Selling or part-exchanging a car with a known fault

Someone wants to buy it this weekend — do these three things first

You know the car has a fault. A buyer is messaging you, or a dealer has offered a part-exchange. You are writing the advert and wondering how much you have to say.

This page does not decide what your particular advert, silence or conversation means. Recording the known fault is evidence and risk control. It is not a universal rule that every private seller must volunteer every unasked-about fault.

Checklist

• For the clearest evidence record, describe the known fault in the advert itself, then repeat the same wording on a signed and dated receipt.
• Do not let a buyer drive away a vehicle that the reviewed safety conclusion says should not be driven.
• Find the V5C before handover day, and notify DVLA yourself rather than relying on the buyer.

Selling privately is not the same as selling as a trader

Section 13 of the Sale of Goods Act 1979 says that where there is a contract for the sale of goods by description, there is an implied term that the goods will correspond with the description. Sources: ^[1]

Section 13(5) says section 13 does not apply to a contract to which Chapter 2 of Part 1 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 applies. Sources: ^[1]

Section 14(2) and (3) state their satisfactory-quality and fitness-for-particular-purpose implied terms for cases where the seller sells goods in the course of a business; section 14(9) excludes contracts to which Chapter 2 of Part 1 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 applies. Sources: ^[2]

Part 1 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015 applies where there is an agreement between a trader and a consumer for the trader to supply goods, digital content or services, if the agreement is a contract. Sources: ^[3]

Section 2 defines a trader as a person acting for purposes relating to that person's trade, business, craft or profession, and a consumer as an individual acting for purposes wholly or mainly outside that individual's trade, business, craft or profession. Sources: ^[4]

Where a trader claims that an individual was not acting for purposes wholly or mainly outside their trade, business, craft or profession, section 2 puts the burden of proving that on the trader. Sources: ^[4]

This Part applies where there is an agreement between a trader and a consumer for the trader to supply goods, digital content or services, if the agreement is a contract.

Where a private sale is a sale by description, the car must correspond with that description.

That rule is not a statement that every private seller has a uniform duty to volunteer every fault a buyer did not ask about. This guide makes no such claim and does not decide what any particular advert, answer, silence or conversation means legally.

Section 14's satisfactory-quality and fitness terms use a course-of-business boundary. This page does not decide whether a person described as a private seller was in fact acting in the course of a business.

Record the known fault as evidence

The GOV.UK MOT history service lets anyone check past MOT results using the vehicle's registration number, including whether each test was a pass or fail and the mileage recorded at the time of the test. Sources: ^[10]

For tests done in England, Scotland or Wales, GOV.UK says the history also shows what parts failed at each test and whether any parts had minor problems. Sources: ^[10]

GOV.UK says MOT results are available for cars, motorcycles and vans for tests done since 2005, and for tests done in Northern Ireland only since 2017. Sources: ^[10]

The advert and signed receipt are evidence and risk-control records. Putting the same known-fault wording in both is a strong recommendation, not a uniform legal duty on every private seller to volunteer every unasked-about fault.

You can state plainly what you know: the symptoms, when they occur, any fault codes read from the vehicle, what a garage told you and what work was attempted. Stating known facts is not the same as guaranteeing a diagnosis, and you do not have to offer an opinion you do not hold.

Checklist

• For the clearest evidence record, describe the known fault in the advert itself, not only in a reply to whoever asks.
• Repeat the same wording on the receipt or bill of sale, ask both parties to sign and date it, and let each party keep a copy.
• Keep your copy of the advert, the receipt, the messages, and any garage invoice or diagnostic printout.
• List fault codes and symptoms as read or observed, and say who read them and when.
• Do not describe the car as having passed anything, been repaired, or being fit to drive unless that is true and you can show it.
• Assume the buyer will check the MOT history and mileage independently, because they can.

OBDCode UK does not ask for or transmit the registration number. Enter it only after you have opened the official GOV.UK service.

GOV.UK — Check the MOT history of a vehicle

What a "spares or repair" label does and does not do

"Spares or repair", "sold as seen" and similar phrases are advertising shorthand. They are not categories defined in any of the sources cited on this page, and they do not have a fixed meaning that applies automatically to your sale.

Those phrases do not replace the roadworthiness legislation. Great Britain and Northern Ireland are set out separately below because their provisions and defences must not be treated as interchangeable.

What to do

• Treat the label as a summary of a fuller written description, never as a substitute for one.
• If you are selling a car you believe is not roadworthy, record in writing that both of you understand it is not to be driven away on a road in that condition.

Great Britain: supplying an unroadworthy vehicle

In Great Britain, section 75 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 says that, subject to the provisions of that section, no person shall supply a motor vehicle or trailer in an unroadworthy condition, and supply includes selling, offering to sell or supply, and exposing for sale. Sources: ^[5]

The defence in section 75(6)(b) turns on the seller proving that they had reasonable cause to believe the vehicle would not be used on a road in Great Britain, or would not be so used until it had been put into a condition in which it might lawfully be so used; the section does not make the wording of an advert a defence in itself. Sources: ^[5]

Section 75(7) says nothing in the preceding provisions of that section affects the validity of a contract or any rights arising under a contract, so the roadworthiness offence and the parties' contractual position are separate questions. Sources: ^[5]

For the purposes of section 75, a vehicle is in an unroadworthy condition if its condition would make use of it on a road unlawful under regulations made under section 41 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 as respects brakes, steering gear or tyres, or the construction, weight or equipment of vehicles, or if its use on a road would involve a danger of injury to any person. Sources: ^[5]

A person who supplies a motor vehicle or trailer in contravention of section 75, or causes or permits it to be so supplied, is guilty of an offence. Sources: ^[5]

Section 75(6A) removes the reasonable-cause-to-believe defence for a person who exposes a vehicle for sale or offers to sell one in the course of a trade or business unless they also prove they took all reasonable steps to make the prospective purchaser aware that road use in its current condition would be unlawful. Sources: ^[5]

Nothing in the preceding provisions of this section shall affect the validity of a contract or any rights arising under a contract.

Subject to the provisions of this section no person shall supply a motor vehicle or trailer in an unroadworthy condition.

Northern Ireland: supplying an unroadworthy vehicle

In Northern Ireland, Article 83(1) of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 prohibits supplying a motor vehicle or trailer in an unroadworthy condition, subject to the rest of that Article. Article 83(2) says references to supply include sell, offer to sell or supply, and expose for sale. Sources: ^[6]

Article 83(3) treats a motor vehicle or trailer as unroadworthy if its condition would make road use unlawful under regulations made under Article 55 as respects brakes, steering gear or tyres, or the construction, weight or equipment of vehicles, or if its use on a road would involve a danger of injury to any person. Sources: ^[6]

Article 83(5) makes a person who supplies a motor vehicle or trailer in contravention of the Article, or causes or permits it to be so supplied, guilty of an offence. Sources: ^[6]

Article 83(6) says a person shall not be convicted of an offence under the Article in respect of the supply if they prove that the vehicle or trailer was supplied for export from Northern Ireland, or that they had reasonable cause to believe it would not be used on a road in Northern Ireland, or would not be so used until it had been put into a condition in which it might lawfully be so used. Sources: ^[6]

Article 83(7) says that the reasonable-cause limb in Article 83(6)(b) does not apply to a person who, in the course of a trade or business, exposes a vehicle or trailer for sale unless they also prove that they took all reasonable steps to ensure any prospective purchaser would be aware that its use in its current condition on a road in Northern Ireland would be unlawful. If they offer to sell it, they must instead prove that they took all reasonable steps to ensure the person to whom the offer was made was aware of that fact. Sources: ^[6]

Article 83(8) says the preceding provisions of that Article do not affect the validity of a contract or any rights arising under a contract, so the roadworthiness offence and the parties' contractual position are separate questions. Sources: ^[6]

Subject to the provisions of this Article no person shall supply a motor vehicle or trailer in an unroadworthy condition.

Nothing in the preceding provisions of this Article shall affect the validity of a contract or any rights arising under a contract.

These are Northern Ireland's own statutory conditions. Do not substitute the Great Britain section 75 wording or numbering; keep written fault disclosure as evidence and plan transport according to the vehicle's actual condition.

Safe handover across the UK

What to do

• Do not let a buyer drive away a vehicle that the reviewed safety conclusion says should not be driven, whatever the buyer says they are willing to risk.
• Agree the removal method before money changes hands, and put it in the written record alongside the fault.
• Transport rather than driving is the direction to take here; see the separate OBDCode UK guidance on dangerous defects and on recovery for how that works in practice.
• Do not cancel your insurance or tax until the vehicle has actually left, and do not assume the buyer has arranged either.

V5C, DVLA and vehicle tax

GOV.UK provides a DVLA service to tell DVLA when you no longer own a vehicle, which is used to change the registered keeper of a vehicle and to send a log book to the new keeper. Sources: ^[7]

GOV.UK says that after you tell DVLA, your vehicle tax will be cancelled and you will get a refund for any full months of remaining vehicle tax. Sources: ^{[7] [8]}

GOV.UK says vehicle tax is not transferred to the buyer, and that the buyer must tax a vehicle they have bought before driving it or declare it off the road with a SORN. Sources: ^[7]

GOV.UK says the online service cannot be used if you have already sent your log book (V5C) by post, or if you do not have a log book. Sources: ^[7]

If you have sold or transferred a vehicle without a log book, GOV.UK says you must write to DVLA with your name and address, the vehicle registration number, the make and model, the exact date of sale, and the name and address of the new keeper or motor trader. Sources: ^{[7] [9]}

GOV.UK lists sale or transfer to someone else as one of the events you must tell DVLA about in order to cancel vehicle tax, and says there is no other way to cancel it. Sources: ^[8]

GOV.UK says the vehicle tax refund cheque is calculated from the date DVLA gets your information and is sent to the name and address on the vehicle log book. Sources: ^[8]

GOV.UK says a replacement V5C is needed if the original has been lost, stolen, damaged or destroyed, and that you must be the registered keeper on the V5C to apply online. Sources: ^[9]

After you tell DVLA, your vehicle tax will be cancelled. You’ll get a refund for any full months of remaining vehicle tax.

You must tax a vehicle you’ve bought before you drive it, or declare it off the road (a SORN). The tax is not transferred to you when you buy the vehicle.

There’s no other way to cancel your vehicle tax.

Checklist

• Find the V5C before you advertise; if it is missing, deal with that first rather than on handover day.
• Record the exact date of sale and the buyer's full name and address, because DVLA asks for both.
• Notify DVLA yourself rather than relying on the buyer to do it.
• Keep the DVLA acknowledgement with the signed receipt and the advert copy.
• Expect the tax refund to follow the log book address, so check that address is current.

GOV.UK — Tell DVLA you've sold, transferred or bought a vehicle

GOV.UK — Cancel your vehicle tax and get a refund

GOV.UK — Get a vehicle log book (V5C)

Part-exchange: record and check the offer

This page does not decide whether any earlier quote, message, call or conversation formed a contract.

What to do

• Record the known fault in writing when requesting the initial part-exchange figure, and keep a copy.
• Ask whether that figure is provisional or subject to inspection.
• Ask for the part-exchange figure and the price of the vehicle you may buy to be shown separately, in writing.
• After any inspection, ask for the final offer in writing, then decide whether to accept or reject it.

Important

This page does not decide what description formed part of a particular sale, whether the car corresponded with it, whether any omission, advert or conversation has legal effect, or whether any particular vehicle is unroadworthy.

Do not drive an unsafe vehicle to a viewing, a dealer or a buyer; arrange recovery where the reviewed safety conclusion requires it.