Private Car Sale Transaction, Car Unroadworthy.

honestgaz

Wondering if anyone can help me with legal advice.
A seller advertised a car on Facebook Marketplace, I made contact by both FB and Whatsapp with the individual to arrange collection of the car.
Before agreeing the transaction, I provided a Private Car Sale Contract which was signed by myself and the seller.
I travelled down on the train, so I could drive the car home...During my journey, I asked the seller 2 things
1. The car works
2. It has petrol to drive away
The seller confirmed yes to both.
After paying £1,400 by bank transfer when at the sellers property, I got the key with the intention of driving the car home.
All was fine, until around 20 minutes in to the journey, where the car just died entirely. Everything stopped working.
I broke down on a busy A Road A446, which put me in a seriously dangerous situation.
My partner had to call the AA who charged me £443 to recover me home (this took 9 hours to even get to me, but this is another story)
When I messaged the seller advising the car had broken down after 20 mins, he replied with "Can you imagine (Laughing face emoji)"
The alternator on the car is faulty, hence the battery just drained after 20 minutes leaving me stranded, which I do not believe the seller sold me a car in a roadworthy state.
Seller has no interest of helping, his first response was "He is a minor and will call the police?", followed by "Me messaging him is gonna make him harm himself".
I would like to know where i stand, as to resolve this issue, I want one of the following
1. The seller arranges collection of the car, as it is UNROADWORTHY and refunds me £1,400 plus £443 AA charges
or
2. The seller refunds me £443 for the recovery charge, as well as the cost to replace the alternator.
Be grateful for any responses, or individuals that have been through a similar experience.

TheSpectator

Next to no chance on both counts.

'The car works' - is so vague a question to ask. Argument will be well you drove it away and clearly worked at that point.

If they have no interest in engaging with you then small claims is your only option which might be throwing good money after bad. How old was the car? Mileage?

DE_612183

AA pre-car sale inspection is £150

lisyloo

I don't think you can charge them for not having a recovery policy in place. That's your responsibility as a motorist.

Do you have any report on the faulty alternator? do you still have it?
The issue it whether it could be proved they knew the car was unroadworthy.
Or did the alternator unfortunately fail at that time?
I'm not a mechanic but would have thought there were states that could be proven they knew e.g. the connection was broken.

If you think they definitely knew then report it to your bank as fraud.

DullGreyGuy

honestgaz said:

Wondering if anyone can help me with legal advice.
A seller advertised a car on Facebook Marketplace, I made contact by both FB and Whatsapp with the individual to arrange collection of the car.
Before agreeing the transaction, I provided a Private Car Sale Contract which was signed by myself and the seller.
I travelled down on the train, so I could drive the car home...During my journey, I asked the seller 2 things
1. The car works
2. It has petrol to drive away
The seller confirmed yes to both.
After paying £1,400 by bank transfer when at the sellers property, I got the key with the intention of driving the car home.
All was fine, until around 20 minutes in to the journey, where the car just died entirely. Everything stopped working.
I broke down on a busy A Road A446, which put me in a seriously dangerous situation.
My partner had to call the AA who charged me £443 to recover me home (this took 9 hours to even get to me, but this is another story)
When I messaged the seller advising the car had broken down after 20 mins, he replied with "Can you imagine (Laughing face emoji)"
The alternator on the car is faulty, hence the battery just drained after 20 minutes leaving me stranded, which I do not believe the seller sold me a car in a roadworthy state.
Seller has no interest of helping, his first response was "He is a minor and will call the police?", followed by "Me messaging him is gonna make him harm himself".
I would like to know where i stand, as to resolve this issue, I want one of the following
1. The seller arranges collection of the car, as it is UNROADWORTHY and refunds me £1,400 plus £443 AA charges
or
2. The seller refunds me £443 for the recovery charge, as well as the cost to replace the alternator.
Be grateful for any responses, or individuals that have been through a similar experience.

Knowingly selling an unroadworthy car is an offence, even for private sellers. However does a faulty alternator legally make it unroadworthy? Alternator isnt on the list of things that a roadside vehicle inspector would look at. Sounds more like something that makes the car impractical rather than unroadworthy. 

In the absence of it being illegal then its very much emptor caveat  as long as they didnt advertise it being in perfect condition etc. 

£1,400 for a car that presumably is taxed, MOTed and running is pretty much as cheap as they get. You clearly arent buying a brand new car and inevitably there is a reason why they are selling it. I'm surprised you go to pick up such a vehicle without having recovery arrangements already in place.

As presumably a solo male driver thats young-middle aged you're right at the bottom of the priority list for a recovery vehicle to come out to you and will be leapfrogged by every solo pregnant female, grandparents with their young grandchildren etc. 

400ixl

Private sale, you will have to take him to court if he does not want to play ball unfortunately.

Does sound like he is a complete rouge and knew about the issue but there is little protection for you outside of the court system.

Did you not take it for an extended test drive and then leave it running to check it doesn't overheat. Also can find little gremlins like electrical issues.

TELLIT01

The car did work as the OP was able to drive it away.  It also had petrol.  Those seem to have been the only questions asked and the vendor provided accurate answers.  It will be next to impossible to prove that the vendor knew the alternator was faulty, but a faulty alternator would not generally be cause to return a vehicle.  Put it down to experience and move on.

Ayr_Rage

Buying an old banger via Facebook Marketplace is always a risk.

A faulty alternator does not make a vehicle unroadworthy.

If it was faulty when you collected it then the battery/charging warning light would have remained illuminated once the car was started and you should have mentioned it straight away, did you even check all lights went out when it started?

The two solutions you are hoping for are unrealistic.

You need to prove it was falsely advertised if you wish to pursue a legal solution.

Do you have the original advert or anything else in email or chats?

FlorayG

Not a chance. Car was working when you drove it away and could even argue a faulty alternator does not constitute 'not working'. A car that has a faulty alternator isn't unroadworthy - even if it won't start at all, it's not unroadworthy, just undriveable; they are not the same thing. At that price, you pays yer money and takes yer chance

born_again

lisyloo said:

I don't think you can charge them for not having a recovery policy in place. That's your responsibility as a motorist.

Do you have any report on the faulty alternator? do you still have it?
The issue it whether it could be proved they knew the car was unroadworthy.
Or did the alternator unfortunately fail at that time?
I'm not a mechanic but would have thought there were states that could be proven they knew e.g. the connection was broken.

If you think they definitely knew then report it to your bank as fraud.

Not sure they would even entertain that, as OP got a car. Only asked if "The car works" Witch it did. 

lisyloo

born_again said:

lisyloo said:

I don't think you can charge them for not having a recovery policy in place. That's your responsibility as a motorist.

Do you have any report on the faulty alternator? do you still have it?
The issue it whether it could be proved they knew the car was unroadworthy.
Or did the alternator unfortunately fail at that time?
I'm not a mechanic but would have thought there were states that could be proven they knew e.g. the connection was broken.

If you think they definitely knew then report it to your bank as fraud.

Not sure they would even entertain that, as OP got a car. Only asked if "The car works" Witch it did. 

If you read the whole post and the context, the bold bit is in the context of knowingly selling an unroadworthy vehicle which is a criminal offence if that is the case and can be proven.
The devil is usually in the detail.