Buyer not happy - advice needed

macman

Absolutely as above. Do not engage. if he wants to pursue legal action, then deal with it as and then. He won't.

Ditzy_Mitzy

Mistral001 said:

What exactly is the law on selling a vehicle that does not have genuine mileage.  The fact that the OP did not actually do the clocking surely does not change the fact that the mileage is not genuine.   If  the buyer can prove that the mileage is not genuine, never mind not as advertised, then that buyer might have a good case.

I don't believe there is anything in law about mileage recording for private cars.  I owned a second hand car many moons ago (a BMW) which had a broken odometer.  It was digital and had a completely garbled display.  The car passed MOTs as 'mileage not recorded'.  One would have to make a buyer aware that the mileage was not genuine, if one knew, but that would be impossible if one did not know.  Civil claims are decided on the balance of probabilities; if the condition of the vehicle approximately matched what was on the odometer at the point the present owner, and seller, bought it then he or she could reasonably claim there was no reason to question the matter further.  

Mistral001

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

Mistral001 said:

What exactly is the law on selling a vehicle that does not have genuine mileage.  The fact that the OP did not actually do the clocking surely does not change the fact that the mileage is not genuine.   If  the buyer can prove that the mileage is not genuine, never mind not as advertised, then that buyer might have a good case.

I don't believe there is anything in law about mileage recording for private cars.  I owned a second hand car many moons ago (a BMW) which had a broken odometer.  It was digital and had a completely garbled display.  The car passed MOTs as 'mileage not recorded'.  One would have to make a buyer aware that the mileage was not genuine, if one knew, but that would be impossible if one did not know.  Civil claims are decided on the balance of probabilities; if the condition of the vehicle approximately matched what was on the odometer at the point the present owner, and seller, bought it then he or she could reasonably claim there was no reason to question the matter further.  

That is interesting.  If that is a case there must be a lot of private cars with mileage that is not genuine. 

I once bought a car whose milometer stopped working about six months after I bought it.  When I looked closely at the wheels of the read-out (this was a long time ago) I noticed that there were marks on them that pointed to the car being clocked at sometime in the past.  The milometer started to work again after a few miles.  I just drove the car until it needed to be scrapped.  It was a good car and I had many year of motoring with it.  I bought it when I was living at the other end of the country and it was not practical to return the car demanding my money back. The couple I bought it off seemed like such a nice couple too.

caprikid1

As has been stated, if they wanted warranty then they should have gone to a dealer, if they were not knowledgeable of what they are doing then yet again take someone with them.

As has been stated could all be a scam anyway, the photo's of them on the side of the road takes two seconds. The vehicle is 11 years old and a commercial vehicle.

I swear these people are out there to promote We Buy Any Car and to assist dealers in buying stock at rock bottom prices. 

You have done nothing wrong , sorry there is nothing I can help you with I sold the vehicle in good fair and believe I declared it honestly and I am not a dealer.

blackdog2220

caprikid1 said:

As has been stated, if they wanted warranty then they should have gone to a dealer, if they were not knowledgeable of what they are doing then yet again take someone with them.

As has been stated could all be a scam anyway, the photo's of them on the side of the road takes two seconds. The vehicle is 11 years old and a commercial vehicle.

I swear these people are out there to promote We Buy Any Car and to assist dealers in buying stock at rock bottom prices. 

You have done nothing wrong , sorry there is nothing I can help you with I sold the vehicle in good fair and believe I declared it honestly and I am not a dealer.

The vehicle is 11 years old and a commercial vehicle.

no , the van was refurbished / rebuilt and converted into a horse box back in 2011 , the op has not stated the actual age of the vehicle , and as you say , is a commercial , maybe 76k miles. was low for its age back in 2011 

perhaps the owner should actually say the yr of first registation 

parking_question_chap

To all those people saying words to the effect of ' who spends all that money on a car without doing a check online'. Whilst that might be true it is not the point. The car was listed as 76k miles and we are not actually sure that is accurate. Whilst the buyer should check that, is there no obligation for the seller to check too? I dont know the answer but puttling a different viewpoint out there.

The point is not the belt snapping. If it was that alone then the buyer has no come back. They are claiming the car was not as described. I guess if the buyer does try and claim their money back through the courts it will be for the court to decide.

Ditzy_Mitzy

parking_question_chap said:

To all those people saying words to the effect of ' who spends all that money on a car without doing a check online'. Whilst that might be true it is not the point. The car was listed as 76k miles and we are not actually sure that is accurate. Whilst the buyer should check that, is there no obligation for the seller to check too? I dont know the answer but puttling a different viewpoint out there.

The point is not the belt snapping. If it was that alone then the buyer has no come back. They are claiming the car was not as described. I guess if the buyer does try and claim their money back through the courts it will be for the court to decide.

A seller's ability to check mileage with any degree of accuracy is relatively new.  So new, possibly, that it has yet to be tested in court.  The MOT check service has only been around for a few years.  Prior to it, the only way to be sure of mileage was if the car had its old certificates and a comprehensive history file.  There was no requirement for such a thing to exist so, by and large, the only real course of action was to compare the odometer reading with the car's condition and go with one's gut.  Don't forget that five figure odometers used to be commonplace; one never really knew how many times it had been round the clock!  
Perhaps, now that it is possible to check the mileage history, there will be a test case.  The judge might decide that it is incumbent upon the seller to check the mileage.  Or maybe not.  Caveat emptor and all that.  A dealer, perhaps, might find himself in such a situation.