No warranty implied or given due to age of car

[Palfrem]

MERCEDES W124 E320 COUPE AUTOMATIC | eBay


Nice enough car, but the bit at the bottom where he says "no warranty intended or implied due to age " is intriguing given the recent regulation change in consumer law.

Even before that surely 3 months warranty would have been a minimum?

 

[grumpyoldgit]

Good point. Be interesting to hear 'trade' members take on this point.

Not what you would class as being a 'cherished' example, looking at its MOT history.

https://mot-history.net/

 

[Charles Morgan]

Dealers are liable under the customer regs whatever they say, but if they point out a fault at the time of sale they are not responsible going forward for it. If something goes wrong that they haven't identified they are liable for 6 months.

However, I have a fair degree of sympathy - why should a 22 year old car for under £4k be expected to be fixed at their expense for everything that goes wrong for 6 months?

 

[moonloops]

Nice enough car, but the bit at the bottom where he says "no warranty intended or implied due to age " is intriguing given the recent regulation change in consumer law.

Yep it's now illegal for traders to use those words in adverts or on customer invoices.

 

[MM85]

I think it looks great though. It looks really clean for a car of that age and even though I normally associate the BBS type of wheels more with BMWs, they look good on that car.

It's such a timeless design the C124s.

 

[Meldrew2]

… the bit at the bottom where he says "no warranty intended or implied due to age " is intriguing given the recent regulation change in consumer law.

Will we start seeing "SOLD FOR SPARES OR REPAIR" a bit more often - not necessarily on cars at this price point but perhaps on the under-£1000 bangers?

 

[Deleted member 37751]

However, I have a fair degree of sympathy - why should a 22 year old car for under £4k be expected to be fixed at their expense for everything that goes wrong for 6 months?

It's ridiculous; a 22 year old car will inherently have issues and if not it would certainly be more than what he's asking.

Having said that, the amount of plant pots who pop up on here from time to time expecting 15 year old W210's with 180k on for £2k expecting a brand new car is evidence that this new ruling will make things frustrating for those traders selling sub-£3k cars.

 

[merc85]

If dealers are honest from the outset and price accordingly there shouldn't b a problem should there?

 

[Deleted member 37751]

If dealers are honest from the outset and price accordingly there shouldn't b a problem should there?

You'd think so but...

As you get to the lower end of the market the proportion of dodgy sorts goes up drastically, couple that with Peter Perfects expecting brand new cars for £1500 and you've got a recipe for disaster.

 

[merc85]

Do you think we will see 2nd hand cars be more expensive from dealer's to cover waranties? And perhaps cars at the lower end will just get scrapped.

 

[Charles Morgan]

The latter. It won't be worth the hassle of selling cheaper old cars.

A friend sells a particular model of car. Someone (I happened to know by coincidence) bought a 20 year old one, ran it for 20k miles in 6 months and just before the end of the period demanded he fix the exhaust and a MAF that had just gone, and threatened legal action if he didn't.

As to honesty, a fault that occurs in 6 months is held, by EU case law, to have been present at the time of sale. Are dealers supposed to become clairvoyants as well?

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Do you think we will see 2nd hand cars be more expensive from dealer's to cover waranties? And perhaps cars at the lower end will just get scrapped.

I dare say it'll end up like on the continent where a piece of crap can cost a couple of grand.

It's also just another step to get everyone into a leased car.

 

[Vlad]

Ok...being in the Trade...a dose of common sense comes into this. I suspect that what the seller is doing is effectively making people aware that this is a 22 year old vehicle and you have to expect that it will not be as reliable as a 3 year old car. Most people will accept that view and buy the car with that in mind and effectively accept that it won't have and won't expect a warranty on the car due to age and mileage.

However, there are a lot of buyers out there who will not understand this and will throw their hands up in horror when an electric window fails on a 22 year old car and will expect the Trader to repair it immediately even when they have had the car two months and in all other respects its been completely reliable.....is this acceptable?

Courts will often take the view that you the buyer have purchased a 22 year old car and that it will be inherently unreliable in comparison to a new vehicle and will base their judgement on that fact.

In the event of an engine or gearbox failing (ie major component) then I would fully expect a buyer to seek re-dress from the seller if this were to occur within 3 months of selling the car.

In summary its a difficult one to call....most people will accept that its an old car and you can't expect it to be 100% reliable. If I had a buyer who knew nothing about old cars and was expecting 100% reliability and full warranty for anything that went wrong, I would politely suggest that maybe they would be better off buying a much newer car.

 

[NOMONEYBUTAMERC]

For a car of this age , pricing is purely subjective. If , after inspection and road test , ( along with a report from a very nice man ), you decide the car is what you want /can afford , you pay your money and take your choice. When I bought my now 42 year old 450sl (5 years ago), I had the old rose tinted specs on and drove away very pleased with my purchase . In hindsight I should have paid more , and bought better, but I still love it!.
Maybe I should buy my next car from Vlad , if he would be prepared to rectify faults up to 3 months after purchase , I consider that very good for an old car. My most recent Merc , a 1998 c240 come from a friend of some 50 years. To him , the car had served him well for 10 years and "owed him nothing " , which is precisely what he charged me!
Now I fully expect that despite a comprehensive service history , regardless of cost , that at some stage in the next few2 years I will have to spend money on repairs/upkeep. However , I will not be surprised if it outlives my company -provided , four year old unloved Ford Focus.
Most warranties have conditions which make them largely useless anyway.

 

[Wheelsnuts]

Got to admit I quite like the look of this car and would be prepared to accept that it is possible that some undetected and unpredictable problems could be lurking in a car of this age. However, I would want some reassurance that a major mechanical failure in the first few months would be put right by the dealer. So I would challenge his get-out statement. Like many interpretations of the law, it should come down to what is reasonable.

 

[SG1]

I've seen this car in person. It has ASD suspension, very rare on a W124!

 

[Rory]

Even before that surely 3 months warranty would have been a minimum?

You see this time and time again written all over the place but where on earth does this "3 months warranty" come from? There's no requirement to give any warranty at all.