To not take car back after selling it.

[Ihateselling]

I sold my car on Facebook just less than a week ago. I listed it with a very honest description and detailed photos of everything currently wrong with it. 15 years old and over 150,000 miles so a well loved old banger. Listed for £1200, sold for £1000.
Buyer has come back today saying the car has started making a rattle noise and wants to return it. I've said no, it was not rattling last week, he test drove it before he agreed to buy it.
AIBU to stick to my guns here? We're not a car shop, just a family selling our old banger for a slightly better car. We were honest about everything with the car when they bought it.

Buyer beware

Don’t take it back. Cars used to be be sold with the caveat ‘sold as seen’.

YANBU

They take their chance on sold as seen bargains

Plus you don't know what they have done to it in the last week!

YANBU.

Caveat Emptor.

If he wanted a 3 month warranty he should have put his short arms in his long pockets and bought from a dealer. Chancer.

Yanbu. Sold as seen and they had a test drive. Its very unfortunate for the buyer but its a risk you take.

This is exactly why I went to a garage rather than buying private when I bought a used car last year though. I've learnt the hard way buying private before and never again.

Yep this. Not your problem.

Someone needed a car for a week and thought this would be cheaper than renting one. No is a complete sentence.

Buyer beware is relevant in this scenario and sold as seen..

You aren't a garage ! He has no right to a refund ! It's been in his possession for a week . You have no idea what has happened to it and if something broke it's too bad

£1000 for a car so super cheap!!

Thank you. That's helpful. I'll stick with my guns then!!

We sold our classic convertible, and the lady took it for a test drive with my husband. They stopped and he showed it how to put the roof up and down and she did that a few times, drove the car back to our house, did the deal. And she got in touch an hour later to say the roof mechanism had failed, but was just letting us know in a kind of 'isn't that typical' way. She knew it was a case of caveat emptor, let the buyer beware.

Sold as seen.

My bloody car's rattling because of the bloody, bloody potholes around here and now needs to go into the garage.

I suspect similar has happened.

Yanbu

Not only is it legally ‘sold as seen’ in a private sale, this can be a known scam - basically various parts are stripped out and replaced with defective versions that last just long enough to get the car back to you.

Alternatively, as a PP has suggested, he thought this would be cheaper than renting a car.

If he wanted some sort of guarantee / warranty, he should have bought from a garage or got a pre-purchase car check done. I got the AA to do mine years ago - I don’t know if they still do them but I bet a local mechanic would.

I agree with everyone else - buyer beware and sold as seen. Especially as they test drove it!

I had a similar request from a bonkers woman that bought my car. I'd never do a private sale ever again - she completely put me off!

Unless you are a grease monkey or dealer the appropriate response is bugger off.

It's a cheap car sold privately and legally, they don't have a leg to stand on. Your buyer had ample opportunity to inspect it and should have done that. A rattling noise could be anything. At the risk of impugning your former motor, but petrol head DP reckons he's lucky the thing moves. CF!

Just selling privately doesn't mean "sold as seen." It's something often touted on here but isn't quite accurate. The buyer still has legal rights, so it can be sold as seen but just match any photos and selling descriptions you've provided. As long as they were accurate you're fine, but it's a "sold as advertised and inspected at the time" type thing.

We sold our car that was an absolute gem. In over 10 years it had done less than 40,000 miles. DH was very attentive to it, had a full service done each year, he changed all the things it may need long before they were needed (timing belt or whatever) and it never had a single issue. MOTs were pass first time.
The young lassie who bought it ran it into the ground within the first 6 months. Drove it like a rally car (she was local and we'd see her on the main A road and worse, flying down the pothole filled country B road like she was on Top Gear's Stig) and we were really sad to see her later slating us for selling us a piece of crap. No she killed DH's treasured motor and was mad about it.

OP, don't take the car back.

nope. He could have bought a stand-alone warranty.

No. For all you know they have taken a working part they needed for another car and put a broken part back.

Politely but FIRMLY say you will not be reversing the sale and then block them.

What do you expect if you buy an old car with that many miles , just say no and block them .

Return it 🤣🤣 you’re not John Lewis!