Dealer sold "death trap" Nissan on Gumtree, court told

An Essex car dealer has been fined after admitting selling an unroadworthy Nissan Pathfinder described by magistrates as a 'death trap'.

The buyer, who lives in Dorset, spotted the Nissan SUV on Gumtree and bought it remotely from the dealer, paying an additional fee to have it delivered.

Dorset Council's Trading Standards reports that it had been described as being "a good, solid vehicle" by Adam Hussain, who is the sole director of The Car Company Essex  and ran a second-hand car sales business trading as RNM Car Sales Essex, and was delivered with a new MOT certificate and three month warranty.

A few days checks by a local garage identified that the car had severe corrosion around the suspension, the handbrake did not work, and the exhaust system was leaking - faults would mean that the vehicle would fail its MOT. 

An independent vehicle expert concluded that the vehicle was unroadworthy and dangerous to drive, and informed Trading Standards that that the car had previously failed an MOT test some 18 months earlier with the same faults.

Hussain, 33, of Hornchurch in Essex, admitted in court the charges of selling an unroadworthy vehicle under the Road Traffic Act 1988 and trying to restrict the customer’s consumer rights by using the terms ‘sold as seen’ and ‘trade sale’ under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008.

Weymouth magistrates fined fined Hussain £1,000, ordered him to pay compensation to the consumer of £3,740, and awarded the council’s full costs of £2,124.25