Hi All - What are your views ?

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Sat 7 May 2005 19:11
Hi All - What are your views ? - mikehuffley
Hi everyone,

I found this site whilst looking for some motor trade information, & wondered if anybody could give me some advice ?

i am a very small "work from a workshop" type dealer. Not dissimilar to the guys working from home.

I sell probably only 3-5 cars a month, mainly in the £3000 - £5000 price bracket & have never had a complaint until now !

I sell at way below forecourt prices, usually around CAP or GLASS's TRADE price & as such invite buyers to do any inspection, have a report or whatever else they want within reason. But, with extremely narrow margins, I can not offer a warranty inclusive & buyers sign the receipt to this effect (basically a trade sale)

Sound fair so far ??

A week ago i sold a car i had used myself for 2-3 weeks & it was a very good example, everything worked & it drove lovely. 6 days after the transaction, buyer emails me with a host of problems ranging from the clock not working to a noise coming from the aircon unit. I ask him to bring it back & we will look over it & come to some mutual agreement (i.e. WE pay for anything that we both consider unreasonable -- although this wasn't the deal when it was sold so cheap).

He refuses & wants money back, then money back less a "drink", then money back less 10% !!! Now by this time I am getting alarm bells ringing in my head - he won't drive it back 60 miles to me & expects ME to go there, he wants shot of it at any expense ??? & seems to think it's MY problem ??

Is it my problem ??

I really feel for this guy if he has had a run of bad luck in 7 days, but for only doing "2 or 3 local runs into town" he's found an awful lot of troubles from a car that we did 1000 miles in during a 2-3 week period (mostly hard motorway work on business).

If i had no morals, I would tell him to shove it !

Everybody I have spoken to about it tells me I owe him nothing.

I want him to bring it here & let us spend some time on it just to make him happy - even though this will mean the car will change from being a small profit to a loss in all likelyhood.

Just wanted some views from other traders or buyers -- i just feel i am being a soft touch & possibly being taken advantage of, not sure yet !


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Sat 7 May 2005 19:29
Hi All - What are your views ? - martint123
i am a very small "work from a workshop" type dealer

Sorry, but from where I look, if you sell cars to the public, there is no way you can wriggle out of your responsibilities as a trader by writing anything on the receipt.

www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin/calitem.cgi?fi...t

When you buy as a consumer from a motor trader, your legal rights under the Sale of Goods Act 1979 cannot be taken away or reduced. An example of an attempt to do so is a notice such as 'sold as seen'. Such phrases are meaningless and cannot alter your rights. Any warranty or guarantee can only be given in addition to your legal rights, not instead of them. You can take legal action under the Sale of Goods Act for up to six years after the date of the contract but it would usually be unrealistic to consider legal action for defects on second-hand cars, especially older vehicles, once you have had them in use for a reasonable length of time. Each case is different, so it will be best to take advice before you decide what to do.
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Sat 7 May 2005 20:08
Hi All - What are your views ? - mikehuffley
thanks for that one.

Very helpful & constructive post, I didn't realise the TS website had so much information. I feel a bit happer now, at first it looks very one sided but upon closer inspection it seems pretty fair & i have little to worry about if the buyer does decide to jump off the deep end. Hopefully it will not come to that & it will all be resolved amicably, we're certainyl going in the right direction.

thanks for your reply ;)
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