What selling a car “AS IS” means

By Lawrence Minnie 

If you’ve ever trawled the classifieds for a car and came across the words “AS IS” in the description, it usually meant one of two things: you’re either going to get a bargain or an absolute lemon.

In the past, when a seller wanted to get rid of their car (or any other item), they would have listed it “AS IS”, as a short form of saying that “whoever buys it will accept it as it stands, and will have no recourse after the sale is made”. The seller was (at most) expected to describe any defects in a full disclosure, letting the buyer know what they were getting, but there weren’t any regulations to enforce this. These deals were usually very good, with buyers being able to scoop up bargains that would just require some work to get them going.

But that was then, and things have definitely changed over the past decade.

The problem with “AS IS” sales was that there were many unscrupulous sellers who began selling off junk, trapping their unwary buyers with the “AS IS” tag, leaving many people with buyer’s remorse and without any recourse.

To remedy this situation, the NCA and CPA (National Credit Act and Consumer Protection Act) stepped in a few years ago, and stipulated that, just as with normal retail sales, sellers now had to fully disclose everything to a potential buyer. Then, if the buyer was unhappy with their purchase, within reason, they would be able to return the item for a full repair, replacement or refund within a specified amount of time.

Its important to remember that only private sellers can use the term “AS IS” or “voetstoets”, yet they are now obliged to disclose every reasonably known defect to potential buyers, or they could face problems down the line.

This has essentially killed off the “AS IS” tag, as most sellers are now unable to use it: as soon as a buyer sees “AS IS” in an advert, they will automatically assume that the vehicle or item is faulty and just move on to the next possibility.

You might still see “AS IS” in private ads but it usually is best to just avoid that offer, unless it really is too good to pass up.