Sold a car - buyer saying he will take me to court

[jitno123]

Hello,

I've had a search online about this matter but can't seem to find a definitive answer, so apologies if you've seen this question being asked before.

I sold my personal car (Audi) a few weeks ago to a private buyer who came and viewed the car with his mechanic friend. They test drove and thoroughly looked over the car before purchasing (even plugged in a fault scanner)

I produced them a receipt, stating the car is sold as seen with no warrenty expressed or implied and that the car is his responsibility from X date and X time. The next morning, the buyer phones me up saying the satnav isn't working. To my knowledge the satnav was working fine when they left. Anyhow I offered him some advise regarding the sat nav (try to register with Audi online, ensure its in the correct sd card slot, try air dusting the sd card and so forth. None of the above worked and he went to the main dealer who quoted £350 for a new SD card, and he expected me to foot the cost. I then nicely explained that I can't be liable for any repairs as it's no longer my vehicle. To which his replies were swearing and threats to come to "take" what he's owed -implying he's going to turn up at my door step.

Fast forward a couple weeks, I receive a message from the buyer saying that he has repaired it for £300 and that if I don't put the money in his account then he shall be pursuing me in court from January. He claims that me offering ideas / support was me taking liability for the faulty navigation. He also claims he has a witness who said I agreed to cover the cost of the repair - his witness being his dodgy mechanic friend who told me my cars brakes need redoing - when they only had 500miles since the last set of pads, making up issues to get money off the car.

Any advise would be great, am I liable? Or is he trying to intimidate and squeeze some money out of a young lad.

Thanks all,

[Taita]

Wish him the best of luck in his endeavours and enjoy the weekend

[FWIW]

Have you really searched for an answer!?

Tell him to do one.

[Starfighter]

Assuming that you are not in the trade in anyway (including a little sideline from the drive) then you should be fine.

You offered every opportunity to tear the car and it is sold as seen. The exception would be if it was not roadworthy which is clearly not the case for a satnav issue.

I would either ignore or give a simple and factual reply stating that the buyer had every opportunity to check the car and that the satnav was working as best you knew.

[ClaphamGT3]

[Brads67]

Ignore him. Totally.

If he turns up at your house, knock him out.

[ZX10R NIN]

As above the car is sold as seen don't reply to another call or text.

[The Mad Monk]

IANAL

I would write him a letter, send it by recorded delivery (or whatever it's called this week) in the letter, set out calmly and logically what the terms of sale and purchase were.

Keep a copy because you and he may refer to it in court, if this ever gets to court.

IANAL

[anonymous-user]

Tell him to get stuffed. He won’t stand a chance getting anywhere near a court even with a fake witness.

If he turns up record the conversation but tell him it’s not your issue, he bought and you sold all in good faith so goodbye.

[DoubleD]

Just ignore him

[anonymous-user]

When I was 19 I went to look at an MG midget with a mate as a ‘mechanic’ to find a fault to get the price down. He knew nothing about cars though.

It was dark and my mate had a look underneath and did the required tut ‘oh dear rust to sills’ so I got the price down by £250 and bought it.

In daylight it was a total rust bucket and not far off unsafe on the road.

I tried to get my money back and the bloke said no way your mechanic looked at it so fk off!

[valiant]

The Mad Monk said:

IANAL

I would write him a letter, send it by recorded delivery (or whatever it's called this week) in the letter, set out calmly and logically what the terms of sale and purchase were.

Keep a copy because you and he may refer to it in court, if this ever gets to court.

IANAL

Nope, do not engage in any way. Block number and move on. Only act if I’m the very small chance you receive court papers (you won’t ).

Responding only encourages them.

Seems to be prevalent nowadays as way to get a few quid back on the car. Satnav works fine.

[eldar]

I’d advise the Arkell vs Pressdram approach.

[joropug]

If the sat nav 'broke' on my car I would not fix it overnight at a 300 quid cost. You'd try messing around and tinkering first. Proper bull ignore him

[anonymous-user]

Best advice = ignore.

[anonymous-user]

DoubleD said:

Just ignore him

Worse advice. You should always reply, there are loads of standard reponse templates on here on past threads.

[anonymous-user]

Thesprucegoose said:

DoubleD said:

Just ignore him

Worse advice. You should always reply, there are loads of standard reponse templates on here on past threads.

It sounds like that will encourage him particularly as he has threatened to come to OP’s house

[anonymous-user]

V6 Pushfit said:

It sounds like that will encourage him particularly as he has threatened to come to OP’s house

then address that issue, with a reponse that you will be raising a complaint for harassment with police. You shouldn’t ignore the correspondence; it will go to mediation first anyway if he does small claims.

[anonymous-user]

Thesprucegoose said:

V6 Pushfit said:

It sounds like that will encourage him particularly as he has threatened to come to OP’s house

then address that issue, with a reponse that you will be raising a complaint for harassment with police. You shouldn’t ignore the correspondence; it will go to mediation first anyway if he does small claims.

Not a bad idea. Probably worth putting the reporting to police in the first response.

Pointless actually reporting though as they’ll do jack st with it!

[sandman77]

My spidey senses are tingling because I find it strange that you specifically state you sold you own personal car. Does this imply you sell other cars that are not your own personal car?