Car broke down on the way home from private sale

Magnum0121

Hello,
I’m hoping for some advice here regarding a private car sale.

I purchased a car via a Facebook advert. The car was advertised as mechanically sound but required some minor paint and bodywork.
I agreed to view and potentially buy the car after seeing a walkaround video.
I took the train to where the car was, went out for a 10-15 minute test drive and all was good. We agreed the sale at the asking price of the advert, I was given a hand written receipt with all relevant details such as the vehicle details,mileage, name of seller, date and time of sale etc.

I drove off and fuelled the car up. A few minutes later and 10 miles I had several warning lights on the dash and the electronics all started to fail. I pulled up after a total of 12 miles and the car would not start.

I contacted the seller who was off out for his sons birthday with family who had travelled several miles to see him. He said that he was not aware of any faults etc. As there was no realistic way of returning the car to him at the time I called the AA who recovered me home.

The mechanic said that the alternator was faulty. I contacted the seller again who said “let me know how the repair goes and I will see about helping towards the cost”.

The car sat on the drive for a few weeks and was repaired yesterday for the total of £400. Around 27 days have elapsed since the sale of the car.

I contacted the seller today to inform him that the car was fixed and asked about him helping towards the cost of the repair as discussed previously. Miraculously he has apparently been made redundant as of this Monday and he seems to be interested in helping towards the cost anymore and said that it was my choice to get the car recovered Home. I explained that if the car was recovered back to his house he would still have to pay for the repair himself, although this was not an option at the time.

I have looked into the consumer rights act and I am aware I have less rights with a private sale but I would still be entitled to a refund as it has been less than 30 days.

Do I have a case here for fighting him for the £400 repair cost or at least getting some of the money back? I wouldn’t have contacted him if the car was faulty after a week or even a few days, but this was literally 10 miles before the fault occurred.

Thanks in advance

Potbellypig

Look at it from his point of view. He sold you a working car, and it broke on you within 10 minutes. Unfortunate, but not improbable.

Other than lean on his humanity and goodwill, there's not a lot you can do.

JJ_Egan

Alternator can fail at any time without much warning .
How old was the car how many miles what purchase price.

ess0two

Tough luck.

DCFC79

Its not like it was in the thousands, you got quite lucky actually.

jim1999

Caveat emptor

bris

£400 for an alternator is really quite expensive. It's not a big job and should take about an hour . The rough price from an independent garage should be about £200- £250 fitted.


This depends on the car of course but most average cars fall into this category. You should have looked about to mitigate the loss because I wouldn't be happy to pay anything unless I did my research into the cost first.


Not that he is due anything as with a private sale it's really just one of those things.

unholyangel

If you've looked into the consumer rights act then you should know it only applies to contracts between traders & consumers.

A private sale really only needs to meet 2 requirements. Those are:
1) The seller must have the right to sell the car/be able to pass on good title
2) The car must match its description.

£400 seems kind of steep for an alternator though, what kind of car is it?

pmduk

Magnum0121 wrote: »

I have looked into the consumer rights act and I am aware I have less rights with a private sale but I would still be entitled to a refund as it has been less than 30 days.

Why do you believe you have this entitlement?

mattyprice4004

'I explained that if the car was recovered back to his house he would still have to pay for the repair himself, although this was not an option at the time.'

No, no he wouldn't. You took it for a test drive, were happy (and if the car was faulty, it wouldn't have completed this drive successfully) and you had an unfortunate breakdown once out of the seller's hands. This is not his problem, and even if you'd have taken it back to him he wouldn't need to have refunded you (as I wouldn't).

Your 30 days 'information' is completely incorrect - you have no rights with regards to goods being faulty from a private sale. It's your duty to inspect them and make sure you're happy with them - which you did - and the subsequent breakdown is NOT the seller's fault.

I can't stand the notion so many private buyers seem to have of being entitled to some sort of warranty - it simply isn't the case at all, and is a belief that needs to be stamped out.
You cheaped out by going to a private seller rather than a garage (who would have to fix it for you), and it's backfired. Tough, but that's life.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

JJ_Egan wrote: »

Alternator can fail at any time without much warning .

Indeed they can but if you was going to sell a car with a knackered alternator and made sure the battery was fully charged you'd probably get as far as the OP did.

Sadly no way to prove that.

£400 is steep, unless OP went to a dealership.