Overhaulin'

Rights regarding a private car sale...? (UK)?

OK so long story short we bought a brilliant little car for our family from what we thought was a woman who could be trusted. Then the gears packed in 2 hours after getting it. We have been told that this is due to long periods of bad driving and will cost £350 maybe more to fix. She obviously knew they were knackered.. the mechanic says there's no way she could not have known. The car had a full service history until it came into her hands but the mechanic says its likely she's had a service held back her part of the service history. There is also a "red key" missing, which is seemingly vital as without it we can't even get a new battery and the car's maker will have to issue a new one meaning locks and engine management system will have to be changed. This will cost a grand sum of £800 at least £1200 at most. Do we have any right to ask her to foot the bill for new gears? Or even more important to pay for the red key? as we've been told that the car is only worth its scrap value without this key so she's done us over. Thanks for your replies. It's a wonderful little car other than those problems and we've literally just found out that there's a way round the red key problem only costing £50 maybe my boyfriend just has to stiffen the upper lip lol. Thanks for making that clear though. We had a feeling we had no rights with it being private

Public Comments

1. I'd certainly be talking to her - but truthfully, you bought as seen, so no real comeback. Next time get either the AA or RAC to do a check for you.
2. Yes she has sold you a pup. There is no comeback in law unless she can be shown to have deliberately misled you. If you had asked the right questions with a witness present and she had lied you would have a case. That is the pitfall with private sales. You can ask her what you like regarding the repairs but she has no obligation whatsoever to contribute. Caveat Emptor - (Let the buyer beware).
3. You have already had the answer and in truth if it drove OK for a couple of hours and then the gearbox fault occurred there is no way she would have known unless she had X Ray eyes!