what are my rights by selling a vehicle

[Sheffsix]

basically i sold a vehicle then within 24 hrs i was contacted by the buyer who told me the engine warning light came on,i knew nothing of the engine warning light coming on when i had it,he's now saying he's bringing the vehicle back and wants the money back,even though ive sent the log book off already,cancelled insurance,

the buyer is obviously angry about the situation, he actually thinks ive had the engine warning light switched off myself which i haven't.the buyer had a good look around it and took it for a drive and was happy with it, so were do i stand?

thanks

[2ltr16valve]

Private sale or have you sold vehicles recently ? As in more than a few

[Sheffsix]

private sale. just the one

[king12345]

Sold as seen.

Tough luck!

[mikeymack2002]

Buyer beware

[Conniff]

Both of the above. Your only problems come from being misdescribed or dangerous.

[raydetinu]

agree private sale, so no come back at all; now new owners problem.

caveat emptor, up to buyer to check it all over before buying it.

[Homer67]

Definitely caveat emptor, did you write a bill of sale at all?

 

I always write one with with sold as seen, tried and tested on it. I'm not sure how much this would stand up in court but really unless you described the vehicle as perfect with no faults in writing to the buyer, there's little he can do.

 

Unless the vehicle blew up yards from your house once he takes it out of your sight you have no idea how he's treated it or used it, for all you know he could have spent the next hour racing around the streets and wheel spinning it to death.

 

He does know where you live though, just food for thought on that.

[FairWorldCitizen]

As it's a private sell, the car is sold as seen. HOWEVER:

 

1) issues should appear in the car description and issues must have been described by the seller. If the car was advertised on a website for example, this issue must be within the online description.

 

2) the light should not cause an MOT test to fail. Otherwise, if the car becomes unroadworthy (by means of a real MOT test, or by a pre-MOT service with a report), then the seller will be able to cancel the sale or claim the amount for the repair.

[oddjobbob]

As it's a private sell, the car is sold as seen. HOWEVER:

 

1) issues should appear in the car description and issues must have been described by the seller. If the car was advertised on a website for example, this issue must be within the online description.

 

 

2) the light should not cause an MOT test to fail. Otherwise, if the car becomes unroadworthy (by means of a real MOT test, or by a pre-MOT service with a report), then the seller will be able to cancel the sale or claim the amount for the repair..

 

 

No. It's buyer beware, as long as the ad does not lie then there is no need to disclose a problem if its a private sale. EG...NEW TYRES...if they aren't, that's a lie. 82,000 miles....but its ACTUALLY 182,000....that's a lie. But faults do not have to be disclosed

 

 

No, if the light is on at test drive / purchase time and the buyer still buys the car it's their problem, if it comes on a week later, it's still their problem

 

 

.

[FairWorldCitizen]

That's a buyer choice to buy or not, but the purchase needs to be done based on a full description of the car. If the car has a particular condition, it is supposed to be highlighted if the owner knows it. So, faults need to be disclosed, and up to buyer to decide.

Now, the fact that owners tend to forget about known faults is obvious.... (not saying that for you, Sheffix, I don't know)

 

Secondly, and it's the most important, the thing becomes quite different if this problem was making the car unroadworthy at the time of purchase. Indeed, it's up to the owner to ensure that the car is roadworthy, not to the buyer.

What exactly is the "engine light" in this case?

[oddjobbob]

No, a private seller is deemed to have insufficient technical knowledge to know whether or not a car is roadworthy or not, so it is expressly buyer beware, it doesn't matter about any warning lights.

 

 

However, If it could be shown for example that the car had been taken for an MOT a few days before selling it and it was deemed unroadworthy without disclosure then that's different.

 

 

If you are a private seller it is basically buyer beware, if you are a trade seller it's basically seller beware!

[king12345]

Every time I sold a car (I'm not a trader) I always told the potential buyer that I had no mechanical knowledge and to check the car thoroughly because there would be no come back.

Also, as suggested, I always wrote on the receipt 'sold as seen, vehicle inspected to buyer's satisfaction'.

In any case, your buyer drove the car away and you don't know what he's done with it.

Most cars of the past decade would start flashing all sorts of warning lights on the dashboard as soon as you push them a bit further than normal.

In my experience Vauxhall and Ford are the worst on this; a little wheels spin would most time make the engine fault light go off.