Bought a car without rego

Forums › Transport (cars, bikes and boats) › Bought a car without rego

Cybergangster

54 posts

Master Geek

#62159 31-May-2010 17:11

Just looking for advise here...

I recently saw a car advertised on TradeMe. I went and viewed the car, took it for a test drive and made an offer which was turned down (the seller was out of town so I was dealing with his Dad). I left my details and the seller got back to me after the listing ended. He wants to accept my offer if I'm still interested so we agree on a sale.

He's still out of town so I go visit his old man to make payment and collect the keys. I then pick up the car from the seller's address and take it home. When home I clean it out and then I notice the rego is expired (Dec 2009). I rechecked the listing and see that it was listed as valid until Dec 2010.

I've contacted the buyer and he said it was his mum's mistake as she set up the listing. He's not interested in paying the difference ($127 for six months rego). Now, if the sale had gone through under TradeMe I could have gone through them stating the car was not as advertised. But as we completed the sale outside of TM where do I stand on trying to recover the funds? Or is this a cost I'm going to have to swallow?

Cheers in advance.

johnr

19282 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#336694 31-May-2010 17:24

The trader should be paying for the rego if not small claims court its not your fault the ad was incorret

John

Delorean

654 posts

Ultimate Geek

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Lifetime subscriber

#336700 31-May-2010 17:42

Hi there,

It doesn't matter, once you change the ownership, then pay for the rego, as you pay from the date of your ownership. then he is sent the bill for the time it expired to when you changed the ownership.

Chris

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andysh

228 posts

Master Geek

#336703 31-May-2010 17:48

You can go to the small claims court as John said.

Might be able to make a argument under the contractual mistakes act 1977.

There are four prerequisites, one that a mistake was made (durr), two that it influenced you into the sale (contract), three is basically, is it of value, usual rule is 10-15% of the total value, so depends on the cost of the car. Fourth is that you haven't assumed the risk, which I guess you have not.

Hope this helps. BTW I am in no way a lawyer, just have to study commercial law at uni

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savag3

188 posts

Master Geek

#336709 31-May-2010 18:04

Delorean: Hi there,

It doesn't matter, once you change the ownership, then pay for the rego, as you pay from the date of your ownership. then he is sent the bill for the time it expired to when you changed the ownership.

Chris

This is correct. NZTA will collect the unpaid rego via Baycorp if necessary. See the NZTA site here - look for the heading 'What should I do if the vehicle's licence has expired?'

patatrat

261 posts

Ultimate Geek

#336710 31-May-2010 18:06

savag3:
This is correct. NZTA will collect the unpaid rego via Baycorp if necessary.

Yes, but he will still be out of pocket for the registration from now until December, which, when he purchased the car, he believed was already paid for.

savag3

188 posts

Master Geek

#336715 31-May-2010 18:12

patatrat:
savag3:
This is correct. NZTA will collect the unpaid rego via Baycorp if necessary.

Yes, but he will still be out of pocket for the registration from now until December, which, when he purchased the car, he believed was already paid for.

Yes. He should claim the difference from the seller via the Disputes Tribunal. It would pay to renew the licence (registration) before 1 July when the new ACC levies take effect.
I should also add that all this could have been avoided by using either www.carjam.co.nz or www.vir.co.nz before the car was purchased. This is incredibly important as there is plenty of other potential problems such as money owing etc which these reports will show.

Cybergangster

54 posts

Master Geek

#336762 31-May-2010 20:15

Thanks for the answers - have checked with NZTA and they say I am only responsible for registration from date of ownership - today.

The overall value of 6 months registration is just 4% of what I paid for the car so it's not worth the hassle of small claims.

Thanks for the links too savag3 - I'll put this experience down to a lesson learned.

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1gkar

722 posts

Ultimate Geek

#336798 31-May-2010 21:46

Unless the Law has changed, & it may well have, given I am citing from some 30+ years ago, but it is/was illegal to sell a car "as is". ie. that is without a warrant and/or registration.

Also, the fact you stated you took it for a test-drive would indicate you didn't do your due diligience & thoroughly check the vehicle's condition & documentation.

I would say you would have a solid case, but that involves taking it through due process: your call. As you say, chalk it up to experience; or, stake your claim. And no, I am not a lawyer.

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johnr

19282 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#336832 31-May-2010 22:59

1gkar: Unless the Law has changed, & it may well have, given I am citing from some 30+ years ago, but it is/was illegal to sell a car "as is". ie. that is without a warrant and/or registration.

Still is only for LMVD

Bung

6487 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#336833 31-May-2010 23:02

1gkar: Unless the Law has changed, & it may well have, given I am citing from some 30+ years ago, but it is/was illegal to sell a car "as is". ie. that is without a warrant and/or registration.

IANAL either but a quick check shows that "as is where is" isn't illegal now and I don't think it was 30+ years ago either having bought several cars in that state then. The only thing you can't get out of is the RUC which must be up to date.

savag3

188 posts

Master Geek

#336849 1-Jun-2010 00:20

johnr:
1gkar: Unless the Law has changed, & it may well have, given I am citing from some 30+ years ago, but it is/was illegal to sell a car "as is". ie. that is without a warrant and/or registration.

Still is only for LMVD

Not quite. No licence (registration) is ok however the WOF must be less than one month old or else the seller has to obtain an acknowledgement in writing from the buyer that they are aware of that fact. This applies to everyone not just registered traders. I am not aware of this ever being enforced though.

Bung

6487 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#336885 1-Jun-2010 07:56

It seems that if you are a trader you can't use a general term like "as is where is" and avoid the CGA. The customer has to be given a list of specific exclusions.

Jonoaalbs

12 posts

Geek

#338107 3-Jun-2010 23:02

How much did you pay for the car??...is it really worth the wasted time and effort. By the time you've taken a half a day off to go to small claims and done any other running around you might need, itd just be easier to suck it up wouldn't it?...If it were me I'd give him a call and give him the chance to be honourable about it and if not then let dogs be dogs. Ya win some ya lose some.