QLD Landcruiser Sold Privately - What are Our Rights?

[Angela S]

Last week I sold my LandCruiser for $7,000 privately through Car Sales to a buyer in NSW. They paid a $500 deposit on the Wednesday and then came and inspected the car on Saturday. They inspected the car themselves (no mechanic) for approx 30 minutes, took it for a test drive and was happy. Paid the remainder $6,500 cash and left.

The buyer drove approx 2.5hrs on a day permit back to their home in NSW. Approx 4hrs after the sale my husband gets a txt stating the car is over heating, the next morning a few more little issues are raised such as leaky windscreen wiper reservoir. The seller then asks for a refund and wants to bring the car back.

The car was a 2004 model with a reconditioned engine (worth approx $8,00) which we supplied the paperwork for. It had only done approx 30,000km on the new engine before we decided to sell it and get a new car.

At point of sale we were unaware of any problems with the car, we explained we hadn't been regularly driving it since the beginning of the year.

I just wanted to know what our rights are legally? The buyer has been calling and texting my husband numerous times a day stating that his mechanic has gone over it and he may be up for $3,000 to get it back to working order and wants us to pay half. We don't know what he has done to the car or how he has driven it after he left our house.

Thank you for any help you can offer; it is greatly appreciated.

 

[Angela S]

Car was sold unroadworthy and unregistered but we had a safety inspection done and provided buyer with this.

 

[Rob Legat - SBPL]

I note you've said you sold it 'unroadworthy'. When you mean 'safety inspection', do you mean a safety certificate? I'd assume so because a day permit was able to be obtained. If that is the case, it's buyer beware.

 

[Tim W]

Going only by what you have said here,
missing facts missing, and with the undisclosed facts, ifs, buts, and maybes not allowed for,
I suggest that a seller in your shoes, acting in good faith, is less likely to be liable.

First, the private sale of a car is not a transaction to which the Australian Consumer Law applies.
Further, the private sale of a car is also almost never a transaction that falls within the scope
of the law that applies to, say, used car dealers.
Which means, on the ground, that you don't have any real duty to make good any defects that emerge.

Second, you, as the seller, are entitled to rely on the competence and integrity of the mechanic who signed the certificate.
In simple words - you, as the seller, can take the mechanic's word for it as to the condition of the car.
Bear in mind also, that a vehicle can be sound, or even roadworthy,
even if many of its parts are used/ worn and close to needing replacement,
but still "good enough" when inspected.

Third, as a matter of contract law generally, a seller does have an obligation to deal fairly and honestly with a buyer.
Assuming that you did that, then it's up to the buyer to "start something" in the nature of a dispute about them being deceived.
Assuming fairness and honesty on your part, you have no obligations to him in the way, say, a motor dealer might.
In order to succeed in such an action, a buyer will typically need to show, on the balance of probabilities,
that the seller knew, or, even as a layman seller* reasonably should have known
that there were defects in the car (beyond what may have been disclosed)
that may have been relevant to the buyers's decision about whether or not to buy the car.

That can be pretty hard for a buyer to do, when a seller provides a certificate and other supporting papers,
and their own inspection at the time of sale satisfied them.

Fourth - buyer beware.
A seller doesn't get to use "buyer beware" as a way to pull a trick on a buyer.
Remember also that the buyer had the opportunity to examine the car
(and could have had it further examined, say by a mechanic),
before deciding to buy it.

Where sellers often come unstuck here is when it turns out they were lying by omission.
That is, not saying something that they reasonably should have, if they were being fair and honest.



-------------------------------------
* that is, not a mechanic or other relevant technical person

 

[Angela S]

Yes it was a safety certificate.

We had a headgasket on the engine replaced in December by our mechanic and they flushed and had the engine hooked up to their diagnostics machine for a few hours to ensure everything was good. It was running fine for the little while we drive it prior to deciding to sell.
The buyer is now saying his mechanic feels the head gasket has gone again and needs replacing, this is what he expects us to pay half the cost of.

My difficulty is that I don't know if he checked the fluid levels, if he drove the car to far when it was overheating or any number of scenarios which could have taken place and because of this he has done damage.

As I initially stated we never attempted to hide anything and were both happy that with all the work we had previously had done on it that the car was in sound mechanical condition. We also replaced bonnet struts and a tyre as asked by the mechanic who conducted the safety certificate.

 

[Tim W]

Is there some part of my post above that I need to clarify?

 

[Angela S]

No thank you for your time