Buying From Garage "Sold as Seen"

yop

Lads,
My brother bought a 00 Fiesta there on Monday from a garage, it was bought as a "sold as seen" but when the test drove it last week there was a rattle from the front wheel arch and there was a mix of brand of tyres on the back and front, in other words, 2 michelin on the drivers side of the car back and front and 2 dunlops on the passenger side of the car, back and front.

Now he mentioned both of these things to the sales guy who said no bother we will have a look at that rattle and swap the tyres.

He rang them Sat and he said oh ya that work was done, but my dad picked the car up for him and did not check any of the issues, when he looked at it last nite for the first time he realised none of the work had been done;

Has he any grounds for complaint/to get the work done?

Our man in Havana

Sold as seen = you take your chances. They must not sell you a unroadworthy vehicle, I assume it has a NCT of some description.

But once you get it home and it falls apart then it's tough luck. A warranty is what you really need.

Anan1

When you say he test drove it and noticed the faults, was this before or after he bought it?

prospect

Yes, he has a come back.
The sales guy told him the work was done, and it wasn't. Simple.

ismynametoolong

A Garage cannot sell a car sold as seen to a member of the public they can however sell it this way to the trade . If your bro is a joe soap member of the public and has a contract of sale and if it states sold as seen on the contract then the garage is in breach of the sale of goods act specifically under the concept of merchantable quality .

Our man in Havana

Car auctions are always sold as seen. They sell to the public.

mike65

They certainly do sell to the public - just on the unwritten understanding you know you are getting a cheap car so don't come moaning!

Having mixed brands of tyres is'nt a safety issue frankly, nor is a rattle necessarily.

Mike.

ismynametoolong

Correct Market Overt or Auctions are excluded !

road_high

I have had a good experience of 'sold as seen/trade car' myself.
I bought a bora in this way last year (01 diesel 6500euro) and it has proved satisfactory.
The key was that even though the car was a bit rough round the edges, it was well serviced and had records of service. If you have your wits about you and know whatt to look for, I think you can get good value by buying in this manner.

lightening

I bought a car a few years ago and the garage I bought it in, Alasta Autos told me they had to stand over every little thing in the car for three months. They fixed the smallest and most rediculous things I asked them to every time without a grunt. I mean really small things, tyres worn down, rattles, car veering to the left EVER so slightly, knocking noises... Eventually they offered to buy me ear defenders. The fuse box was replaced and a year later it went again and they fixed if for nothing because they honered the fact that I got it repaired when it was under their guarentee! Maybe they had a reputation to keep.

I Dont work there or know them, I was just impressed with the service.

tred

yop wrote:

Lads,
My brother bought a 00 Fiesta there on Monday from a garage, it was bought as a "sold as seen" but when the test drove it last week there was a rattle from the front wheel arch and there was a mix of brand of tyres on the back and front, in other words, 2 michelin on the drivers side of the car back and front and 2 dunlops on the passenger side of the car, back and front.

Now he mentioned both of these things to the sales guy who said no bother we will have a look at that rattle and swap the tyres.

He rang them Sat and he said oh ya that work was done, but my dad picked the car up for him and did not check any of the issues, when he looked at it last nite for the first time he realised none of the work had been done;

Has he any grounds for complaint/to get the work done?

tell him go back to garage with car..point out that nothing was done, and drop the keys and say he will be back tmw. Mention that he payed for that work to be done as part of the car price.
is there an NCT on it?

TJM

lightening wrote:

I bought a car a few years ago and the garage I bought it in, Alasta Autos told me they had to stand over every little thing in the car for three months. They fixed the smallest and most rediculous things I asked them to every time without a grunt. I mean really small things, tyres worn down, rattles, car veering to the left EVER so slightly, knocking noises... Eventually they offered to buy me ear defenders. The fuse box was replaced and a year later it went again and they fixed if for nothing because they honered the fact that I got it repaired when it was under their guarentee! Maybe they had a reputation to keep.

I Dont work there or know them, I was just impressed with the service.

I'll second that - I've found them to be good.

smash

TBH I don't think he has a leg to stand on - nothing in writing unless it's on the receipt.... Tehy can just wash their hands of that car now. If there were faults though he shouldn't have paid for it till they were sorted out.

tred

steve06 wrote:

TBH I don't think he has a leg to stand on - nothing in writing unless it's on the receipt.... Tehy can just wash their hands of that car now. If there were faults though he shouldn't have paid for it till they were sorted out.

thats well and good and in theory correct but unless hes dealing wiht the worst of the worst then they should fix it. And also YOP you should have known if that garage had a good or bad rep before y abought off it. I wouldnt take a thing froma garage now unless it had 2 years nct on it.

junkyard

Sold as seen means SOLD AS SEEN. The car was sold at a price considerably cheaper than a retail price for a reason, the reason being that the car would cost more to present as a retail item with warranty. Some people want it all, cheap cars and warranty. Car dealers have to make a living too you know. Being a car dealer myself I've heard it all, from people ringing me at six in the morning trying to claim punctures as a warranty item to crashing their car and trying to make out that the brakes didn't work because the car skidded and hit a wall. And then they have the cheek to call us crooks and shysters.:rolleyes:

prospect

junkyard wrote:

Sold as seen means SOLD AS SEEN.

True,

However,

From the text of the OP, it seems that he requested that two items be rectified before he agreed purchase, and the salsman agreed to these requests. So the purchase was on the strenght of this agreement.
Now the salesman has reneged on his word, and therefore the sale is no longer a valid one.

bazz26

prospect wrote:

Yes, he has a come back.
The sales guy told him the work was done, and it wasn't. Simple.

I would imagine conversations or verbal contracts are not worth the paper they are written on.

tred

prospect wrote:

True,

However,

From the text of the OP, it seems that he requested that two items be rectified before he agreed purchase, and the salsman agreed to these requests. So the purchase was on the strenght of this agreement.
Now the salesman has reneged on his word, and therefore the sale is no longer a valid one.

exactly. he said hed fix it and he didnt. i bet hell fix it if hes asked....

junkyard

Verbal contracts are not worth the paper they're NOT written on, get it. He should have checked the car when he collected it tbh.
Did he sign a vehicle order form?

smash

tred wrote:

thats well and good and in theory correct but unless hes dealing wiht the worst of the worst then they should fix it.

Not true, I bought a car before because I was told it was a certain spec, got the car and after a service from a franchise dealer, it wasn't - could I do anything... No. I went to a solicitor and the receipt had the Make and Model of car - no version details and no signature from the guy in the garage. I did however nail them because I found out afterwards that the car had been clocked. Still took a while for the scumbag to give me my money back though.

In another case I know someone that got a 6 months warranty and when the car started to rattle and bits start to break the dealer wouldn't return calls, closed the business and went on holidays!

yop

prospect wrote:

True,

However,

From the text of the OP, it seems that he requested that two items be rectified before he agreed purchase, and the salsman agreed to these requests. So the purchase was on the strenght of this agreement.
Now the salesman has reneged on his word, and therefore the sale is no longer a valid one.

that is the way I would have understood it, since he said he would do it, twice, then I think he really should have done it?
BTW the garage is Caseys in Castlebar, have a good rep, but I would not be too happy with someone promising to do something and not doing anything

Fey!

Caseys are the Ford dealer there, aren't they? They do have a pretty good rep.

IIRC, and as someone said earlier, a trade sale CANNOT be made to a member of the public, so there is a 3 month warranty on the engine, but I think only the engine (possibly gearbox too).

Talk to the service dept instead of the salesman (they'll have to OK it with him anyway), and to SIMI if he has no joy.

junkyard

A car can be "sold as seen" to the public without warranty as long as its roadworthy. "Trade sale" means its sold to the trade only and might have issues like being crashed repaired or needing work. Hope this helps.:)

Fey!

Thanks for the clarification, Junkyard.

god's toy

Yea i got stung like that last year.
Got a 99 Skoda Octavia (1.6) 3.500 Euro 6 months later I pumped over 2500 just to keep it on the road... Yea I was done but that what you get for buying 'as seen'

junkyard

Its a false economy tbh buying a car "sold as seen" unless you can do the work yourself and are prepared for some niggles along the way. Garages don't want the hassle so the cars are checked out before they're put up for sale and if they find that the car needs to much to put it right or has been damaged at some point in its life they will wash they're hands of it and sell it off cheap or to the motor trade.