Private car sale....now being taken to small claims court

Leannerobson2002

I recently sold a car privately (my partner is a Mechanic and we sold a car that was roadworthy but they are now saying it wasn't after 2 days)
The buyer wavered the right to have it inspected
She had a test drive
Asked a few questions
The car was describes exactly how was it was on that day.
She knocked down the price I accepted £1800 for a 2008 vauxhall Zafira.
She then drove 30 miles home all fine.
After 2 days it had problems of which we were unaware of.
We recieved a letter had we didn't exchange number.
My partner called her and was told a reputable garage had redeemed the car unroadworthy and something wrong with injectors. A very brief explanation of the problem was given and she wanted all her money back as it would cost £1500 to repair.
My partner asked for a garage report she didn't have one and refused to give him the name of the garage that looked at the car, so he could ring them and find out exactly what was wrong with the car. She refused.
He suggested a second opinion from a mobile mechanic she said she had no money.
He tried to help but was given no real explanation so he couldn't do anything. As a private seller he didn't even have to.ring the buyer really, but we sold the car in genuine good faith and it's really unfortunate for the buyer that faults have occurred 2 days after the sale.
The car had MOT till November 2017
It had just been for recalls checks done by a vauxhall garage and was driven by them and us prior to sale.

We.have recieved small claims court proceedings
We have defended the claim and sent off evidence of advert and vauxhall recall check sheet.
Also.my partner rang vauxhall and asked how much would it be to fix the vague alledged problems with.'injectors' they said no more than £800 for all four. And it is very unlikely that all 4 would need replacing at the same time.
Does she stand to.win if she hasn't got a engineer report from.the garage?
It's really beginning to worry us as we sold the car in good faith.
Anyone got previous experience in dealing with this sort of case?

DoaM

She'll have to present her evidence with her claim, you'll see the report then (if it really exists). Chances are she'll cave in if you present a good defence - if she doesn't then you'll have a better-than-average chance of winning the claim.

And that's the basis of small claims ... whose argument proves more believable, on the balance of probabilities.

agrinnall

Does a faulty injector make a car 'unroadworthy' anyway? Sounds like a chancer to me who will crumble if you stand up to her.

ThumbRemote

Which begs the question as to why she's doing this? Has she changed her mind on the car and just wants a refund? Or is there genuinely some sort of issue?

Leannerobson2002

Thank you for the replys.
She had written in the letter that the car filled with smoke....which can be caused by a leaking fuel injector. This wouldnt cost a lot at all to sort...especially not £1500!!!!!
I do think something has happened to the car and it sounds like the above. She has either been quoted wrongly by a garage, or some friend has had a look!! Or she just doesn't want to pay to get it fixed and thought she would try us for a full refund.
It's difficult as she brought up that my partner was a Mechanic and he should know ( my mistake of telling her this but as we were selling in good faith it didn't occur to me hide that fact) as she is trying to hold it against us. He is a Mechanic but he does not have a crystal ball.
I have said in the defence that when buying privately it is a risk as there is no warranty as with dealers! But she got a deal really as she knocked me down by £200. So surely this money could go towards fixing the car?
Her children were in the car when it started to fill with smoke at the time so she wrote she was disgusted that I let her drive off in car that could do this.
As a mother my self i understand she would have been worried. But shes trying a little sympathy story of how could i let her have the car if it was unroadworthy. I have driven my children around in the car prior to the sale and it was obviously fine.
As some of you had said it will hopefully just go on the facts and evidence shown.

CoolHotCold

I've seen a few of these incidents, where a person buys a car with little to no inspection, takes it away and then contacts the seller a few days later saying such and such is wrong with it and they need X to repair at a garage otherwise they're going to sue the seller.

Seems like a good scam, intimidate/emotionally blackmail the seller into knocking even more off the car without evidence of such a fault. I guess repeat offenders probably resell the car close to what they purchased it for and profit from the made up charges.


If it was a private sale, caveat emperor applies. Unless it was deliberately misleading or mis-advertised then the seller is 99% home free.

See

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/2552601

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5185951

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5152494

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4494511

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4415919

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4439815

naedanger

Leannerobson2002 wrote: »

Thank you for the replys.
She had written in the letter that the car filled with smoke....which can be caused by a leaking fuel injector. This wouldnt cost a lot at all to sort...especially not £1500!!!!!
I do think something has happened to the car and it sounds like the above. She has either been quoted wrongly by a garage, or some friend has had a look!! Or she just doesn't want to pay to get it fixed and thought she would try us for a full refund.
It's difficult as she brought up that my partner was a Mechanic and he should know ( my mistake of telling her this but as we were selling in good faith it didn't occur to me hide that fact) as she is trying to hold it against us. He is a Mechanic but he does not have a crystal ball.
I have said in the defence that when buying privately it is a risk as there is no warranty as with dealers! But she got a deal really as she knocked me down by £200. So surely this money could go towards fixing the car?
Her children were in the car when it started to fill with smoke at the time so she wrote she was disgusted that I let her drive off in car that could do this.
As a mother my self i understand she would have been worried. But shes trying a little sympathy story of how could i let her have the car if it was unroadworthy. I have driven my children around in the car prior to the sale and it was obviously fine.
As some of you had said it will hopefully just go on the facts and evidence shown.

Don't use the argument I have highlighted in bold. It is not valid. If you agreed to a discounted price you cannot use that discount to offset any future problems.

Does the customer wish to hand back the car for a full refund? If so I am not sure it is a scam. Had they been looking for a discount I would think it sounded very much like a scam.

It any event try to gather as much evidence to support your case as you can.

Did you have the car for a long time? If so keep evidence of that in case the customer tries to allege your husband was acting as a trader.

Leannerobson2002

No, I wouldn't use that as an argument it was just for myself to justify why she said she had no money to pay for a second opinion on the car, that was all.
I'm sure it's not a scam and that something has happened. We just can't understand why she couldn't give my husband the engineer report (if there is one) or the name and number of the garage she allegedly went to. We could have come to some of sort agreement or way of understanding the problem with car.
Instead she's just taking us to court!
It doesn't make sense as court costs money!

hollydays

How long have you had the car ?

DCFC79

Leannerobson2002 wrote: »

No, I wouldn't use that as an argument it was just for myself to justify why she said she had no money to pay for a second opinion on the car, that was all.
I'm sure it's not a scam and that something has happened. We just can't understand why she couldn't give my husband the engineer report (if there is one) or the name and number of the garage she allegedly went to. We could have come to some of sort agreement or way of understanding the problem with car.
Instead she's just taking us to court!
It doesn't make sense as court costs money!

Maybe said report doesn't exist and she was hoping you would bend over and giver her the money back.

Sounds fishy to me,

iammumtoone

What did you say when you told her your partner was a mechanic? did you use this as a selling point? or just drop into general conversation?

Unless you said your partner was a mechanic had just serviced the car himself and was prepared to guarantee it I don't see what he does for a living is going to be relevant.

I would get your own written quotes for what she said was wrong with it and submit these just in case worst case you lose, you don't want to be liable for her inflated quotes. I don't think you will lose but better to be well prepared.