My Partner bought a Triumph this week that was advertised as "near perfect condition". We did go and see it on Tuesday before agreeing to buy. Collected it Thursday, and put it in the Garage. However, when removing some of the cosmetic items to give it a good clean this afternoon we have discovered evidence of accident damage. there are no apparent structural issues but the headlight, and area above and below it are missing some parts and others have been bodged with plastic weld and silicone. We have contacted the seller to ask for a contribution towards the replacement of the damaged parts but he has not responded. Please contribute your advice on our next step, bearing in mind neither of us are big enough to go round and slap him.
You might not like it, but my take upon it is buyer beware. I've been stung a couple of times on purchases, and through gritted teeth, just sucked it up. It will be interesting to see everyone's point of view.
Take the hit and buy the parts to sort it out, it’s a shitter but it happens to the best of us sometimes.
The moral of the story is, do an HPI check before buying, especially if buying private If a vehicle has been registered as a Cat N, the seller (if private) is not obliged to disclose this information, whereas, the seller (business) would need to disclose it
Consumer laws are shite back in Blighty... Here in Norway, you are protected for two years in a private transaction; the seller must disclose all such info ahead of sale and it has to be written in the sales contract. For commercial sales you are protected for five years from non disclosed info.
I'd like to be fully covered when I bought privately. But I wouldn't want to have to cover everything I sold for two years. Plus used gear is cheaper because there's no comeback and I overall I'm happy with that.
It’s not the end of the world. The 2nd hand bike market is and always has been a bit of a minefield. Not worth the stress of getting into a back and forth with the previous owners. Sort it, love it. It’ll probably be fine and the initial angst will soon become a fading memory
No good for the buyer now but I think it's called "CarVertical" that is supposed to be a good checking tool. Mind you, sometimes stuff won't be recorded anywhere. Owners can bodge away with impunity, if DVLA, or insures are not involved, nothing will be recorded anywhere.
Nah it's not everything, only "serious" purchases like cars, bikes, boats, houses, etc, and you only need to be 100% honest in your declaration of status i.e. if the vehicle has been crashed / engine rebuilt etc. etc. Essentially you cannot wilfully hide issues you know about. Makes it very much harder for rogue car "fill & spray" flippers and such like.. So in the OP's instance they'd have a right to claim for such hidden / undisclosed issues. In selling a house here you are responsible for four years and need to declare all you know to be wrong / or problematic issues etc. You as the seller have to do the building survey, and most also take out a sales insurance for 4 years in association with results of said survey. Again makes it much harder for rogue flippers. I like it.
We are currently compiling a list from a Triumph dealers website with exploded parts diagrams, then deciding which to buy genuine and which to harvest from ebay. Thanks to All for advice and opinions. I have only bought two bikes in the last 20 years and got exactly what I expected each time from private sellers. The missus has been unlucky this time. At least there are no labour charges and as long as I get fed and watered between stints in the garage on the spanners, I am doing fettling and making improvements which is what I enjoy most about bikes apart from riding of course.
As previously said, caveat emptor does apply. However, if you have evidence that the seller misrepresented the condition and that misrepresentation influenced your decision to purchase the bike then you do have some legal come back. The decision to take things further is yours. Write a summary of what took place and put it into the AI mode of Google. That will give you your rights and will most likely recommend giving the seller the opportunity to put things right first. If that does not get a result then the next step would be the small claims court. Have you done a Google search of the seller’s mobile number? Are they a genuine private seller or a trader masquerading as such?
Pop around and see him . Take a tube of pringles and have a chat . Ask to use the bathroom and have a shit in the Pringles tube and leave it on the radiator in his lounge . Bid him fair well...
We are currently compiling a list from a Triumph dealers website with exploded parts diagrams, then deciding which to buy genuine and which to harvest from ebay. Thanks to All for advice and opinions. I have only bought two bikes in the last 20 years and got exactly what I expected each time from private sellers. The missus has been unlucky this time. At least there are no labour charges and as long as I get fed and watered between stints in the garage on the spanners, I am doing fettling and making improvements which is what I enjoy most about bikes apart from riding of course.
If the bike is unroadworthy and he didn't state that, then you do have a leg to stand on (if you're prepared for the hassle). If he didn't state 'sold as seen' you may have some leverage. But again, the hassle probably isn't worth it for low £100s. Have a read here (there are other examples, but this is quite a good one-pager): https://www.car-articles.co.uk/selling-a-car-sold-as-seen-what-the-law-allows/ And looking from the other side, when I sell a bike (not often) I get the purchaser to sign this sort of simple contract: https://www.theaa.com/sitecore-cd/car-buying/buyers-sellers-contracts It avoids any weird comebacks about the agreed price, mileage, condititon, etc.
I too, as others have said, learnt this lesson. Not much you can do without more cost to you through official chains, not just financially, but time. Take the hit and move on, shit happens. As you've said, you get to tinker
