Father got ripped off - what to do
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Don
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Check his phone number online, he may use different names to avoid being found out.
Ask your dad how familiar the guy was with the same process, did he seem like a pro?
You can also check with the publication, they might be able to tell you if he is a regular advertiser, but doubt they will give you much more information than that.
Any comeback depends on you finding out he is dealing cars, and not a private seller, as said by everyone earlier.
Ask your dad how familiar the guy was with the same process, did he seem like a pro?
You can also check with the publication, they might be able to tell you if he is a regular advertiser, but doubt they will give you much more information than that.
Any comeback depends on you finding out he is dealing cars, and not a private seller, as said by everyone earlier.
It's still not unroadworthy in the legal definition of the term.
No this is worse than the sale - this would be lying in court which in itself is an offence. What the bloke did was let the guy drive the car and make his own mind up - or do we need to supply sellers with eye and hearing tests now so they are happy we can make a judgement
[TW]Fox;26339053 said:
Noise perhaps doesn't but the underlying issues making that noise... namely a professional saying the car shouldn't be driven could make it un roadworthy? If he can take it to a garage and they're telling him he shouldn't be driving the car in its current state then would that not suffice. I'd consider getting some advice regarding what constitutes being 'unroadworthy'.
He's not being told he shouldn't drive the car because it is unsafe, i.e. it's not because it's got bald tyres, one nut holding each wheel on, one bolt holding the driver's seat in, and brake pads that are down to the metal; he's being told not to drive it because if the timing chain assembly fails it'll cause further expensive damage to the engine. It's not unroadworthy - it wouldn't fail an MOT due to its condition.
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No, they are saying that in this case to stop further damage to the engine and thus trying to save the OP's dad on having to buy a new engine.
A car won't fail an MOT for a noisy camchain and a police officer would not issue a defect notice for one.
Actually yes this ^^^^
Maybe you need to manage this fix at least because that price it sounds like they are taking the engine out to do it
I would say unroadworthy is anything that would cause it to fail an MOT or get you pulled by the police. If it is unsafe to drive on public roads because the tyres are slick and the brake lines are shot then you may have some course of action. If its only that the engine lunches itself and you coast to a stop, I doubt it is seen as unroadworthy.
Caveat Emptor indeed
This, unfortunately.
A long time ago, probably around 1995 I bought a little Nova SR from a seemingly genuine local private seller. Everything was fine until it went in for its first MoT since I had owned it and the tester called me up informing me I had better come along to the garage for a look. Turned out the car had been subject to welding repairs in several structurally important locations. The welding was of such poor quality that the MoT tester said it was dangerous to drive. The police were involved too and after a bit of tracing back to the previous keeper (before the guy who sold me it) we found that months previously the car had been written off in an RTC. The bloke I purchased it from had bought it, grafted on a new front end and welded up the structural damage. As I said, police were initially involved but ultimately they concluded there had been no criminal activity and therefore was a civil matter I'd need to pursue myself. They also cited 'Caveat Emptor'. We also discovered that the bloke in question had been doing this on an alarmingly regular basis and had been carrying out the repairs and sometimes re-shelling at his work - the local Vauxhall dealership where he was a mechanic. It was carried out to such an amateurish standard that prior to washing their hands of it as anything criminal, the police turned up fairly mob handed at the Vauxhall dealer to speak to the individual concerned. Funnily enough, the car was given a clean MoT at the dealership the guy worked at which is what I believe was one of the concerns of the boys in blue. Matey boy ended up losing his job a few days later which was incredibly satisfying to hear
but I ended up a couple of grand out of pocket with a car which then had to be rejigged, repaired properly and subsequently placed on a 'Q Plate' because of the difficulty of tracing exactly what car it was in reference to the various identification numbers on it. Despite loads of legal letters being sent back and forth between his solicitors and mine (didn't cost me anything apart from a bottle of Malt to my wife's boss - she works in a solicitors office 
) he knew he was fairly untouchable in what he had done so dug his heels in and wouldn't budge on any sort of refund.
Needless to say it was the first and last time I was ever caught out when buying a car. Haven't bought a lemon since although its not an experience I'd ever like to have to go through again. Good luck to you whatever course of action you decide to take, but don't hold your breath.
This, unfortunately.
A long time ago, probably around 1995 I bought a little Nova SR from a seemingly genuine local private seller. Everything was fine until it went in for its first MoT since I had owned it and the tester called me up informing me I had better come along to the garage for a look. Turned out the car had been subject to welding repairs in several structurally important locations. The welding was of such poor quality that the MoT tester said it was dangerous to drive. The police were involved too and after a bit of tracing back to the previous keeper (before the guy who sold me it) we found that months previously the car had been written off in an RTC. The bloke I purchased it from had bought it, grafted on a new front end and welded up the structural damage. As I said, police were initially involved but ultimately they concluded there had been no criminal activity and therefore was a civil matter I'd need to pursue myself. They also cited 'Caveat Emptor'. We also discovered that the bloke in question had been doing this on an alarmingly regular basis and had been carrying out the repairs and sometimes re-shelling at his work - the local Vauxhall dealership where he was a mechanic. It was carried out to such an amateurish standard that prior to washing their hands of it as anything criminal, the police turned up fairly mob handed at the Vauxhall dealer to speak to the individual concerned. Funnily enough, the car was given a clean MoT at the dealership the guy worked at which is what I believe was one of the concerns of the boys in blue. Matey boy ended up losing his job a few days later which was incredibly satisfying to hear
but I ended up a couple of grand out of pocket with a car which then had to be rejigged, repaired properly and subsequently placed on a 'Q Plate' because of the difficulty of tracing exactly what car it was in reference to the various identification numbers on it. Despite loads of legal letters being sent back and forth between his solicitors and mine (didn't cost me anything apart from a bottle of Malt to my wife's boss - she works in a solicitors office ) he knew he was fairly untouchable in what he had done so dug his heels in and wouldn't budge on any sort of refund. Needless to say it was the first and last time I was ever caught out when buying a car. Haven't bought a lemon since although its not an experience I'd ever like to have to go through again. Good luck to you whatever course of action you decide to take, but don't hold your breath.
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its about a 3 hour job and the cam chain from euro car parts in £80 mid range highest was 115
so average garage costs are £35 an hour so. 35x3+parts = £225 so i would expect it to cost between that and 300
Assuming someone is intentionally trying to rip someone off then advising to go to court and lie - seriously? I dont think you understand the phrase "fair play" at all
You are missing the point - I dont see any intentional rip off here
Car makes rattly noise
Seller lets buyer drive car who normally would have noticed this (seller unaware buyer was deaf)
Buyer happy with test drive and pays
Maybe if the seller had refused to start engine then that might have been a problem