Used car bought in private sale "irreparable"

Bought a car a few weeks ago, private sale, no mention of any faults but when taken to a garage for what we thought was a wheel bearing problem was told that the chassis was irreparably corroded, unroadworthy and that it should never have passed the CT (dated April this year).

From reading other posts here, I understand that it is the seller’s responsibilty to state faults before selling a vehicle and that if faults are found they must legally refund the sale and take the car back. I have begun communicating with the seller, but am waiting for his reply: my impression is that he has not fully appreciated the gravity of the situation.

The mechanic’s report stated that there was ‘risk of death’, despite the CT stating the state of the vehicle was “favourable”: this seems shocking to me. Are there any other people I should contact about what could be (seems apparent to me and the mechanic) a CT centre passing unsafe vehicles? This place is apparently well known as such. I have been variously told to contact the Maison de la Justice, the police, depôt de plainte as well as writing to the director of my insurance company who we contacted first but were unable to help as we do not have the cover for this type of thing.

Any advice appreciated, thanks.

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If all else fails, find a competent welder to repair the car. I have totally restored as well as effected simple welding repairs to old cars throughout my adult life and there is no such thing as a rusty car that cannot be repaired relatively cheaply. I’m assuming it has corrosion too close to a suspension, steering or seat belt mount which deems it dangerous but the majority of
repairs could be done for a couple of hundred euros at most.

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I take it that the CT had been done less than 6 months previously?
If the vehicle is unsafe then invoke the “vice cache” option. It applies to private sales as well as traders.

Don’t think you have paid someone to do any welding for a few years!
MOTs & CTs today look at much more than corrosion near suspension mounts etc.


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Oh, you are brilliant, thank you so much Mark! This is what my neighbour was trying to tell me about but I couldn’t work out what he meant… Yes: the CT was done in April and we bought the car in September. However, there were previous CT certificates in the car when we got it and the corrosion was serious when the previous owner bought it, so how on earth it got through either test beats me. In any case, it proves that the seller was most certainly aware of the issues when he sold it to us. Again, thank you so much for the link, much appreciated.

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The new regulation making corrosion a failure only came in to force in May 2018 so before then even a very rusty car could pass a CT. This would not be the case for the latest CT you have though.

Admittedly, I have done all my own welding for donkeys years, but fabricating a repair panel, dismantling the components in the local area, cutting out the old metal and welding in new has generally only taken me a few hours and I am not a welder or mechanic. I suppose it depends how far the rot extends. The sills on my Landcruiser were an easy repair 2 years ago, but the chassis this year, which would have required the body removing, made it uneconomic/ impractical to repair even for me, so it was sold for spares.image|375x500

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It looks like I am heading for something similar with a car I bought in June this year. I bought from an Intermediary (between vendor and buyer) - this is fairly common here. The intermediary ‘garage’ is in Bergerac and is part of a chain of more than 50 throughout France, so no ‘cowboy outfit’. They tell me the vendor volunteered a fault in the car when she passed it to them to sell on her behalf. They did not tell me that until several weeks after I bought the car and when the fault was becoming more serious. The 3 month guarantee had gone. But the Intermediary did then say that the vendor was liable to repair the car (over €1800). But as yet, no agreement to pay for the repair. I am assuming I will have to resort to law, so I have an appointment next week with UFC in Perigueux. Can anyone please tell me anything that might help understand how consumer law might help me?

Which garage is it?

How can I send a PM?

Click onto the picture/name of the person (eg Vero) and a credit card sized thingy opens…you will see the word “Message” - click onto Message and you will be able to send a private message to whomever you have “clicked”… :hugs:

That doesn’t work for me, Stella, may be because I use a mobile phone. I click on my own icon/image in the top RH corner of the screen, then on the ‘envelope’ symbol which opens the message menu.

I think the system differs depending on what appareil you use.