Car broke down on the way home from private sale

DavidFx

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head wrote: »

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.

You would also have to disable the battery charge warning indicator on the instrument cluster

motorguy

Magnum0121 wrote: »

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

£400 is horrendously expensive for an alternator replacement. :eek:

You dont have any right to a refund, as a private buyer buying off a private seller.

Alternators can fail at any time.

shaun_from_Africa

DavidFx wrote: »

You would also have to disable the battery charge warning indicator on the instrument cluster

Not necessarily,
If the alternator was producing voltage but little or no charging current then there may not be a warning light,
This can happen if there is a problem with the alternator field windings.

George_Michael

Was the bill of £400 for the alternator replacement only or was there a vehicle recovery charge for the car?

Gavin83

DavidFx wrote: »

You would also have to disable the battery charge warning indicator on the instrument cluster

Not necessarily. I had an alternator fail once, no warning at all. First I knew of it was when my car broke down.

OP, as others have said you have no comeback on this, that's the disadvantage of buying privately. There's a fair chance they were aware of the problem and charged the battery but unfortunately you've no way to prove this.

bertiewhite

Looking on the bright side - at least you've got a new alternator now so that's something you don't have to worry about.

societys_child

Think this tread should have been:

What can I do, I've been charged £400 for an alternator?

George_Michael

societys_child wrote: »

Think this tread should have been:

What can I do, I've charged £400 for an alternator?

I don't.
However, it could have been:
"What can I do, I've been charged £400 for an alternator?"

societys_child

Just checking if anyone was awake . .:p


I've amended the post.