My son bought a ford fiesta privately and 2 days later it won’t start after stalling it.

Garage says It needs to go to Ford as when they tried to replace the key (as it looked ready to snap ) they couldn’t get programmed. Said it had lost all memory or something. Very confused. Engine light had also came On day before all this which showed codes linked to instrument clusters.

Anyone else had similar issues that can give advice please

Hi Deb,

Sorry to see this.

Problem with private purchases is your rights are very limited, but that said, if the seller has advertised the car is in good working order or words to that effect you may have something to work on to get your money back.

Also possible the seller is actually a small trader posing as a private seller in which case your consumer rights apply.

You don't mention what engine the car has - I suspect it may be a 1.0 ecoboost, in which case the "wet" cambelt and oil pump belt are due replacement at 10 years (unless they have already been done) which is a very expensive job.

Hopefully one of our diagnostic experts will be along shortly, but I'm inclined to suspect the seller has cleared various codes to temporarily hide faults.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/buying-or-repairing-a-car/problems-with-a-used-car/

2 hours ago, Shearers said:

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/buying-or-repairing-a-car/problems-with-a-used-car/

First paragraph on the private seller section it says that being faulty doesn't count. 🤔

This is something that I'm really interested in now, but trying to find the proper legislation for private sales is surprisingly difficult. For example, I have a car that hasn't been driven for 5 years due to health conditions. If I sell it now, I cannot guarantee that everything works. I cannot guarantee that the cambelt won't break on the way home. I cannot a tyre won't blowout on the way home. BUT, the car isn't worth the cost & hassle of a cambelt replacement and a set of tyres for me...so I would be better off scrapping it rather than risking selling it if a private buyer could claim money back from me for any repairs. But it just seems so wasteful to scrap a car that does still drive, passed MOT (with advisories) and is super cheap to run with £35 tax and 50+mpg average, was also 100% reliable when I was driving it.

I used to chop and change cars regularly, and there was always an understanding that buying and selling privately meant expecting to find some issues. But that seems to have changed nowadays.

Saying that, I do feel sorry for anyone that buys a car privately where the seller knows there's a major fault with it but hasn't mentioned it. Don't really know what the solution would be to suit both scenarios.

15 hours ago, Deb c said:

My son bought a ford fiesta privately and 2 days later it won’t start after stalling it.

Garage says It needs to go to Ford as when they tried to replace the key (as it looked ready to snap ) they couldn’t get programmed. Said it had lost all memory or something. Very confused. Engine light had also came On day before all this which showed codes linked to instrument clusters.

Anyone else had similar issues that can give advice please

Hi,

At first glance this sounds like a typical knackered battery. Happens all the time when cars are left unused while up for sale.

However, I really hope your garage have checked the battery, if they've gone to the effort of replacing the key.

Must admit I can't work out why a key would look like it was ready to snap. What did the previous owner have on their keyring? If there was a lot of weight on the ignition barrel then it's possible that the ignition switch has been damaged. This is a cheap and easy part to replace, fitted behind the key barrel.

The engine light wouldn't normally be triggered by cluster codes, so I would need to see the exact codes to work out what's happening there. If it is a 2016 model, as in your profile, then I don't think they're affected by the normal poor solder joints that affect older Ford clusters. I'm sure @rd457 can confirm that, before we end up going down the wrong route.

25 minutes ago, TomsFocus said:

First paragraph on the private seller section it says that being faulty doesn't count. 🤔

As ever, it depends on what @Deb c was told about any faults by the seller - if they were told it was in good condition, no faults or whatever was said then they may have some come back - only they know what was actually said? and if an agreement couldn't be reached then a Small Claim would be another option:
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/legal-system/small-claims/deciding-whether-to-make-a-small-claim/
Regarding selling a car that has stood, surely getting it in writing that the car is sold as seen, has not been run and buyer accepts it in "as seen" condition with no come back for any faults that may or may not be present would cover that situation?

Sounds as if the battery is not completely dead if warning lights operate. But its not clear what "won't start" means in this case - won't fire or won't even turn over? for example.

We still dont know what engine this is - we have seen lights.triggered as early signs of wet belt disintegration. Worse still, engines have seized when it snapped hence wondering if it turns.

As already said, there is little comeback with a.private sale - it hinges.on what was said and (hopefully) written down.

1 hour ago, Shearers said:

Regarding selling a car that has stood, surely getting it in writing that the car is sold as seen, has not been run and buyer accepts it in "as seen" condition with no come back for any faults that may or may not be present would cover that situation?

Yes, I've done that with cars I've sold privately.

1 hour ago, Shearers said:

Regarding selling a car that has stood, surely getting it in writing that the car is sold as seen, has not been run and buyer accepts it in "as seen" condition with no come back for any faults that may or may not be present would cover that situation?

That doesn't work for trade sales any more as far as I'm aware. It might work for private though. As I say I'd like to see the actual legislation behind it to confirm 100%.

Regarding the OP's car, we've interpreted the wording differently. I took it to mean that the seller wouldn't be liable for 'missing something from the ad' including a fault. Also doesn't matter what was said as they'll just deny it, one word against another. Written description from the ad or from text/email communication might be better, but even then I think it's a stretch to suggest that 'good condition' means no faults whatsoever.

1 hour ago, TomsFocus said:

That doesn't work for trade sales any more as far as I'm aware. It might work for private though.

Yes, that's why some smaller traders pose as private sellers. There 's one near me in fact, caught him a number of times taking snaps of cars in a "photogenic" location which no doubt go in AutoTrader or the like!

Good condition wouldn't mean free of all faults, but what a reasonable person might expect from a car of the given age/mileage. Mind, whole tomes have been written on the definition of "reasonable"!

I dont think a private seller would be liable for an omission**, only if they make a specific claim that is untrue.

(**I dimly recall a case from college, where a guy sold some pigs and added "with all faults". It was held that he was not liable, even though he knew they had typhoid he was under no obligation to disclose it. Hopefully that position would now be overruled by health legislation!)

Basically a nightmare and why you rarely encounter a poor lawyer!😀

Not a bad article here:

https://faultycar.co.uk/blog/sold-as-seen-trade-sale-rights

1 hour ago, Eric Bloodaxe said:

There 's one near me in fact, caught him a number of times taking snaps of cars in a "photogenic" location which no doubt go in AutoTrader or the like!

There's one near me that used the same fake background on every car. Took me ages to work out where the photos were being taken! 😆

They went right the other way though, making it look like they were a full 'forecourt type' dealer when they actually just worked from home.

The engine light wouldn't normally be triggered by cluster codes, so I would need to see the exact codes to work out what's happening there. If it is a 2016 model, as in your profile, then I don't think they're affected by the normal poor solder joints that affect older Ford clusters. I'm sure @rd457 can confirm that, before we end up going down the wrong route.

Shouldn't be. Too new, and even the older Fiesta ones I've received haven't had the problem.

OPW? There is little point in speculating. The key transponder seems to have been lost, I cannot explain why although I would wonder why it needed to be reprogrammed in the first place. I don't know who read the fault codes the day before the car failed. I don't understand why a competent garage didn't check whether the engine turned over before putting a jump pack on it to see if it would start. If the car was in my possession, I would push it in top gear to see if the engine rotated. I would then place the key in the sweet spot and try a start on a jump pack. If I got a message telling me that the key was not recognised, I would then pass the job over to a Ford dealer for a diagnostic evaluation.