Private car sale issues
Discussion
Hi all - long time lurker, first time posting.
I’ll keep this brief and factual and hope someone can offer up advice.
I’ve read the WIKI but think this is further stages along.
I sold a car two weeks ago. (12 years old, 130,000 miles) privately to a private buyer.
Since I live in the middle of no where and the buyer was getting the train up I said I would meet them at the train station with the vehicle, there is little to no taxi service.
The vehicle had been driven under 5 miles to the station and left for 20 minutes as I waited.
Buyer turns up. Asks me to start the car whilst he has the bonnet open and looks around. Said he’s happy. Can I drive him for the first part of the test drive, all fine so far. Swap over half way, he completes the test drive and we end up at my house and agree a deal after he haggled for ages. Deal done, cash paid, V5 signed and off he goes with a smile on his face.
3 days later I get a text asking if I knew of any lumpy idle on cold start, I replied no, as I didn’t and the car had been fine for me.
Thought no more of it, but I get more messages stating the car has a lumpy idle for a few seconds on start up and then is fine for the rest of the day. I then ignored this.
I then receive a message stating the guy wants to return the vehicle to me as it’s not as I described in the advert of a ‘smooth drive’. He says it is not smooth to drive from a cold start.
Fast forward almost two weeks later and I’ve received another message stating a specialist has inspected the vehicle, one cylinder has low cold compression but is fine when warm, and in the specialist opinion I would have known about this and this specialist evidence will be used in small claims court against me.
For me this is pretty worrying, I knew of no issues with the car, this was a private sale, I spend my day behind a drawing board so I’m far from a mechanic or car trader!
The buyer has only communicated via text message and says he has a very strong case with this specialists opinion.
So...what do I do, accept the vehicle back and hope he goes away?
I’ll keep this brief and factual and hope someone can offer up advice.
I’ve read the WIKI but think this is further stages along.
I sold a car two weeks ago. (12 years old, 130,000 miles) privately to a private buyer.
Since I live in the middle of no where and the buyer was getting the train up I said I would meet them at the train station with the vehicle, there is little to no taxi service.
The vehicle had been driven under 5 miles to the station and left for 20 minutes as I waited.
Buyer turns up. Asks me to start the car whilst he has the bonnet open and looks around. Said he’s happy. Can I drive him for the first part of the test drive, all fine so far. Swap over half way, he completes the test drive and we end up at my house and agree a deal after he haggled for ages. Deal done, cash paid, V5 signed and off he goes with a smile on his face.
3 days later I get a text asking if I knew of any lumpy idle on cold start, I replied no, as I didn’t and the car had been fine for me.
Thought no more of it, but I get more messages stating the car has a lumpy idle for a few seconds on start up and then is fine for the rest of the day. I then ignored this.
I then receive a message stating the guy wants to return the vehicle to me as it’s not as I described in the advert of a ‘smooth drive’. He says it is not smooth to drive from a cold start.
Fast forward almost two weeks later and I’ve received another message stating a specialist has inspected the vehicle, one cylinder has low cold compression but is fine when warm, and in the specialist opinion I would have known about this and this specialist evidence will be used in small claims court against me.
For me this is pretty worrying, I knew of no issues with the car, this was a private sale, I spend my day behind a drawing board so I’m far from a mechanic or car trader!
The buyer has only communicated via text message and says he has a very strong case with this specialists opinion.
So...what do I do, accept the vehicle back and hope he goes away?
This seems to be a growing trend - peope think that their consumer rights with commercial dealers extend to private sales as well.
They don't.
See this thread on another forum here: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
John
They don't.
See this thread on another forum here: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
John
OP, have a read here: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...
OP, on the facts stated you are not liable to the buyer. The advice to ignore communications is bad advice. You should reply politely stating that the car was sold without any express or implied warranty as to its condition and that you did not know of the alleged defect.
IAAL but IANYL.
IAAL but IANYL.
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