Private Seller - Now I have a problem

welvis

New Member
Apr 21, 2010
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I have recently sold my car privately. In the advert I was honest about its appearance, mechnanical history and any faults that were know to me.

When the buyer arrived, they looked around the car, asked a few very trivial questions, negotiated on the price, handed over the money, signed the paperwork and left within 10-15 minutes. At no point did they do any form of inspection, nor start the car, nor take it for a test drive.

Now 3 or 4 weeks have passed and I received an email from the new buyer stating that "they have only just insured it for the first time, and when they took it out it overheated and the radiator was leaking".

Now, the headgasket was replaced at a local garage before christmas. Since the repair the I had travelled over 3000 miles without an inch of a problem, and now after 3/4 weeks the new seller is telling me that I have to fix the car or give him his money back within a 90 day period of selling the car.

Is this true?

As far as I am concerned it was a case of "sold as seen" and that whatever has happened after the sale is not my problem. It is just unfortuante that this has happened, but agin is it my fault and am I at all liable to pay for anything?
 

Cathy123

New Member
Jun 24, 2010
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Unfortunately, the sold as seen argument gives you no legal rights - check trading standards website - and is not legally binding. You sold the car therefore you are responsible for it's condition.

I'm actually going through a similar problem (although from a buyers perspective). Do you have a copy of the ad you placed? This will show you were honest about the faults you were aware of. Also, do you have the receipt for the head gasket? Was the car recently serviced/MOT'd? This would prove you sold the car in good faith and believed in to be roadworthy. Without this proof, the buyer may have more grounds to say the car was in poor condition.

It's probably a good idea to go to citizens advice who can offer legal aid if this goes any further.