Private Vehicle sale

shiraz99

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

OP for a private sale the goods only need to match the description so it depends upon the wording of the advert and any other information you gave them (I assume anything verbal would be judged on the balance of probability whilst considering what was written). 

A solicitor is probably happy to write a letter so long as they get paid, without knowing what the advert said, any messages, emails, etc between you and what was said verbally it won't be possible to say whether the vehicle was correctly described.

AFAIK the Sale of Goods Act still applies to private sales and states the buyer accepts the goods when the goods have been delivered to him and he does any act in relation to them which is inconsistent with the ownership of the seller so undergoing repair works may be viewed as acceptance, assuming this applies. 

How much was the turbo repair? What is their justification for the engine requiring further work? The two are separate really and should be treated as such when considering whether or not the vehicle was correctly described.  

If they do file through small claims you may wish to seek professional advice from someone well versed in the applicable legislation to ensure you are able to defend the claim successfully (or whether you should concede and refund them for the vehicle and turbo repair).  

A vehicle still needs to be roadworthy and it would be a criminal offence to sell an unroadworthy vehicle without disclosing the fact regardless of it being a private or trade sale.

deannagone

Same happened to me with the private sale of a car.  Buyer point blank refused to take it for a test drive, I advised several time you should take it for a test drive.  They paid, drove the vehicle off, about ten days later he'd supposedly taken it to two different places and the two different places said it had never been serviced, a major part had gone and we'd sold it knowing it was defective.  We hadn't.  It was working perfectly when it left the house.  Had a brand new MOT with no advisories and the new owner was saying the tires were seriously worn amongst other things so that made me think the new owner was trying it on.  I just wrote saying it was sold as seen.  We had no idea what happened to it after it left the premises.  Never heard from them again.  No idea if the vehicle had even broken down as they said.

nfr8590

tripled said:

Private sale, sold as seen, provided you didn't lie about anything. They inspected it and took it for a test so presumably didn't notice any issues with the turbo either.

Stories from sellers of vehicles supposedly breaking down shortly after purchase, with the purchaser demanding money back for "repairs", are not uncommon and are often a scam.

I know that they did definitely break down cause a friend actually passed the lorry with the break down services at the lorry so I don’t think they are scamming me.
 I just don’t know where I stand as I know people above had said it has to be road worthy but if they drove it and inspected it themselves and it has a long mot what else did I need to do to show it is road worthy? 

Really confused with it all as a turbo can do at any time so how was to know! 

I only drove the lorry on a 300+ mile round trip a month before they viewed it and it was absolutely fine and sailed there and back. 

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

shiraz99 said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

OP for a private sale the goods only need to match the description so it depends upon the wording of the advert and any other information you gave them (I assume anything verbal would be judged on the balance of probability whilst considering what was written). 

A vehicle still needs to be roadworthy and it would be a criminal offence to sell an unroadworthy vehicle without disclosing the fact regardless of it being a private or trade sale.

Useful info, thanks  

OP random link below on unroadworthy, I don't think a turbo is covered by this definition, besides it was working when they took the vehicle. 

https://www.wigan.gov.uk/Resident/Consumer-Advice/Trading-Standards/Unroadworthy-Cars.aspx

What is an unroadworthy car?

If a vehicle is not satisfactory in any of the following areas it may be unroadworthy:

steering and steering gear

brakes and braking systems

tyres

exhaust systems

seatbelts and seatbelt anchorages

general condition (corrosion, suspension etc.)

DB1904

shiraz99 said:

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head said:

OP for a private sale the goods only need to match the description so it depends upon the wording of the advert and any other information you gave them (I assume anything verbal would be judged on the balance of probability whilst considering what was written). 

A solicitor is probably happy to write a letter so long as they get paid, without knowing what the advert said, any messages, emails, etc between you and what was said verbally it won't be possible to say whether the vehicle was correctly described.

AFAIK the Sale of Goods Act still applies to private sales and states the buyer accepts the goods when the goods have been delivered to him and he does any act in relation to them which is inconsistent with the ownership of the seller so undergoing repair works may be viewed as acceptance, assuming this applies. 

How much was the turbo repair? What is their justification for the engine requiring further work? The two are separate really and should be treated as such when considering whether or not the vehicle was correctly described.  

If they do file through small claims you may wish to seek professional advice from someone well versed in the applicable legislation to ensure you are able to defend the claim successfully (or whether you should concede and refund them for the vehicle and turbo repair).  

A vehicle still needs to be roadworthy and it would be a criminal offence to sell an unroadworthy vehicle without disclosing the fact regardless of it being a private or trade sale.

There's no evidence the horse box was unroadworthy at the time of the sale.

Ectophile

A vehicle is unroadworthy if it's unsafe to drive. If it were MOTd, the inspector would tell you not to drive it away.

Nothing to do with turbo's.

For private sales, (1) you must have a right to sell it, (2) you must describe it honestly and (3) it must be roadworthy at the time you sold it.

If all those three things are true, your responsibility ends the moment they drive away.

Jumblebumble

nfr8590 said:

Advice needed! 

I advertised my hgv lorry on the internet for sale. The advert was truthful and lorry was honestly described. 

The lorry had just over 7 months mot left.

The buyer chatted to me online and asked all the relevant questions and then wanted to come for a viewing. 

They came to view the lorry with a family member, I answered all their questions honestly without any lies and showed them everything on the lorry and how it all worked and where everything was. 

They then took it for a test drive and seemed happy. I even gave them my mechanics phone number as they wanted to discuss some of the work he had done on it in the previous years of me owning it. 

The buyer then contacted me that evening and said they wanted to buy the lorry and offered me £3,000 less than the asking price. 

I accepted this as I needed to sell to repay some debts off. 

They bank transferred a £2,000 deposit that night to secure the sale and I took it offline. 

They then left the lorry for a week before collecting after committing to it. The lorry never left the yard after they put a deposit down on it. 

When they came to collect the lorry a week later she paid the remaining balance and then drove it away. 

40mins later I get a phone called off them threatening to call the police on me as the lorry had broken down and must be dodgy and saying I must of know it was broken. They wanted a full refund as the lorry was not reliable or fit for purpose and wanted to get it recovered back to me. I said no and tried to help them over the phone with solutions to what could of happened. 

I could not believe what I was hearing as I owned the lorry for 3 years and never ever had a problem with it at all and I even gave her all the paper work showing what I had done to it which was in excess of £3,500. 

They got recovered to a nearby garage and it was the turbo that had failed. 

They have paid to have this fixed but now claim that the engine needs a complete full strip down and is going to cost £1000’s 
I have received a solicitors letter from them and they are wanting money to cover them having to hire another lorry and all the work and labour that this lorry now needs. 

They are taking me to court if I don’t pay or settle with them and they are going for a full refund and expenses. 

They are saying I have breached contract and it’s not fit for purpose. 

Where do I stand as I am a private seller they are private buyers. They test drove it, viewed it, called my mechanic, bid me on  price and never brought a professional with them. 

I had absolutely no idea that something was going to go wrong or on it’s way out and then I’m there solicitors letter her mechanic has said no one not even a trained eye could of know the engine or turbo faults from an initial viewing! 

You can be confident that the Police would not be in the slighest bit interested which shows what sort of fool you are dealing with.

melb

if their solicitor is saying that an untrained eye would not have been able to see that there was any problem with the turbo, haven't they rather shot themselves in the foot? As you are not a mechanic either (presumably) how was your equally untrained eye supposed to know if there was a problem.  I agree that they are trying it on and trying to frighten you with a solicitor's letter although if they are genuine it really is horribly bad luck for it to go so soon.

robatwork

You don't have to pay them anything.

If it's all 100% genuine and really has blown up within a small distance of your house you may want to make a goodwill payment to assuage your guilty feeling. Make sure this is clearly just a goodwill gesture and in no way indicative of any responsibility or liability for the turbo failure. 

Tranboy

Bad luck for them if the turbo failed so soon but could it be they are then claiming more damage has occurred so they feel they are getting the money back they paid out for the turbo. I think it would be a bad idea to offer any payment as not only would you be conceding some sort of liability you might end up being asked for more than you are offering.  In the nicest way possible tell them as a private seller you have no liability to them, trying it on possibly but just tell them sold as seen...goodbye.