Private car sale issue

[confusedmate]

A friend has bought a car from a private seller. Spent 12k. Car worked at first now won't start. Looks like she's bought a duff. No answer from seller.

She stupidly paid by bank transfer as seller said they didn't have PayPal or anything?
When she went to buy it she said he was at his place of work. I said I'll go there with her.

Is there anything she can do? I fear not but thought I'd ask.

Unfortunately not - caveat emptor.

Please don't go to the persons place of work - there is no legal basis for you or her to do this.

This is from a car insurance site:

These are your rights when buying a used car from a private seller:

• The seller must have the legal right to sell you the vehicle.
• The car must match the seller’s description – an advert can’t say ‘one previous owner’ if it’s had several.
• The car must be roadworthy and safe to drive on public roads – it’s a criminal offence for someone to sell you an unroadworthy car, unless you’re fully aware of its condition.

If the car isn’t as described, you have the right to ask the seller for a refund. If the seller refuses, you may be able to take them to the small claims court to get your money back. It’s not guaranteed that you’ll win, however.

So it comes down to whether the car was as described and whether it was roadworthy at the time of sale.

It isn’t quite “caveat emptor”: a private seller mustn’t attempt to hide a fault, sell a car they know to be unroadworthy as roadworthy, or sell a car with a known issue without declaring it. However, in practice, whether your friend has any likelihood of redress will depend on whether she’s able to demonstrate conclusively that the seller knew about it.

What was the time period between the sale and your friend discovering the car was faulty? What is the fault? Has she taken it to a mechanic who holds the view that the seller is certain or likely to have known about the issue and / or has done something temporarily to conceal it? What is the car’s MOT and service history like?

Don’t go to their place of work. It’s not a matter for their employer to get involved in, and you don’t want to risk the employer involving the police because you’re causing a scene on their premises. Once your friend has a mechanic’s report, she can write to the seller formally, detailing that she believes they missold the car and she will be pursuing it.

That's where he sold it from.

Thanks @ComtesseDeSpair and @SwanOfThoseThings

Any idea why it won't start?

Of course a private seller isn’t required to disclose any issues, as long as they don’t misrepresent it in the ad, for example stating that it doesn’t use any oil when in fact it does. It doesn’t sound as though they were sold an unroadworthy car either. Obviously there can be MANY reasons that a car won’t start, best place to start is a mechanic.

I meant might just need a battery; has it seen a mechanic?

Unless his place of work is a car showroom and the car was sold to you from that business, you have absolutely no reason to turn up at this person's place of work.

They may (quite rightly) be furious and you may not like the response.

Ultimately a private seller isn't held to the same standards as a business - as long as the car was legally roadworthy and the seller didn't misrepresent this in the listing, you're likely out of luck.

You say that the car was fine "at first" - how long between the sale and the car not working?

What did the mechanic say when your friend took it in to find out why it wasn't starting?