A verdict was handed down on February 20 by the Reykjaness District Court in a case concerning the purchase of a car via the sales site bland.is. The buyer of a used Audi demanded that his cancellation of the purchase be confirmed, but he canceled it in March 2021.
The car was advertised for sale on Bland for 890,000 ISK, but the man bought the car for 650,000 ISK, cash on delivery. In the advertisement and information from the seller of the car, it was stated that the engine was rebuilt 2000 km ago, but the car had traveled a total of 164,000 km.
Shortly after the buyer confirmed the purchase of the car, he noticed something abnormal in the engine of the car, and he says the car later became undriveable. In addition to the purchase price, he asked to be paid the costs incurred for the repairs to the car, and the claim amounted to a total of more than 850,000 ISK.
The seller of the car denied the claim and pointed out that the buyer had neglected his duty to inspect, which was very important when dealing with such an old car. Moreover, he said that he himself drove the car without any problems for 2000 km after changing the engine. Defects could therefore very well arise after the sale.
Irreversible damage to the machine
It was the conclusion of a court-appointed appraiser that the improvements made to the machine by the previous owner had dealt with consequences, not causes. The motor would have been damaged beyond repair, so it would have to be replaced. In the text from the yard said:
“In the case there is an assessment by a court-appointed person in which the causes of the breakdown of the car engine are listed out of ten, which, according to the expert, can be mainly attributed to the fact that the oil pressure was too low for a while and in the end there was none, since the sprocket bolt on the balancer shaft to the chain drive of the oil pump, The valuation report states that the reason for this can mainly be attributed to the fact that the lubricating oil pump and the so-called balancer shafts, which are integrated in the lubricating oil pump, blocked and stopped rotating. As a result, the machine suffered irreversible damage in a short time. The expert opinion is clear and reasoned, and the verdict is based on the descriptions that the expert gives as the cause of the damage to the engine of the vehicle, the expertise not having been invalidated.”
In the judgment, reference is made to Article 21 of the Liquidity Purchase Act, which states:
“When assessing the defect of an item on sale, account is taken of the moment when the risk of the item on sale passes to the buyer, even if the defect does not appear until later. The seller is also responsible for a defect which would appear later if the cause of the defect is attributable to non-compliance on its part. The same applies when the seller, by a declaration of guarantee or by other means, guarantees that the object has certain properties or that the object can be used in a normal or special way for a certain period of time after delivery.”
It is clear from the expert’s report that the causes of the condition of the car go back to before the purchase and that, therefore, the seller is considered responsible for it. It was the judge’s decision to comply with all of the car buyer’s demands that canceled the purchase. The seller was ordered to pay him more than 850,000 ISK, and then another substantial price of the car in legal costs, 900,000 ISK.
