Private Car Sale

[philario]

Hi everybody,

this is my first post here as i'm looking for some advice.

I recently sold a car privately. The car was working perfectly well and I'd recently been on a family holiday in it with no problems.
Anyway, the buyers are asking for a refund because they say the car is faulty.

I was contacted by the buyer a few days after the sale. She said that she had the vehicle inspected by a mechanic friend and it has a number of faults! One being the DPF and Engine had been removed recently and it is unsafe to drive????!!!!! Another being that the car cuts out when it hits 3000revs. (this never happened whilst I drove it)
I know nothing about cars and I told her that none of this was done whilst I owned the vehicle, and I didn't know of any faults with the car. Like i said, I went on holiday with my wife & kids in the car and experienced no problems.
She also said that there are bolts missing and loose pipes under the bonnet which can be clearly seen????, I politely pointed out to her that when she and her husband came to look at the car, they looked under the bonnet at the engine, under the car and took it for a test drive and were more than happy with it at the time.

I have since received a letter from her with some photos of the engine and a list of faults. She is also threatening me with legal action.
I've never been in a situation like this before and its giving me sleepless nights with worry.

I've read about the 'Buyer Beware' and the 'sale of goods act', but I'm still unsure of what to do????

For all I know they could've damaged the engine if they changed their minds about the car????

Do they have a case against me as it was a private sale??

Any help and advice much appreciated.

Thanks

[Challo]

Im sure there will be plenty of people on in a minute, but i would say as its a private sale, and you described the car correctly then I would ignore them and not respond.

How much was the car in question?

[philario]

Thanks for your reply.

I sold it for £3800.

[GreigM]

Do NOT communicate with them in any way, shape or form. This gets asked many times and people always prolong their agony by not simply ignoring the other party. No texts, emails, calls, letters - if they show up at your door shut the door, get the idea?

So long as you were honest in your advert (to the best of your knowledge and capability) then you have nothing to be worried about.

[FRA53R]

AFAIK private sale means no come back, up to the buyer to go in with their eyes open.

[GreigM]

FRA53R said:

AFAIK private sale means no come back

So long as the advert didn't misrepresent something, that is correct.

[rovermorris999]

Just ignore them. Unless you have willfully misrepresented the car there's nothing they can do. And even then they'd have to prove it.

[datum77]

Have been in the motor trade for over 45 years.
You sold the car privately. There is NOTHING they can do. If you buy a car from a dealer, the law is wholly on the consumers side. If you buy a car privately, there is NO law covering the buyer.
DO NOT answer any communication, however guilty you may feel. They will attempt to grind you down until you concede something or all. The law of 'buyer beware' covers them, not you.
Even if you receive something from a solicitor, (my wife is a solicitor), do not reply to it.
Take your money and spend it.

[philario]

Thanks guys for your quick replies.
I spoke to a solicitor this morning and he said respond but keep it short just saying it was roadworthy at the point of sale.
Should I not bother then?

[rovermorris999]

I'd just ignore everything from them. One good reason to get a free SIM and use it just for selling the car and bin it afterwards.

[GreigM]

philario said:

Thanks guys for your quick replies.
I spoke to a solicitor this morning and he said respond but keep it short just saying it was roadworthy at the point of sale.
Should I not bother then?

You need a better solicitor.

[rallycross]

datum77 said:

Have been in the motor trade for over 45 years.
You sold the car privately. There is NOTHING they can do. If you buy a car from a dealer, the law is wholly on the consumers side. If you buy a car privately, there is NO law covering the buyer.
DO NOT answer any communication, however guilty you may feel. They will attempt to grind you down until you concede something or all. The law of 'buyer beware' covers them, not you.
Even if you receive something from a solicitor, (my wife is a solicitor), do not reply to it.
Take your money and spend it.

This is correct, ignore the buyer they are just trying it on, if you area genuine private seller then there is no come back for the buyer this type of idiotic post purchase complaining.

Also ignore the idiots on here who will try and complicate things by talking about mis-representation in a private advert, this will not affect things, private sale, buyer beware etc.

[Nezquick]

Do not respond to them at all....as others have said. They have no recourse against you and you owe them nothing.

Interesting that they didn't get the car inspected before they bought it, which any prudent buyer would do if they were that bothered. You have no way of knowing what they've done to the car since they took it and all of these "problems" could have been caused by them or they are simply taking the piss and trying to get their money back from you by being chancers.

As stated above, offer them nothing and ignore all correspondence.

Sleep easy this weekend!

[EskimoArapaho]

philario said:

Thanks guys for your quick replies.
I spoke to a solicitor this morning and he said respond but keep it short just saying it was roadworthy at the point of sale.
Should I not bother then?

:-o If that's genuinely what your solicitor said, you should sack him/her and get another one. Do not mention that it was roadworthy or reliable or any other adjective in any communication. Do not get into the truth/otherwise of ANY of the buyer's claims.

Ignore this, and you risk your own words coming back to bite you if the buyer decides to chance her arm through Small Claims.

[Hainey]

Can we have a sticky on this?

If we can have ones from people whose aim is selling us things, hows about we have one that benefits those in distress?

Just a thought.

Oh, and OP, as has been said. Relax. It's a scam. They have less comeback than a faulty boomerang.

[rovermorris999]

rallycross said:

Also ignore the idiots on here who will try and complicate things by talking about mis-representation in a private advert, this will not affect things, private sale, buyer beware etc.

I presume you mean me. If he lied and it could be shown that he had the purchaser might have a case but it's highly unlikely anything would ever come of it.
As an example
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthr...

[Riknos]

Hainey said:

Oh, and OP, as has been said. Relax. It's a scam. They have less comeback than a faulty boomerang.

This. Chances are they want a full refund, because the car they return to you wont be the same car you sold them / will have bits swapped out / missing etc. Proper ball ache, just ignore them - they sound like evil little sts and I hate people like that, just ignore them until they do one!

[p1tse]

Sorry to hear

Just out of curiosity what car is it, not that it matters

Can't help on more than above but for those selling and buying I always print or write up two of these for both parties and time and date it (time is important for any offences on the car after)

http://www.theaa.com/resources/Documents/pdf/motor...

[Matt100HP]

As has already been said, ignore them entirely, it's a scam. Once they realise that you have no intention of any further dealings with them (read: giving them any money or taking back the car), they'll soon get bored and start the whole cycle again with someone else and another car.

[jonah35]

Its her own fault and not your problem. She bought the car and you owe her absolutely nothing. Don't fall for it.