Ford Focus 1.6 TDCI - What are my rights after buying a car privately?

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Tue 15 Oct 2013 03:57
Ford Focus 1.6 TDCI - What are my rights after buying a car privately? - dazzagtir
Hi Honest John Forum,

First of all, please excuse in advance any potential spelling errors strange words that might appear in this thread, I am using my iPhone which has a tendency to play games....

You may notice that it is 02:20am and it is abit of an odd hour to be posting up a question on a forum but unfortionatly for me I can't sleep because I can't get what has happened to me of my mind.

On Wednesday I bought a 2005 Ford Focus 1.6 TDCI 114,000 miles (sensible option as my partner is now 10 weeks away from having our first child)
The car was for sale on eBay as an auction but in the add it stated his mobile number and to ring/text for a viewing and offers.
Luckily for me the car happened to be for sale in the same town as me (result) in the add it stated that the car "drives and runs like new" "FSH" "all work has been done"
My partner rang the number and it was answered by a man, my partner went straight to the point and said she was ringing about the car for sale and immediately he said "which one" (closer inspection showed that he actually had a couple cars for sale on eBay at the time)
She explained our interest in the ford focus and asked what he would like for it, his answer was £2000 and so naturally we offered £1900 and he accepted (over the phone)
He then went on to say that his dad had the car and the viewing would be at his house so we then had to ring the dad and arrange a viewing which we did about an hour later.
Upon arrival the car looked in great condition body work apart from the scratch which was stated in the add, four good tyres, underneath looked solid and no rush at all that I could see. we where then greated by an older gentleman (about 65ish) who immediately told us to go into the house to do paperwork. I was at first hesitant because we hadn't even seen the car running yet or even looked inside it, he assured me that the vehicle was 110% mechanically sound and has no issues and explained he was a mechanic.
I then made the fatal mistake of chatting to the old boy about the vehicle as he told me how great it was etc etc and we counted the money out and he got me to sign the logbook.
We all walked outside to the car where he then showed me the service book in the glove box and the interior was in great condition too.
Before I had the chance to even pop the bonnet and check it over the old boy had to get back to his flat and do what ever old boys do and said "it's ok you can drive the car because your insured as I am fully comp on it"
I started the engine after he went in and it appeared to sound fine, a little smoke but what I expected from a diesel (so I've been told)
Drive slowly home about two miles away as it didn't have much fuel and parked it up over night.
The next day I done all the insurance etc but had no reason to go out anywhere so the car stayed there over night again and the next morning I had to get up and take my partner home which is a 80 mile single trip and I was looking forward to it.
Got roughly 3 miles away from my house and all hell broke lose under the bonnet, loss of power, smoke etc.
Turns out the turbo has disintegrated, injector no.3 is clogged and the mechanic drained 400ml of oil from the intercooler.
The turbo pipe was help on with a cable tie and didn't have a gasket to manifold and has signs of tampering (bolts being over tightened and worn)
I immediately rang the old boy at te side of the road and as I was starting to explain the car had broken down he immediately went straight to "sold as seen, nothing I can do about it" shrugged me off and ended the call. I WAS LIVID...!
Since then I have researched the eBay seller and he has sold 10 vehicles in the last few months alone and one of his feedbacks says "great car, great ebayer and your dads a top bloke too"
Have I been conned by a trader selling cars privately..!!

I have since made every attempt to contact both people and they just seem to ignore me and when I do get a reply its usually neandathal like replies like "do what you want" to a message saying I will take them to small claims court.

What I really need to know is do I stand a chance in court against these people or am I wasting my time. Its 2013 and trading rules have changed enough that "sold as seen" no longer holds ground in the sale of a car and only the description counts.

I've been quoted £1300 repair bills. :-(

Thank you for reading.

Darrell.
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Tue 15 Oct 2013 11:43
Ford Focus 1.6 TDCI - What are my rights after buying a car privately? - Cris_on_the_gas

So you buy a car without examining it properly.

You drive it home uninsured.

It's an 8 year old car that been half way to the moon.

you made an offer without seeing the car.

If what you say that he said the car was 110% mechanically sound then he has mislead you.

You only course of action would be via small claims court, and that is not without it's issues. you need to be meticulious and do every thing correctly, but only any good if he has got the money to pay up. You would of course be sueing the Son for claims made by his father if i am reading your transcription above correctly. The whole process might be like trying to nail jelly

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Tue 15 Oct 2013 12:19
Ford Focus 1.6 TDCI - What are my rights after buying a car privately? - FP

I'm sorry to hear of your woes. However, as has been pointed out, you have been very naive.

£1,900 for a 2005 Ford Focus 1.6 TDCI seems cheap; now you know why. And from your post, really you know you should have inspected the car properly and should have had a test drive. You realise that you were taken advantage of by people who were keen you should do neither and just wanted your cash. A valuable lesson, unfortunately expensively learned.

These people could be traders masquerading as private sellers, which is a criminal offence and you could try to involve the local trading standards people. However, establishing this would not be up to you and getting money out of them on that basis would be dubious.

If it was a genuine private sale you have virtually no comeback; you would have to prove the car was misdescribed. Even if you were successful in the small claims procedure, there is no guarantee you could get enough money out of them to make it worthwhile (as I know from experience).

For your interest, here is a summary from the AA website:

"If you buy privately, it's a case of 'Buyer Beware'. You won't have the same legal protection as you would if buying from a dealer and it's up to you to ask the right questions and inspect the car thoroughly before you buy. It's a good idea to get an independent engineer to give the car a thorough mechanical inspection, and to get a car history check to make sure there's no shady past.

Because your legal rights are more limited, unscrupulous dealers may masquerade as private sellers: be very wary if a private seller wants to meet you somewhere other than at their home, or if their name is not on the V5C registration document. A dealer pretending to be a private seller is committing a criminal offence.

The only legal terms that cover a private sale contract are:
the seller must have the right to sell the car
the vehicle should match the description given by the seller
the car must be roadworthy - it is a criminal offence to sell an unroadworthy car and an MOT certificate from a test several months ago is no guarantee that the car is roadworthy today."

If I were in your position I would (a) report the sellers to Trading Standards, (b) give them negative feedback on eBay* and (c) find £1300. Paying a total of £3200 for the car doesn't seem totally unreasonable.

*You could try threatening the sellers with these points to see if that gets a response, but it probably won't.

Edited by FP on 15/10/2013 at 12:22

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