buying a second hand car privately

tazwaz

Hi
i'm hoping to buy a used car privately and am wondering what rights (if any) do I have if something goes wrong with it a few weeks after buying it please?
Thanks

wexie

none, zip, zilch, nada, nichts, niets,noppes, nothing nyet*

Caveat Emptor

*Unless there was something wrong with the car, which the seller was aware of AND neglected to tell you AND you can PROVE that the seller should reasonably have been aware of it........so in practice you're back to none whatsoever.

tazwaz

wexie wrote: »

none, zip, zilch, nada, nichts, niets,noppes, nothing nyet*

Caveat Emptor

*Unless there was something wrong with the car, which the seller was aware of AND neglected to tell you AND you can PROVE that the seller should reasonably have been aware of it........so in practice you're back to none whatsoever.

Thanks for the quick reply. Best go to a garage then ☺

wexie

tazwaz wrote: »

Thanks for the quick reply. Best go to a garage then ☺

hmmm...not necessarily, plenty of good deals to be had buying privately with cash in your pocket.

Just need to make doubly sure the car is checked over properly by someone who knows what they're looking at.

Unfortunately Boards is full of people that got stung buying privately but if you asked over in the Motors forum there are also plenty of people that have had good experiences.

I guess what it boils down to is that you pay for the bit of piece of mind (and even that may not mean much from plenty of garages)

coylemj

tazwaz wrote: »

Thanks for the quick reply. Best go to a garage then ☺

Not necessarily, as long as it's a genuine private sale and you're shown service invoices etc. and you get a mechanic to give it a going over, you will get a better deal in a private sale than with a garage.

Not having a warranty is a downer but you pay for that peace of mind when buying from a garage, it's a trade off as with most things in life.

Any BS about the delay in getting an NCT (do not buy the car if the NCT is overdue or due in the next three months) or rubbish about why there is no service documentation, just walk away.

If the NCT is due in the next three months (six months for the first NCT) then the current owner can submit it for a test early. Anyone selling a car with an expired NCT or an NCT that expires in the next three months has something to hide or is afraid to submit it for the test which means they are either aware of a fault or they haven't had the car properly serviced, don't touch it.

Ken.

Bring a mechanic. I know of 2 unemployed mechanics that will go with a person to a private sale with you for €50 and give the car a good once over. Obviously they wouldn't spot everything but I think it would be €50 well spent if I was going to buy privately.

goz83

Plenty of good cars with no nct too. It all depends on what you are buying. If there is a mechanic checking the car out, then it shouldn't matter if the nct is out, or almost out. Better room to haggle if there's no nct.

Del2005

goz83 wrote: »

Plenty of good cars with no nct too. It all depends on what you are buying. If there is a mechanic checking the car out, then it shouldn't matter if the nct is out, or almost out. Better room to haggle if there's no nct.

Advising someone to buy a car without an NCT is not a good idea.

If the car will fly through the NCT make the owner do it before you hand over money. Unless a mechanic puts the car on a ramp and runs the same tests as the NCT then there could be expensive work required.

hullaballoo

The AA and some other motor associations offer a service of checking private sale cars out for free for members and for a reasonable enough fee for non-members.

As above though, if you have a friendly mechanic, get some advice on what to look out for and ask if he'll give the car a once over. This is a good negotiation strategy anyway, whether or not there's anything wrong with the car.

Also, the guys over in the Motors forum are very knowledgeable about cars and they are usually quite helpful. See here.

whippet

hullaballoo wrote: »

The AA and some other motor associations offer a service of checking private sale cars out for free for members and for a reasonable enough fee for non-members.

As above though, if you have a friendly mechanic, get some advice on what to look out for and ask if he'll give the car a once over. This is a good negotiation strategy anyway, whether or not there's anything wrong with the car.

I wouldn't trust an AA mechanic too much ... I was selling a car once, the buyer got an AA mechanic out to check it out (obviously getting paid) and all I can say is that the mechanic drafted a mental report, took his time about it and in essence turned the buyer off an excellent car. It was obvious he was looking to justify his fee. The top off was he recommended that the 'cam belt be changed by the seller prior to transaction as it was past due' .... the surprising thing was the car had a timing chain that was supposed to last the lifetime of the engine .. and the engine had only 50k miles on the clock.

There was references to 'beware UK import' on the report .. despite it being my wife who owned the car from new and bought it back from the UK when she moved home .. the AA man had all the paperwork.

Tyres that had less than 2000 miles on them we deemed to require replacing in the very near future ....

The net effect is that the buyer was frightened off buying an excellent car that they wanted buy a clown who was trying to justify his fee ..

hullaballoo

whippet wrote: »

I wouldn't trust an AA mechanic too much ... I was selling a car once, the buyer got an AA mechanic out to check it out (obviously getting paid) and all I can say is that the mechanic drafted a mental report, took his time about it and in essence turned the buyer off an excellent car. It was obvious he was looking to justify his fee. The top off was he recommended that the 'cam belt be changed by the seller prior to transaction as it was past due' .... the surprising thing was the car had a timing chain that was supposed to last the lifetime of the engine .. and the engine had only 50k miles on the clock.

There was references to 'beware UK import' on the report .. despite it being my wife who owned the car from new and bought it back from the UK when she moved home .. the AA man had all the paperwork.

Tyres that had less than 2000 miles on them we deemed to require replacing in the very near future ....

The net effect is that the buyer was frightened off buying an excellent car that they wanted buy a clown who was trying to justify his fee ..

What did the AA say when you reported this to them?

coylemj

goz83 wrote: »

Plenty of good cars with no nct too. It all depends on what you are buying. If there is a mechanic checking the car out, then it shouldn't matter if the nct is out, or almost out. Better room to haggle if there's no nct.

Better room to haggle because there's a fault the owner knows about and which he's not disclosing to you. Why would anyone in their right mind offer a car for sale which is in good shape but has no NCT? First thing you do once you're within the 3 months is get the NCT sorted, then offer it for sale with an NCT cert valid for the next 27 months. That's what I did when I sold a car a few years ago, I had the brand new NCT cert and all the service invoices so I had the upper hand when it came to haggling.

If the car already failed the NCT because of emissions and it basically needs a new cat, will the mechanic checking it out 'on the hoof' be able to detect that fault?

Buying a car with no NCT, especially in a private sale where there is no comeback would be madness. It means that either the seller is a dealer and knows he's selling a turkey, he's a private seller who hasn't maintained the car so he's afraid to submit it for the test or he's already submitted it and it's failed. If it has no NCT because the seller is a lazy idiot well that's just as good a reason to walk away.

whippet

hullaballoo wrote: »

What did the AA say when you reported this to them?

they wouldn't deal with me as I wasn't their customer.

hullaballoo

That's surprising. I can understand that but if you're reporting in good faith, I would have thought they'd listen to you.

It is the same case for most mechanics though, no? I mean, if they're trying to justify a fee.

goz83

Del2005 wrote: »

Advising someone to buy a car without an NCT is not a good idea.

If the car will fly through the NCT make the owner do it before you hand over money. Unless a mechanic puts the car on a ramp and runs the same tests as the NCT then there could be expensive work required.

It wasn't advice. It was just me stating a fact. I have bought a number of cars without nct and i am no mechanic, but i am usually aware of any problems before buying, or walking away.

coylemj wrote: »

Better room to haggle because there's a fault the owner knows about and which he's not disclosing to you. Why would anyone in their right mind offer a car for sale which is in good shape but has no NCT? First thing you do once you're within the 3 months is get the NCT sorted, then offer it for sale with an NCT cert valid for the next 27 months. That's what I did when I sold a car a few years ago, I had the brand new NCT cert and all the service invoices so I had the upper hand when it came to haggling.

If the car already failed the NCT because of emissions and it basically needs a new cat, will the mechanic checking it out 'on the hoof' be able to detect that fault?

Buying a car with no NCT, especially in a private sale where there is no comeback would be madness. It means that either the seller is a dealer and knows he's selling a turkey, he's a private seller who hasn't maintained the car so he's afraid to submit it for the test or he's already submitted it and it's failed. If it has no NCT because the seller is a lazy idiot well that's just as good a reason to walk away.

I completely disagree that buying a car without an nct is madness. I buy a car on based on the condition of the day, not because it has an nct disc in the window. I don't care if the disc is a week old. You only have to know someone in the nct centre to magic problems away. I prefer to buy the car as it is (with or without nct, but preferably with for legal reasons), then get any problems sorted and if there is no nct, get one. Even a genuine nct is only stating the vehicle is road worthy at the time of testing. We all know that the testers can easily miss dangerous problems.

It's worth noting that sometimes people decide to sell when they get an itch for another car, or some other reason. Getting an nct date is not always easy to do. Not everyone books early. Others leave their cars lying up for a while and decide to sell later, willing to take less rather than having to nct it (which might mean taxing and insuring it too). There are any number if reasons why there may be no nct. Walking away based on a far less than perfect nct certification disc is what is madness.

billy few mates

The way I look at it an NCT on it's own should never be taken as an indication of the reliability or condition of a car, an NCT is merely a snapshot of the condition of that car at that moment in time, if a car has one, all well and good, if it doesn't well that's not the end of the world either. Just over two years ago I was looking for a car for my son and I found what I thought was the perfect one but it didn't have an NCT.
I spoke with the seller and he told me he hadn't time to put it through and he wasn't about to do it now, he was going to sell the car to the first person who would take it without the NCT. I was a little suspicious that he might have put it through the NCT and it had failed for something expensive so he was trying to dump it. I phoned the NCT office that evening and told them I was about to buy the car and wanted to book it in for a test, while I was on to them I asked them when it was last in for a test, the lady told me that it had been just over a year ago, she also told me that it had only ever failed one NCT test for something minor.
I was quite happy with the rest of the car so I bought it, I put it through an NCT and it passed, my son drove it for over two years without a problem and it sailed through every subsequent test. We sold it this week within two hours of placing the ad and got €500 less than we paid for it when we bought it (paid €2500 sold it for €2000) making for very cheap and reliable motoring, which we would have missed out on if I'd ruled it out for having no NCT.
My advice would be to go with you instincts, and have a good look at the car and it's paperwork, if you don't know what you're looking for bring someone who does with you.