Selling cars off the street

Honest John Back Room » Legal matters
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Tue 21 Jun 2011 00:33
Selling cars off the street - cheeseman

On the road i live on parking is very limited and over the last couple of months it has been made worse due to the fact that there is someone basically using the main road as a car sales pitch. It started with one car at a time, Now there can be 3 cars parked on my road at a time. He is parking cars with for sale sings & all the details in the window, the cars stay for about a week then get swapped around with a different one if it doesent get sold, there are at least 10 cars for sale around the rest of the town at the moment. I get the feeling that the seller is a trader pretending to be a private seller. There are curently 2 cars on the road outside my house, both the sinage inside the cars have the same handwriting but different mobile numbers on them. The cars are always taxed & according to the motor insurance database they are insured. Is there anything i can do about this ? what would legally make him a trader ? if there is nothing i can do about it I would at least want to make sure that he is a proper trader paying tax etc.

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Tue 21 Jun 2011 01:01
Selling cars off the street - Duncan112

Try a phone call to your local Trading Standards, ours (Lancashire) have had a recent purge on this - including sticking notices on the windows of the cars advising prospective victims (sorry customers) of the potential pitfalls. Seem to remember reading somewhere recently about a man being told to remove a for sale notice from his own (only) car that was parked outside his house.

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Tue 21 Jun 2011 09:26
Selling cars off the street - Bobbin Threadbare

I had noticed this purge too; the A6 into Lancaster used to be like a flipping showrooms!

It is an offence under the 1980 Highways Act to sell vehicles from a public highway, so he is not acting legally.

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Tue 21 Jun 2011 10:09
Selling cars off the street - RT

Contact your local council - in my area the council take frequent action against those who park cars for sale on grass verges on commuter routes, they get the moved PDQ whether they're private or trade.

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Tue 21 Jun 2011 15:49
Selling cars off the street - Dwight Van Driver
It is Part 2,

Edited by Dwight Van Driver on 21/06/2011 at 15:52

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Tue 21 Jun 2011 15:53
Selling cars off the street - Dwight Van Driver

Re above HJ site again not accepting my imput. About time I left for good.

dvd

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Wed 22 Jun 2011 01:46
Selling cars off the street - Dynamic Dave

DVD, you'll always be welcome over on the other side of the fence. That goes for anyone else too.

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Mon 11 Jul 2011 18:53
Selling cars off the street - JOGON

Re above HJ site again not accepting my imput. About time I left for good.

dvd

Don't go

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Sat 9 Jul 2011 00:54
Selling cars off the street - maintenanceman

I my neck of the woods it is frowned apon by the council, not by the police. As far as I am aware it is ok to put a notice in your car that it is for sale. If a proce is included in that notice then you are regarded as trading. Ihave seen two occasions when roads have been blitzed by he council lifting cars in operations where it is suspected a trader is selling cars on the street. My advise would be to contact your local councillor.

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Mon 11 Jul 2011 14:30
Selling cars off the street - fredthefifth
Yep,
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Mon 11 Jul 2011 14:34
Selling cars off the street - fredthefifth

Sorry about the above. Been having trouble with this forum since upgrading to IE9. Doeng this in Firefox. What I meant to say was ..

Yep, local Council. A colleague had a letter even though his was just a one off trying to sell his own car. said something about street trading being illegal IIRC.

FTF

Edited by fredthefifth on 11/07/2011 at 14:35

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Mon 11 Jul 2011 15:31
Selling cars off the street - Dwight Van Driver

You made my day Fred the Fifth...thought I was the only one that has trouble posting.

The Clean Neighbourhood and Environment Act 2005

Exposing vehicles for sale on a road.

Section 3

(1)A person is guilty of an offence if at any time—.

(a)he leaves two or more motor vehicles parked within 500 metres of each other on a road or roads where they are exposed or advertised for sale, or.

(b)he causes two or more motor vehicles to be so left..

(2)A person is not to be convicted of an offence under subsection (1) if he proves to the satisfaction of the court that he was not acting for the purposes of a business of selling motor vehicles..

(3)A person guilty of an offence under subsection (1) is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale..

(4)In this section—.

“motor vehicle” has the same meaning as in the Refuse Disposal (Amenity) Act 1978 (c. 3);


“road” has the same meaning as in the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 (c. 27).

Under Section 6 Local Authority can give out Fixed penalty Notices:


(1)Where on any occasion an authorised officer of a local authority has reason to believe that a person has committed an offence under section 3 in the area of that authority, the officer may give that person a notice offering him the opportunity of discharging any liability to conviction for that offence by payment of a fixed penalty to the local authority.

Interesting is that if you as a non trader stick a notice in your window that your vehicle is for sale then watch where you park. Some Councils insert in their Off Street Parking Order the offence of trading at a Car Park and slap a ticket on your vehicle for this.

Also interesting is that if on a road then has to be taxed and Insured.

dvd

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Mon 11 Jul 2011 15:40
Selling cars off the street - jamie745

Never miss an opportunity to slap a ticket on something do they.

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Mon 11 Jul 2011 18:54
Selling cars off the street - JOGON

Suggest a good coat of white emulsion to all windows. Soon stops 'em.

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Mon 11 Jul 2011 19:47
Selling cars off the street - RT

At a tangent but not completely off topic - I recently had a courtesy car while warranty work was done - it was plastered with huge stickers giving the price, the finance deal and the selling dealer.

Was I or they guilty of any offence?

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Mon 11 Jul 2011 20:04
Selling cars off the street - jamie745

The courtesy car is a business vehicle with all the legal bells and whistles to go with being such so no i dont think they were. Someone putting for sale on their privately owned car is slightly different.

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Mon 11 Jul 2011 20:49
Selling cars off the street - RT

The courtesy car is a business vehicle with all the legal bells and whistles to go with being such so no i dont think they were. Someone putting for sale on their privately owned car is slightly different.

I thought the rules were stricter for traders - as the dealer clearly is.

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