Sold car privately now they want their money back

[Raspberrysins]

I sold my car to a lady on Facebook. She test drove it on Monday. Picked it up on Friday. Meanwhile I also found a car and bought it with the proceeds. She turned up on my doorstep yesterday claiming the car is ‘no good’ and wants her money back. She said it smells of fumes and that the engine was smoking. She brought another lady who was pretty bolshy. I didn’t know what to do! She demanded that I go and pick it up from her house and so I did this and also I arranged for the garage who’d recently MOT’d it to take it for a check on Monday. I did this all as a gesture of goodwill. I felt sorry for her as honestly the car had been fine for me and just had some work done. I’m feeling so anxious now about what the outcome might be. What if the garage uncover a problem that I didn’t know about? What’s my responsibility? The car is legally hers and my understanding is that with a private sale it’s ‘sold as seen’. It’s up to her to check it properly. I never set out to scam anyone. I know officially I don’t have to do anything but I feel so very anxious. Her son lives in my village and I am worried they might cause trouble.

court

you sold a car privately. You are not a dealer. No comeback on you. Do not accept responsibility. Take the car back post keys back in letterbox, take photos and a witness. tell them if any more contact police will be called. Then walk away and call the police ask for a log to be created and filed outlining the circumstances. Job done. Im a retired traffic cop and formerly a car dealer.

It's up to her to check the car is in good nick, not for you to prove it.
OP in the nicest possible way if you havent got the confidence to assertively deal with matters like this then i would avoid any form of buying or selling on FB.

It is sold as seen. She could easily have paid for it to be checked by a mechanic before she paid if she wanted to.

The correct answer to her threat to phone the Police would be "ok, and I'll call them if you don't leave".

[quote Raspberrysins]@Mrsbrownsgargoyle I haven’t taken it back I just delivered it to the garage as she refused to do it herself. I don’t see how this makes me look guilty? Wasn’t I just doing the right thing? It’s a local garage and they did the work on the car.[/quote]
So what if she refused to do it herself?

@Easterbunnygettingready

You stop communicating with her. Tell gej garage to ring her and for her to collect.. Did she full in the paperwork?

The garage won't get involved. OP was the one who took the car to be checked over. Not a chance the garage will be getting involved in this dispute. They will be expecting any payment due to come from OP.

You should not be driving the car as you are no longer insured to do so (unless you have a fully comp that allows you to drive other cars) . And if you did have a knock it would seriously complicate things. Have you seen her insurance details? Have you sent off the change of ownership slip to the DVLA?

I think with a private seller it is always buyer beware. She should have got someone, either a competent friend or the AA to check the car over first.

As if the police would get involved in a civil dispute of this nature.

Op isn't the owner. Garage can scrap it if the OWNER doesn't show up...

And as others have said, who do you think the garage will be looking at to pay any charges? Phone the garage, leave a message on their machine not to touch the car, go there first thing tomorrow, get the keys back and return them to her telling her where the car is. Give the garage her details as well.

This isn't your problem OP. There was nothing stopping her paying for a health check. It costs a few quid but everyone should do it with a pre-owned car imo.

Tell her where the car is and to collect it herself and not to contact you again. If she turns up then you ring the police yourself

@Wavescrashingonthebeach you are most certainly right about that. I really did try to be assertive but I also kept thinking how upset I’d be if I was in her shoes. She’s just spent the best part of 4 grand on a car that I sold and she thinks it’s faulty. I thought I was being reasonable. Obvs with hindsight I may have done things differently. I wasn’t aware of the legal rights at the time and definitely should have been.

Id drive it to a car park run by Parking Eye or somesuch not pay the parking fee, and tell her it's been stolen. Her problem, not yours. But Im petty.

Thank you @gamerchick I will do this. It’s tempting to deliver it back to her house but I think this is more risky due to insurance.

Where is the car now ?
Abs what’s the insurance situation?

Do not touch the car again. When the garage confirm it's fine send text saying "car was fine, you can now pick up from garage".

Then ignore everything apart from a letter from the small claims court. And call the police/don't answer the door if they come round again.

You've spent the money, you literally can't give them it back 🤷‍♀️

It would have been better to sell it to someone outside your village and wasn't quite so 'laity'.

Lairy

@Raspberrysins

That's why i would probably avoid private sales and leave them to people who know what they are doing. I used my last car as a part deposit at the dealership towards the one im in now. Hope it all gets sorted out for you!

Yikes! I'd tell the garage to contact her about picking up the car as she is now the owner,

Tell her you'll be happy to call the police if she shows up again.

No way she'll take this to court. She'll have to prove its faulty and provide an independent engineers report.

It's her car. Make sure the garage communicates with her not you. Use Facebook to message her stating you will call 101 if she continues to harass you.

I’m not sure you’ve screwed up as much as everyone is saying.

You paid for the car to have work done, she thinks there is an issue with the work the garage undertook, so you took it back to the garage as an act of goodwill. I think that’s fair enough. It’s what happens now that’s the problem. If the garage say the work is fine then she'll want a refund. If the garage say there’s a further issue then she’ll want you to pay for it. So you need to decide what you do next.

Taking it back was an error IMO. Gives the impression you agree with her concerns.
Too late now. Whatever the garage say, give the car back to her and tell her you don’t have any money.