Abu Dhabi car seller ordered to return Dhs30,000 after hidden defects uncovered
- Last updated: April 15, 2026 | 22:17
Abu Dhabi Family, Civil and Administrative Cases Court obligated a person to return Dhs30,000 plus Dhs3,000 compensation to another after the former had offered his car for sale on social media and the buyer later found that the car had hidden defects.
Earlier, the victim contacted the seller and bought the car after he had conducted a superficial inspection for the car but after using it, he discovered that there were hidden defects that the seller knew about but did not disclose including a defect in the transmission when starting the engine, especially in the morning.
The buyer filed a lawsuit against the seller in which he requested the court to obligate him to return Dhs30,000 and pay compensation estimated at Dhs20,000 for the material and psychological harms and losses he had befallen plus the incurred charges, expenses and lawyer’s fees with immediate enforcement.
He also requested the court to appoint a technical or mechanical engineering expert to examine the car in question, identify its hidden defects and determine whether they were before or after the sale and whether he buyer fell victim to commercial fraud.
The plaintiff pleaded that the seller had offered the car for sale on social media and car sale websites, adding that he contacted him and agreed to buy the car for Dhs30,000, which the seller received in cash, as evidenced by the conversations exchanged via WhatsApp.
The ownership was transferred on the basis that the car was free of any defects while its registration was still valid, which reassured him that it was in good condition, he said.
Nevertheless, he conducted a visual inspection because he was not a specialist to find that it had no declared defects, he added, noting that after using the car, it became clear to him that there were hidden defects in the transmission that the seller knew about and did not disclose.
The court stated that it was established from the documents submitted by the buyer that the seller sold the car with a hidden defect and a malfunction in the gearbox that could not be easily detected.
Based on the report of the appointed expert, which showed that there was a hidden defect in the car that the seller did not disclose when the sale contract was concluded, the court hereby ruled that the sale contract be rescinded, the sold item be returned to the seller and its price returned to the buyer.