E30 Zone

What does it really mean?

If someone sold a vehicle on a SOLD AS SEEN basis, what rights has the sellers has and the buyer?

Thanks in advance

if you buy it, once the cash is handed over you cant do F all about it if anything goes wrong or is not as described.

what you see is what you get basically.

As above, you have accepted the goods how they are.
If I sell a car, I always put on the receipt 'vehicle sold as seen with no warrentee implied or given' as it not down to me it someone drives it off and blows the engine up.

The sold as seen isn't 100% safe from a sellers point of view.

My parents got stung by the 'Sold as Seen' rule a couple of years ago. They sold a T - reg Renault Espace privately with a receipt stating 'sold as seen' One week later they got a call from the buyer saying the car had had an inspection and needed work to pass the MOT, and had had it done and he wanted the money.

Obviously we said to go away as it was 'sold as seen'. Then the idiot got solicitors and they pointed out that trading standards state:

Whether you buy privately or from a motor trader, you are entitled to expect the car to be capable of passing an MOT test when you buy it, unless you and the seller clearly agree it is to be sold as scrap.

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi- ... 3-1011.txt


For this reason whenever I sell a car now I always make sure its passed an MOT within the last few weeks to safeguard against this happening again.

klu99apm wrote:The sold as seen isn't 100% safe from a sellers point of view.

My parents got stung by the 'Sold as Seen' rule a couple of years ago. They sold a T - reg Renault Espace privately with a receipt stating 'sold as seen' One week later they got a call from the buyer saying the car had had an inspection and needed work to pass the MOT, and had had it done and he wanted the money.

Obviously we said to go away as it was 'sold as seen'. Then the idiot got solicitors and they pointed out that trading standards state:

Whether you buy privately or from a motor trader, you are entitled to expect the car to be capable of passing an MOT test when you buy it, unless you and the seller clearly agree it is to be sold as scrap.

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi- ... 3-1011.txt


For this reason whenever I sell a car now I always make sure its passed an MOT within the last few weeks to safeguard against this happening again.

yes. but that comes with the teritory of french scrap and there pedantic owners. thats the sort of thing i would expect from a loser buying an mpv.

if your selling an old turd of an e30 youve not got much to worry about i guess. although someone proper on this forum has had a problem with some bogan who bought one of his cars who expects a warranty 15 years after the car left the showroom.

Bit confused by Jon B's reply

If you sell "an old turd of an e30" surely you're most at risk of some sort of comeback if you manage to sell it to some sort of loser who then shows it wasn't capable of passing an MOT. From a legal point of view you've got a problem.

I'm not saying I agree with this (I think Trading Standards are a bunch of wankers for dreaming up this) but it doesn't change the fact that that you can get caught out by this.

You've obvioulsly got some MPV / French car rage you need to work through

Well if that legal jargon is correct then every car thats ever left a showroom should be sold as scrap because you only need one bulb to fail to make the car fail the MOT.

I would have told the solicitor to shove that letter up his arse.

Martinaston wrote: I would have told the solicitor to shove that letter up his arse.

And you'd probably have got away with it, but you would be moving on to dangerous and potentially expensive territory.
In this particular case, I'm pretty sure the purchasers had no right to have work done first and claim payment afterwards - the most they could do is return the car and demand their money back.
I also think there's a defense in that the sellers of the car were not experts or expected to be.

The area that causes the most problem is how the car is described, if its not as described in the advert and the car needs work to get it to a point where it is "as described" then in some cases the seller can be obligated to contribute to the cost or have the car back and return the buyers money. It really depends on how far people are prepared to pursue the issue.

Martinaston wrote:Well if that legal jargon is correct then every car thats ever left a showroom should be sold as scrap because you only need one bulb to fail to make the car fail the MOT.

I would have told the solicitor to shove that letter up his arse.

i agree 100% they just tried it on and won unlucky for you ive been selling scrap for the last 20 years and always use those words its the words of god in my book.

Also if you sell more than 6 cars a year, you could be deemed a trader. So then not only do you have trading standards on your back but, taxman and if your total sales are more than vat thresshold 60 k i think. Back tax on the whole lot. As well as giving a 3 month warrinty.
Had this before, no such thing as a private trader.

I was talking to a mate short while ago who owns a pitch in Bristol.
He said "sold as seen" means fuckall!!

He said you are a bit better off with saying;

"sold with no gaurantee,warrantees or comebacks"

Wether it works or not i dont know

Some of the laws in this country are stupid, I try to be honest whenever I sell anything, a car, to something small on eBay.

The buyer chooses to buy a car, normally has ample opportunity to check it over, have a professional check done, but chooses to buy. Agrees that it is sold as seen.

It then fails an MoT/Blows up, that's just the way it is, sometimes you have bad luck, I know I have. It was 'sold as seen' which is literally what it says. But no, the government has to intervene.

Stupid politically correct bullshit these days does my head in.

If I shag a bird on a Friday night, and she turns out to be crap in bed, maybe I should be able to sue her for wasting my time and money (drinks!) since she promised to be awesome. (Am I bitter about something? Maybe)

Bollocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

Be clear when you are selling the car, if it has a valid MOT the fine, you have done all thats reasonable, your not going check everyday whether its going to pass the MOT.

Trading standards just issue guidelines, its not law!

If you are a trader, then various provisions do apply so be careful otherwise you will get raped legally.

i had a similar experience when selling a car on ebay.

the buyer called me to say the car was a piece of scrap and that he wanted his money back.

the add clearly stated "sold as seen", "mechanical inspection welcome"

"will need work for mot"

buyer told to fuck off.

also the v5 was in someone elses name so i wasnt too bothered

Stupid politically correct bullshit these days does my head in.

If I shag a bird on a Friday night, and she turns out to be crap in bed, maybe I should be able to sue her for wasting my time and money (drinks!) since she promised to be awesome. (Am I bitter about something? Maybe)

Bollocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

now that was inspirational