Sale or Return - car issue guidance
Discussion
Guidance sought please. Keeping all specifics away from the post as all parties have been professional and agreeable throughout and I wish to keep it that way.
Bought a car from a well respected specialist back in June. Ran the car as a daily until November when I decided it was time to move on and chose to sell the car sale or return via another well regarded specialist. In that time I had zero issues and loved every moment with the vehicle.
Car took a while to sell but happy to say it found a new owner.
Before the new owner collected the car the sale or return garage settled the outstanding finance on my behalf, essentially buying the car, and one week later the new owner came to collect the vehicle.
Whole process was smooth and professional.
Long story short, new owner got home to find an issue with the vehicle. Who is responsible for any remedial work needed on the vehicle?
Bought a car from a well respected specialist back in June. Ran the car as a daily until November when I decided it was time to move on and chose to sell the car sale or return via another well regarded specialist. In that time I had zero issues and loved every moment with the vehicle.
Car took a while to sell but happy to say it found a new owner.
Before the new owner collected the car the sale or return garage settled the outstanding finance on my behalf, essentially buying the car, and one week later the new owner came to collect the vehicle.
Whole process was smooth and professional.
Long story short, new owner got home to find an issue with the vehicle. Who is responsible for any remedial work needed on the vehicle?
1) The garage which has just sold it is responsible for honouring their responsibilities to the customer who has bought it from them, under the Consumer Rights Act.
2) Whether that garage then has any recourse to you would depend on the contract you signed with them.
The reason I say (1) is that dealers often are far from forthcoming about the fact a car is SoR, and I can't imagine the buyer's consumer rights would suddenly be less than a regular retail purchase due to something so non-obvious. As a buyer I would expect the dealer to stand behind the car they'd sold, regardless.
Separately the dealer may or may not be able to claim from you, depending on the contract. I would assume not, since in these matters the dealer is generally considered a professional who should be better able to appraise the car's condition than you as a private individual, but that depends on the contract terms.
2) Whether that garage then has any recourse to you would depend on the contract you signed with them.
The reason I say (1) is that dealers often are far from forthcoming about the fact a car is SoR, and I can't imagine the buyer's consumer rights would suddenly be less than a regular retail purchase due to something so non-obvious. As a buyer I would expect the dealer to stand behind the car they'd sold, regardless.
Separately the dealer may or may not be able to claim from you, depending on the contract. I would assume not, since in these matters the dealer is generally considered a professional who should be better able to appraise the car's condition than you as a private individual, but that depends on the contract terms.
Edited by samoht on Monday 17th April 08:45
Lotus82 said:
<snip>
Before the new owner collected the car the sale or return garage settled the outstanding finance on my behalf, essentially buying the car, and one week later the new owner came to collect the vehicle.
<snip>
That the garage settled the finance on behalf of the OP looks like a gesture of goodwill to me.Before the new owner collected the car the sale or return garage settled the outstanding finance on my behalf, essentially buying the car, and one week later the new owner came to collect the vehicle.
<snip>
Therefore, despite the garage technically being the owner of the vehicle at the time of sale, I'm struggling to see why they should foot the bill for any repairs.
I sense that the OP knows where his responsibility lies, but is trying to shy away from it.
As a retired motor trader who's been involved in numerous SOR deals over the years the responsibility lies with the dealer that sold the car, unless has been stated above that there was a term in any contract you signed. This is precisely why I stopped doing SOR as the owner gets an enhanced price for the car, otherwise they'd have just sold it for cash, while the dealer is on the hook for any future problems having paid/returned too much for the car so having a slim margin or the new owner having paid too much for the car, with the CRA 2015 I'm surprised any dealer would take an SOR on unless they're covered in the contract. Whether you feel a moral obligation to contribute to repairs is up to you.
TonyRPH said:
That the garage settled the finance on behalf of the OP looks like a gesture of goodwill to me.
Therefore, despite the garage technically being the owner of the vehicle at the time of sale, I'm struggling to see why they should foot the bill for any repairs.
I sense that the OP knows where his responsibility lies, but is trying to shy away from it.
Looks like they purchased it prior to the sales transaction to me, what’s the odds they paid the vendor and took the v5 slip with it being transferred to trade at the same time?Therefore, despite the garage technically being the owner of the vehicle at the time of sale, I'm struggling to see why they should foot the bill for any repairs.
I sense that the OP knows where his responsibility lies, but is trying to shy away from it.
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