Flynn v Scott [1949] ScotCS CSOH_7
Citation:Flynn v Scott [1949] ScotCS CSOH_7
Rule of thumb: If you buy a 2nd hand which you are told was in good working condition, but breaks down within 2 weeks, can you get your money back? No, that was just an opinion & it is a chance you take with 2nd hand cars – it is very hard to argue that you were mis-sold a 2nd hand car unless you get guarantees in writing.
Judgment:
the basic facts of this case were that Flynn bought a second hand van from Scott. Scott stated that the van was in good running order although 2 weeks later the van broke down. The Court held that this was a matter of opinion and not sufficient to deem this a misrepresentation capable of reducing the contract, ‘But the pursuer also maintains that, quite apart from section 14 (1), he is entitled to reject the van and get his money back, because he says the contract was induced by material misrepresentation made to him by the seller, Mr Scott. The material misrepresentation founded upon is the statement which I have held was made by Mr Scott to the pursuer, namely, that the van was in good running order. Now, in my view, especially in a sale of this type which was a sale of a second-hand motor vehicle, any statement of that kind could only be regarded as an expression of the opinion of the seller, and, if the buyer was not himself sufficiently expert or mechanically instructed to satisfy himself as to the condition of the vehicle, then he had only himself to blame if he accepted the seller's expression of opinion on the matter without having it checked by an expert on his behalf. In my view, the statement made by Mr Scott to the pursuer was not in law a representation, but was simply an expression of opinion, and the pursuer cannot found upon that as being a misrepresentation entitling him to repudiate the contract’, Lord Mackintosh
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