Sold my car and buyer isn't happy

[monotonousmum]

I sold my car at the weekend, and the buyer has messaged today to say she isn't happy.

Car is 13 years old. Only known issue is that the boot needs to be opened via remote button on the key. It's been like this for three years - and I showed her this before she took the car.

This morning I've had a text to say she's taken it to a garage and they've valued it at £900 under what she paid for it. Brakes need doing, wiper needs replacing, and apparently an electrical problem causes the boot issue.

She hasn't asked me for anything yet. Just told me she's not happy.

I've sent a polite response back to say its a good car, and she should maybe get another opinion. A dealer offered me £200 under what she paid for it last week, and it's a 13 year old car so not going to be perfect.

I offered her to test drive it, she didn't want to. She asked for a reduced price, which was agreed (slightly more than she offered, but £300 less than my asking price). The price was in line with the autotrader valuation, and similar cars for sale.

I feel bad for her if she's not happy, but I have no intention of giving her a refund or anything. AIBU?

I had a job years ago that needed to check car valuations there were books called Parker’s and Glasses Guide which gave various prices for same car inc trade in. Why else would a dealer buy it if they couldn’t sell at a profit.
In this case Op has made £200 over dealer offer and is probably wishing she’d just traded it in. Hardly greedy.

I recently paid well over the 'book' price for an old second hand car from a dealer, and bought an extra guarantee. A fault developed quickly but it was fixed under the guarantee. This is why it is better to buy from a dealer if you don't know enough about cars yourself. In the past I have got AA or RAC to do a check on a second hand vehicle before buying (it was an employer loan requirement) so again that option was open to the buyer - before she committed to buying the car.

You know dealers offer less so they can price in a margin, right?

you did nothing wrong OP. Block her- if you want to be nice say sorry she felt that way, but it was sold as seen and she was happy so there is nothing you can do, then block.

Private sales are 'sold as seen' and 'buyer beware'. If the buyer wanted more buyer's rights then they should have gone to a professional car dealer.

Like people have said, it was sold as seen. She could’ve have an inspection carried out before she purchased but she didn’t, buyer beware sale so block and move on.

You sell a car for as much as you can get for it. Surprised by the people on here who think you should be doing anything else. Bizarre.

Sold as seen.
You should've printed her a document : invoice to say so.
Her complaints are petty.

I'm wondering what my fault was? Selling it at the guide price, and not at dealer price?

I could have had it serviced before selling, but didn't really want to throw away £250. It was driving fine - and sounds like it still is.

I think I'd be a bit upset if I'd bought a car and found out the brakes needed replacing. But they were fine less than 3k miles ago, so I can't imagine they could be that bad now.

I haven't heard back from her. So hopefully she's got a second opinion and realised the price was fair.

“This woman is trying it on.”
Why is it ok to assume the buyer is a scammer but not ok to ask the OP why they priced the car £500 over it’s market value and whether the brakes truly were not known when that seems unlikely given how MOTs are done?

@Discovereads

1. It's a well known scam.
2. There's a difference between market value, a dealer trade in value, and a dealer purchase value which you seem to not understand.
3. MoTs are almost worthless in terms establishing the condition of a car. They're a snapshot of the roadworthiness of the vehicle on the day it's presented for test and that's it. They're also purely subjective. I spent over 12 years in the trade and put literally 1000s of vehicle through tests. I've seen things that really shouldn't have passed, pass and things that definitely should have passed, fail. I've seen advisories noted on one mot and then disappear a year later despite no work being done. MOT history is useful for confirming mileage and giving a little insight into how it's been used I.e., if there's repeated advisories for bulbs, wipers, tyres, etc you know the owner doesn't do basic checks. If there's constant suspension fails you know they either live somewhere v bumpy or just plow through every bump/potholes.

P.s. I can 100% guarantee that most dealers do not carry out a full service on any vehicle they sell. Eats into the already fairly small profit margin.

Your fault is potentially selling a car that is unroadworthy, most plausibly because it has faulty brakes (if this turns out to be true, which is a big if). Fine if you tell your buyer that the brakes need looking at, not fine if you haven't.

Of course whether your buyer can, as a practical thing, do anything about this, is the next question.

I have an 11 year old car and my brakes want doing every 18 months or so. Yes ok it's an auto so I expect a bit more wear than a manual but even so it's just maintenance isn't it. You expect it in any car you buy.

I got mine from a dealer and straight away I could see it needed new tyres and wipers as the previous owner hardly used it. She literally did under 2k miles a year so the tyres were cracking.

It's just the usual annual or so upkeep that she'd be doing anyway. Unless there is an urgent fault with the brakes yanbu. As long as you press the pedal and it stops, it's fine.

I completely disagree. No dealer will ever offer the true second hand value of a vehicle, otherwise they’d make no money! It’s very easy to find out the value of a second hand car via various websites, etc. The buyer should have done her homework before seeing and offering on the car. Most 13 year old cars will need some sort of work done, my old Seat used to need hundreds spent at every mot. I don’t see anywhere the op says she knew about expensive brake maintenance?

Last time I bought a second hand car I paid £100 to have it checked by the AA.

She should have done this.

@Discovereads ah come on now everyone knows you get more selling a car privately than what a dealer offers you, that's the way it has worked for like forever.
OP - don't even engage, block her straight away

FFS
I'm laughing at these people criticising OP for selling at £500 over guide price. Her audacity.
She advertised, the woman bought. Did she negotiate? The price as agreed. End of.

@thedancingbear .... private cars sales are buyer beware. Car only has to be roadworthy and as described and the seller has to have the tight to sell the car and thats all.
Buying a used car privately

You won't have the same legal protection as you would if buying from a dealer
It's up to you to ask the right questions and inspect the car thoroughly before you buy.
It's a good idea to get a thorough car check to make sure there's no shady past.
Because your legal rights are more limited, unscrupulous dealers may masquerade as private sellers:

Be very wary if a private seller wants to meet you somewhere other than at their home, or if their name is not on the V5C registration document.
A dealer pretending to be a private seller is committing a criminal offence.
The only legal terms that cover a private sale contract are:

The seller must have the right to sell the car.
The vehicle should match the description given by the seller.
The car must be roadworthy – it is a criminal offence to sell an unroadworthy car and an MOT certificate from a test several months ago is no guarantee that the car is roadworthy today.

www.theaa.com/car-buying/legal-rights

I have just bought a new car. The dealer was upfront and said I could a. Trade car in. B go to we buy any car or c. Sell privately. You get more if you sell privately. That's not a shock to anyone that's bought a car. He offered me around £200 less than we buy any car (had already done my own valuation before) but could have probably got 800 or so more for a private sale. It's not greedy to do that - you offer it at a price and someone either buys it or they don't. I didn't want the hassle so accepted the lower valuation.

If you buy privately, you have zero come back. Zero guarantee. You buy as seen. It's risky unless you know about cars.

I would block.

Why would you buy a car and then take it to a garage to have it checked and valued?

She’s having you on op.

Based on facebook/gumtree/eBay selling threads here and personal experience expect follow up messages in the coming todays and an insistence that it is your problem to solve, not theirs, demands for a refund etc. If refused expect abuse and if blocked for their family and friends to message you in similar fashion and statuses and posts on local groups deriding you.

Good luck.

I think I'd be a bit upset if I'd bought a car and found out the brakes needed replacing. But they were fine less than 3k miles ago, so I can't imagine they could be that bad now.

With brakes, there's a standard thickness for the pads at which they are okay, and if thinner, you need to replace them. It's perfectly reasonable that they were okay three months ago but have now crossed the line into needing replacement.

She didn’t have it on for £500 over guide price it was £500 over dealer trade in. Woman haggled her down by £300.
so eg dealer offered £1500. Op advertises for £2000. Woman gets for £1800. Dealer would have sold it for £2500. A second hand car is worth what someone will pay.
No idea how you are supposed to know your car has brake issues if it passed mot no advisory 3000 miles ago. I drive an older car and wouldn’t have a clue. If I sold mine tomorrow it has a valid mot and drives fine - I’ve no idea what’s up with it or not.

If she contacts you again, reply her to her with something polite and end the conversation there.

I'm confused. This is exactly what I posted?!

If I was selling a car I'd look on auto trader to get an idea of the price to ask
If I was buying a car I'd take someone who knows more than I do about cars to look it over
If I was buying a car I would test drive it.
Sold as seen.
OP has done nothing wrong

I feel bad for her if she's not happy, but I have no intention of giving her a refund or anything. AIBU?

Stop feeling bad for her. She refused your offer of a test drive - weird. And she could have brought someone with her to check the car over before buying it. The AA do vehicle inspections, for example. Either she's trying to scam you or the garage is trying to scam her (assuming there is actually a real garage involved).

We recently sold a car, older than yours, and got much more for it than we would have a couple of years ago. It came as a pleasant surprise to us, but I had read about the increased prices in the second-hand market due to supply chain issues for new cars. We set the price according to Autotrader too. As has already been pointed out, IF she is now quibbling over money, it's because "She's probably had comments from a male member of her family or friend giving it the big talk and saying she was ripped off, when in reality it was fine for the price."

If she comes back to you looking for money (after all, she's already made you feel bad, hasn't she?) refuse and block. You're a private seller, she had every opportunity to have the car looked at before buying. She's owed nothing.