Where a sole trader is selling a vehicle to a consumer in the normal course of business, to what extent can they limit liability?

The starting point when deliberating how and the extent to which one should seek to limit liability is to identify the risks that are posed the transaction in question. Questions which should be considered may include:

1. •

   what could go wrong?

2. •

   how much the problem may cost to resolve?

3. •

   what is the likelihood of the problem occurring?

4. •

   to what extent is this risk acceptable?

Although the traditional way of limiting liability would be to include appropriate contractual wording, other potential solutions should also be considered. For example:

1. •

   quality control—conduct appropriate research, analysis and investigation of the goods being sold

2. •

   notices and disclaimers—use notices and disclaimers on products and in marketing material to reduce the risk of liability

3. •

   marketing and advertising—review any marketing and advertising material to ensure that it does not make any unsupported claims about the vehicle

4. •

   insurance—consider to what