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.

@imalmostthere

Well now you've taken the car back it's your responsibility. She can refuse to have it back and therefore you'd need to refund her as she's no longer in ownership of the car - you were once you picked it up.

She hasn't taken the car back she has taken it to a garage to check it isn't related to work they did the car isn't in her name it's not her car anymore

When you gave her a receipt, did you write ‘sold as seen’?

When you gave her a receipt, did you write ‘sold as seen’?

It was a private sale, OP isn’t a business so didn’t need to provide a receipt.

My mum recently brought a second hand car from the mechanic she has used for decades. She grew up in a setting of domestic abuse and hasn't had the best life. Due to this, she has a tendency to catastrophise and she always puts her self in the position of the victim. Consequently, when a few things went wrong with the car she purchased it was blown out of proportion.

If you gut is this woman isn't a scammer I'd go with your gut as there's lots of things that could be going on in the background for them to end up at your door.

The Money Advice Service has this advice:

"Buying from a private seller makes things slightly more complicated. As long as the product has been accurately described, you are not entitled to a refund, repair or replacement."

If your happy for the garage to look over it then do - that's the course of action I'd take. For what it costs, it gives you fantastic evidence to refuse to take it back. Plus, if she does go to the small claims court you have the evidnece that it was sold as described and you've tried your best to resolve the situation.

If everything is ok I'd then write her a letter explaining how her actions have made you feel, how much financial stress it has put you under etc. It might be useful for her and her friend to understand how their actions make others feel.

I hope tomorrow goes well for you.

Like others have already said, once the garage have given the car the all clear, inform the owner she can go and pick it up. Wash your hands if it at this point and be clear the car was sold as seen and this was a good will gesture and nothing more

@Thisgirlcando you might not have to but I always do to cover myself. I write ‘payment o f £4000 received from Ms Smith as payment for VW Golf Reg xxxxxx, sold as seen.’ Date it and both parties sign /carbon copy etc

We’re you even insured to drive it?

She sounds nuts. Sorry op. What a mess.

[quote AWhisperWillDoIfThatsAllYouCan]@HalzTangz

Nope. You can have 3rd part insurance to drive other cars. Your own insurance covers you on the other cars; you dont need to be named on the owner's policy.[/quote]
Not all insurances have it.

www.confused.com/car-insurance/guides/driving-other-cars-on-your-car-insurance

We’ve had this before with a motorbike. The buyer viewed it twice, test rode it and bought it. We transferred ownership online and they left. Half an hour later they called to say they’d changed their mind . We basically told them tough as they were the legal owners.

The came and banged on the doors until our neighbours came out and told them to leave. They sent us lots of letters saying mechanics had said it was actually faulty. In the end I wrote back clearly setting out on the law on the matter. They’d bought it as seen and they were responsible to ensure it was satisfactory to their needs before purchase. I told them not to contact us again or I’d contact the police. We haven’t heard from them since!

@Lorieandrews

I'm sorry, did I miss that part were I said everyone automatically had it? I believe I said that you CAN have it, not that you will definetly have it. The poster I was replying to seemed to think that Drive Other Car wasnt a thing that existed.

Could you not just leave it in the garage and ignore her? It's not your car, you have a new car. You don't know if you are insured to drive the old car or not.

It's her problem now, she knows where it is if she wishes to collect it. Call the police if she calls round again.

[quote AWhisperWillDoIfThatsAllYouCan]@Lorieandrews

I'm sorry, did I miss that part were I said everyone automatically had it? I believe I said that you CAN have it, not that you will definetly have it. The poster I was replying to seemed to think that Drive Other Car wasnt a thing that existed.[/quote]
Holy shit!

I only said not all have it

Goodness me
😂😂😂😂😂

I have never had insurance without being able to drive other cars not belonging to me, I thought it was fairly standard unless you were under 25.

Hi OP. As a private sale it is the buyers responsibility to check the car out before they purchase it as long as nothing in the advert was misleading your okay.

Its her responsibility now not yours and this is the risk we take when we buy a car privately so the buyer needs to do their homework xx good luck

Contact the garage ASAP and get them to call the owner of the car/ deal with only them and walk away.
I can only imagine that in the situation it was scary so you took it for them as a good person. But actually if they’re starting to threaten you, then you have more reason to call the police than they ever did!
Hope you’re okay can’t imagine that’s a nice feeling.

OP, despite what most people are saying on here I do think you have done the right thing. If the person that bought it is being honest then I feel for her, I bought a car which appeared to be fine on a test drive, I had someone look over it but in the way home it became clear that the head gasket had gone, I had spent £4000 and by the time I got home it was probably worth £200, I was gutted and the woman who sold it to me basically said “tough shit”. Yes cars are sold as seen but can you imagine spending all your savings on a car to find out it has a major engine problem after driving it for a day?

Get the garage to check it over, if they give it the all clear then get the new owner to collect it from the garage. If there’s nothing wrong with it then they are just trying it on. It could be that they have just changed there mind and don’t want it, if so they will look stupid when the garage gives it the all clear.

@Raspberrysins You’ve gone above and beyond, but I understand why. Please try to relax, and wait for the garage to report back. Go from there.

It is no longer your car, and you have the money and ownership change done. You have acted in very good faith also, and done more than necessary. Stand firm x
Come back with the result?

I just wanted to tell people that the AA will carry out a vehicle inspection on a private car for less than £200 and tell you a fair price.

I just wondered OP, if you put the car reg into "webuyanycar.com" how much does it say it would give you for the car?

Maybe negotiate a bit of a discount for her? As others have said, your mistake was that in taking the car back to the garage which kind of implies liability.

I wouldn't get into negotiating discounts for her - that's definitely taking on responsibility that isn't yours. Getting it checked by the garage is enough

You were very foolish. To take the car to the garage. When she turned up you should have just insisted it was 'sold as seen' and suggested she takes it to the garage to get checked.

@RedRiverShore

I have never had insurance without being able to drive other cars not belonging to me, I thought it was fairly standard unless you were under 25.

Some people only have third party insurance which probably means you can’t drive other cars.

We had this recently with a car we sold. There was nothing wrong with it, we advertised it for what we felt was a fair price. A couple came and looked at it, my ds took them out for a test drive. He checked with them if their insurance covered them to test drive our car but they said it didn't. So he drove them for 30 minutes on country lanes and also the motorway
Agreed price, everything OK, and they paid and took the car off.

The next day the husband rang up aiming that the car needed a new clutch and we needed to reimburse him. I explained that the clutch had a high biting point but that was a known issue and didn't mean the clutch needed replacing. We endured several difficult phone calls from him, and I almost said to bring the car back and I'd reimburse him as i didn't need the hassle. After 24 hours we never heard from him again.

OP, you need to stand firm here. If she had wanted to be sure the car was sound she should have had a mechanical check before she bought

Thank you @Lovemusic33 and @DoubleTweenQueen. I will update tomorrow on what happens. Thanks for all the advice on here. Some very helpful comments. It’s certainly been a steep learning curve for me! Yes some of you may think I’ve been foolish but I’ve shown willing and I think that gives me the moral upper hand. There is no way I could have just told her to go away from the start. I will, however , ask her not to come to my house again or contact me further.

Ring the garage. Tell them to do nothing. Ring her tell her you've spoken to authorities and they advise you have sold it so it's not your responsibility. The. Block!