Private car sale

Mart7379

Hi guys
I recently listed my vehicle on Autotrader and got quite a lot of interest, the car was in a relatively good condition, a few scratches but mechanically perfect. A potential buyer turned up in a taxi and gave it a good looking over and a test drive, but decided against buying and left again in a taxi. I later discovered fault codes on the ECU caused by driving the car in a wreckless manner / excessive speed resulting in the car going into limp mode. These codes were not present before the test drive nor in the 5 years of owning the car myself. The car now being worthless and the repair bill outweighing the value of the car. I obviously can not prove he has done anything other than knowing for a fact the engine was mechanically sound and recently had a service. 

Since leaving I received a text message from the buyer, stating I must reimburse his taxi fare of £50! Does he have any legal power to make me pay him, as I personally believe he made the decision to travel to the cars location by taxi meaning he is fully liable for the Taxi fare whatever it may be. In addition to this, the vehicle was not insured by myself nor Tax'd as I registered the car as Sorn and transfered my insurance policy to my new car, yet the buyer drove the car anyway. Should I therefore contact the police to report this in case anything drops through my letterbox should he have triggered any anpr or Speed cameras. 

ToxicWomble

You also owe me £3 for the popcorn that I just went out and bought 

Flight3287462

It doesn't sound as if it was mechanically perfect.

You owe him nothing for his taxi.

knightstyle

As you are a genuine private seller you owe him nothing.  As for him damaging your car then unfortunately you would have to prove he drove in such a way as to damage the car which will be almost impossible and he will say the faults were there before he drove the car.
You need to buy a cheap code reader and reset the faults and drive a bit to see if they will come back.

NottinghamKnight

OP if you contact the police then you would also become liable unless you are prepared to say he stole the car as you permitted him to drive an untaxed and uninsured vehicle, did that not concern you at the time especially as if he crashed it then you would as a minimum be liable for repairs to your own car. 

foxy-stoat

If your car is now worthless because it was driven over the speed limit then it was probably defective to start with.

No, do not call the police as you have committed multiply offenses....assuming this is not a wind up.

alan_d

Mart7379 said:

I later discovered fault codes on the ECU caused by driving the car in a wreckless manner / excessive speed resulting in the car going into limp mode. These codes were not present before the test drive nor in the 5 years of owning the car myself. The car now being worthless and the repair bill outweighing the value of the car.

So you've driven it like a granny, he 'gave it some beans' which caused it to !!!!!! itself and throw some codes.
AND you let him drive it knowingly without insurance or road tax.
He uncovered some faults on the car and chose not to buy it - that's fine, and what a viewing & test-drive is all about, but you SHOULD have prevented him from driving it without first ensuring that adequate insurance and tax was in place, or sold to WBAC / similar and taken the lower sell price hit.
Tell him where to stick his taxi cost, fix the car and sell it, or scrap it, your choice.
Put this one down to experience and move on.

foxy-stoat

Mart7379 said:

 in case anything drops through my letterbox should he have triggered any anpr or Speed cameras. 

You may receive an NIP for no insurance/tax and driving a SORN car on public road along with possible speeding fines from speed camera - could be an expensive lesson.  If you fill in the driver's details you will open yourself up to an even greater pain.

cajef

Sounds like you let a complete stranger take your car for a test drive by himself ?
It is a wonder it didn't disappear, I have sold a few cars privately but I never let someone take one for a test drive without being sat next to them.

scrappy_returns

You permitted them to have a unaccompanied test drive? Covid or not that's a no from me. Also how did they drive it to cause several faults? How long was this test drive? I boot my motor and have done for years but haven't generated any fault codes. Finally if I go Tescos and they dont have a deal on the ceral/bread/washing powder/(insert any other product here) I want do I get a reimbursment on my journey? And you wanna report them to the cops? For What? You let them do it but they might have insurance in place, you just didn't check.

forgotmyname

Love to know what these fault codes are and how they caused them.