Dilemma over buying a car from a friend - W.W.G.D.D??

On the other hand u can pay with paypal then put up a dispute so u get the money back after shes gone abroad then u have a meh car and the money and laughing at ur so called friend. :)

If they gona screw u, get in there first and do them.
 
What happened to mate's rates? She really doesn't sound like much of a friend if this is how she is acting. It seems that she is under the impression that you're obligated to help her because she's leaving the country.
 
There is no dilemma. A real friend would have no issue that you decided you didn't want to purchase the car after discovering these issues. It's very shady she refused to let you pay for a service but then tell you the car has an electrical fault. It's nice that you are trying to do something to make things easier for your friend but you have to simply be honest, say the car isn't for you at that price and walk away.
 
SkeeterUK said:
On the other hand u can pay with paypal then put up a dispute so u get the money back after shes gone abroad then u have a meh car and the money and laughing at ur so called friend. :)

If they gona screw u, get in there first and do them.
Click to expand...

Ughhh can you please stop with the "u" and "ur"?
 
I guarantee in her head, she had already spent that £2500. Just ask your BF to take one for the team. Blame it on him that he won't let you buy the car without a massive fight because of the issues with the electrics/brakes.

She sounds like a complete cow though, so I would be tempted to say jog on without the excuses :)
 
TrixiBuG said:
Thanks for the replies guys :)

How would you go about walking away in this situation? I don't want to upset her!* :(

*btw I am a girl and I dont like upsetting people. I have known her for 10 years so not just a casual friend

Edit: My thoughts originally were that I would be helping her out and saving her the hassle of trying to sell it on AT. But the more I think about it the more I think its going to cost me in the long run.

So what would you say to her?
Click to expand...

Your friend is taking advantage of you. Clearly on AT there are cars in better condition (less mileage, no faults (possibly)) and for similar or less. The car has problems that you're not happy with and that's reason enough not to go through with it. It's sad that your friend dismisses these problems to you, on top of that the price their asking for is not a "friends" price at all. Either that or she really has no clue.

Just walk away from the car, you'll be better off. And don't pay for any servicing or MOT! That's her responsibility as a seller.
 
She's clearly not that worried about your feelings given that she's prepared to sell you a car that's dodgy and told porkies about it (oh that fault hardly happens, even though it clearly does) and still wants top price. If she isn't worried about your feelings then don't be stressing about upsetting her. Honestly, if the friendship is important to her then you backing out and her having to sell it elsewhere shouldn't be a big deal.

Just tell her something along the lines of: You trust your mechanic just like shes trusts her mechanic. You offered to take it but for less out of friendship for her even though you didn't really want t buy it anymore. As she doesn't want to drop the price and having thought on it more you wouldn't feel comfortable driving it now knowing about the faults.
 
Why are you worried about her feelings when she is obviously not worried about yours ? As you seem a bit timid I'd say Make up some kind of excuse you can live with to not buy the car, Blame it on your girlfriend/mother/Boss/Goldfish or summit but just don't buy the car.
 
This is the most straightforwards situation possible. If it were not your friend selling the car, would you buy it? Hell no. Would you buy it at over market price? Extreme no! So why would you buy it from your friend?

No real friend leverages their friendship to sell something to another friend. That's called using someone. Run a mile from the car and the friend as well if she doesn't understand that you don't feel comfortable buying it, even if you expressed interest initially.
 
TrixiBuG said:
Thanks for the replies guys :)

How would you go about walking away in this situation? I don't want to upset her!* :(

*btw I am a girl and I dont like upsetting people. I have known her for 10 years so not just a casual friend

Edit: My thoughts originally were that I would be helping her out and saving her the hassle of trying to sell it on AT. But the more I think about it the more I think its going to cost me in the long run.

So what would you say to her?
Click to expand...

I would say to her something like "I'm sorry. I know I said I'd buy this car and I would be willing, but it's honestly just not safe. I know you had someone tell you that it's fine [this part makes it clear that you're not accusing her of lying to you, but of being misinformed] but I've driven it and checked it out and I wouldn't feel safe driving it without this work being done. So either I need you to fix it up or I would need to pay for it to be done. I'm not trying to get it cheap off you or back out, I feel really bad about this. But I just can't pay this for a car I'd have to spend £500 on to repair. You're a really good friend and I know you need the money for the trip, but I can't mess around with things like bad brakes. I'm sorry."

And then whatever else you feel is appropriate, but that would be the core of it if I had to write it. There's no easy way to say these things. You've got my sympathies.
 
So some of you called it right! Here is what I said:

I have spoken to [the bf] and we are going to have to pull out of buying the Mini. If we buy it I will still be taking it to my mechanic and getting the brakes replaced at his say so, we also will be wanting the BCU fixed with it shorting out on me 4 times during a 40 min drive. Taking all this into account the actual cost of the car would be more like £3,500 which we don't believe is worth it for the age of the car. In addition, as the gear box is a none serviceable part (ie you can't have a look at it to see if it is in good condition) it cant be checked so there is no guarantee that there are no issues with it. There are too many what if's with a car that I need to be 100% reliable.
Click to expand...

Which went down like a lead balloon

We'd already agreed I was sortin the BCU out so it's me who stands to lose the £500 for that!!! No point replacing brakes that don't need replacing for 5000 miles! Why would u??!! ur garage have miss advised u and would have u spending hundreds unnecessarily. I suggest u find somewhere that isn't going to take ur money for the fun of it!! I see your point about the gearbox but it just strikes me that the price of the car put you off in the first place. It's an immaculate car, it's been well looked after and has low mileage!! ....your loss !
Click to expand...

And I replied with this which I haven't had a reply too

Our mechanic wasn't quoting us to do the work, he was quoting us to advise us not to buy. The price wouldn't be a problem if I can have assurance on the brakes and the gear box but as we are in disagreement on what the professionals are telling us then I am not willing to go ahead with the sale. I am also not willing to ruin a 10 year friendship over a machine.
Click to expand...

Well it's done now. I don't know if I will get a reply off her and I don't know if I will speak to or see her before she goes which makes me sad but I've done the right thing

Thanks all :-)
 
If I was you I would have just said [the bf] doesn't think it's a good idea, and let him take "the flak"*

*men are immune to this
 
Buying in principle 12 months ago is exactly that, what if she had driven it through a tree, would she still expect you to buy it? If it needs a grands worth of work, that should be reflected in the price.

Tell her to sell it privately.

And if she wants to fall out over it, sorry but she isn't worth your time.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom