Can dealers declare any vehicle as 'spares or repair'?

AdrianC

Changing a cambelt is not a "repair" bill. It's routine maintenance. A repair is what you need to do if you don't change the belt.

nottsphil

[Deleted User] said:

Knocking £500 off the selling price gives a clue to how much the repair costs are and given it was out of budget at full price you don’t have the budget for repairs either. 

Walk away and find another one. 

That sort of logic is hard to argue against! There's no need for any walking away though because all the advice has been negative, so I have no desire to even contact them.
Thanks to all who have contributed. 

Sandtree

There are significant ramifications for overselling a product but there are absolutely none for underselling one. If a dealer wanted to describe every brand new car it sells as for parts or repair they’d be perfectly entitled, but crazy, to do so.

In reality its likely to mean there is work to be done, I would disagree however that the comment that £500 has been knocked off means that its probably around £500 to repair it... people typically significantly under estimate the value of repairs and so cost of repair more likely to be notably higher. After all, the garage will be able to get repairs done cheaper than joe public so if the real cost of repairs were £500 why’d they knock that off the price when they could get it repaired for £350 and then sell it for £500 more?

AdrianC

Is there any indication that it's got a problem?

If so, surely he'd have just punted it to auction and got shot... Or even weighed it in. It won't owe him much, and it's not worth the hassle.

Nah - most likely is that nobody wants it for £2.5k, and he's getting bored of it littering his forecourt, so he's happy to get it gone for £2k. But, at that price, he doesn't want to be bothered with sticking any kind of aftermarket warranty on it, and he'd rather you just took it at face value and didn't come back in a few weeks whimpering about something minor.

So be it. But, of course, while he can ask you not to, CRA still applies - and he cannot stop it applying, no matter what magic hand-wavey wording he puts in the ad. If it was S&R for a reason, then he would need to be explicit about what that reason was pre-sale if he wanted to get out of his CRA obligations (caveatted by "apparent condition").

As I said - £2k isn't exactly bargain-basement for a 10yo C3Pic.

EdGasketTheSecond

Isn't the point though that even if the dealer says 'spare or repairs', then if he lets you drive it away (rather than trailer'd) then all the usual customer protections apply and the  'spare or repairs' has no meaning in consumer law to let the dealer off the hook?

AdrianC

EdGasketTheSecond said:

Isn't the point though that even if the dealer says 'spare or repairs', then if he lets you drive it away (rather than trailer'd) then all the usual customer protections apply and the  'spare or repairs' has no meaning in consumer law to let the dealer off the hook?

You're getting confused with the only get-out for selling an unroadworthy vehicle being that you made the buyer explicitly aware it could not be driven away and was unroadworthy. Saying "spares or repair" is not the same as the vehicle being unroadworthy.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/75

(6)A person shall not be convicted of an offence under this section in respect of the supply or alteration of a motor vehicle or trailer if he proves—

(a)that it was supplied or altered, as the case may be, for export from Great Britain, or

(b)that he had reasonable cause to believe that the vehicle or trailer would not be used on a road in Great Britain, or would not be so used until it had been put into a condition in which it might lawfully be so used,

(6A)Paragraph (b) of subsection (6) above shall not apply in relation to a person who, in the course of a trade or business—

(a)exposes a vehicle or trailer for sale, unless he also proves that he took all reasonable steps to ensure that any prospective purchaser would be aware that its use in its current condition on a road in Great Britain would be unlawful, or

(b)offers to sell a vehicle or trailer, unless he also proves that he took all reasonable steps to ensure that the person to whom the offer was made was aware of that fact.

facade

EdGasketTheSecond said:

Isn't the point though that even if the dealer says 'spare or repairs', then if he lets you drive it away (rather than trailer'd) then all the usual customer protections apply and the  'spare or repairs' has no meaning in consumer law to let the dealer off the hook?

I think you are mixing it up with the legendary "sold as seen"- that has no bearing in Law. If you buy a car to drive around in  from a trader it is supposed to be roadworthy, and of merchantable quality commensurate with age & mileage expectations.

If you are sold a car to repair yourself as "spares or repair" then anything can be wrong with it, (because they have told you it requires work/has faults , and you likely paid less than a runner is worth) except if you are driving it away it must be roadworthy.   (There are a lot of common expensive engine  problems with the 1.5 DCi, possibly why it was got rid of by the last owner)

Sandtree

EdGasketTheSecond said:

Isn't the point though that even if the dealer says 'spare or repairs', then if he lets you drive it away (rather than trailer'd) then all the usual customer protections apply and the  'spare or repairs' has no meaning in consumer law to let the dealer off the hook?

Yes but also, yes.

Consumer protection broadly states that the item should be as described and so if you buy a boat that is advertised as having a large hole in the hull you cannot subsequently complain that there is a large hole in the hull and its sunk.

Saying the item is for “spares or repair” is an attempt to replicate the old “bought as seen” but going a step further by acknowledging the vehicle has problems. If they’ll get away with it is another matters... if the repairs turn out to be just the interior light bulb needs replacing then almost certainly there’d be no grounds whereas if its rotten to the core then they may still be on a sticky wicket were the buyer to complain.

AdrianC

facade said:
(There are a lot of common expensive engine  problems with the 1.5 DCi, possibly why it was got rid of by the last owner)

1.5DCi is a Renault engine. This car has the PSA-Ford 1.6HDi/TDCi.

facade

AdrianC said:

facade said:
(There are a lot of common expensive engine  problems with the 1.5 DCi, possibly why it was got rid of by the last owner)

1.5DCi is a Renault engine. This car has the PSA-Ford 1.6HDi/TDCi.

Yes, my bad, the PSA is even worse than the Renault!!!