Dealer finds a fault after buying my car.

Goudy

Sounds like a con to me too.

If they come back to you, tell them you sold it to them as a private seller, you are not an expert or in the business of retailing cars so are not obliged to offer a warranty.

Their representative inspected the car AND negotiated it's value at that time of sale after inspecting it.
I assume their representative adjusted the price for faults they spotted at the time, so if they have done a poor job they should take it up with them as the time to do this was before the sale, not after it. 

If they think their representative did a good job then the fault must has occurred after the sale or it is a fault you would not be expected to diagnose yourself, after all their expert missed it at the time of inspection before the sale.

If they threaten you with court, just ignore them but make sure you keep any documents and correspondence from this.

If you think about this logically, they are very unlikely to spend time and money taking you to court for this.
They know full well they would have little chance of winning as all you would have to do is turn up, tell the court you aren't an expert and show them evidence that their expert had already negotiated for the cars faults at the time of sale.

Herzlos

Without details of the supposed fault it does sound like a bit of a scam, or at least buyers remorse. Did they tell you what was actually wrong, or just that it was expensive?

From a legal standpoint, the dealer inspected the car, agreed and paid so there's no comeback there unless they've found evidence of you hiding a fault. They'd still need to prove that it was you that'd hidden it (like something that'd fail an MOT or fail to hide the fault quickly).

I'd normally suggest you could offer to unwind the deal if they return the car to you (at their cost), but you've also no idea if that's part of the scam - buy a car, swap out some parts, return car.

chrisw

ValerieC said:

The day after they contacted me telling me the car has a very expensive issue that needs to be fixed. The fault didn't effect the driving of the car at all and I was totally unaware of it. They haven't explained what remedy they may expect from me yet.

I doubt you will hear from them again. I suspect they were annoyed to find the fault and were making a point. They probably know full well that they have no come back.

caprikid1

"I suspect they were annoyed to find the fault and were making a point."

You are assuming there is a fault....we see this more and more there probably is no fault.

Ebe_Scrooge

The bottom line is, when you sell a car privately, the buyer has almost no comeback at all against you - it's "buyer beware".  As a private individual, you are not expected to be an expert mechanic.  Your only obligation is to describe the car honestly, answer any direct questions honestly to the best of your ability, and not deliberately lie.  For instance, if the buyer asks "have you ever had any problems with the gearbox?" and you say "no" because you've genuinely never had a problem, that's fine.  If the gearbox disintegrates a day later, tough luck for the buyer.

The same rules apply whether you're selling to another private individual or a dealer - in fact, you may (I'm not 100% sure) be even more covered if selling to a dealer as he could reasonably be expected to have more mechanical knowledge than an ordinary Joe Bloggs, so should have picked things up on the test drive.  Not that it makes any difference in practice.

Grey_Critic

In the past when I have traded in a vehicle someone has come and had a wander round and kicked tghe tyres - odd occasions they might have done a test drive but that is it.

lordmountararat

I agree with those who think this is a scam. If you answered their questions honestly and they inspected the vehicle then they don't have a leg to stand on, and I doubt you will hear anymore. The whole scenario just screams fraud.

facade

lordmountararat said:

I agree with those who think this is a scam. If you answered their questions honestly and they inspected the vehicle then they don't have a leg to stand on, and I doubt you will hear anymore. The whole scenario just screams fraud.

It doesn't have to be a scam.

It is perfectly possible for there to be a fault with a car that doesn't show up on inspection or a short test drive that the owner could be unaware of.

For example, it could overheat if driven miles at motorway speeds, and the owner hasn't been on a motorway for the whole time they've had it.

I agree with Chrisw, the dealer is probably annoyed and making a point even though they know there is nothing they can do, on the principle that sharing the misery makes you feel better.

ValerieC

Plot twist!

The dealer has said they are returning the car to me and expect me to pay their costs for transporting it.

This leads me to believe there is a fault, BUT, the car has been listed on Auto Trader for a couple of days, meaning they were intending to sell it on without fixing it.

I have told them I will take the car back, but I will not fund their failure to make a reasonable inspection of the car, ie, 10 minutes poking at it in the dark because they were 3 hours late, barely asking any questions, and not even taking it for a test drive.

The car was supposed to be back at my home 2 hours ago, still not here.

Val.

marlot

ValerieC said:

Plot twist!

The dealer has said they are returning the car to me and expect me to pay their costs for transporting it.

This leads me to believe there is a fault, BUT, the car has been listed on Auto Trader for a couple of days, meaning they were intending to sell it on without fixing it.

I have told them I will take the car back, but I will not fund their failure to make a reasonable inspection of the car, ie, 10 minutes poking at it in the dark because they were 3 hours late, barely asking any questions, and not even taking it for a test drive.

The car was supposed to be back at my home 2 hours ago, still not here.

Val.

If it were me, I'd refuse delivery and refuse to pay them back.