Buying Used Kit or a Van: Your Rights in the UK

_General information, not legal advice. The law quoted here was read on legislation.gov.uk on 22 October 2026._

Your rights depend on who sold it and why you bought it. From a business, for yourself: it must be of satisfactory quality, fit for purpose and as described, whatever "sold as seen" says. From a private seller: as described, and theirs to sell. For your business, from a business: similar, but a reasonable "sold as seen" term can hold.

This guide sets out what the law says in each case, and where to check. On TreeBay, a listing shows "Business seller" or "Private seller" when the seller has told us which they are. TreeBay doesn't check it. A business seller's listing also shows its trading name and business address in Seller details. TreeBay isn't a party to the sale: you deal with the seller and pay them directly. Selling instead? See our guide to selling used kit safely.

Are You Buying as a Consumer?

The Consumer Rights Act 2015 protects a "consumer": "an individual acting for purposes that are wholly or mainly outside that individual's trade, business, craft or profession". The seller is a "trader" when they're "acting for purposes relating to that person's trade, business, craft or profession" (Consumer Rights Act 2015 s.2).

• Mixed use. The Act gives no percentage: what counts is what you mainly bought it for. The Act's explanatory notes, which explain it but aren't law, give two examples: someone who buys a kettle for their home and uses it on the one day a week they work from home is still a consumer, but a sole trader who buys a printer used 95% for the business "is not likely to be held to be a consumer" (Explanatory Notes, para 36).
• Who has to prove it. If a trader says you weren't buying mainly for yourself, the trader "must prove it" (s.2(4)).
• Companies. A limited company is never a consumer: the Act protects only an "individual".
• Auctions. If you buy second-hand goods at a public auction you could attend in person, most of the Act's rights on goods don't apply (s.2(5)).

If you're not buying as a consumer, see Buying for Your Business, From a Business.

Buying From a Business, for Yourself

When a trader sells to a consumer, the Consumer Rights Act treats every sale, used kit and vans included, as including these terms:

• Satisfactory quality. The standard "a reasonable person would consider satisfactory", taking account of the description, the price and the other circumstances. Quality can include "safety" and "durability" (s.9). It doesn't cover a fault "specifically drawn to the consumer's attention before the contract is made", or one that, "where the consumer examines the goods before the contract is made", that examination ought to reveal.
• Fit for your purpose. If you tell the trader what you need it for, it must be "reasonably fit for that purpose", unless you didn't rely, or it was unreasonable to rely, on the trader's skill or judgement (s.10). Saying it in a message gives you a record.
• As described. The goods "will match the description" (s.11), for example the hours, mileage and spec in the advert.
• Theirs to sell. The trader must have the right to sell it, and it must be free from any charge "not disclosed or known to the consumer" before the sale (s.17).

"Sold as seen" or "no refunds" from a trader doesn't take these away: such a term "is not binding on the consumer to the extent that it would exclude or restrict the trader's liability" under them (s.31).

If It Isn't Right

• Within 30 days: reject it. You can reject goods that don't conform, for a refund, until "the end of 30 days beginning with the first day after" you own it and it's been delivered (s.22). You reject by making it "clear enough to be understood by the trader" that you're "rejecting the goods and treating the contract as at an end". The trader must refund you within 14 days of agreeing you're entitled to it, and "must not impose any fee" (s.20).
• Instead, or after the 30 days: one repair or replacement. The trader must do it "within a reasonable time and without significant inconvenience" and pay the costs (s.23).
• If that fails: money off, or reject it. If it still isn't right after one repair or replacement, or the trader doesn't do it in a reasonable time, you can ask for a price reduction or reject it (s.24). In the first 6 months the refund can't be reduced for the use you've had, except for a "motor vehicle", such as a van (s.24(10)).
• The first 6 months. For repair, replacement, a price reduction or the final right to reject (not the 30-day right), a fault that shows within 6 months of delivery is taken to have been there at delivery, unless it's shown that it wasn't, or that this is "incompatible with the nature of the goods or with how they fail to conform" (s.19(14)–(15)).
• Stolen, or finance on it. If the trader had no right to sell it, your right to reject isn't limited to the 30 days (s.19(6) and s.20(3)).

Citizens Advice's guide to used cars notes that you aren't entitled to anything for a fault you caused, or one that's "normal for how much the car has been used (known as 'fair wear and tear')" (Citizens Advice).

Buying From a Private Seller

A private seller isn't a trader, so the Consumer Rights Act doesn't apply. The Sale of Goods Act 1979 does, and it gives you less:

• As described. Under s.13, "there is an implied term that the goods will correspond with the description" (Sale of Goods Act 1979 s.13). Unlike the quality term, it isn't limited to business sellers.
• No promise about quality. The quality and fitness terms apply only "Where the seller sells goods in the course of a business" (s.14). In a private sale, the law adds no promise that it's of satisfactory quality or fit for your purpose, so check it before you pay.
• Theirs to sell. Every seller promises that "he has a right to sell the goods", and that they're free from any charge "not disclosed or known to the buyer" (s.12).
• Untrue statements. In England and Wales, a seller who told you something untrue that led you to buy, such as the hours or "never had finance", can be liable for your loss "unless he proves that he had reasonable ground to believe and did believe" it was true (Misrepresentation Act 1967 s.2). Northern Ireland has its own Act, and Scotland its own law.
• "Sold as seen" in a private sale. It can't remove the promise that the seller has the right to sell it, and it removes the "as described" promise only if the term is reasonable (Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 s.6; in Scotland, s.20).
• "Sold as seen" doesn't cover untrue statements. In England and Wales, a term excluding liability for misrepresentation is "of no effect" unless it is reasonable, and the seller has to show that it is (Misrepresentation Act 1967 s.3). If you're a consumer, the term instead has to be fair (Consumer Rights Act 2015 s.62).

Keep a copy of the advert and your messages with the seller: they show what it was sold as.

Is the Private Seller Really a Business?

A trader posing as a private seller breaks consumer law. Since 6 April 2025, the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 bans in all circumstances "Falsely claiming or creating the false impression that the trader is not acting for purposes relating to the trader's business or falsely representing oneself as a consumer" (Schedule 20, para 25). The CMA's example is a car dealer's handwritten sign, "One careful owner … Call Jack", which "gives the impression that the seller is not a trader" (CMA guidance).

If the seller was in fact selling as a business, they're a trader under the Consumer Rights Act whatever the advert said, and the rights in Buying From a Business, for Yourself apply. If it comes to a dispute, keep the evidence: the advert, and the seller's answers when you asked whether they're selling as a business.

In England and Wales, the Citizens Advice consumer helpline, 0808 223 1133, can "pass information about complaints on to Trading Standards" (Citizens Advice). In Scotland it's Advice Direct Scotland, and in Northern Ireland Consumerline (GOV.UK). On TreeBay, use "Report this listing" too.

Buying for Your Business, From a Business

If you're buying for your business, or as a company, the Consumer Rights Act doesn't apply. The Sale of Goods Act 1979 does:

• Quality and purpose. When the seller sells "in the course of a business", the goods must be of satisfactory quality, and fit for any purpose you made known unless you didn't rely on the seller's judgement (s.14(2)–(3)). As for consumers, that doesn't cover a fault drawn to your attention before the sale, or one that, "where the buyer examines the goods before the contract is made", that examination ought to reveal.
• As described, and theirs to sell, as in a private sale (s.13 and s.12).
• "Sold as seen." Between businesses, a term that excludes quality, purpose or description holds only "in so far as the term satisfies the requirement of reasonableness" (Unfair Contract Terms Act 1977 s.6), and it's for the seller relying on it to show that it does (s.11). The guidelines include "the strength of the bargaining positions of the parties" and whether you "knew or ought reasonably to have known" of the term (Schedule 2). The right to sell can't be excluded at all. In Scotland, see s.20.
• A slight fault. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, if the breach "is so slight that it would be unreasonable for him to reject them", you can claim damages but not reject, and it's for the seller to show the breach was slight (s.15A). In Scotland you can reject only "if the breach is material", and claim damages either way (s.15B).
• Keeping it. You're taken to have accepted the goods if you keep them "after the lapse of a reasonable time" without telling the seller you're rejecting them. Asking for a repair doesn't count as accepting (s.35). Once you've accepted them, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland you can claim damages but not reject (s.11).

There's no fixed 30-day or 6-month rule here: those are in the Consumer Rights Act.

Finance on It, or Stolen

• Stolen kit isn't yours, however honestly you paid. When goods are sold by someone who isn't the owner and has no authority to sell them, "the buyer acquires no better title to the goods than the seller had" (Sale of Goods Act 1979 s.21). The owner can claim it back, and your claim is against the seller (s.12, or Consumer Rights Act s.17 from a trader).
• Vans and other road vehicles on hire purchase. When the person paying off a motor vehicle on a hire-purchase or conditional sale agreement sells it before it's paid off, a "private purchaser" who buys "in good faith without notice" of the agreement gets good title, including when it reaches them through a dealer (Hire Purchase Act 1964 s.27). It doesn't help if the vehicle was stolen. A "private purchaser" is a buyer whose business doesn't include buying motor vehicles to sell them, or financing them, so a tree surgery business can be one. You're without notice only if you had "no actual notice" of the finance, so it doesn't help if a check showed finance (s.29). It covers motor vehicles meant for public roads, such as a van or 4x4, and only hire purchase and conditional sale, not leases. In Northern Ireland the same rule is in the Hire-Purchase Act (Northern Ireland) 1966 s.62.
• Faults on a financed van or machine. On hire purchase, a claim that the goods aren't as described or of satisfactory quality goes against the finance company, not the dealer: the implied terms bind the "creditor" — the finance company (Supply of Goods (Implied Terms) Act 1973 s.9, s.10, s.15). If you're buying as a consumer, those rights come from the Consumer Rights Act 2015 instead — and the claim still goes to the finance company.
• Other kit. For kit that isn't a road vehicle there's no such rule, so check before you buy. Ask the seller for the serial or PIN number and check it with TER, The Equipment Register (ter-europe.org). It shows whether plant or equipment is registered as stolen or has finance on it. TER may charge for a check. If you think something is stolen, don't buy it: report it to the police on 101 and to us.
• Vehicles. Before you pay for a vehicle: check its MOT history and tax for free on GOV.UK, check that the V5C logbook is in the seller's name and that its VIN matches the vehicle, and run a history check for finance, write-off and theft. Never pay before seeing it. Once it's yours, "You must tax a vehicle you've bought before you drive it" (GOV.UK).
• If you think you've already bought something stolen. Citizens Advice says to "call the police on 101 or take the item to your local police station", and not to keep it or "return it to the seller yourself", which "might be considered 'handling stolen goods'" (Citizens Advice).

Paying Safely

TreeBay takes no payment between buyer and seller, so how you pay the seller matters. Never send a deposit for something you haven't seen. More on meeting, checking and paying in Staying safe.

• Credit card. If you paid a trader at least part of the price on a personal credit card, and the item cost over £100 and no more than £30,000, you may be able to claim from the card provider too (Consumer Credit Act 1974 s.75). Buying from a private seller, it usually doesn't apply.
• Other cards. Paid by card? Ask your card provider about a chargeback.

If Something Goes Wrong

These are the steps on our Staying safe page:

1. Tell the other person in TreeBay messages what's wrong and what you want: a repair, a refund, or the item taken back. Keep the messages, photos and receipts. You can download the conversation from the thread.
2. Bought from a business? What you buy must match its description, be of satisfactory quality and fit for purpose (Consumer Rights Act 2015). Citizens Advice can help: citizensadvice.org.uk.
3. Bought from a private seller? The item must still be as described, but you have fewer rights than when you buy from a business.
4. Can't agree? You can make a claim at the small claims court without a solicitor: gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money (England and Wales). In Scotland it's called simple procedure, and Northern Ireland has its own small claims court.
5. Paid by card? Ask your card provider about a chargeback.
6. Tell us too, with the listing link. We can remove listings and restrict accounts, but we can't decide the dispute or get your money back.

If kit or a vehicle is unsafe, GOV.UK says workplace products are covered by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), and vehicles by the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA) (GOV.UK).

FAQ

Does "sold as seen" mean I have no rights?

No. From a business, when you're buying mainly for yourself, it doesn't take away your Consumer Rights Act rights. Between businesses it holds only if it's reasonable. Even in a private sale, it can't remove the seller's promise that it's theirs to sell.

I use my van for work and for the family. Am I a consumer?

It depends on what you mainly bought it for. The Consumer Rights Act protects an individual buying "wholly or mainly" outside their business, and if a trader says you weren't, the trader has to prove it. A limited company is never a consumer.

What rights do I have if I buy from a private seller?

Fewer than from a business. The law covers a private sale that doesn't match its description, a seller with no right to sell it and, in England and Wales, an untrue statement that led you to buy. It doesn't promise quality, so check it before you pay.

What if the van I bought still has finance on it?

If it was on hire purchase or conditional sale, the person paying it off sold it (directly or through a dealer), and you bought it as a private purchaser, in good faith and with no actual notice of the finance, the Hire Purchase Act 1964 gives you good title. It doesn't help if the van was stolen. Otherwise your claim is against the seller. For kit that isn't a road vehicle there's no such rule, so check it with TER before you buy.