Consumer rights when buying a used car

Almost everything people believe about their rights when buying a used car turns on one question they often do not think to ask: was the seller a trader or a private individual?

This page is general information, not legal advice. If a dispute is live, take advice from Citizens Advice, from a solicitor, or from an ombudsman scheme the trader belongs to.

Buying from a trader

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 applies. The vehicle must be:

• of satisfactory quality, judged against what a reasonable person would expect for a car of that age, mileage and price;
• fit for purpose; and
• as described.

“Satisfactory quality” does not mean “as good as new”. A twelve-year-old car with two hundred thousand miles is allowed to be a twelve-year-old car with two hundred thousand miles. The standard is what a reasonable person would expect of that particular vehicle.

The short-term right to reject

If the car fails any of those three tests, you have a short-term right to reject it for a full refund. That right lasts 30 days from the date of purchase. It is a strong remedy and a short window — it is not extended by the fault being intermittent, or by a garage taking a while to diagnose it.

Where rejection is agreed, the refund must be made without undue delay and in any event within 14 days of the trader agreeing that a refund is due.

After the first 30 days

Between 30 days and six months, the position shifts: you can require a repair or a replacement rather than an immediate refund. The trader normally gets one attempt at putting it right; if that fails, the right to reject can revive, though a deduction for use may then apply.

It does not cover everything

The protection does not extend to faults you were told about, or to faults that a reasonable examination should have revealed before you bought. A defect written into the sales invoice is a defect you agreed to.

Buying privately

Almost none of the above applies. The Consumer Rights Act covers sales by traders to consumers, not sales between private individuals or, generally, purchases at auction.

What survives is narrow but real: the vehicle must be as described. If a private seller states a mileage, a service history or a specification that turns out to be false, that is a misdescription and you have a claim. If the car is simply worse than you hoped, you do not.

This is the price of the lower price. A private sale is usually cheaper precisely because the protections are absent.

The trader test

Someone selling cars as a business is a trader whether or not they call themselves a dealer, and whether the pitch happens on a forecourt or in a lay-by. Selling through classified adverts as though privately, while trading, is itself an unfair commercial practice. Signs you are dealing with a trader include a pattern of sales, a business address, and a V5C on which they have never been the registered keeper.

Practical points that make a claim work

• Buy on a card where you can. Section 75 protection applies where the cash price is over one hundred pounds and no more than thirty thousand, and it holds even if only part of the payment went on the credit card.
• Put it in writing. Report the fault to the seller in writing, dated, and keep a copy. With a 30-day window, when you told them is a fact you may need to prove.
• Do not authorise repairs elsewhere first without giving the trader the chance to act, unless you are prepared to argue about the cost afterwards.
• Check for a code of practice. Traders accredited to a motor industry code give you an ombudsman route in addition to the courts. Trade association membership is worth looking for before you buy, not after.

Where this sits relative to a warranty

Statutory rights come from the law and cannot be signed away. A used car warranty is a separate commercial product that sits on top of them and covers different things. A trader who answers a Consumer Rights Act complaint by pointing at what the warranty excludes has answered the wrong question.