'Trade Sales' to the public

[maxp]

Hi guys,

I've recently seen a couple of car ads on ebay (1 auction, 1 classified, different dealers) that state 'this is a trade sale', but am slightly sketchy on what that means to me, joe public.

Putting my cynical hat on, i'm assuming that statement implies that any fault arising after the sale is not the dealers responsibility.
Putting my legal hat on, makes me think that such a term is not applicable when a car is sold to the public and is such an indication of shady dealer.

Apologies if i've got it all wrong, has anyone got any thoughts on this matter?

[PurpleMoonlight]

You are correct. it's likely a dealer trying to avoid their legal responsibilities on a sale to the public.

Of course, they could just be inviting enquiries from other dealers only....

[Northernchimp]

Can they discharge their obligations if they say it's a trade sale? Presumably if a dealer/trader sells to a member of the public, they still have rights under SOGA, whether the deal tried to dodge them or not?

[PurpleMoonlight]

Northernchimp said:

Can they discharge their obligations if they say it's a trade sale?

No they can't but a lot of the public don't know that and will fall for the 'trade sale' con.

[POORCARDEALER]

My advice is DO NOT buy a car through an ebay auction and expect the dealer to play ball with you as if you were buying as a retail sale.

A dealer cannot deprive you of your statutory rights unless some vey specific wording is put in the auction write up.

At the end of the day its common sense, if you are very risk adverse and want hand holding, prep and warranty back up buy locally from a well established dealer.

The money some dealers auction cars for on ebay its not possible to do the above

[Northernchimp]

If it's not economically viable to prep and sell a car from a forecourt then surely the best thing is to send it to the auction house, not try and deceive Joe Public through eBay in the hope of scraping a few more quid.

[POORCARDEALER]

Northernchimp said:

If it's not economically viable to prep and sell a car from a forecourt then surely the best thing is to send it to the auction house, not try and deceive Joe Public through eBay in the hope of scraping a few more quid.

We obtain better money through traditional car auctions without having to deal with ebay wkers, however while ever you get buyers who think they can rely on the SOGA to act as a warranty when buying for trade money, you will get sellers happy to sell to them

[Northernchimp]

They should ban Joe Public from the auctions, maybe make it possible to make a decent living again without resorting to underhanded ish tactics like this.

That said, I do like the idea of buying at auction.