Can you sue someone in the UK for giving bad advice?

Hi there, my gran took a friend's advice on buying a car which turned out to be a hunk of junk. I was wondering if my gran has any grounds for legal action against the friend and if there are any previous cases where this sort of thing has happened?Can you sue someone in the UK for giving bad advice?
Not in this sort of case. It was after all only advice which can be taken or ignored.


If the car is not fit for purpose or not as advertised your gran may have a case against the seller.





Can you sue someone in the UK for giving bad advice?
No. For one thing there was no contractual agreement between them and for another thing the friend was presumably not holding him or herself out to be an expert on the subject. Perhaps, however, depending on the circumstances of the sale and any warranties made, your gran might have a cause of action against the vendor?
Anyone can give you bad advice ... it's up to you to decide whether to take it or not. In other words there is absolutely no grounds for a civil suit. Of course my answer is assuming that the person who gave the advice is not a professional person who would be considered an expert on vehicle condition ... ie. a licenced auto mechanic who actually checked over the car.
Unfortunately for your gran there is absolutely nothing she can do. Buyer beware. The final decision to purchase the vehicle would have been up to your gran and it was her that would be responsible for making sure the car was worth what she paid for it. She could easily have taken more than one opinion. I doubt very much if it would be worth her while pursuing this matter at law as any good lawyer would tell her she really does not have a case.
No, simply put no matter how much advice someone gives you it is still up to the other person to either act on it or not. If however this friend is the actual seller of the car and in trying to get the sale done he misrepresented or lied about the condition of the car then that's a different thing and yes she would then have cause for legal action.
Waldo_MC's answer is wrong.





Free advice agencies can be held liable for wrong advice; they carry insurance for exactly that purpose. There is no requirement for the adviser to be paid.





Otherwise, it's unlikely - as many answers say - that your gran's friend can be sued for the fact the car is no good. She may have a case against the seller.
No, not really. If she took her friend's advice up then the person who gave the advice cannot be blamed. As long as there was no written contract etc. stating that this car would be perfect for your gran you cannot sue because your gran was not forced into buying the car, just advised.





Sorry!
You can only sue someone for bad advice if you that someone was a professional and was paid for the advice they gave.
No not unless that person is a professional in a given field, so if it was a mechanic that she was paying then she could otherwise no
if the friend was working as an advisor with insurance etc.yes...if it was just a bit of friendly advice by an amateur - an opinion really...no
No, she has a mind of her own and should have used it. She could sue if he held a gun to her head or if she was threatened though.
I'm scared to answer this - in case you can!
No, she should have had the car checked out professionally before she bought it.
Well, lets hope not or its the end of Yahoo Answers!