We recently had a member who sold a vehicle declaring that it had no MOT. They even delivered it to their customer. The customer immediately drove it to an MOT station which declared it to have two dangerous defects.
Our member felt because they had advertised the vehicle as having no MOT and having not permitted a test drive, they were “in the clear”. However, it is doubtful whether Trading Standards would have agreed.
Indeed, this writer believes that our member had committed a criminal offence under Section 75 of the Road Traffic Act 1988, which makes it an offence to sell, supply or expose for sale or supply a motor vehicle if…
“it is in such a condition that the use of it on a road in that condition would be unlawful by virtue of any provision made by regulations under section 41 of this Act as respects:
(i)brakes, steering gear or tyres, or
(ii)the construction, weight or equipment of vehicles,
And it is in such a condition that its use on a road would involve a danger of injury to any person.”
The MOT established two dangerous defects – one to the suspension (its “construction”) and another where a brake pipe was about to become detached. Where dangerous defects are found, the car must not be put on the public highway until after those defects have been remedied. This vehicle was clearly sold in that condition and by not warning the buyer that it must not be driven to the MOT station, then the offence had probably been committed.
Car dealers must take “all reasonable steps” to ensure that any car supplied/sold is not unroadworthy as defined by the Road Traffic Act (above). Where it is known or believed that the vehicle may be dangerous, then dealers have to be able to show that they made it clear to the buyer that the vehicle must not be put on the highway, even if it is for the purpose of being MOT’d, unless any dangerous defects have been safely corrected. No test driving and no allowing a purchaser to drive off in it, post-sale.
Feel free to ignore the above warning, but only if you wish to be prosecuted by Trading Standards, receive a criminal record, a hefty fine, and such bad publicity that no one will buy from you again! Oh, and if you do sell an unroadworthy vehicle that kills someone, you might be looking at a manslaughter charge too…
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