Privately Bought Car Refund

Conor12345

Hello Everyone,

I'm in an unfortunate position.  

I sold a car recently.

The buyer assured me he needed the car urgently for work and I told him I would respect social distancing by letting him test drive and inspect alone.

The car sold for £1,250 the car is worth over £2k but had scratch and I'd stated wear and tear so was haggled down. 

A few days after buying the vehicle the gentleman immediately threatened me (by saying he isn't someone to be messed with) saying he's had it at a garage and it requires some work.  I wanted to help but he immediately started with a threat and I sold him the car for a lot cheaper than I wanted to because of him identifying faults whilst he inspected it so felt I was being ripped off. 

Fast forward a week and he messages me saying the car was previously written off and he wants a full refund (obviously the V5 etc been sent).  I had no idea about this so I parted with £14.98 for a HPI check and it turns out the car was involved in a Category D before I purchased it.  After looking into this some websites are saying you don't need to declare a cat d if you're a private seller. 

My ad specifically said it has wear and tear due to age and the car was 4 months to an MOT hence my reduced price. 

I didn't use any flashy language in my ad saying it is in perfect condition or anything. 

He's now told me he can't insure the car due to the Cat D and he'll be posting the keys (technically to his car) through my door or he expects me to come pick it up.

I've never had a small claims court experience in my life and I want to know if I end up going there how I'm likely to fair. 

Kind Regards 

Conor

Browntoa

Private sale , buyer beware.

He was given opportunity to see and drive the vehicle . He should have done due diligence with a hpi check prior to purchase.

Tell him you will refuse return

Alter_ego

So long as you told the truth it's "Caveat  emptor"

Mutton_Geoff

Keep all communications with him. Record any calls and if he threatens you again, report him to the police. He can't take his lack of diligence out on you.

AdrianC

Conor12345 said:

He's now told me he can't insure the car due to the Cat D

Did you ever have a problem? No.

So...

Conor12345

Thanks everyone. I'm just a little annoyed because a lot of people were interested in the car.  Very frustrating

DUTR

Conor12345 said:

Thanks everyone. I'm just a little annoyed because a lot of people were interested in the car.  Very frustrating

Interested doesn't equate to a sale, nearly 50% is a healthy reduction.
Seems like the seller wanted it shifted quickly and the buyer didn't really get the bargain they had hoped for.

Supersonos

Conor12345 said:

He's now told me he can't insure the car due to the Cat D and he'll be posting the keys (technically to his car) through my door or he expects me to come pick it up.

I've never had a small claims court experience in my life and I want to know if I end up going there how I'm likely to fair. 

Make him aware of what you'll be charging to return the keys to him and make it clear you won't be responsible for any problems that may arise as a result.  And if he does post them through your door, make sure he pays before you post them back.

You've done nothing wrong and he doesn't have a leg to stand on.  In the highly unlikely event he takes it all the way to court, enjoy it!  I had to take someone to small claims knowing they were totally in the wrong so just enjoyed the ride.  It was great!

mollycat

People that are genuinely "not to be messed with", usually don't need to go around telling people they are "not be be messed with". (IYSWIM)
This guy is trying to bully you.....as long as car decribed correctly in advert and any queries answered honestly, stand firm.

frayedknot

TBH if the car is worth  over £2,000 and you sold it for £1j,250 ' cos it had a scratch' I'd take him up on his offer.

He's talking rubbish about the insurance, a cat D , is the lightest form of damage, usually stolen recovered and easily insurable. As a private seller, if you were unaware,  there's no need to declare it.

AdrianC

frayedknot said:

He's talking rubbish about the insurance, a cat D , is the lightest form of damage, usually stolen recovered and easily insurable.

CatD was a simple numbers game - was the damage less than the value of the car at the time of the claim, but the insurer decided not to repair anyway. Nothing whatsoever to do with stolen-recovered. Cat X is the usual stolen-recovered (but after the claim is settled) outcome, unless the damage is serious enough to have written it off anyway.

It may have been as simple as a wing-scrape, or it may have been substantial and structural - it depended entirely on the value at the time of the claim. That's why C and D were replaced by S and N (Structural, Non-Structural) in 2017. So we know that this happened some years ago, before the value of the vehicle was this low. That means it probably wasn't trivial - that would have been repaired, and the car not categorised. Perhaps parts delays meant high hire-car costs were likely? Perhaps the known damage was so close to the value that the risk of unseen damage tipped it?

Either way, it's pretty damn academic - the car has been in use for three years since.