Sold car.. after a week buyer contacts asking for refund

Matt82 said:
and i really think you should just expect the seller to be dishonest. if they loved the car and were still in the honeymoon period with it, lavishing money on it, they wouldnt be selling it

theyre selling for the usual reasons. they cant afford to run it. they dont like it. its throw a big bill at them. they want cheaper tax. they want mpgzzz.

apart from the owners club people i know, everyone else is completely dishonest when it comes to selling cars.
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This is overly harsh. Most people sell cars for completely honest, safe and normal reasons. You are right to be wary but to write everyone off like that is ridiculous.
 
but i think it will apply to a big proportion of sellers, we could start a really boring thread titled "who has bought a car which had an issue which the seller didnt tell you about"
 
This is an example seller's contrac t that the AA recommend using for private sales: http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/car-buyers-guide/cbg_sellerscontract.html.

Whether you use the contract our not, it gives reasonable summary of the buyer's default rights for a private sale. I've used and signed an equivalent when both buying and selling cars. When selling, I've attached a copy of the car ad to make sure everything's well documented for of there's come-back.
 
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Surely if you knowingly sell a car with even a major issue, it is not your problem if someone does not spot the issue and still buys it. If they did not ask, and you did not lie....well it's the buyer's problem. I'm not saying people should do this, just hypothetically.
Buyers have zero come back with things like these. I have had the same thing myself with buyers pestering me. I sold a car on ebay for about £50 with a list of faults, one of which was the starter motor intermittently playing up. Someone came down from Leeds to London on the train. Bought it. Drove it home 10pm at night and stopped at some services for a bit. Went to start it..... rings me up moaning. I was like; hit it with a hammer, and then don't ring me again.
 
I agree with Fox, If anybody came to buy a car off me with a questionare I'd just tell them to do one.
I am overly harsh on the phone when people ring me so that they know I won't take any ****. The cars I've sold are good & I'm not selling it/them to some awkward ****.
 
Matt82 said:
but i think it will apply to a big proportion of sellers, we could start a really boring thread titled "who has bought a car which had an issue which the seller didnt tell you about"
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I would conservatively estimate 90% :p

Car enthusiasts aside, why does Joe Public ever bother to sell his A to B machine?
Impending costs he doesn't want to foot himself. Approach every private sale with this mindset and you won't go too far wrong, imo.
 
s0ck said:
I would conservatively estimate 90% :p

Car enthusiasts aside, why does Joe Public ever bother to sell his A to B machine?
Impending costs he doesn't want to foot himself. Approach every private sale with this mindset and you won't go too far wrong, imo.
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Thankfully most people see 100k miles as "impending costs" of doom!
 
looks to me like she took it to the garage for a check up, and the garage tried to swindle her and give her a long list of repairs, that's what garages do they get paid for fixing faults, whether the car really needs it or not.
 
Golf1.6 said:
looks to me like she took it to the garage for a check up, and the garage tried to swindle her and give her a long list of repairs, that's what garages do they get paid for fixing faults, whether the car really needs it or not.
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This is also true.

Taking it to a garage for a "check up" when you tell them you've only just bout the car and want to know what's wrong with it is a license to print money.

They are bound to state everything that could be done to it, regardless if the job is necessary or not, let alone necessary now.

Garages are famous for the "your brake pads need replacing sir" when they've still got 25% of the material left on. Same with brake discs. "You can't use these again sir, they have a lip on them"

What is actually wrong with the car and what this garage says need doing are likely 2 different things
 
ive never changed pads without discs, seems like madness to me not to do both together :o

kwikfit would love me, id fall for it every time
 
Matt82 said:
and i really think you should just expect the seller to be dishonest. if they loved the car and were still in the honeymoon period with it, lavishing money on it, they wouldnt be selling it

theyre selling for the usual reasons. they cant afford to run it. they dont like it. its throw a big bill at them. they want cheaper tax. they want mpgzzz.
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Not always. In my case it was a simple matter of space, or lack of. I spent plenty of time and money in the week before selling it, giving it a full service and fixing any small niggles etc. and was completely honest about any other faults.
 
wijcc said:
Thought as much.
He told her about problems with the car that he knew of.. she stated that she had a friend who was a mechanic who could fix them.

My nephew said that if she had not threaten to take him to court in her text, he would have paid for some of the repair/given back some of the money.

The car was sold for £1700.. it was a 56 or 54 plate (can't remember which).
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Don't even think about giving money to this idiot buyer or anything of sorts as its like admitting some osrt of liability. She saw the car, tried it, liked it and bought it. End of story. It's her property and responsibility now. I would just LOL at her texts. Those type of people make me cringe, especially when they think they can scare someone with the court line.
 
s0ck said:
No one in their right mind would sign it, even if the car was pristine.
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Yeah, if someone pulled something like that out I'd feel like I'm being entraped even though I'm completely honest and would never lie about the cars history. I also look after my car.

It would feel like buiyer was just looking for an out on a technicality to try and reneg on the deal.

There are plenty of reasonable buyers out there, I'd tell them to bigger off. If the buyer feels so risk averse, get a AA car inspection on the car and get the all clear.

On a sidenote, a 54 plate car will almost certainly have some issues that needs tending to. That's why a 54 plate entry level car goes for 2 grand max, and why a 10 plate entry level car goes for 8 grand.
 
Golf1.6 said:
On a sidenote, a 54 plate french car will almost certainly have some issues that needs tending to. That's why a 54 plate entry level car goes for 2 grand max, and why a 10 plate entry level car goes for 8 grand.
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Fixed for you.
 
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Uriel said:
This is an example seller's contrac t that the AA recommend using for private sales: http://www.theaa.com/motoring_advice/car-buyers-guide/cbg_sellerscontract.html.

Whether you use the contract our not, it gives reasonable summary of the buyer's default rights for a private sale. I've used and signed an equivalent when both buying and selling cars. When selling, I've attached a copy of the car ad to make sure everything's well documented for of there's come-back.
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I don't get all the hate for this idea.

I bought my car and got the seller to sign this. If anything I was trying to instill in the buyer that I won't be coming back with any problems in the future and that he can rest at ease after the sale.

I addition, as it was my first car, I also took a checklist of things to check on the car and questions to ask. Because they were questions specific to the model and year of car I feel it showed I was more than just a tire kicker and the seller was more than happy to answer all my question.

I'll be instant on signing a similar contract when I sell the car to avoid situations such as the OPs.
 
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