Page 8 | Sold my car and buyer isn't happy

DolphinaPD · 09/05/2022 16:41

3 words. Sold as seen.

DeskInUse · 09/05/2022 16:42

Buyer beware I'm afraid, it's her issue.

hellcatspanglelalala · 09/05/2022 16:42

I had this a few weeks ago - sold the car having passed the mot two days prior, and the buyer text me a week later saying his garage said it shouldn't have passed and he'd had to spend £500 on new tyres and brake pads. I did initially engage, just to say I fully trusted the garage who did the MOT, but didn't respond any further. I've not heard anything since.

As others have said, you're not a dealer and there's no guarantee on a private sale of a used car. I have to admit it did worry me though, and I did feel a bit guilty even though it was sold as seen (obviously I had no idea it was in need of new tyres, I assume it only just passed the MOT and his garage just advised him to get them replaced)

Tessasanderson · 09/05/2022 16:49

thedancingbear · 09/05/2022 16:33

There are actually quite a lot of convictions under this provision - google it. It's usually dealers, I grant you, and, from memory, prosecutions have tended to be where dealers have sold multiple ringers and Trading Standards have evidence of deliberate wrongdoing.

But the provision applies to private sales too. A prosecution would be unlikely but not impossible - if the buyer drives off and is immediately involved in a serious crash, and the brakes are obviously faulty, then meeting the criminal standard isn't going to be difficult.

I don't have any particular agenda in posting this, but the fact is that, if the OP has sold a car with faulty brakes, and has not disclosed this, she has broken the law. Small claims route is much more viable than trading standards, of court, at least if her buyer has a mate in a garage who is prepared to give a statement.

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Dancing Bear you seem to be getting yourself in a muddle. You refer to rules that apply to dealers (Of course a dealer has a responsibility). But then you are tyring to imply that the same rules apply to joe bloggs. They dont.

The only glint of a situation is if the OP had taken her car into a garage a few days before, been advised the brakes needed replacing urgently and then proceeded to sell the car. EVEN THEN its still reliant on the purchaser asking "Are the brakes good" and the OP replying "Yes".

Dixiechickonhols · 09/05/2022 16:52

There is no chance if any comeback on Op she’s done absolutely nothing wrong. How can buyer prove she knew it had faulty brakes when she sold it. Her evidence is it was driving fine and had recently passed mot. She’s a private seller not a trade dealer. Buyer could have damaged it, garage might be pulling a fast one.
I had a garage (main dealer) quote me £500 for a brake repair. It was very occasionally binding on if I went to go into reverse - once a blue moon if been left standing for days. Not unsafe just had to take foot off clutch and put in gear again. I was very suspicious as it was funny they picked it up just out of warranty. I’d asked about it in warranty and been told it was quite normal. Needless to say I didn’t pay, a mechanic friend hit it with a lump hammer and I had no more issues and it passed all future MOTs.

AchatAVendre · 09/05/2022 16:53

thedancingbear · 09/05/2022 16:33

There are actually quite a lot of convictions under this provision - google it. It's usually dealers, I grant you, and, from memory, prosecutions have tended to be where dealers have sold multiple ringers and Trading Standards have evidence of deliberate wrongdoing.

But the provision applies to private sales too. A prosecution would be unlikely but not impossible - if the buyer drives off and is immediately involved in a serious crash, and the brakes are obviously faulty, then meeting the criminal standard isn't going to be difficult.

I don't have any particular agenda in posting this, but the fact is that, if the OP has sold a car with faulty brakes, and has not disclosed this, she has broken the law. Small claims route is much more viable than trading standards, of court, at least if her buyer has a mate in a garage who is prepared to give a statement.

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Yes! Not of private sellers! That is never going to work with a car sold in these circumstances. The legislation isn't designed to protect non-consumer sales. It would a basic breach of contract action, and its too difficult to prove the OP breached her contract of selling a 13 year old car with a current MOT because all thats required under the contract is that it meets any description she has given.

Time2ChangeName · 09/05/2022 16:55

the fact is that, if the OP has sold a car with faulty brakes, and has not disclosed this, she has broken the law.

Says the buyer who’s refused to test drive. The buyer needs to accept that they are not blameless in this transaction.
If I sold my car now am I expected to get a mechanic to check everything? If it drives ok and there’s no squeaking or grinding of the brakes and the last service/MOT said they were all in order?
Presumably they were using the vehicle in the days/weeks leading up to the sale and it all seemed ok. She hasn’t broken the law if you have shown due diligence which the OP appears to have done.

browneyes77 · 09/05/2022 16:59

It’s Sold as Seen. So it’s tough shit!

She can sell it herself and use the money to get something else if she’s that bothered.

Do not engage any further. She has no legal rights on this. So ignore and block.

ImAvingOops · 09/05/2022 17:47

The OP has no way of knowing what the brakes are like - she's had it MOTd which is what normal people rely on to know their cars are road worthy. Even if the buyer tried to take it further, the fact that they refused a test drive and didn't even look at the car, wouldn't bode well for them.

Tschecked · 09/05/2022 18:03

Tessasanderson · 09/05/2022 16:31

I have 25yrs motor trade experience. OP please repeat this to yourself

YOU HAVE ZERO MECHANICAL KNOWLEDGE

In other words you cannot be expected to know one way or another if there is or isnt anything wrong with your car. If i ask "are the brakes ok", you dont bloody know. If i ask "Is the engine ok", You dont know. The only questions you can answer are

When is the MOT due
How much will it cost

If i asked you how to carry out frontal lobe brain surgery you would tell me to jog on. Why should you be able to answer mechanical questions about a car. Anyone questioning the price you charged hasnt got a scooby about selling a used car. A garage would buy your car, put it through their workshops, make sure it was roadworthy, mot it and put an element of profit way more than a few hundred quid. You did EVERYTHING correctly

Thank goodness... but some won't believe you are the motor trade or know what you are talking about.

LuaDipa · 09/05/2022 18:23

Discovereads · 09/05/2022 11:38

To take a car you just bought to a garage and find out you paid £900 over its value for a 13yr old car would be a shock. Most 13yr old cars are under £5k, so that’s a massive difference.

Why did you price the car at £500 over what a dealer offered you for it? How much % of an increase was this? You showed her the boot issue, and she could have seen the wipers, but why did you not mention the brakes?

Yes the law says caveat emptor (buyer beware) but part of me thinks you’ve been a bit greedy and taken advantage of a less well off person by deliberately charging them too high a price for your 13 yr old car and not disclosing expensive brake maintenance you knew was due.

Seriously?

Dealers offer less than the value of the car so they can sell it on and make a profit. Hence trade value and retail value. All op has done is cut out the middle man and sell retail (likely for less than a dealer would have charged). Have you actually ever bought a car?

Time2ChangeName · 09/05/2022 18:27

Jillyfernilly · 09/05/2022 16:16

I'm gobsmacked @Discovereads last time I sold a car (ages ago btw). Dealer offered me £800 trade in value.

I sold it privately for 2K (and bought my new car from a different dealer) who wasn't trying to rip me off and didn't try to stop me test driving the car i wanted on the basis of my biological sex. Apparently women don't drive Audi A3s....

I bought another Golf in the end.

Well @Jillyfernilly according to @Discovereads if the OP was greedy, what does that mean about you 😜🙄😂😉

Musicalmaestro · 09/05/2022 18:51

Conversely, We sold our campervan to a dealer for £8000 as we didn’t want the hassle of selling privately. It was on the forecourt the next week for £15,000!

Gudbrand · 09/05/2022 18:51

The price a dealer quotes is always less than you could actually sell it for because a dealer has to buy it at a lower price than they can sell it for to make money on it. So if asked to say how much it's worth, they are going to give a lower price.
I'm in another country and people always try to sell cars privately because you can get a lot more money for them than if you sell to a dealer.

She's probably just trying it on though - typical attempt at a scam.
Car sold as seen. Bye. Block.

WiddlinDiddlin · 09/05/2022 19:16

DontBlameMe79 · 09/05/2022 12:36

Maybe offer the buyer a few hundred as a goodwill gesture? You never know what people are capable of in terms of making your life miserable and this could be a way to nip it in the bud.

That is EXACTLY the scam some people try to work - kick up a fuss in the hope the seller is scared or worried or just can't deal with the stress and gives them some money back.

The OP has done nothing wrong - it was the buyers choice to purchase the car at the price they handed over.

They would need to find cast iron proof not only that there are serious faults with the car, but that the seller absolutely knew about them, and took steps to prevent them discovering the faults, before this would go anywhere near being a fraudulent sale.

Since they did not bring someone with them to check out the car and are not qualified to do so themselves AND they declined a test drive... they fail at the first hurdle.

Glittertwins · 09/05/2022 19:27

Sold as seen, not your problem. Block the number.
Somebody tried doing this to a friend a few years ago. Tried to claim oil issue/leak or something similar except there was no such thing as he'd checked it all over before.

Whatthebarnacles · 10/05/2022 19:04

Put the reg in on webuyanycar, screenshot the value and send it to her. If the dealer offered slightly less than what she paid, its because they would have charged more than what she paid.

And surprisingly, I wanted to buy a second hand car last year, found one at a fair price within budget - got garage (the proper dealership i.e. bmw car/bmw garage) to check it out. They advised xyz needed doing so I counter offered. They checked on wbac and ended up getting almost 2k more than what the original selling price was so they cancelled the sale and sold it to then instead. I knew the seller and went with them to sell it (in case they drastically reduced their online offer on sight of the car) and they only took a hundred odd pound off their online valuation due to damaged alloy.

Worth a look, going on my experience. You're likely to see a better price than the dealer offered in the first place which gives you something to back up your valuation with.

jenkel · 10/05/2022 19:04

Dh had this, he sold a car a lot older than this with very high mileage, it’s an unusual car. It had however just passed an mot. Buyer bought it without even test driving it, we offered them a test drive. After they took it away they complained, apparently took it to another garage and it should have never even passed the mot. News to us as we had no reason to doubt the mot, we stressed it was sold as seen, but they got quite abusive and threatening, I was quite worried as they obviously knew where we lived. We stressed that we offered a test drive which they refused, lots more horrible text messsges back from them and then it went quiet, this was 6 months ago now so I think they were just trying to frighten us.

pollymere · 10/05/2022 19:43

It's s private sale, you're not a dealer. I suspect she has little legal comeback. Just move on.

rb124 · 10/05/2022 19:49

As othersbhave said, she bought the car "as seen", and both the RAC and AA have a service where they'll come and give a car a once over for you that she could have used - her problem, not yours!

wentworthinmate · 10/05/2022 20:03

Scam. Probably not been to a garage at all.

Scoobydoobydo · 10/05/2022 20:11

It’s a shame she isn’t happy
its also tough tits
buyer beware
its also nothing to do with you anymore ( unless you are a car trader)

have no further contact with her

PeachyPeachTrees · 10/05/2022 20:25

OP is not greedy! The buyer could have haggled more or walked away.
I wouldn't expect to buy a 13 year old car and have zero problems. They are a chancer.

Grrrrdarling · 10/05/2022 20:50

monotonousmum · 09/05/2022 11:24

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?

Sold as seen & who buys a car without test driving it? She refused a test drive & if she had wanted to I am sure you would have let her bring a mechanic to your house to check it out but as she refused the test drive I’d say she’d probably have refused that too.
Not your problem if she is not happy with the car, you are not a dealership & you have no idea how she has driven your car since she has had it in her possession so any issues are her issues as the car is now hers.

BalloonsAndWhistles · 10/05/2022 21:12

Tough. When we sold our shit car a couple of years ago, we showed the guy everything in detail and he had a test drive. Before he left I sent him a text message detailing everything we had discussed and asked him to respond to it before I transferred over ownership of the vehicle and money changed hands.

Just block her. She bought the car as seen and it’s her fault for not taking it out on a test drive or negotiating harder.