Bought An Un-Roadworthy Car Privately

  • Spindles12's Avatar
    Good Morning,

    A couple of weeks back I bought a vehicle privately which was described as roadworthy. There is severe rust around the nearside rear sills/wheel arch. This was described as repaired within the last 12 months and has been sat in a garage ever since. However, I took the car over to a specialist who specifically deals with this make and model of vehicle who informed me that no rust had been repaired, just that metal plating had been welded on top of the fault area and then caked in Wax Oil to hide imperfections. The main thing to this is said rust has severely weakened the seat belt anchorage points rendering the vehicle in his eye 'Unroadworthy' as if I were to be involved in an accident the seat belts just wouldn't be able to hold myself or any passenger in place. Am I right to pursue a refund as it's illegal to sell an Unroadworthy vehicle privately?

  • 3 Replies

  • Motman's Avatar
    More information needed. What car is it? I can’t ever recall seeing a car for sale described as 'roadworthy'. Do you have a copy of the advert? Did it come with a valid mot certificate? If so, how long ago was it done? A general mechanic, even a specialist, rendering it unroadworthy 'in his eye' wouldn't really stand up in court. The only person that can render a vehicle legally unroadworthy would be someone registered to carry out mot tests in a licensed mot station. Was the person that rendered it unroadworthy in that position?
  • Spindles12's Avatar
    Hi there, the advert didn't state roadworthy as such but came with an MOT. The MOT only had a month or so left on it.

    I was advised that all structural rust repairs were carried out as the vehicle in question suffers from rusted sills which therefore severely weaken the seat belt anchorage points. This therefore puts myself and any passengers at greater risk should I ever have got in an accident which in my eyes renders it unroadworthy as the seatbelts wouldn't do their job. The vehicle has now been taken for an MOT to get credibility which unsurprisingly has failed on the very same rust area that the previous owner had said was fixed. In addition to that the previous MOT had no advisories what so ever, however, every advisory on the MOT prior to that is still present on car which leads me to question the integrity of the MOT the previous owner hadc out.
  • Motman's Avatar
    Sorry, but you've really got no chance. The MOT only guarantees that it met the minimum standards of the testable items at the time of the test and does not guarantee that it will remain roadworthy for the duration of the certificate. It clearly states that on the MOT certificate. With a private sale, the onus is on you, the buyer, to inspect the vehicle and not for the seller to disclose anything. All you can do is put it down to experience and if you buy privately again in the future, take someone with you who knows about cars or buy from a dealer so that you have some redress if there’s anything wrong with it. Also, be very wary if cars with short or no MOT on them. Old cars can easily suffer severe corrosion within 11 months of their last mot. If you have yours fixed, don’t be surprised if it needs further welding at the next MOT.