Protect yourself from liability when selling a used car

 By Stuart Johnston

Since the Consumer Protection Act  was made law in 2011, registered used car dealers are required to guarantee a used car for a period of at least six months. However, as a private seller this would not apply to you.

The Voetstoets or As Is clause applies to private sellers

The voetstoets clause in the CPA means that in the case of a private used car sale, the buyer accepts the car in an “as is” condition, with no guarantees. This sounds great for anyone wanting to sell their used car privately, but there are provisos that protect the buyer from being ripped off.

A complete list of known faults or defects must be provided to the buyer

For the seller to be protected from any come-backs, a complete list of known faults or defects on the vehicle must be provided to the buyer. This list should contain a section where the buyer agrees to buy the car with these known defects, or faults. The fault-acknowledgement list should be printed in duplicate and both buyer and seller should sign both copies.

How detailed does the fault list have to be?

It is a good idea to list all obvious faults, even minor ones such as a slight scratch on the bumper or a chip in the windscreen. This protects you from any comebacks, especially from minor incidents that may occur soon after the sale takes place.

What if you are unaware about  potential faults in the vehicle you are selling?

Many sellers will be unaware of faults in their vehicle when they put it up for sale. This applies to wear and tear items such as tyres with inner-edge scuffing due to poor wheel alignment, brake pads that may be near the end of their life-span, and items such as play in the steering. These minor faults could lead to more major faults occurring a little way down the road for the new owner. So how do you protect yourself, as the seller, from being liabel for potential or latent faults at the time of sale?

Get a  third part expert to evaluate your vehicle before sale

For peace of mind, it is a good idea to get an expert vehicle evaluation done before you put your car up for sale. Dekra is the obvious choice for such evaluations, and this testing organisation, with branches country-wide, offers various levels of vehicle tests and evaluations. Even their most comprehensive (and most expensive) test, known as the Technical Inspection, does not open up the engine to inspect for any damage, but their experienced evaluators can often pick up latent faults likely to occur in the future.

An independent evaluation shows transparency

By producing an independent assessment of your vehicle, you are proving that you are not trying to hide any latent defects in your car. You can make a copy of this report to give to the purchaser, and you keep the original. In your signed sales agreement document, you should point out that the buyer has seen and read this report and agrees to the sale after having read this report.

What else do you need to do, once the sale has gone through?

At the time of sale, you need to provide the buyer with a blue Application for Registration form, and you need to fill out a yellow Notice of Change of Ownership form. You, as the seller, need to produce this form to your local NATIS (national Traffic Information System) office. This form should be completed with all the vehicle details and be signed by both the seller and the buyer. It should be presented to the traffic authority within 21 days after the sale, but our advice is to get it done as soon as possible. The reason for this is that you don’t want to be responsible for the new owner’s traffic fines!

The blue Application for Registration of a Motor Vehicle form has to be completed and handed in by the new owner, along with the registration certificate.

What about that registration certificate?

Only part with the registration certificate, the keys to your car, and the car itself, once you are absolutely sure that the agreed purchase price amount has been lodged in your bank account, and verified by your bank!

Do you have to provide a roadworthy certificate when selling a car?

A roadworthy certificate, issued after a test carried out by a local traffic authority or approved testing station, is only valid for two months (60 days). It is up to the new owner to ensure the car is roadworthy before the car is registered in his or her name and licensed for road use under the new ownership. For this reason, most sellers leave the roadworthy test to the new owner to organise. A car may be registered in the new owner’s name before being certified as roadworthy, and a registration form will be issued without a roadworthy. But the new owner will only receive a licence for road use once a valid roadworthy certificate has been issued.