Sold boat query

Remmington

Remmington

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Any views on this:
3 months ago I sold a Bavaria 32 through a UK broker to a customer in the EU. It was sold "as seen" and was taken away.
Today the purchaser has been in touch asking who last did any servicing to the engines as they have suffered was he says is £15,000.00 damage. He proposes to sue the servicing company.
 
Hi interesting one dont think he can sue the servicing company as they didnt do the work for him, three months is too long, bought through broker no warranty, up to him to satisfy himself of the condition, survey, sea trials ect, if he didnt then he has no comeback anyway if he had employed a surveyor on the engines and no problems were found then he could have had a word with the surveyor but would have had to prove that these problems could have been seen at the time of survey. cheers
 
Not a boat but I had similar with a Landy that I traded in a few years ago. The car was then sold through auction and the subsequent buyer suffered an engine blowout (cam belt failure) some 6 months later. He came after me for not having the belt changed. It was due for change the service after the last one that I had done.

All nearly went to court but he was advised that he had no chance as there was no proof that I had been negligent and that he shoud have had a service done according to the manufacturerd guideline anyway. When the cam belt would have been changed.

I think you can relax.
 
I agree.. cant see how the service agent is liable to the subsequent owner. Even so, it would still need to be proven that what was, or wasnt done at the service directly led to the failure.
Cant see it succeeding myself, but I guess the bloke wants to try to get something back.
 
not on a private contract. if you are just selling any item (boat, car, bike, plane, train) as a private individual then there is no warranty implied.

What you suggest is actually the reverse of what is true, there is only a comeback if you specifically details a warranty period in the contract.

Of course this is different if you are buying from a business, where a warranty is always implied and may stand even if there is something in the contaract which tires to rule it out.
 
my EU law says that if buying from a private a 6 month gurantee is given, unless stated otherwise
if you buy from a company that is a dealer, boat builder or a yard who owns the boat then it is 1 year
I am sure 100000% about this
 
I've never heard that. It certainly doesn't exist in the UK and the UK is always the first to kow tow to any new EU laws
 
He can't sue the servicing co as their contract was with you not him. The only slight problem could be if you described the engines in the sales details as being in perfect working order or something similar in which case you might be accused of misrepresenting the boat but, given that it's 3 months down the line, IMHO there's no problem
Did the buyer have a mechanical survey done in which case, obviously, the surveyor has an obligation to the buyer?
I don't think that you have any legal obligation here but, depending on whether the buyer paid a fair price for the boat and otherwise acted honourably, I think maybe you have a moral obligation to try to help him. If it is genuinely correct that the service co acted incompetently or negligently and this caused the engine probs, then maybe you should approach the servicing co on the buyer's behalf
 
You're fine. First thing to establish is which law govezrns the contract. Likely English law, if UK boat and uk seller. Unless contract stated otherwise?

Under UK law he has zero redress against the service company. Absolutely zero. Cos he has no contract with them. Period. Absolutely unequivocal. If he wants to waste his money suing them let him go right ahead

There is no such thing as EU law here. I mean, it doesn't exist. There are some EU directives (as distinct from law) but none of them has been enacted by UK parliament to give him a basis to sue the service co.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Any views on this:
3 months ago I sold a Bavaria 32 through a UK broker to a customer in the EU. It was sold "as seen" and was taken away.
Today the purchaser has been in touch asking who last did any servicing to the engines as they have suffered was he says is £15,000.00 damage. He proposes to sue the servicing company.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, he is about to add to his losses in futile legal fees.
 
Are you sure that's right? Does not European Law exist in the UK insofar as it is part of a treaty signed by the UK? As I understand it also, European Law can be held to override any UK law if the UK law can be considered inconsistent as was enshrined in the Maastricht treaty. For sure, European Directives, whilst they are not UK law in themselves, are often made binding in the UK thru acts of Parliament
I'm sure you're right on this particular issue. I'm also fairly sure that poweryacht is not correct in his statement. I've bought a number of used boats in Europe through brokers and it's never been mentioned to me that there was some kind of 6 month warranty available
 
We do not yet know what the nature of the damage is to the engines Volvo KAD32's. He initially approached the broker and has only just contacted us direct. Our knowledge is that the boat had been stored ashore for winter 07/08.
Re-launched in April and not used until the sale in August apart from winterisation and the props removed and polished nothing had been touched........mystery unless the props were put on incorectly how could so much damage be caused?
 
[ QUOTE ]
Are you sure that's right? Does not European Law exist in the UK insofar as it is part of a treaty signed by the UK? As I understand it also, European Law can be held to override any UK law if the UK law can be considered inconsistent as was enshrined in the Maastricht treaty. For sure, European Directives, whilst they are not UK law in themselves, are often made binding in the UK thru acts of Parliament
I'm sure you're right on this particular issue. I'm also fairly sure that poweryacht is not correct in his statement. I've bought a number of used boats in Europe through brokers and it's never been mentioned to me that there was some kind of 6 month warranty available

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if an owner puts HOW IT IS in contract (most brokers contract are like that) he is usually protected in 90% of cases
but I know of some cases where this has been over riden, depends how deep is the damage and if you can prove it was coming from before
 
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