No. If you as a dealer sell a used car to a private buyer, you cannot limit or exclude the rights the law gives the buyer. "No warranty", "bought as seen" or "as is" on the invoice does not change that. Courts say such a phrase at most counts towards what the buyer was entitled to expect of the car.
What does work is writing down a known defect specifically and having the buyer accept it separately at the sale. The buyer cannot then rely on that defect later. This article explains what the law says, how courts decide and how you record a defect so that it counts.
In short
- In a consumer sale you cannot exclude the buyer's rights. "No warranty" or "sold as seen" therefore has no effect as an exclusion.
- A specifically described defect, with the discount next to it and recorded at the sale, does protect you. In those cases dealers won.
- Under the new rules a defect only really counts if the buyer has accepted it expressly and separately. A clause in the general terms is not enough.
In this article
- Can you sell a used car without warranty to a private buyer?
- What can the buyer expect of a used car?
- What do courts say about "no warranty" and "sold as seen"?
- Why does a specific defect work and a general phrase not?
- How do you record a defect so that it counts?
- Why does the law put the risk on the dealer?
- How long does that risk run after the sale?
Can you sell a used car without warranty to a private buyer?
You may write it down, but it does not work. In a consumer sale, a sale in which a business sells to someone buying privately, the buyer's rights in case of a shortcoming "cannot be limited or excluded" (Civil Code, article 7:6). Not even with the buyer's signature.
In practice those rights are called the statutory guarantee. The car must conform to the contract, which lawyers call conformity. If it does not, the buyer can first demand free repair or replacement, and in some cases cancel the sale or ask for a lower price.
Your own warranty, such as three months on engine and gearbox, only comes on top of that. So if you give no warranty of your own, you are still bound by the statutory guarantee.
What can the buyer expect of a used car?
The properties needed for normal use, given the nature of the car and what the seller has said about it (Civil Code, article 7:17). For a used car, age, mileage and price count. A buyer may expect less of a twenty-year-old car than of a three-year-old one, but it must be able to drive.
What you say and advertise is part of the agreement. An advert saying "technically sound" or a verbal promise that the car is safe raises what the buyer may expect (Civil Code, article 7:18).
On the other hand, the buyer cannot rely on a defect he knew or could reasonably have known about at the sale (Civil Code, article 7:17(5)). That is where the dealer's room lies. Not in a general phrase, but in what the buyer demonstrably knew.
What do courts say about "no warranty" and "sold as seen"?
That such a phrase does not override the statutory guarantee. In a case about a car of €18,500 the invoice said "No warranty, bought as seen", with a few minor defects listed, such as poorly working air conditioning. Within four weeks the engine failed. The district court judge: the agreement "may influence the expectations" of the buyer, "but cannot alter the fact that the car must conform to the contract". The dealer had to pay €20,575.85, plus interest (ECLI:NL:RBNHO:2022:7526).
In another case the paperwork said "Bought as seen, driven and found satisfactory. No warranty". The court: "even without a warranty" the seller has the basic obligation to deliver what the buyer was entitled to expect (ECLI:NL:RBMNE:2024:4382). The car cost €1,100. So even a cheap car must be safe to drive.
The dealer did win when the defect was written down specifically. One invoice said "engine makes a noise, probably tappets!". When the timing belt later broke, the court rejected the claim because the buyer knew about the ticking noise (ECLI:NL:RBNHO:2023:11443). In another case the invoice said the buyer had heard a noise during the test drive and that "generous compensation" had been agreed for it, a discount of €1,749. There too the dealer won (ECLI:NL:RBNHO:2024:10393).
Note: this is a selection of published rulings. They show how courts reason, not how big your chance is in a single case.
Why does a specific defect work and a general phrase not?
Because since 2022 the law says when a deviation is not a defect. That is the case if the buyer was expressly told at the conclusion of the sale that a specific feature of the car deviated, and he "expressly and separately accepted" that deviation (Civil Code, article 7:18(6)).
The legislator calls this the double express test. In a shop the seller can report the defect "expressly orally" and have the buyer "sign somewhere" as evidence. Information in the general terms, which the buyer only accepts as a whole, is not express (Explanatory memorandum, parliamentary papers 35 734, no. 3).
"No warranty" names no feature at all. It does not tell the buyer what is wrong, so he cannot knowingly accept anything with it. "Engine ticks, probably tappets" does name a feature. That is why that phrase wins and the other loses.
No published ruling yet applies article 7:18(6) to a used car. So far courts mainly reason from what the buyer knew or could have known (article 7:17(5)). If you meet both requirements, with a defect described specifically and signed for separately, you are strong under both routes.
How do you record a defect so that it counts?
One line per defect, before or at the sale, with the buyer's initials on each line. Four points from the law and the rulings:
Describe what is wrong and what it may mean
Not "engine not in order", but "engine ticks, probably tappets, may lead to engine damage". The more specific, the stronger.
Add the discount
A lower price linked to the defect shows that the buyer knowingly took the risk (ECLI:NL:RBNHO:2024:10393).
Record it at the moment of the sale
A statement on an invoice the buyer only received on collection was not part of the sale. The sale had already been concluded weeks earlier (ECLI:NL:RBGEL:2023:7559).
Have the buyer sign separately for each defect
Not through the general terms and not with one signature at the bottom. A signed purchase agreement stating "history unknown" already helped a dealer before (ECLI:NL:RBGEL:2021:7041).
What you do not know, you also write down. "Damage history as far as known: none. Full history unknown" is honest and protects better than silence or a reassuring promise.
Why does the law put the risk on the dealer?
Because the dealer knows more about the car than the buyer. In 1970 economist George Akerlof used precisely the used car market as his example. The seller knows the quality, the buyer does not. If buyers cannot tell good and bad cars apart, they pay an average price for every car, and the good cars disappear from the market (Akerlof, 1970).
Akerlof names guarantees as one of the ways the market solves that problem. The risk then lies with the seller rather than the buyer (Akerlof, 1970). The statutory guarantee in a consumer sale does the same. A dealer who honestly writes down his defects gives the buyer the information he lacks, and so sells a good car for a good price.
How long does that risk run after the sale?
The heaviest risk runs for one year. If a defect becomes apparent within one year of delivery, it is presumed to have been there at delivery, unless the seller proves otherwise or the nature of the goods is inconsistent with that (Civil Code, article 7:18a(2)). This presumption of proof applies to purchase agreements from 27 April 2022.
After that the buyer has to prove himself that the defect was already there. He does have to complain in time. In a consumer sale, complaining within two months of discovery is always in time, and his claim becomes time-barred two years after that complaint (Civil Code, article 7:23).
A defect you described specifically at the sale and that the buyer accepted separately falls outside that year. The buyer can no longer rely on it. For all other defects the statutory guarantee simply continues to apply.
Sources
- Dutch Civil Code Book 7, articles 6, 17, 18, 18a and 23, in force from 8 October 2026. wetten.overheid.nl
- Explanatory memorandum to the Act implementing the directives on the sale of goods and the supply of digital content, parliamentary papers II 2020/21, 35 734, no. 3. officielebekendmakingen.nl
- Act implementing the directives on the sale of goods and the supply of digital content, Bulletin of Acts and Decrees 2022, 164, published 26 April 2022. officielebekendmakingen.nl
- District Court of North Holland, 24 August 2022, ECLI:NL:RBNHO:2022:7526. uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl
- District Court of Central Netherlands, 10 July 2024, ECLI:NL:RBMNE:2024:4382. uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl
- District Court of North Holland, 27 September 2023, ECLI:NL:RBNHO:2023:11443. uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl
- District Court of North Holland, 9 October 2024, ECLI:NL:RBNHO:2024:10393. uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl
- District Court of Gelderland, 27 December 2023, ECLI:NL:RBGEL:2023:7559. uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl
- District Court of Gelderland, 15 December 2021, ECLI:NL:RBGEL:2021:7041. uitspraken.rechtspraak.nl
- Akerlof, G.A. (1970). The market for "lemons": quality uncertainty and the market mechanism. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 84(3), 488-500. doi.org