to the time that has elapsed.

AdrianC

It's a private purchase, so unless it was actively misadvertised, you've got zero comeback against the seller.

But if you think the MOT was hooky, then definitely appeal it to DVSA, and get it checked over.

It might not be "worth" £5k done, but it's still gotta be better value than lobbing it away and buying another one, right?

AdrianC

khcomp wrote: »

You have two issues here: A private sale of a vehicle carries no warranty, and you'll have no recourse against the integrity of the previous MOT due to the time that has elapsed.

As he says, though, corrosion-related issues can be appealed up to three months.

Joe_Horner

If it is deemed to be unroadworthy (and rust issues wouldn't have "appeared" since the sale) then it doesn't matter whether or not they knew it was - it was a criminal offence to sell it, even as a private seller. Note: they do not need to know - or even suspect - that it's unroadworthy to commit the offence. There is no defence for not knowing

The trouble is, that's all well and good in theory but getting it enforced is likely to be a problem. It's hard enough to get the authorities to do anything when traders do this, against a private seller they'll just shrug.

But, if DVSA confirm that it shouldn't have passed, then the fact that the sale was illegal should weigh heavily in your favour if you choose to take civil action to recover your money.

Joe_Horner

khcomp wrote: »

You have two issues here: A private sale of a vehicle carries no warranty

AdrianC wrote: »

It's a private purchase, so unless it was actively misadvertised, you've got zero comeback against the seller.

Not quite true. You have no recourse under consumer law but you do have recourse under general contract law if they sold something they weren't allowed to sell - such as an unroadworthy vehicle.

AdrianC

But IS it unroadworthy? Was it unroadworthy at the time of the sale...?

We have an MOT pass from March that says it wasn't, and we have a garage who say it is. But... that's all.

Appealing the MOT may get that pass overturned. But does that necessarily mean it's not roadworthy, and wasn't at the time of the sale?

ester83

Thanks all that's really helpful and yes, most of the issues are corrosion related so the 3 months applies.

I didn't get on to that with citizens advice as they said other than not as described the only other recourse is if they weren't legally allowed to sell it- so if it isn't roadworthy that would come into play?


If the MOT pass from march is over turned and no work has been done to the vehicle since, and it has only done 215 miles how can it have been roadworthy at time of sale - bought friday, collected sunday, went into garage monday. part of the reason for appealing the MOT with vosa is to get out of the my garage says/your garage says scenario.

AdrianC

ester83 wrote: »

If the MOT pass from march is over turned and no work has been done to the vehicle since, and it has only done 215 miles how can it have been roadworthy at time of sale - bought friday, collected sunday, went into garage monday. part of the reason for appealing the MOT with vosa is to get out of the my garage says/your garage says scenario.

A successful appeal will certainly bolster your garage's credibility - but the MOT is quite clear that it is NOT and should not be seen as any kind of proof of roadworthiness.

s_b

the quite simple answer is you get the dvsa report
you then take vender to court for selling an item not fit for purpose
do everything right and personally i think its watertight

ester83

which would also mean that the MOT cannot be used as proof of roadworthiness by the sellers either?