What are your rights if you are unhappy with a car purchase in Norway
If you’ve purchased a car, new or secondhand, and you later discover the vehicle is in worse condition than advertised, there are options available to you.
Whether you consider yourself someone who’s into their cars or not, not every purchase goes to plan, and pretty much everyone will have memories of that one vehicle that kept them up at night when thinking about bills or reliability.
Given the cost of purchasing a car, it’s not surprising that many can feel intimidated about making such a substantial purchase and whether Norway’s consumer rights laws will leave them high and dry if the purchase doesn’t go to plan.
READ ALSO: Six key things to know about buying a used car in Norway
Fortunately, the initial consumer rights laws are fairly straightforward and robust. However, the process becomes more complicated as issues escalate further (more on that later).
What do the rules say?
When purchasing a car from a private person, consumers have two years to complain about its condition.
Those who buy a car from a dealer have even longer to make their complaints heard, five years.
In both cases, the basis for the buyer’s rights is The Purchase Act.
To complain, there has to be a fault or defect with the car – rather than you simply just not liking it.
A car can be considered defective if there is an issue that hasn’t occurred due to normal wear and tear, damage you have caused the vehicle yourself, or external influences (such as problems starting in cold weather).
Norway’s Consumer Council, the country’s main consumer rights watchdog, has an overview of when a car is considered faulty or not (in Norwegian) on its website.
This makes the rules fairly simple when buying a new car. However, used purchases are more difficult because as a car ages and clocks more miles and kilometers, what’s considered “normal” wear and tear will increase.
Different cars are also prone to other failure points too, this means for some manufacturers, very expensive failures may be considered normal wear and tear for the make.
According to the Consumer Council, price also plays a factor.
“Simply put, the older the car, the cheaper it is, and the longer it has been driven, the less you can expect from it,” it writes on its website.
Furthermore, the onus is generally on the buyer to try and find faults with the car before purchasing.
Is there any sneaky small print to look out for?
Private people and some dealers will sell cars “as is” or som den er. This makes buying a used car even harder, at least regarding your consumer rights.
The “as is” clause can be overruled in a few cases. These are if the seller has withheld information, and it is believed to have influenced the purchase, the seller has given incorrect information, the car is in worse condition than you had reason to expect based on what you were told about the price, age and mileage.
When buying a car from a private person, the car would really need to be in bad shape to overrule the “as is” clause.
Private sellers may also sell the car without the right to claim. Such a disclaimer may mean that the seller is unable to complain about errors and issues with the car.
This can still be overturned if very significant information has been withheld and if deliberately incorrect information about the car was given.
Thankfully, dealers can’t sell cars with such a clause.
How do you complain about the purchase?
For starters, you should contact the party that sold you the car and raise the issues. A reputable dealer may want to resolve your issue fairly quickly.
Not everyone will be so accommodating, and others will simply disagree with your position.
If this doesn’t solve things, you could take your car to an independent expert to find out if it is in worse condition than expected.
After this, you can send a formal complaint letter to the dealer or seller. This is different to raising concerns. The Consumer Council has templates of complaint letters that you can send in either English or Norwegian.
The following steps to this would be mediation or legal action. The consumer council recommends taking the matter to the Norwegian Consumer Protection Authority for mediation. However, it doesn’t appear that the authority offers mediation on car sales.
Instead, legal action in a small claims court may be required, and this can be expensive if the court doesn’t rule in your favour.
What are you entitled to when you claim?
You will be obliged to accept the seller’s attempt to correct the error or deficiency with repairs. This must be done without cost or significant inconvenience to you.
If the repairs don’t rectify the issue, you can demand a price reduction. The reduction must correspond to the reduction in the value of the car due to the issues.
Other options include canceling the purchase or being offered a replacement vehicle.
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Whether you consider yourself someone who’s into their cars or not, not every purchase goes to plan, and pretty much everyone will have memories of that one vehicle that kept them up at night when thinking about bills or reliability.
Given the cost of purchasing a car, it’s not surprising that many can feel intimidated about making such a substantial purchase and whether Norway’s consumer rights laws will leave them high and dry if the purchase doesn’t go to plan.
READ ALSO: Six key things to know about buying a used car in Norway
Fortunately, the initial consumer rights laws are fairly straightforward and robust. However, the process becomes more complicated as issues escalate further (more on that later).
What do the rules say?
When purchasing a car from a private person, consumers have two years to complain about its condition.
Those who buy a car from a dealer have even longer to make their complaints heard, five years.
In both cases, the basis for the buyer’s rights is The Purchase Act.
To complain, there has to be a fault or defect with the car – rather than you simply just not liking it.
A car can be considered defective if there is an issue that hasn’t occurred due to normal wear and tear, damage you have caused the vehicle yourself, or external influences (such as problems starting in cold weather).
Norway’s Consumer Council, the country’s main consumer rights watchdog, has an overview of when a car is considered faulty or not (in Norwegian) on its website.
This makes the rules fairly simple when buying a new car. However, used purchases are more difficult because as a car ages and clocks more miles and kilometers, what’s considered “normal” wear and tear will increase.
Different cars are also prone to other failure points too, this means for some manufacturers, very expensive failures may be considered normal wear and tear for the make.
According to the Consumer Council, price also plays a factor.
“Simply put, the older the car, the cheaper it is, and the longer it has been driven, the less you can expect from it,” it writes on its website.
Furthermore, the onus is generally on the buyer to try and find faults with the car before purchasing.
Is there any sneaky small print to look out for?
Private people and some dealers will sell cars “as is” or som den er. This makes buying a used car even harder, at least regarding your consumer rights.
The “as is” clause can be overruled in a few cases. These are if the seller has withheld information, and it is believed to have influenced the purchase, the seller has given incorrect information, the car is in worse condition than you had reason to expect based on what you were told about the price, age and mileage.
When buying a car from a private person, the car would really need to be in bad shape to overrule the “as is” clause.
Private sellers may also sell the car without the right to claim. Such a disclaimer may mean that the seller is unable to complain about errors and issues with the car.
This can still be overturned if very significant information has been withheld and if deliberately incorrect information about the car was given.
Thankfully, dealers can’t sell cars with such a clause.
How do you complain about the purchase?
For starters, you should contact the party that sold you the car and raise the issues. A reputable dealer may want to resolve your issue fairly quickly.
Not everyone will be so accommodating, and others will simply disagree with your position.
If this doesn’t solve things, you could take your car to an independent expert to find out if it is in worse condition than expected.
After this, you can send a formal complaint letter to the dealer or seller. This is different to raising concerns. The Consumer Council has templates of complaint letters that you can send in either English or Norwegian.
The following steps to this would be mediation or legal action. The consumer council recommends taking the matter to the Norwegian Consumer Protection Authority for mediation. However, it doesn’t appear that the authority offers mediation on car sales.
Instead, legal action in a small claims court may be required, and this can be expensive if the court doesn’t rule in your favour.
What are you entitled to when you claim?
You will be obliged to accept the seller’s attempt to correct the error or deficiency with repairs. This must be done without cost or significant inconvenience to you.
If the repairs don’t rectify the issue, you can demand a price reduction. The reduction must correspond to the reduction in the value of the car due to the issues.
Other options include canceling the purchase or being offered a replacement vehicle.
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