Buying from a car market

This is a guide to buying from a car market, car fair, or 'display for sale' operation. These operators do not arrange the sale. The contract to buy the vehicle is between you and the seller. In most cases, the operator merely provides a place for sales to take place. Although many vehicles sold at car markets are offered for sale by private sellers, traders may also sell through car markets.

What to check

Trader registration

All motor vehicle traders selling through car markets must be registered.

Be Aware

It is important to check whether the seller is a trader or a private person. Your legal rights and remedies will change depending on what type of seller you purchased your  vehicle from.

Consumer Information Notice

Private sales

If you buy from a private sale at a car fair you are in the same situation as if you were buying from a private seller online, through the classifieds, or on the side of the road.

Sales by motor vehicle traders

Registered motor vehicle dealers who sell vehicles at car markets must attach Consumer Information Notices to these vehicles.

If car market operators do not take reasonable steps to make sure that sellers attach the Consumer Information Notice, they could be in breach of the Motor Vehicle Sales Act and may be subject to prosecution.

If the Consumer Information Notice is missing, inaccurate, not completed or misleading you can report this to the Commerce Commission.

Visit the Commerce Commission's website.

Quality of the vehicle

Private sales

The Consumer Guarantees Act does not apply to vehicles sold by a private person at a car market. This means that there are no legal guarantees about quality with this type of sale. We recommend you get an independent mechanical check before you buy, because it may be hard to track down the seller to fix things after you have bought the vehicle.

Sales by motor vehicle traders

The Consumer Guarantees Act does apply to vehicles sold by registered motor vehicle traders at a car market. This means that you may be entitled to a remedy if the vehicle is faulty.

But we recommend getting an independent mechanical check before deciding whether to purchase the vehicle.

If there are problems, you can then ask the trader to fix them before the sale is finalised, or choose not to go ahead with the purchase.

Money owing on the vehicle

Private sales

Check that the vehicle does not have any money owing on it before you buy.

See here for how to check if money is owing on the vehicle.

Sales by registered motor vehicle traders

Check the Consumer Information Notice for a statement about any security interest on the vehicle. If there is no such statement, you buy it free from any prior security interest.

This means that the vehicle cannot be repossessed from you. This protection does not apply to private sales.

If things go wrong – your legal protections

Private sales

The Contractual Remedies Act gives you some protection if you can show that:

• you were persuaded to buy the vehicle by what the seller said, and
• what the seller said was untrue, and
• the seller’s false statements have caused you to lose money – e.g. by having to pay to repair the engine when the seller told you it was in excellent condition.

Compensation from the seller would be based on the difference between what the vehicle is actually worth and what it would have been worth if the seller’s statements about the vehicle had been true.

Get independent vehicle information and mechanical checks before you buy rather than relying on what the seller tells you about the vehicle.

See here for more information on your rights after buying a motor vehicle.

Sales by motor vehicle traders

If the seller of the vehicle is a registered motor vehicle trader the legal protections under the Consumer Guarantees Act and Fair Trading Act will apply.

See the section 'Buying from a car-yard trader'.

Be Aware

The legal protections under the Consumer Guarantees Act and Fair Trading Act also apply to sales to consumers by unregistered motor vehicle traders.