Faults on car sold 3 months ago

p3ncilsharpener

pinkshoes said:

blokeandbird said:

Hi. I sold a car (private sale) for £450 in April. The car was described as genuinely as possible. I explained it had rust spots, what work had been done etc. In June, just under 3 months from the sale date, the buyer messaged me to say they had just had the car checked and it needed loads of work doing to it and they wanted to return it for a full refund. I told them that the car was described accurately and as they had the car nearly 3 months I wouldn’t be giving a refund. Today I have received a message from PayPal saying the buyer has opened a dispute (£400 was paid via PayPal and the rest was cash) They want a partial refund. I don’t think this is fair as anything could of happened to the car in 3 months. Where do I stand on this please. Thanks 

As it is a private sale and accurately described, then you do not have to refund at all.

You should also be covered under PayPal because they do not offer Buyer Protection on motor vehicle purchases:

https://www.paypal.com/uk/smarthelp/article/what-is-paypal-buyer-protection-and-how-am-i-covered-faq645

Make sure you keep on the ball with PayPal, make it clear it was a car, and point out the buyer has used it for 3 months and it was a private sale. 

Even if the buyer tried taking you to court they wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

Vehicles are not eligible for seller protection though, either.

I suspect PayPal will side with the buyer as otherwise they're open to a chargeback.

MattMattMattUK

p3ncilsharpener said:

pinkshoes said:

blokeandbird said:

Hi. I sold a car (private sale) for £450 in April. The car was described as genuinely as possible. I explained it had rust spots, what work had been done etc. In June, just under 3 months from the sale date, the buyer messaged me to say they had just had the car checked and it needed loads of work doing to it and they wanted to return it for a full refund. I told them that the car was described accurately and as they had the car nearly 3 months I wouldn’t be giving a refund. Today I have received a message from PayPal saying the buyer has opened a dispute (£400 was paid via PayPal and the rest was cash) They want a partial refund. I don’t think this is fair as anything could of happened to the car in 3 months. Where do I stand on this please. Thanks 

As it is a private sale and accurately described, then you do not have to refund at all.

You should also be covered under PayPal because they do not offer Buyer Protection on motor vehicle purchases:

https://www.paypal.com/uk/smarthelp/article/what-is-paypal-buyer-protection-and-how-am-i-covered-faq645

Make sure you keep on the ball with PayPal, make it clear it was a car, and point out the buyer has used it for 3 months and it was a private sale. 

Even if the buyer tried taking you to court they wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

Vehicles are not eligible for seller protection though, either.

I suspect PayPal will side with the buyer as otherwise they're open to a chargeback.

The way PayPal (and eBay) operate these days there is no seller protection anyway, everything is stacked in favour of the buyer/scammer.

Jenni_D

p3ncilsharpener said:

pinkshoes said:

blokeandbird said:

Hi. I sold a car (private sale) for £450 in April. The car was described as genuinely as possible. I explained it had rust spots, what work had been done etc. In June, just under 3 months from the sale date, the buyer messaged me to say they had just had the car checked and it needed loads of work doing to it and they wanted to return it for a full refund. I told them that the car was described accurately and as they had the car nearly 3 months I wouldn’t be giving a refund. Today I have received a message from PayPal saying the buyer has opened a dispute (£400 was paid via PayPal and the rest was cash) They want a partial refund. I don’t think this is fair as anything could of happened to the car in 3 months. Where do I stand on this please. Thanks 

As it is a private sale and accurately described, then you do not have to refund at all.

You should also be covered under PayPal because they do not offer Buyer Protection on motor vehicle purchases:

https://www.paypal.com/uk/smarthelp/article/what-is-paypal-buyer-protection-and-how-am-i-covered-faq645

Make sure you keep on the ball with PayPal, make it clear it was a car, and point out the buyer has used it for 3 months and it was a private sale. 

Even if the buyer tried taking you to court they wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

Vehicles are not eligible for seller protection though, either.

I suspect PayPal will side with the buyer as otherwise they're open to a chargeback.

Really? How? Paypal are a payment intermediary so I doubt the buyer has any chargeback route against Paypal.

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

MattMattMattUK said:

p3ncilsharpener said:

pinkshoes said:

blokeandbird said:

Hi. I sold a car (private sale) for £450 in April. The car was described as genuinely as possible. I explained it had rust spots, what work had been done etc. In June, just under 3 months from the sale date, the buyer messaged me to say they had just had the car checked and it needed loads of work doing to it and they wanted to return it for a full refund. I told them that the car was described accurately and as they had the car nearly 3 months I wouldn’t be giving a refund. Today I have received a message from PayPal saying the buyer has opened a dispute (£400 was paid via PayPal and the rest was cash) They want a partial refund. I don’t think this is fair as anything could of happened to the car in 3 months. Where do I stand on this please. Thanks 

As it is a private sale and accurately described, then you do not have to refund at all.

You should also be covered under PayPal because they do not offer Buyer Protection on motor vehicle purchases:

https://www.paypal.com/uk/smarthelp/article/what-is-paypal-buyer-protection-and-how-am-i-covered-faq645

Make sure you keep on the ball with PayPal, make it clear it was a car, and point out the buyer has used it for 3 months and it was a private sale. 

Even if the buyer tried taking you to court they wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

Vehicles are not eligible for seller protection though, either.

I suspect PayPal will side with the buyer as otherwise they're open to a chargeback.

The way PayPal (and eBay) operate these days there is no seller protection anyway, everything is stacked in favour of the buyer/scammer.

Paypal cover INR were the seller has tracking, chargebacks where the seller has proof of posting and SNAD claims aren't a warranty. 

eBay covers INR (and remove feedback) and chargebacks where the seller has proof of delivery and allows Top Rated Sellers to retain up to 50% of the refund and will cover up to £3.50 of the return costs (and again remove feedback) for abusive returns. 

There is a lot to complain about with the way eBay do business but their seller protection is actually pretty good, much better than you'll get as FBM on Amazon. 




OP as Pinkshoes says Buyer Protection excludes motor motor vehicles. 

Your buyer only has a claim (outside of Paypal) if something in the description was inaccurate, if you said it was 5 door and only had 3 for example.

Omissions are excluded for private sales so not mentioning a problem is fine.

If you said good running and the engine was completely knackered it would ultimately be down a court to decide whether the issue was worthy of any refund but after 3 months of ownership it would unlikely the buyer would have any claim unless they could show something was present at the point of sale which contradicts the advert wording. 

blokeandbird

PayPal balance has been reinstated. They have closed the case in my favour as buyer protection doesn’t cover vehicles. Now to see whether they try a chargeback. Thanks for everyone’s help

Jenni_D

They won't try a chargeback as I don't believe the chargeback rules will allow it. And if they funded the payment via their own Paypal account (did they?) then Paypal may well freeze their account / cancel their account.

pulliptears

Three months.  Hilarious.  They could have been off roading, robbing banks and driving through every speed camera between here and Luton in 3 months.
Ignore them now the Paypal case is closed.  Utter twerp. Can you imagine that one in court?  Judge would wet himself.

Jenni_D

Incontinence is not a laughing matter.  

mattyprice4004

blokeandbird said:

PayPal balance has been reinstated. They have closed the case in my favour as buyer protection doesn’t cover vehicles. Now to see whether they try a chargeback. Thanks for everyone’s help

Excellent, I didn't even consider that PayPal doesn't cover vehicles! 
A great result, and another buyer with unrealistic expectations given a dose of reality. 

societys_child

Jenni_D said:

Incontinence is not a laughing matter.  

But . .  incontinence and pmsl mean the same, lol . .