Selling modded trucks, where do we stand?

[Phantom]

Right then I think I have sold my truck. As some of you know it has a few mods, the guy that wants it has never driving a lifted truck before. So what happens if I take his money and he drives away and try's to take the first roundabout at 60mph and tosses it in the ditch and hurts himself. Can he come back to me and say it was my fault for modifying it?

[stormforce]

If he has never driven anything like it before then its his own ruddy fault if he flips it for not taking extra care driving it.There's no come back on you Steve as the truck is safe as long as its driven proper

[Rustinho]

The only thing I'd add to Rich's post is check that the driver is fully insured for it before he drives it away. I think that you're committing an offence by letting someone drive away if they're uninsured. Normally it's no big deal but if there's a chance of something going wrong it'd be worth double checking for peace of mind if it was me...

[stormforce]

To be honest Rusty i don't think that any seller private has the obligation to make sure anyone buying a vehicle is insured to drive it or not.
You are selling a vehicle and as far as you are concerned the buyer is fully legal to drive it.If that person gets pulled 20 yards down the road tough luck.

[BigBobE]

To be honest Rusty i don't think that any seller private has the obligation to make sure anyone buying a vehicle is insured to drive it or not.
You are selling a vehicle and as far as you are concerned the buyer is fully legal to drive it.If that person gets pulled 20 yards down the road tough luck.

just mae sure you get cash first or the cheques cleared before they go to crush lucifer

[surfenstein]

why dont you give him a quick driving lesson steve,and also verbally tell him that if he ditches it at the first roundabout,dont come crawling back to you asking for a refund.

[Phantom]

why dont you give him a quick driving lesson steve,and also verbally tell him that if he ditches it at the first roundabout,dont come crawling back to you asking for a refund.

I will give him a lesson
I wasn't too worried about him asking for a refund it was more of a law suit I was worried about.

[BUSHWHACKER]

I will give him a lesson
I wasn't too worried about him asking for a refund it was more of a law suit I was worried about.

If it's MOT'd, you're covered.

[TonyN]

it's a worry, look at most places selling modded bits, in the small print most of them say for offroad use only, to cover themselves if you stack a modded truck and hurt someone.

MOT and Construction and Use of motor vehicles laws are different, a MOT'd truck is in no way automatically road legal, its up to the police or courts to decide if you've broken any laws using a truck on the road after an accident.

An MOT is pretty rubbish, its easy to hide stuff. When was the last the MOT check the radius of the corners on a homemake bullbar, winch mounting, or any thing hanging under truck but if you hit someone and hurt them that will get used to make you at fault, and your insurance will probably tell you to take a hike.

[BUSHWHACKER]

Maybe get a VSVA or an engineer's report? Costs around £200 though.

[Phantom]

Or get him to sign a reciept saying he accepts full responsibility for all the modifications?

[TonyN]

Or get him to sign a reciept saying he accepts full responsibility for all the modifications?

yeah, but its probably ok cos you're not a business, things are different legally if you've not paid someone to do it. You don't have the 'fit for purpose' thing to worry about like a trader.

At the end of the day, the actual driver at the time of the offence is usually responsable for the vehicle, even if its illegal, so the new owner is the one committing the offence, ignorance is no excuse, etc, etc....

[che2318]

what happens then if something goes wrong but the DVLA still have the logbook in your name as the new owner information is still in the post?

i presume the receipt would be enough to convince the police that it aint yours no more.

[stormforce]

A truck i sold i had a fine come through for it and i contacted dvla and the people who issued the fine and as long as you can prove the vehicle was sold on or before the date of conviction then you are ok.I spoke to the buyer of the truck and he was happy about it as i had to give his name.
DVLA will send you a confirmation letter including the signed and dated copy of the v5 to prove you were no longer the keeper.
I apologise to the keeper of said truck but i won't put any names to this post though as it is just for info purposes