I have only ever purchased a car once from a private seller, my first car back in 93, it turned out to be a write off and I lost out (the stupidity of youth).
The only other time I considered buying privately was about five years ago, put down a deposit on a nice looking but suspiciously cheap Fiesta...so I did an HPI check and sure enough it had been written off....well at least I got my deposit back!
Since then I have vowed never to buy privately again, no matter how cheap the saving compared to a dealer. Anyone else experienced bad (or worse) luck when buying from a private seller?
|
My mate's first car, an Escort, turned out to belong to a finance company when he had it stolen.
It was also a bag of nails that had been around the clock two or three times and needed a new engine, he was quite lucky that someone wrote it off really.
I'd be very cautious with a private sale, people complain about dealers being dishonest, but I reckon that the general public are equally, if not more dishonest than dealers.
Before I get shot down for saying that, I'm making a generalisation there which probably doesn't include most of the people who post here. I know I would struggle to tell anything other than little white lies if I was selling a car privately, I could never knowingly part someone from their hard earned in exchange for a dodgy car.
Blue
|
|
|
have bought several cars privately, and my only problem was the time i developed an unhealthy crush on the woman who sold a citroen saxo vtr to me.
the thought of her makes me go quite weak.........i'm off for a lie down.
|
|
|
I must admit to seeing a fair dew dogs in my time, but when you get a good un it stands out a mile.
The 1 question I always ask is: "why are you selling it" and if the answer fits the sellers look and feel it is a good sign, any hesitation or rambling is a dead giveaway. For example the last car bought privately was a 4 year old 1 owner from new Primera, when I asked why he was selling it, he said he just wanted a new one, and sure enough in the drive was a spanking new primera. Now would he of bought a new primera if he had a bad experience with the old one, probably not! take this against the 406 I saw eariler that day that the owner had only had for a few months and was selling it case... errr ... ummm.. yeah... ummm.. the wife doesn't like driving it. Spookily enough when I took it for a run it pulled really badly to one side and stank of leaking fuel... yeah mate any wonder the wife doesn't like it!! :o)
It comes down to what market you are in < 10k you are probably going to by from a dealer and it is not worth the hassle sub 10k and you have the time and a bit of wit you can come away with a good deal.
Oh yes and if buying privately I always drive it from cold and when happy I get the vendor to drive back, that way you get to see how it has been treated. :o)
Horses for courses
|
|
|
I have bought a few cars privately incuding my first, a left-hooker Beetle in 1971. Recently I bought a Citroen AX for my daughter privately; we'll see if I got that one right when it goes for MoT next month. A couple of years ago I bought my motor-bike privately. I was about to set off to the main dealer ready to put down a deposit for a new one (suzuki Bandit 600) and I spotted a similar bike in Bike Trader. It was on the way and immaculate and I've had no trouble from it since in 8000 miles.
Hawkeye
-----------------------------
Stranger in a strange land
|
I have bought and sold a number of cars privately over the years. I have only had one diasaster - my first Mini where the rear subframe mounting panel had rusted away plus other bodges. I learned from that.
If the owner is scruffy, dodgy or the house where it is is untidy, then 96% of the time it will be a waste of time.
A good seller tells you in advance what is (obviously) wrong.
A seller who lies on the phone - so when you see the car it is clear they have lied - is not worth dealing with.
I always ask for phone descriptions and when selling have a typed list of ALL the salient points so I tell the same story all the time and leave nothing out.
Copies of all documentation to hand to show to the seller always impress. Claims that "I have the bills but I've mislaid them" when selling always mean the seller is disorganised (so cannot be trusted to look after a vehicle requiring regular servicing) or a liar (there are none).
Obvious crudities like bald tyres/dirty carpets/ciggie burns/smells/ rust are no-nos unless warned about in advance.
And finally as a private seller if selling a car above £4k I would :
1. Organise my own HPI check to give buyers peace of mind
2. Offer buyers a warranty (which anyone can buy).
and 3.
Ensure when I advertise it the words include all the key data and try to SELL it.
(The number of misspelt adverts /those without the car year/MOT/Tax data, /colour/mileage is astounding. See ebay for the worst. Anyone who cannot be bothered to spend 1- 2hours phrasing and advert and taking some decent photos is not going to sell their car for top whack. )
I reckon privbate sellers who can't be bothered are going to be a waste of space - or there will be a real bargain...
And if it's a car with a well known weakness I will always ask on the phone. Most people are bad liars and good liars are usually transparent when you see the car .
madf
|
I've bought approx 10 cars privately over the years and the better ones have all come from middle class family type people, they seem to keep up the servicing well.
My current preference is for cars owned by people I know, and the people I know are all middle class.....
Not very PC but works for me
|
> My current preference is for cars owned by people I know,and the people I know are all middle class..... Not very PC but works for me
these people are not in employment then. ... if they work they are working class whether they like it or not. and i wouldn't buy a car off anyone that wasn't honest enough to admit that they were working class. ...cheers...keo.
|
|
|
|
>>Most people are bad liars and good liars are usually transparent when you see the car .
Would agree with that.I was asked to look at a Micra a while ago,seller said car was in showroom condition.I looked and noticed a spot on passenger door that had been resprayed.When asked about it -reply was didnt think anyone would notice as a good mate repaired damage.I suppose to some it would have passed as it was a nice motor.But as they lied about it wonder what else was wrong.did not see anymore
--
Steve
|
Have had experiences of good and bad - and as has been said, if they lie over the phone then don't touch them with a bargepole.
I guess as in every other walk of life there are honest and dishonest people, you just have to make your choice and maybe take a risk sometimes.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I`ve only once bought a car privately,and the very next day it refused to start.Managed to trace problem to a faulty condenser (remember those?). Does anyone know what legal recompense a buyer has in the case of a private sale?
|
Does anyone know what legal recompense a buyer has in the case of a private sale?
Pretty much none!
I've bought and sold cars over the years and i've only ever bought one lemon. My most recent sale was on Ebay, described it in great length and covered all the good and not so good points and added 4 photo's from various angles. Placed a modest reserve and would of been happy with that but in the end it went for far more than i expected in it's condition. Both buyer and seller were happy with the outcome.
In future any of my private sales will be going through ebay.
|
Respect your views, Haddock, and I too thought there was no recompense for a private sale gone wrong.
But (tell me if I am wrong), isn't Ebay a 'sold-as-seen-on-net' thing?
I am sure many people such as yourself are honest, but the scope for dishonesty there is huge, isn't it?
|
I always buy from private sellers, provided they've got a good reason for sale.
Current car was a good buy I think - company car from new, then the guy whose company car it was bought it from the lease company at 3 years old. A year later he bought a new car, and it was surplus to requirements. Sure enough on his drive, a lovely 530d Sport. Seemed a really nice guy, and I figured if you've thrashed your company car to death daily for 3 years you probably wouldn't then buy it yourself.
18 months on, I've no regrets yet :)
|
|
|
Ebay has a funny status as technically it's not an auction so providing you haven't paid when you get there if the car is not as described you can walk away and forget the whole thing (won't go into neg feedback etc).
I personally would not buy and pay for a car before seeing it, if it was high value i would definately want to view before buying and even if it was a cheapie i'd pay for it when i go to collect it.
|
|
|
|
|
You have to bear in mind that private sellers don't have to give any implied guarantee of condition, as traders do. All that the Sale of Goods Act requires of private sellers is that they have legal ownership of what they are selling, and that the goods fit any description given of them (e.g. in an advert).
If you're a trader, you have more implied terms in the contract of sale: that the goods are of satisfactory quality (basically that they do the job they were designed to do) and also that they are fit for any purpose that the buyer has told the seller about.
|
|
|
