mate of mine has just sold his ff £13400 70tho .

2days on the buyer phone and said he wants his money back because the battery is dead and is saying that what else is next.saying my mate said the car was in good condition ,which is was with FSH mot .

my mate ask him to take it into a local garage and have it check't , before he would doing anything

does he have to do anything.

I think if you're buying from a private seller, unless there's something really obviously wrong that wasn't noticed at the time of sale (and even then, I think the buyer's a chancer), there's little or no comeback.

Assuming the buyer carried out some basic checks, I can't see how the seller can be held responsible for any subsequent problems, expecially those that can't be "seen", like a hole of the floor or something equally obvious.
I guess as a token of goodwill, he could offer to contribute towards a replacement battery, but I don't think he's obliged to do so...............

"Caveat emptor"  Got - 2017 SDV8 Autobiography in Loire Blue
Had- 2008 TDV8 Vogue SE in Java black
Had - 2007 S/C in Stornoway Grey

Last edited by alanm_3 on 4th Nov 2011 5:42pm. Edited 1 time in total

There are some situations where your legal rights will be reduced.

The general rule is 'let the buyer beware' when you buy from a private individual. It is up to you to find out whether the car is of satisfactory quality, to make your own checks on what you are told and to take responsibility for your choice, as the seller is not liable for the satisfactory quality of the vehicle. You are still entitled, however, to expect the car to be 'as described'. If the advertisement says '2000 Ford Focus' or 'excellent condition' then it should be exactly that. It is important to remember that it may be much more difficult for you to enforce your rights against a private individual.

Whether you buy privately or from a motor trader, you are entitled to expect that the car is roadworthy when you buy it, unless you and the seller clearly agree it is to be sold as scrap. You should take note that a car sold with an MOT Certificate does not necessarily mean that it is roadworthy.

Last edited by Green on 4th Nov 2011 6:04pm. Edited 1 time in total

Assuming your mate is a private individual (not dealer) it would be fair to consider the vehicle sold as seen and without warranty.

New owner could have easily drained battery within a couple of days by leaving door open etc. and isn't reasonable to expect money back for such a minor problem.

Your mate could consider offering to pay for the battery to be replaced if he wanted to be that generous of course (goodwill) - however, if he did decide to to this - he should make damn sure that it is only that one occasion and not for any further problems the new owner experiences!

Doubtful your mate has anything to worry about and new owner is just trying it on.

I'd be willing to bet that most buyers of these cars drain the battery within a couple of days of purchase. I did.
It's just the fact that as with any new purchase you tend to "play" with it at first and enevitably have doors open, radio on too long etc not knowing the consequences on battery drain.
Eventually you hopefully learn what not to do and have no further problems.

My battery needed replacing a few weeks into ownership. Car had been sitting on forecourt for a few weeks with little road tests here and there, plus it was the middle of last winter. I bought mine from a dealer and paid alittle more because of that, but did have the piece of mind that a warranty gives you. I reckon my car had between 1-2k of work done on it during the 3 months warranty.

Id say your mate has nothing to worry about, the buyer should have paid more buying from a dealer if he expects aftercare/money back options etc. FFRR TD6 HSE
Adriatic Blue with Parchment leather.

he offered to pay for half the battery and said he would only have it back ,if it had a full check by the dealer.

not sure if should have said that.

He should tell the guy to forget it. He really has no obligations to the buyer. Whatever the law says in reality when buying a car privately you have pretty much no comeback. Since the guys only complaint is a pathetic one anyway, it sounds like buyers remorse to me, the guys just realised it's too much car for him, or not economical enough, or he's been offered another car he likes.

Tell him where to go! Range Rover-less at the moment - Pining!

I say tell your mate to man up and tell the buyer to do one. That's why I always tell people about any faults and get them to to sign a sold as seen statement. 2006 Mercedes CLS
1991 Retro-style Mini
But really finding it hard to fight the urge for a S/C...

+1.

Did he get the guy to sign a bill of sale / buyer agreement? Graham

____
Gone: 10MY L320 RR Sport HSE, Ipanema Sand
Gone: 20MY Jaguar iPace HSE, Silicon Silver
Gone: 17MY RR Evoque SE Tech, Loire Blue
Gone: 08MY Discovery 3 XS, Stornoway Grey
Gone: 07MY FFRR TDV8 Vogue, Stornoway Grey

yes he got him to sign sold as seen.

he phoned him again ,charged the battery up now its flat again, my mate lose his rag then

If I was handing over that kind of money on someone's driveway, I'd have a vehicle check done first. 2010 MY Vogue SE TDV8 3.6 Stornoway Grey- fully loaded

As above, it is 100% buyer beware, AS LONG AS the seller has not misrepresented the car in any way. In other words, you're not allowed to lie about it, or to lie in response to a direct question, but you don't have to declare anything, nothing, nada, if you don't want to and are not asked. So, you can't say it's not a Cat C if you know it is, you can't say (for example) there has never been a suspension warning on the dash if there has, but on the other hand if the dash lights up once a week with all sorts of faults, but the buyer doesn't ask you about that, you're not obliged to tell him anything at all.

I know this because many many years ago I sold a cheap car (£500) to someone who came back a week later asking for a full refund. I took legal advice at the time as I was young and didn't know the score, and what I've written above was what I was told. I was actually advised, when selling privately, NEVER to put anything in the advert which could be considered subjective, or an opinion. Stick to the facts; just say "black car, 4 wheels, 1 engine, MOT expires in 6 months" and that's all. Don't say "VGC" because your opinion of VGC may be different to someone else's. Don't say "reliable" because you can't prove that. Don't say "25mpg"....etc etc.

So, if your mate has broadly done as above and not told any porkies, then he can safely tell the new owner to jog on.

This does only apply to a genuine private seller.