Legal form for selling
 

I have a kit car I would like to sell but am concerned about being sued by the buyer if there should be a defect causing injury or death.

Is there a standard release of liability form or something like that that would cover my butt? Do people worry about such things when selling a home-built vehicle?

Sold As Seen and accept no liability of this vehicle once its sold

The magic words

" as sold ,seen,tried and tested"

I remember on one receipt I got.

Another was "trade sale ,sold as seen ,no returns,no refunds"

Will that hold up in court?

jmiller - As a private seller, generally "Caveat Emptor" applies ("Let the buyer beware").
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caveat_emptor

"Sold as seen" also works if you are a private seller, but not always if you are a Trade Seller.
( Where the "Sale of goods act" also has some influence. )

Again, generally you would only have a problem in court if you lied about the condition of the car.

So if you said it was 100% safe and it turned out it wasn't, you might have a problem.

But if you are honest in describing it as a home build car with no guarantees of quality then you should be OK.

Note: I am an accountant by trade, not a lawyer, so WTF do I know? :icon_wink:

Good luck, Paul. :)

PS
Welcome to the forum. :cool:

If it is a "home-built vehicle" in the UK then it should have gone through an IVA or else it is still the original vehicle but rebodied. Hence it is no different from selling any car privately.

You should believe the car to be roadworthy, i.e you are selling in good faith. If so, then "Sold as seen" on the receipt should be good enough.

If it is not roadworthy, then "Sold for spares or repair" is quite clear.

When it comes to the law, no words will ever protect you from being pursued by someone who has a grievance and who has the funds to do so.

According to the AA -
The only legal terms that cover a private sale contract are:
- the seller must have the right to sell the car
- the vehicle should match the description given by the seller
- the car must be roadworthy - it is a criminal offence to sell an unroadworthy car and an MOT certificate from a test several months ago is no guarantee that the car is roadworthy today.

If you are really concerned, commission an independent report on the vehicle prior to sale.