Buying from a private seller

A private sale is one where an individual person sells their vehicle to another consumer – perhaps through a classified advertisement in a newspaper, from a roadside sale area, or through a car market or car fair.

Although you may get a cheap deal, you have less legal protection if things go wrong.

What to check

Quality

The Consumer Guarantees Act does not apply to vehicles sold by a private person. 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.

Money owing on the vehicle

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

If things go wrong – your legal protections

Contractual Remedies Act

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.

More information on what to do if you have a dispute.

Checking if a vehicle is stolen

When you buy a vehicle from a private seller, be careful to look out for signs that either the vehicle is stolen or the seller is not the true owner of the vehicle.

The New Zealand Police advise that:

• if the deal seems too good to be true or the price too cheap, be suspicious. Criminals selling stolen vehicles make the sale exceptionally attractive to prevent questions being asked and to move the property fast
• when telephoning the seller, do not describe the vehicle but say you are enquiring about the vehicle advertised for sale. Be cautious where the seller is a private individual but indicates they have more than one vehicle for sale don’t deal with a seller at the side of the road. Always confirm an address.
• go to where the vehicle is on sale rather than have the person bring the vehicle to you. A dishonest seller is unlikely to allow a prospective purchaser to visit a home address.

Further information about checking to see if a vehicle is stolen is available on the Neighbourhood Support New Zealand website.

Visit the Neighbourhood Support website.

A number of other organisations offer services which include checking to see if a vehicle has been reported as stolen.