Problems with second hand car

Large fun bags

So I bought a vintage car . 1981. From a private seller. I was aware of some minor issues which I was fine with. I was also assured there were no major issues with the car. Car drove fine and it drove home fine. But it was not tried out on an incline. Long story short. Car has gear box issues and gear box needs to be removed and sorted or replaced. Needless to say this will incur significant costs. My question is , is it a case of tough sh1t you bought it or do I have any legal route I could go down to have seller incur the cost of sorting this out.

Stheno

Large fun bags wrote: »

So I bought a vintage car . 1981. From a private seller. I was aware of some minor issues which I was fine with. I was also assured there were no major issues with the car. Car drove fine and it drove home fine. But it was not tried out on an incline. Long story short. Car has gear box issues and gear box needs to be removed and sorted or replaced. Needless to say this will incur significant costs. My question is , is it a case of tough sh1t you bought it or do I have any legal route I could go down to have seller incur the cost of sorting this out.

Yes it is a case of tough **** as you say.

Fighting Tao

Large fun bags wrote: »

So I bought a vintage car . 1981. From a private seller. I was aware of some minor issues which I was fine with. I was also assured there were no major issues with the car. Car drove fine and it drove home fine. But it was not tried out on an incline. Long story short. Car has gear box issues and gear box needs to be removed and sorted or replaced. Needless to say this will incur significant costs. My question is , is it a case of tough sh1t you bought it or do I have any legal route I could go down to have seller incur the cost of sorting this out.

Bought as seen in a private sale. No comeback.

AndrewJRenko

If the person lied to you about 'no major work required', then you could have a case. But you would have to prove 1) they lied, 2) they knew they were lying. It would be very difficult to enforce.

Did you not get a mechanic to check it out?

Xterminator

Out of luck. the onus was on your to check the cars condition before you purchased it.

While the prices of the cars advertised by private sellers may look attractive, beware of the possible pitfalls. If you buy a second-hand car privately you don't get the same legal rights as when buying from a dealer. The legal principle of caveat emptor or "buyer beware" operates.

When you buy from a private seller you have no rights to expect that the car is of merchantable quality or fit for its purpose. You should arrange for your mechanic or an organisation such as the AA to inspect the car.

source https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/motors/your-rights-when-buying-used-1.498407

coylemj

As stated, you have very little in the way of consumer rights when it comes to a private sale of a secondhand car. As the car is almost 40 years old, you'd have a serious hill to climb (sorry) to convince a judge that you were wronged in this case because a car that old is always going to have problems.

Del2005

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

If the person lied to you about 'no major work required', then you could have a case. But you would have to prove 1) they lied, 2) they knew they were lying. It would be very difficult to enforce.

Did you not get a mechanic to check it out?

Only potential comeback on a private sale is if it is dangerous and then trying to prove that the seller knew it was dangerous is extremely difficult. Even then you have to do a lot of work with little chance of actually receiving compensation.

Snotty

This is a VINTAGE car, even if the seller knew there was something wrong and you could prove it, you have absolutely zero legal case, old car will be assumed to have faults, it's your fault for not having the car checked out.