I sold a car privately months ago and now I’m getting stick about it.

diystarter7

CosworthRichie said:

I don’t tend to sell a lot of cars, if one pops up on an auction site that I think I can sort out I will, it’s only ever a side venture,  we use to run coaches, we have stopped running coaches now, so I use the garage to do valeting and detailing along with servicing and welding, steel fabrication is what I trained to do, so I wouldn’t call my self a car dealer.

Cheers for responding to my question. I thought you may be a dealer judging by what you sai re MOT.

My understanding is dealer is someone who buys and sells cars for profit, if you do this then you are a car dealer regardless of the number.

I'm no expert so I'll let you decide but I guess you already know the answer judging by the trade you was in.

Either way, good luck as you sold the car in good faith.

custardy

its a 15 year old car thats been theirs for 5 months.
ignore them 

JustAnotherSaver

I've only skim read through this & saw a couple posts talking about the cost - saying that due to the age the car basically would/should cost peanuts.

So I hopped on to eBay and had a quick search for a 2007 Focus ST as well as one either side - so 2006 & 2008.

The cheapest from a quick scan came in at about £3k and the dearest I saw was £13,495 (hardly peanuts).

Most seemed to settle in at about the £4k-£6k range.

Now I know many people on this board may earn £100k per year and drive around in £40k cars (can feel the vibrations of your fidgeting already ) but we're not all earning that & to some of us, £4k-£6k is quite a bit. May be a months wage maybe to some of you but for others they could've saved up for X-years for what is their dream car.

Not saying these shady characters are right in what they're doing. Far from it.

Just never understood the whole - car is older than 12 months therefore expect it to explode in to a million pieces mindset. Bought mine at 7 years old for less than £2k & kept it for a further 11-12 years and cost me naff all outside of tyres, brakes etc.

CKhalvashi

Grumpy_chap said:

CKhalvashi said:

I've just looked up the registration of an '07' plate car I owned from 2 months old until 2011
It last passed an MoT in 2020 at 371k miles and looks to have been scrapped since.

I think it is age as much as, if not more than, miles that leads to a car's demise (given equal care and attention).

Definitely driven hard under my ownership, but also definitely serviced exceeding the manufacturers requirements.

Most of those were motorway though, so that should have a positive effect on longevity.

400ixl

So the OP is a dealer by their own admission, but doesn't consider themselves to be one. Buys and sells cars for the purpose of making a profit, and has a motor related business as well.

If the buyer catches on to this then it could change things considerably with the fault being within the first 6 months of purchase.

Jenni_D

400ixl said:

So the OP is a dealer by their own admission, but doesn't consider themselves to be one. Buys and sells cars for the purpose of making a profit, and has a motor related business as well.

If the buyer catches on to this then it could change things considerably with the fault being within the first 6 months of purchase.

I don't recall seeing that - it could certainly swing how a judge sees things (on the balance of probability). Can you quote the relevant post please?

400ixl

CosworthRichie said:

I don’t tend to sell a lot of cars, if one pops up on an auction site that I think I can sort out I will, it’s only ever a side venture,  we use to run coaches, we have stopped running coaches now, so I use the garage to do valeting and detailing along with servicing and welding, steel fabrication is what I trained to do, so I wouldn’t call my self a car dealer.

This meets the definition of a dealer in the authorities eyes.

CKhalvashi

400ixl said:

CosworthRichie said:

I don’t tend to sell a lot of cars, if one pops up on an auction site that I think I can sort out I will, it’s only ever a side venture,  we use to run coaches, we have stopped running coaches now, so I use the garage to do valeting and detailing along with servicing and welding, steel fabrication is what I trained to do, so I wouldn’t call my self a car dealer.

This meets the definition of a dealer in the authorities eyes.

That does look like it may be the case.

I've bought something old, run it a few years and then sold it, which wouldn't be classed as trading.

If this has been over the space of weeks/months, then it's likely to be classed as trading.

Gavin83

If a car dealer sells their own personal vehicle (assume one they’ve owned for a number of years and driven themselves) are they considered a dealer or a private seller? Does being a car dealer by trade mean you can never sell your own vehicles privately?

Certainly having a motor related business doesn’t make you a car dealer.

OP, how many cars would you say you sell a year?

400ixl

Gavin83 said:

If a car dealer sells their own personal vehicle (assume one they’ve owned for a number of years and driven themselves) are they considered a dealer or a private seller? Does being a car dealer by trade mean you can never sell your own vehicles privately?

Certainly having a motor related business doesn’t make you a car dealer.

OP, how many cars would you say you sell a year?

No, of course a dealer can sell a personal car. That car would not have been bought and then sold with the aim to make a profit.

It doesn't make any difference how many cars the OP sells a year as there is no definition, one is enough. The OP states they buy cars at auction to do up and sell on, 1 or 50 makes no difference. Having a motor related business will make it more likely a court would find they are a dealer as the OP is using those facilities to do the repair work to be able to sell the vehicles for a profit.