Buying a used car: dealer or private seller?

Both routes can get you a good car. They are not the same purchase, though, and the difference is not really about the price on the windscreen — it is about what happens if something goes wrong a fortnight later, and about how much of the checking you have to do yourself.

What rights do I have when I buy from a dealer?

Buying from a dealer is a consumer purchase, so the Consumer Rights Act 2015 applies to it. In outline:

• Under section 9, goods must be of satisfactory quality.
• Under section 22, the short-term right to reject lasts 30 days from delivery.
• Under section 19(14), a fault found in the first six months is presumed to have been present at delivery unless the trader proves otherwise.
• Under section 24(10)(b), after one failed repair or replacement the consumer may reject the goods; a deduction for use may apply after the first six months.
• Under section 31, a trader cannot exclude or restrict liability for goods being of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described.

Buying at a distance adds one more. Under the Consumer Contracts Regulations 2013, regulations 29 to 35, a distance or off-premises contract carries a 14-day cancellation right. A car bought from us online and delivered is a distance sale, and the buyer has fourteen days from delivery to change their mind and return it.

Those provisions set conditions and time limits, and whether any of them applies to a particular car depends on the facts of that sale. This page is general information about the law, not advice on an individual case.

What rights do I have when I buy privately?

A private sale is a different legal position, because those Consumer Rights Act protections are written for a consumer buying from a trader. In a private sale the seller must not misdescribe the car, but the presumptions and rejection rights above are not in play in the same way. In practice that means what you see and check is what you get, and the cost of anything you missed sits with you.

That is not an argument against private sales. It is an argument for doing all of the checking before the money moves.

Is a private seller actually cheaper?

Sometimes on the sticker, less often once the work is counted. The sensible way to compare is to price the whole thing rather than the headline:

• What is the MOT history telling you about work coming up?
• How many tyres will need replacing this year?
• When is the next service, cambelt or brake job due?
• Will it need anything to pass its next MOT?
• Is there an admin fee on top at a dealer? There is none here — our price shown is the price paid.

A car that is a little dearer with a workshop behind it can end up the cheaper car by the following spring. A car that is cheap because nobody has looked at it is cheap for a reason you will meet later.

What checks do I have to do myself in a private sale?

All of them. The checklist is the same either way; in a private sale nobody else has run it:

• MOT history. Anyone can check a car's MOT history free on GOV.UK with the registration number: each test's result, the advisories and failures, and the mileage recorded at each test.
• The V5C. Check the seller's name and address match, and remember that when a car changes hands the seller tells the DVLA and the new keeper gets a new V5C log book in the post.
• Mileage. Walk the recorded mileages forward through the MOT history and see that they climb sensibly.
• MOT due date. In England and Wales a car needs its first MOT by the third anniversary of its registration, then every year.
• Insurance. A car must be insured before it is driven on a public road, including the drive home.
• Tax. Vehicle tax does not transfer with a car. The new keeper must tax it before it is driven on a road, which can be done online straight away with the V5C reference.
• A mechanical check. In a private sale this is on you to arrange.

Our guides on what paperwork should come with a used car and how to check a used car's MOT history go through those in detail, and do you need to tax a used car before driving it home covers the tax question properly.

What is different about how a car is advertised?

An advert is covered by consumer protection law when it comes from a trader. Part 4 of the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 prohibits unfair commercial practices, including misleading omissions. A private advert sits outside that regime, which is why a thin description with three photographs and no history is worth more questions, not fewer.

This is where buying from us is a different experience in a plain, practical way: every ONECARS car page carries the car's photographs, its full spec and its MOT history, so the information you would otherwise have to go and assemble is already on the page before you ring anyone.

What does buying from ONECARS add?

A workshop on the same site, before the sale and after it. Every car we sell is checked on 34 points by ONEFIX, our own workshop at Plas Acton in Wrexham, and the whole list is published at how we check our cars. Where that check turns up work, the car is not handed to its buyer until ONEFIX has put it right — that is a rule in our system, not a promise someone has to remember.

After the sale, ONEFIX next door services, repairs and MOTs the car, so the same people keep seeing it. Every car also comes with a free three-month warranty on the engine and gearbox, up to 2,500 miles, with the repairs done by ONEFIX here; longer paid cover is available and is set out at what our warranty covers.

Two smaller things that a private sale cannot really offer. A reservation holds a car for fourteen days: within those fourteen days it can be cancelled for any reason and the fee comes back in full, and if you go ahead it comes off the price. And if you would rather not travel, the car can come to you — see delivery.

Does this matter more on an older or premium car?

Yes, because there is more to know and more that costs money to put right. An older executive car with a good history can be excellent value and a poor one can be expensive; the difference is entirely in what has been done to it. The 2012 Mercedes-Benz E220 Executive SE CDI at mercedes-benz-e-2012-lv12afo is £3,995, and its page carries its photographs, spec and MOT history so you can see that history rather than take someone's word for it.

Where do I go if something goes wrong?

That depends on what went wrong and who you bought from. The Motor Ombudsman handles disputes about a vehicle sale, and the Financial Ombudsman Service handles complaints about credit; they are separate schemes. If the question is about returning a car, can you return a used car to the dealer sets out the ground, and used car fault in the first six months covers the six-month position.

So which should I choose?

Choose a private sale if you are confident checking a car yourself, or can take someone who is, and you accept that the risk sits with you. Choose a dealer if you would rather the Consumer Rights Act 2015 framework applied to the purchase and someone else had already put the car through a workshop.

If that is the way you are leaning, our stock is at used cars, the local ground is covered in buying a used car in Wrexham, part-exchanges are explained at part exchange explained, and we are at Plas Acton Garage, 282 Chester Road, Wrexham LL12 8DU — viewings by appointment, Monday to Friday 9 to 5 and Saturday 10 to 4. There is a second forecourt at Ruyton near Shrewsbury. The office number is 01978 356983, or use contact.