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Legal matters

AIBU to ask for a bit of legal advice here...seriously panicking!

59 replies

spg1983 · 22/03/2013 08:42

Hi,

I recently had my first child (she's 3 weeks old). Before I had her, I had a small 'runaround' car, 13 years old, reliable little runner but quite a bit of cosmetic damage. Anyway, DH and I decided it was too small to put baby's car seat and pram in so we advertised it to be sold. We checked the going price and given the damage (which had rusted) plus the fact it only had 1 month mot, we reduced the advised price - the car in 'poor' condition was worth £780 according to this site, we advertised it for £450 to allow a buyer to potentially still have money to sort the rust.

Anyway, I bought a new car and a young lad bought my old car. I was quite emotional as I'd had the car for 9 years. I was a bit nosey and decided to 'look up' the new owner on Facebook/twitter cos (this sounds silly, sorry!) I still wanted to be able to check on my beloved car! I found him, but was a bit gutted to see he'd given the car a really derogatory nickname and was taking the mickey out of loads of its features, i.e. tape player etc.

Anyway, I soon forgot about that as 3 hours later I went into labour. I had a spare couple of minutes this morning and looked at his profile again, only to find that the car has failed its MOT and by the sound of it he doesn't want to pay to fix it and has decided to scrap the car. There's some pretty mean comments about me on there and his friends are all suggesting he takes legal action against me if I don't refund him. He's not got in touch...yet, but I'm thinking he probably will.

When he looked at the car, he couldn't drive it as he wasn't insured but I took him for a drive in it. I was 100% honest about the damage, the advert had close-up pictures of it and he looked at it when he saw the car and still decided to buy it.

What happens now? If he gets in touch am I obliged to refund the money? Help please!!

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LIZS · 22/03/2013 08:44

Nope , caveat emptor. He bought as seen . You offered no false hope that it would pass its MOT without work.

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MrsLettuce · 22/03/2013 08:44

I'm in no position to offer legal advice but it sounds as if you've been entirely open, honest and fair in the sale. I would be very surprised if he had a leg to stand on legally.

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EggyFucker · 22/03/2013 08:44

You sold the car as seen and was upfront about it's condition, also the price reflected that

Buyer beware, ain't it

Now get off FB,, enjoy your new baby and don't give it another thought

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CogitoErgoSometimes · 22/03/2013 08:45

It was sold as seen and priced fairly for its condition which you were up front about. He hasn't got a leg to stand on.

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AliceWChild · 22/03/2013 08:46

No way! A car that cheap was bound to fail its mot. Surely he'd expect it. That's the gamble you'd take with that type of car.

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AliceWChild · 22/03/2013 08:47

And I agree go enjoy your baby! Grin

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Dawndonna · 22/03/2013 08:48

Legally, nothing he can do.

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ENormaSnob · 22/03/2013 08:49

As long as you were honest in your advert I wouldn't worry.

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spg1983 · 22/03/2013 08:49

Thanks. I made sure I highlighted the damage really clearly.

The only thing is they kept asking me if it would pass it's mot - I said obviously I can't answer about now as I'm not a mechanic but I'd never had any big problems in the past (which is totally true). It's exceptionally bad luck that whatever the problem is, it's appeared now. Can they hold that against me legally?

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pinkpaws · 22/03/2013 08:49

Morning the answer here is NO YOU DO NOT have to pay him back car was sold as seen. please dont worry forget about him i doubt he will be in touch anyway .He got a cheap little run around .At just over 400 pounds what did he expect.

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pinkpaws · 22/03/2013 08:50

Morning the answer here is NO YOU DO NOT have to pay him back car was sold as seen. please dont worry forget about him i doubt he will be in touch anyway .He got a cheap little run around .At just over 400 pounds what did he expect.

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spg1983 · 22/03/2013 08:50

And I can't afford to give the money back as I had to use it to make repairs on my new car - which I'd just bought a week ago!

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RubyGates · 22/03/2013 08:52

My mother once bought a car. The following day she got three miles up the M1 (We lived at the southern end of it at the time) and the engine caught fire. She'd done no more than twenty miles in the car, and was very cross, but the law says "caveat emptor". The car was sold as seen, and without guarantee, she agreed the price .


Your buyer had all the information needed to make the decision to buy.

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spg1983 · 22/03/2013 08:59

Ok his friends have just been on citizens advice and have quoted to him 'if it's described badly/inaccurately and you find fault within 6 months then you can get a refund' ...will be interesting to see his response to that because there's no way it was described inaccurately or anything was withheld.

What if the problem is something that was already there but I didn't know about? That way it obviously wouldn't have been pointed out at the time of sale. Is that something he can take action for? Seems unfair if so...

Sorry for coming across as really thick - just stressing!

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CogitoErgoSometimes · 22/03/2013 09:01

"Can they hold that against me legally? "

No. It's what it is. It's a very cheap second-hand car with visible damage. He saw it in person and had chance to check it out... which he did. OK verbally you indicated it might pass an MOT but that's just conversation, not a contract. If he knew nothing about cars why didn't he bring along someone who did? Don't let him bully you... you've nothing to fear here

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FryOneFatManic · 22/03/2013 09:03

If you didn't know about any problem, he can't use that against you.

CAr was sold as seen so I don't believe you ahve to pay him anything back.

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CogitoErgoSometimes · 22/03/2013 09:03

"Is that something he can take action for? Seems unfair if so..."

He can take action for anything he likes but if he wanted to put it through Small Claims Court, for example, I think he'd receive nothing more than a hollow laugh and a big bill for his trouble.

Stay off Facebook and let his friends chunter between them....

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firesidechat · 22/03/2013 09:05

I fairly sure that the six month rule is for dealers rather than private sellers. Anyway it appears that you described the car and one at that price is almost certain to have some issues. If he wanted a perfect car he should have saved more money and bought one. Try not to worry.

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mellen · 22/03/2013 09:06

This is nonsense and he is probably not going to get in touch with you. Far easier to moan on facebook than to actually do anything, and if you hadn't been looking at his profile you wouldn't know any of this

Them asking you if the car would pass the MOT is also pointless - how would you know? an MOT isnt a guarantee of much anyway and if he wanted a car that had a longer MOT he could have bought one.

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Binkyridesagain · 22/03/2013 09:08

Unless you misrepresented the vehicle then he hasn't got any grounds for a refund, by your description on here you haven't done that.

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Sparklingbrook · 22/03/2013 09:08

YY to stay off Facebook (the cause of so many problems) stop stressing and enjoy your new baby.

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greenfolder · 22/03/2013 09:09

he has no comeback on you at all.

yabvu to follow him on facebook though- hopefully lesson learned.

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AnneTwacky · 22/03/2013 09:13

Can't see that he's got a leg to stand on.

I do feel for him in a way, but I think for £450, it would be reasonable to expect the car to need a fair bit of maintenance.

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MistyB · 22/03/2013 09:13

No 9 year old car gets through it's MOT without work being required. Depending on the mileage, there are certain mechanical parts that cone to the end of their useful life and need to be replaced. Unless you have lied about the mileage or withheld notifications of imminent mechanical failure, you as an unqualified private individual cannot be held responsible for anything that happens after the sale.

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spg1983 · 22/03/2013 09:17

Well I honestly had no idea it had a problem - if I did then I certainly wouldn't have been driving around in it at 9 months pregnant... :(

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