Selling a sports car with corroded brake pipes

[aceofspades1]

Genuine question as I'm in two minds here.

Looking to sell my sports car fairly quickly due to seeing something I'm very keen on and having a general lack of space.

The car drives well with no apparent issues other than one thing which concerns me: when I raised the car on a ramp I found the brake pipes appear to be quite corroded. They were only an advisory on the last MOT (a few hundred miles ago) but I have my concerns about them and planned to park up the car until I could get the issue sorted.

I'm not concerned about how much I get for the car - more so where I stand within the law as I don't fully understand the definition of 'roadworthy.' The law says it is an offence to sell an unroadworthy car, however the car currently stops exactly as it should in a straight line and it didn't fail an MOT in the current condition they're in...

If I put the car up for sale with the issue very clearly underlined and mentioned in the advert as an issue that needed looking at, would I be within the law and devoid of any potential legal action if some bloke decided to take it off me and race it down some country roads? I would definitely rather a few weeks of hassle waiting to sort the issue than a 3-year court case if someone silly enough decides to ignore what I said in the advert!

The other option is I could wait a few weeks and replace them myself but I'm incredibly busy and need the space. Appreciate any opinions!

[Krikkit]

If you state it clearly in the advert, and it's advised on its last MOT there's no reason to worry - crack on.

[Baldchap]

There was an advisory on the MOT that will be available to anyone who looks at the car.

I wouldn't even mention it. Just avoid phrases like 'perfect condition' in the advert.

Private sales are very much caveat emptor.

[Sporky]

Whenever something's mentioned in an advert as being wrong, but unfixed, it makes me wonder what else is wrong.

Whereas "recently replaced blah" generally sounds positive.

[aceofspades1]

Sporky said:

Whenever something's mentioned in an advert as being wrong, but unfixed, it makes me wonder what else is wrong.

Whereas "recently replaced blah" generally sounds positive.

You are correct yes but my moral compass supersedes any desire to sell it for more money.

I don't want someone to drive around in it potentially with their family blissfully unaware of the danger they're putting themselves in, especially in a sports car that's designed to be driven hard.

If I mention the brake pipes are corroded and they don't heed my warning, I don't feel bad

[-Lummox-]

If it's mentioned on the MOT as an advisory, that's not an order to do something about it nor does it give rise to any obligation. You can get MOT advisories for child seats being installed, or undertrays being fitted (that were fitted from the factory). The tester isn't telling you that you need to remove them.

When selling the car, if the buyer asks you if you're aware of anything that needs doing, then you'd cover yourself by saying that there was an advisory for this on the MOT and if you were keeping the car you'd be looking to sort this at some point. There's certainly nothing stopping you from selling the car until you've sorted it.

As others have said, the only way you could potentially get yourself in hot water would be if you were to advertise the car expressly saying that it was perfect and you knew nothing needs doing (which nobody in their right mind should ever do when selling a car, even if they know of no faults). But I wouldn't go out of your way to draw it to buyers' attention unless you really want them to knock you on price - which they absolutely will do, even if you discount the asking price in your head to account for the cost of fixing the issue before advertising it.

[plenty]

aceofspades1 said:

You are correct yes but my moral compass supersedes any desire to sell it for more money.

I don't want someone to drive around in it potentially with their family blissfully unaware of the danger they're putting themselves in, especially in a sports car that's designed to be driven hard.

If I mention the brake pipes are corroded and they don't heed my warning, I don't feel bad

Good on you for wanting to do the right thing, but you're over-estimating the risk. It's very common for corroded brake pipes to be an MoT advisory. In most cases it's surface corrosion and it's very unlikely that the pipes will fail anytime soon.

[_Neal_]

aceofspades1 said:

You are correct yes but my moral compass supersedes any desire to sell it for more money.

I don't want someone to drive around in it potentially with their family blissfully unaware of the danger they're putting themselves in, especially in a sports car that's designed to be driven hard.

If I mention the brake pipes are corroded and they don't heed my warning, I don't feel bad

Why not have them inspected by a local trusted garage and properly checked as to how bad they think the corrosion is - that way you've got a second opinion as to safety etc and can sell the car with a clean conscience? Obviously if the garage says they should be replaced then have the work done

[Baldchap]

We had a car with an advisory on corroded brake pipes from the day we bought it to the day we sold it three years later.

If there was any safety concerns it would be a fail.

Edited by Baldchap on Monday 22 April 18:04

[DanielSan]

Just put the car up for sale, if the buyer checks the mot and wants to use the advisory as a way to barter then a deal can be done, if he doesn't then a deal can still be done.

[LooneyTunes]

Sporky said:

Whenever something's mentioned in an advert as being wrong, but unfixed, it makes me wonder what else is wrong.

Whereas "recently replaced blah" generally sounds positive.

This. Is it feasible to get someone to change them? The cost of doing so might be less than you’d get chipped not being done?

[anonymous-user]

I'd get it fixed. As a buyer I'd see unfixed MOT advisories as very much the tip of the iceberg and a major red flag. If I went to go see a car that had advisories that the seller hadn't mentioned in the ad I'd think it was really scammy. As the seller, in order of preference get it fixed and sell it in good faith for full price; don't get it fixed, mention the advisory in the ad and have a quote on hand to show how much it would cost to get it fixed and prepare to drop the price accordingly; or take the view it's the buyers lookout and keep quiet and scam them.... ps the last guy is a POS. Don't be the last guy!

[Truckosaurus]

Depending how long ago the last MoT was, it might be worth fixing the brake lines and getting a fresh MoT without any advisories, then that's a double-win.

Shows the car is ready to go and that you are a decent seller who fixes issues, and you might even be able to add the cost of the fix onto the price.

[Mr Tidy]

I bought a BMW Z4 that had an advisory for them on the MOT, and used that to get it a bit cheaper.

It got another advisory on the next MOT, so I got them replaced.

If you are open about it I can't see it being a problem.

[stevemcs]

pheonix478 said:

I'd get it fixed. As a buyer I'd see unfixed MOT advisories as very much the tip of the iceberg and a major red flag. If I went to go see a car that had advisories that the seller hadn't mentioned in the ad I'd think it was really scammy. As the seller, in order of preference get it fixed and sell it in good faith for full price; don't get it fixed, mention the advisory in the ad and have a quote on hand to show how much it would cost to get it fixed and prepare to drop the price accordingly; or take the view it's the buyers lookout and keep quiet and scam them.... ps the last guy is a POS. Don't be the last guy!

Why would you feel the need to mention it in an ad, the mot history is there for all too see, if you want advisory free and as new then a used car isn’t for you.

[anonymous-user]

stevemcs said:

Why would you feel the need to mention it in an ad, the mot history is there for all too see, if you want advisory free and as new then a used car isn’t for you.

I'd mention in the ad because a knowledgeable buyer will find it anyway and might well think it's a bit scuzzy you didn't mention it and someone who didn't know what they were doing wouldn't find it until it was too late and that would be actually scuzzy. You can do deals like that if you like but I'd rather not. I didn't say "and as new". Obviously. Most of my cars are over 30 years old!

[aceofspades1]

Thanks all for the useful advice.

I’ve decided to list it up with the brake pipe advisories mentioned and pictured.

[hidetheelephants]

It's an advisory, ignore it and sell the car. Do not mention it in the advert, do not put anything in the advert other than a description of what it is, trim level etc. Any sensible buyer will look at the MoT history themselves, non-sensible buyers can caveat their emptor.