Private Party Automotive Sale

Eight days ago I sold a vehicle for $1800.Now the buyer claims it needs a new transmission.Do I have any legal obligation to pay for and/or refund any money?Whatever the answer may be could someone point me to the actual law concerning private party sales of vehicles?

Also I should add that an "As is" sale is a no no

Here is what I found out "The Used Vehicle Warranty Law requires private party sellers to inform buyers about any and all known defects which impair the safety or substantially impair the use of the vehicle. The law applies to all private party sales regardless of sales price or mileage. If the buyer discover a defect that impairs the vehicle's safety or substantially impairs the use, and can prove that the seller knew about the defect but failed to disclose it, the buyer may cancel the sale within thirty days of purchase. The seller must refund the amount the buyer paid for the vehicle, less 15 cents per mile of use."

The buyer just learned why it's important to always require a buyers check. Any seller that isn't willing to pay for one (or splt it with a prosepective buyer) is hiding something. In this situation you can establish who knew what when relative to the sale of the vehicle.

As-Is is not allowed in several states but suitability for purpose is only enforable at the time of the sale. You sold him a vehicle that he could drive. He drove it away. There, served its purpose.

Let us know what comes of it...

-F

Another problem is they want a full refund and want me to pay for 460 dollars of things they did to the car(tires oil change etc)

Your state law is certainly different from mine. VA also allows AS IS sales by dealers.

Sales between private individuals are buyer beware. I have always had a mechanic look at a used vehicle before purchase - that is the responsibility of the buyer, not the seller. The car before last that we purchased for my mother, I had 5 cars checked out by a mechanic before we settled on the one that we purchased.

But, even according to your laws, as long as you were not aware of the problem, you are not responsible. And you are certainly not responsible for the repairs/improvements that they made.

Case in point, my GF sold a 95 Celica that she had purchased new. It had been well maintained and had about 130K miles on it. The kid that bought it blew all 4 cylinders after about 3 weeks.

He had the car looked at a Toyota dealer before the purchase and it obviously checked out. He abused it and destroyed it. When my GF found out, she felt really bad and started to feel responsible. Her son and I had to explain the obvious abuse to her. Had one cylinder blown, that could have possibly been attributed to pre-existing, but all four?

To further show innocence, neither her son or myself wanted her to get rid of the car, but she just had to have that brand new PT Cruiser.

Did you have any idea the transmission was bad and fail to disclose that to the buyer? If not then say too bad, you bought a used car, it's your problem. There is DEFINATELY no reason you need to pay for anything they added to the car.

I even offered to have the car towed(because it had no plates)to a place of thier choice to have it looked at.

Another thing, how do they prove I knew about the problem VS
how do I know they didnt cause the problem?

Just tell them I didn't know about the problem, it's your problem now. What are they going to do...take you to court over $1800? Even if they did you would probably easily win if what you're saying is true.

Thanks for the input everyone.

I just went to the DMV and they told me basicly what I posted above.So I guess I am off the hook.