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Where Do I Stand?


t-comp-kierz

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About three weeks I sold my Suzuki RM85 as I wasn't using it much and when I sold the bike the guy came and had a look at it, started it up and was all happy with it and bought it for £800.

He contacted me today through facebook saying: "Hello i bought ur rm 85cc i would like for u to get in contact with me as the bike is not running i have changed the spark plug several times and cleaned the carb , drained and changed the petrol/oil , the bike has obviously got problems with the engine or pistons . i am not happy after spending 800 on a bike that has major problems!"

When I sold him it I told him that he would have to go easy for the first 5 liters as it hasn't been ran properly in a while (just a start to make sure it stated every now and then).

Now he is saying that he is going to get the police involved as he is saying that i sold him faulty goods.

I sold it through gumtree and he is saying that i have a 30 day money back guarantee on faulty goods over £500. Is this true or a pack of lies?

And what should be the best way to go around this?

Edited by t-comp-kierz
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Sounds like it was 'sold as seen' so it's not exactly your fault he bought it with the chance of it being dodgey. I can understand that he's spent a fair wedge, but if he did it in the knowledge that it was a bit of a risky buy, I can't see why you should pay out for it.

Contact Gumtree about it and see what they're saying about it?

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He doesn't have a leg to stand on, you didn't sell it with a warranty, mechanical things break and its a fact of life. If he bought it when it was working fine and now it's not working, he's broken it and he's probably trying to pull a fast one so he doesn't have to pay to fix it.

The police can't do anything, he's trying to scare you and a 30 day money back guarantee on faulty goods would be if the goods were faulty as they arrived, that's not the same as a 30 day warranty which he I don't think you sold with it.

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If you're a trader anything you sell comes with a 6 month mandatory warranty by law.

If you're a private individual you can basically tell him to f*ck right off :)

Click! Just happened to have the link open in another window having researched the matter due to a car my mum recently bought (from a trader) :P

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Did you not get him to sign a 'payment received for Suzuki RM85, sold as seen' bit of paper? Always good on things like vehicles to cover yourself (whether you're the buyer or seller).

You have to be a bit of a dick sometimes.

But do try and do it in a non aggressive, polite way of course...

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I'd just ignore him, it's not your responsibility to look at the bike, it's no longer yours. If he's claiming this bullshit, you fix the bike and in a weeks time it breaks again - you could be to blame.

As soon as he starts threatening police and all that I'd tell him to, politely, go f**k himself.

How old is this guy? 16-18 by any chance?

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Did you not get him to sign a 'payment received for Suzuki RM85, sold as seen' bit of paper? Always good on things like vehicles to cover yourself (whether you're the buyer or seller).

But do try and do it in a non aggressive, polite way of course...

For a legal standpoint, 'sold as seen' receipts mean nothing, they have no effect on anyones rights, and a private sale like this is automatically sold as seen anyway. However they can be good at shutting up buyers, and ramming the point into their mind in a polite way. So they can be worth doing, but they're not a legal statement that effects anything if you haven't done one.

As said, as you're not a trader, there's no responsibility on your part to know about any mechanical defects as you are considered a 'layman'. The only way you'd be breaking the law would be if you'd knowingly sold a vehicle that's not in a roadworthy condition, without warning the buyer of the condition.

With regards to traders, although that link Jolfa's posted suggests 6 months, I'm fairly sure the mandatory warranty that dealers have to give is 3 months. The link's right that any defects present at the time of sale and not disclosed should be sorted by them, but that's not quite the same thing as a warranty, as a warranty would cover any defects that develop within the set period, rather than only defects that were already present.

Edited by RobinJI
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it sounds to me that you sold him the bike in a working order, and as you said, it hadn't been used in a while so you should use a small amount of fuel to clear the engine out and get it going. As it was working when you sold it and he was happy with purchase, as long as you didn't use it after he saw it, its his fault no yours. there is nothing you have to do but something he should do!

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With regards to traders, although that link Jolfa's posted suggests 6 months, I'm fairly sure the mandatory warranty that dealers have to give is 3 months.

That was a link from citizens advice having spoken to them in length about the matter on the phone. Trading standards and the "nobhead act 1979" (I forget the proper name of it, obviously) support it too! Unless the trader can prove the fault was present, and they informed you as such at the time of purchase, they have a legal obligation for the first 6 months to sort anything that goes wrong*!

*within reason, punctures and the like don't qualify.

Not that it's at all relevant to the thread :P

Edited by Jolfa
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