Private seller legal help please
Discussion
Hi guys,
Need some help and advice please.
I owned a mk4 golf gttdi and put it for sale on various sites. Bought my wife another car and due to work commitments the car was sat on driveway for about 2-3 months.
Had some free time so decided to sell it. Asking price was £1000. Somebody came to see it and liked it. The only defect with the car I was aware of was an intermittent brake light switch which told the buyer about. The car was sorn'd but had mot til May of this year. The buyer wanted to test drive the car but when asked if he had insurance to drive another car he said no. I did say he won’t be able to take the car on a test drive due to lack of insurance but his brother who was on his way and was insured will be able to drive the car. I also informed them both that the car had no tax and with a police station literally 100m up the road it was their risk if they wanted to take it out. No test drive was taken. The buyer haggled me down to 875 and we shook on it. Made him out a receipt with our details, car details, price and the following statement.
"The undersigned purchaser acknowledges receipt of the above vehicle in exchange for the cash sum of £.........., this being the price agreed by the purchaser with the vendor for the above named vehicle, receipt of which the vendor hereby acknowledges. It is understood the vehicle is sold as seen, tried and approved by the purchaser."
We both signed it and off he went. He came back an hour later saying he didn’t want the car, giving excuse that clutch was shot (it wasn’t, bite was still really low down on pedal) and the camshaft was gone (it hadn’t).
He threatened me with court action if I didn’t give him a refund. Low and behold a letter from the county court has come through yesterday.
What shall I do now?? I was a private seller and not in trade.
Need some help and advice please.
I owned a mk4 golf gttdi and put it for sale on various sites. Bought my wife another car and due to work commitments the car was sat on driveway for about 2-3 months.
Had some free time so decided to sell it. Asking price was £1000. Somebody came to see it and liked it. The only defect with the car I was aware of was an intermittent brake light switch which told the buyer about. The car was sorn'd but had mot til May of this year. The buyer wanted to test drive the car but when asked if he had insurance to drive another car he said no. I did say he won’t be able to take the car on a test drive due to lack of insurance but his brother who was on his way and was insured will be able to drive the car. I also informed them both that the car had no tax and with a police station literally 100m up the road it was their risk if they wanted to take it out. No test drive was taken. The buyer haggled me down to 875 and we shook on it. Made him out a receipt with our details, car details, price and the following statement.
"The undersigned purchaser acknowledges receipt of the above vehicle in exchange for the cash sum of £.........., this being the price agreed by the purchaser with the vendor for the above named vehicle, receipt of which the vendor hereby acknowledges. It is understood the vehicle is sold as seen, tried and approved by the purchaser."
We both signed it and off he went. He came back an hour later saying he didn’t want the car, giving excuse that clutch was shot (it wasn’t, bite was still really low down on pedal) and the camshaft was gone (it hadn’t).
He threatened me with court action if I didn’t give him a refund. Low and behold a letter from the county court has come through yesterday.
What shall I do now?? I was a private seller and not in trade.
I think you will have to put up with the usual ‘top lurking’ comments first.
Ohhh ...
On a more serious note, didn’t the buyer start the engine before buying? Driving off and back onto your driveway should have given him a clue about the clutch.
Caveat Emptor I would’ve thought.
Edit. Beat me to it PM
Ohhh ...
On a more serious note, didn’t the buyer start the engine before buying? Driving off and back onto your driveway should have given him a clue about the clutch.
Caveat Emptor I would’ve thought.
Edit. Beat me to it PM
shaqs77 said:
He threatened me with court action if I didn’t give him a refund. Low and behold a letter from the county court has come through yesterday.
Letter? Do you mean you have received claim paperwork?If so, is it a Money Claim Onine? (all of these come via Northampton County Court).
shaqs77 said:
What shall I do now?? I was a private seller and not in trade.
If it is a claim it won't go away. If you do nothing the claimant could obtain judgment by default.You need to send back an acknowledgement of service within 14 days.
Request the additional 14 days to enter your defence (this is seperate from the AoS).
All you need to know here - https://www.gov.uk/respond-to-court-claim-for-mone...
Follow all the relevant links.
Any hearing should be at the court nearest to the defendant.
Ask for this if it isn't done automatically.
Btw, how long after the sale did he express his dissatisfaction?
You have no way of knowing whether he ragged the a**e out of it on the way home.
Buying an untested car on SORN which isn't insured or taxed is always a gamble.
Buyers remorse on a private sale is nothing new.
Provided you didn't misrepresent the car in any ad or in answer to any questions asked you should have little to worry about.
- If I was buying a car with 158k on the clock and no mention of a clutch change in its life I'd be assuming it was "not in the best of health".
Anyway it sounds like he tested the clutch bite to some extent on the drive, and an hour is a fair amount of time to drive around before noticing that the clutch is "shot".
On the face of it you should have no trouble defending it, but could be a disproportionate amount of hassle for the sake of £1k?
Anyway it sounds like he tested the clutch bite to some extent on the drive, and an hour is a fair amount of time to drive around before noticing that the clutch is "shot".
On the face of it you should have no trouble defending it, but could be a disproportionate amount of hassle for the sake of £1k?
Most people eventually run in to this sort of thing so it is worth going to court and learning how this all works then next time you won't be so worried (because sadly it's becoming incredibly common for people to do this sort of thing).
Do not ignore it or he will win by default.
I can't see how you can lose unless there is something you're not telling us. So go, win, good experience.
Do not ignore it or he will win by default.
I can't see how you can lose unless there is something you're not telling us. So go, win, good experience.
Durzel said:
If I was buying a car with 158k on the clock and no mention of a clutch change in its life I'd be assuming it was "not in the best of health".
Anyway it sounds like he tested the clutch bite to some extent on the drive, and an hour is a fair amount of time to drive around before noticing that the clutch is "shot".
On the face of it you should have no trouble defending it, but could be a disproportionate amount of hassle for the sake of £1k?
Advert states it has FSH though, so presumably he would know when the clutch was last changedAnyway it sounds like he tested the clutch bite to some extent on the drive, and an hour is a fair amount of time to drive around before noticing that the clutch is "shot".
On the face of it you should have no trouble defending it, but could be a disproportionate amount of hassle for the sake of £1k?
Boggo defence in case the buyer sues -
1. The Defendant denies that he is liable to the Claimant as alleged or at all.
2. The Defendant sold the car that is the subject of this claim to the Claimant as a private seller and gave no express or implied warranty as to the car.
3. The Claimant inspected the car before buying it and had the opportunity to test drive the car but chose not to do so.
4. The car was a used car and was sold for a price that reflected its age and condition.
5. The Claimant has no reasonable cause of action and this claim should be dismissed.
1. The Defendant denies that he is liable to the Claimant as alleged or at all.
2. The Defendant sold the car that is the subject of this claim to the Claimant as a private seller and gave no express or implied warranty as to the car.
3. The Claimant inspected the car before buying it and had the opportunity to test drive the car but chose not to do so.
4. The car was a used car and was sold for a price that reflected its age and condition.
5. The Claimant has no reasonable cause of action and this claim should be dismissed.
1/ go online and acknowledge the claim, DO NOT contest jurisdiction, DO mark defend in full, DO NOT put anything at all in the defence box, if you do that will be your legal defence (matters of fact comes later) and you cannot add to it
2/ prepare your defence on legal points, you do not add evidence at this point, that will be submitted with your witness statement much later
3/ go to the MCOL website and read up on the process, it’s all laid out for you.
It sounds like he hasn’t followed pre-action protocol, was their a letter before action? You could attaché a request for it to be struck out on that basis, as part of the PAP he is expected to share any salient facts/evidence now, so write (keep a copy) and ask for a copy of any report (garage, engineer, technician) he may have with respect to the cars condition.
The new PAP that came in in October expect both parties to make every effort to establish the facts and try and settle before court if they can.
2/ prepare your defence on legal points, you do not add evidence at this point, that will be submitted with your witness statement much later
3/ go to the MCOL website and read up on the process, it’s all laid out for you.
It sounds like he hasn’t followed pre-action protocol, was their a letter before action? You could attaché a request for it to be struck out on that basis, as part of the PAP he is expected to share any salient facts/evidence now, so write (keep a copy) and ask for a copy of any report (garage, engineer, technician) he may have with respect to the cars condition.
The new PAP that came in in October expect both parties to make every effort to establish the facts and try and settle before court if they can.
The Rookie said:
1/ go online and acknowledge the claim, DO NOT contest jurisdiction, DO mark defend in full, DO NOT put anything at all in the defence box, if you do that will be your legal defence (matters of fact comes later) and you cannot add to it
2/ prepare your defence on legal points, you do not add evidence at this point, that will be submitted with your witness statement much later
3/ go to the MCOL website and read up on the process, it’s all laid out for you.
It sounds like he hasn’t followed pre-action protocol, was their a letter before action? You could attaché a request for it to be struck out on that basis, as part of the PAP he is expected to share any salient facts/evidence now, so write (keep a copy) and ask for a copy of any report (garage, engineer, technician) he may have with respect to the cars condition.
The new PAP that came in in October expect both parties to make every effort to establish the facts and try and settle before court if they can.
I am sure that you mean well, but you are over complicating things. OP, this isn't a complex thing. Bung in a defence as I suggested above. 2/ prepare your defence on legal points, you do not add evidence at this point, that will be submitted with your witness statement much later
3/ go to the MCOL website and read up on the process, it’s all laid out for you.
It sounds like he hasn’t followed pre-action protocol, was their a letter before action? You could attaché a request for it to be struck out on that basis, as part of the PAP he is expected to share any salient facts/evidence now, so write (keep a copy) and ask for a copy of any report (garage, engineer, technician) he may have with respect to the cars condition.
The new PAP that came in in October expect both parties to make every effort to establish the facts and try and settle before court if they can.
Breadvan72 said:
Boggo defence in case the buyer sues -
1. The Defendant denies that he is liable to the Claimant as alleged or at all.
2. The Defendant sold the car that is the subject of this claim to the Claimant as a private seller and gave no express or implied warranty as to the car.
3. The Claimant inspected the car before buying it and had the opportunity to test drive the car but chose not to do so.
4. The car was a used car and was sold for a price that reflected its age and condition.
5. The Claimant has no reasonable cause of action and this claim should be dismissed.
£350 plus vat and dibs for that???1. The Defendant denies that he is liable to the Claimant as alleged or at all.
2. The Defendant sold the car that is the subject of this claim to the Claimant as a private seller and gave no express or implied warranty as to the car.
3. The Claimant inspected the car before buying it and had the opportunity to test drive the car but chose not to do so.
4. The car was a used car and was sold for a price that reflected its age and condition.
5. The Claimant has no reasonable cause of action and this claim should be dismissed.
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