My car set on fire, and I've been had !

mazza7282 · 2 Jul 2007 at 00:11

I Havn't been here for a while, but I was in a bit of a pickle.

I brought a range rover as another project (and i'll actually complete it this time) and on the way home after buying it, it started bellowing out smoke, i quickly pulled over and to my amazement the bonnet set on fire as i was in it, i rung 999 asap and they were there in minutes and put it out.

My mate then towed me home

After closer inspection I believe a corroded oil pipe dripped onto some electrics near the radiator fan, heat, sparks etc etc not too sure caused the sudden outburst, it starts and does drive, just need a hose to stop oil from spurting everywhere.

Now I don't know what to do in regards to the guy I brought it from, I rung him and said that I want my money back, but he said no, he said "sold as seen" I then said I want half, he said no, then i said I wanted £100 back then he said he would think about it.

He is now not answering my calls, so i decided to drive to his house (that was registered on the logbook) as i brought the car from his mates house.

A little old lady answered the door(in a posh area), and said that the name on logbook moved to a diff address, which she had so i drove there in mission to get my money back. Then got to the 2nd address but it was once again a posh house and no answer at door, I spoke to the neighbours and they said that the person who lived there drove a flash BMW of some sorts, the bloke I brought this car from looked dodgy but alarm bells weren't ringing, even aswell that I brought it not from his address.

All that took about 2 hours.

Basically I can't find him and don't know what to do, I text him to say "well done, i've been had, yada yada" and to enjoy his cash (£350)

Rangie only needs £50 to put it back the way it was, but the fact that I almost died I was NOT impressed and I had only had the car for 5 mins and it only lived about 5 miles from my house.

He even just gave me the logbook and said "you can send it off", he gave me a few reciepts (including a new gearbox from ashcroft transmissions in 2003) so I thought well if it is stolen how does he have the logbook and a few reciepts and MOTs?

As I have tried to track him down and I can't find him, I might just write the £350 as it was only cheap. Kind of annoyed as I just brought a garage and stuck the Vectra V6 veccy in that to make room for the rangie.

What do you think ?

Acolyte · 2 Jul 2007 at 00:13

Sold as seen i would say, its not as if he purposefully went out there and sabotaged an oil pipe did he.

Scrutinize · 2 Jul 2007 at 00:14

mazza7282 said:
What do you think ?

errrr you're a muppet?

Shouldn't you have checked the car out before buying inc HPI and make sure you buy from their home address etc etc etc.

Your own fault, don't expect anything back, check if its stolen, inform the police, loose your car ya de ya de ya

olv · 2 Jul 2007 at 00:17

mazza7282 said:
What do you think ?

I think you're comedy gold

mazza7282 · 2 Jul 2007 at 00:18

HPI on a car worth £350 ? I hardly found it worthet

And all my mates have said, I shouldnt have been so lazy and done it properly, no matter what the price. I know now.

Personally I think that he knew something was up with it, because he couldnt wait to get back in a hurry, and that he doesnt live at the address on the logbook, but once again how on earth did he get the reciepts.

al123 · 2 Jul 2007 at 00:18

Surely you didn’t expect it to be perfect if you paid £350 for it as a project. Although it setting on fire on the way home is a bit annoying.

mazza7282 · 2 Jul 2007 at 00:18

olv said:
I think you're comedy gold

And to be honest, my life is generally full of crap that i bring upon myself lol

Morba · 2 Jul 2007 at 00:19

are you the one who bought 2 different vectras, both dogs, and a range rover that was a dog?

Dfhaii · 2 Jul 2007 at 00:20

It was £350, to get a range rover for that cash it's going to be a dog. He has you over a barrel with the sold as seen, you've paid your money over and got the product. Did you really expect any coin back?

Andybtsn · 2 Jul 2007 at 00:20

I've been ripped off before with cars, unfortunately it is a case of sold as seen. First thing you want to do is go rip the persons head off who sold it you but in the end its not the right thing to do as its the buyers fault

Fact is, you cant trust anyone in this world!

Berger · 2 Jul 2007 at 00:21

Where did you bring everything from?

Scrutinize · 2 Jul 2007 at 00:22

mazza7282 said:
HPI on a car worth £350 ? I hardly found it worthet

In hindsight does that hold true???

and its £10 for an Hpi..

If it's really dodgey, you had better get the car checked, if its stolen you loose you money etc but, if you let it slide, you keep it drive it and it turns out to be stolen, say you have an accident etc etc, you could end up in a fair bit of trouble.

loltim · 2 Jul 2007 at 00:22

Berger said:
Where did you bring everything from?

lol, beat me to it.

mazza7282 · 2 Jul 2007 at 00:25

Morba said:
are you the one who bought 2 different vectras, both dogs, and a range rover that was a dog?

I've had 5 Vectras (still got one) and only 1 one was a dog actually, and the other rangie had nothing wrong it either.

.........................................

Will a HPI tell me if its stolen ?

Lashout_UK · 2 Jul 2007 at 00:26

If it was sold as seen and you have not signed any documentation otherwise, you've got no leg to stand on. Hell, being a private sale you've got pretty much nothing to go on anyway.

Range Rovers didn't come standard with oil coolers, barring the 3.9 that had one integrated into the main radiator, if it is a 3.9 then this might be the source of your problems, the lines that run to and from it.

I'm guessing it's an auto and every auto Range Rover has a transmission cooler. Thus, you might find the oil leak is actually transmission fluid which has a much lower autoignition point than engine oil, if I remember correctly. I'm not sure how the layout is in the Rangie but you could easily find out - just thought I'd add this incase it's not engine oil being burnt off.

From some experience, you really have to be trying hard to get oil to actually ignite....

Firestar_3x · 2 Jul 2007 at 00:27

It set on fire on the motorway, you called 999 they turned up put it out but it still drives, erm wtf, if you had a bonnet fire those things catch so fast in less than 30 seconds you could wave goodbye to the front end of your car, i've seen cars catch alight before and they go up very quickly.

mazza7282 · 2 Jul 2007 at 00:31

It was on a normal road, as i said it starts and drives (just need to replace a hose)

Other bits are singed and needs a new fan but apart from that its fared really well, o yea a slight bit of the paint on the bonnet has bubbled, fireman said the fluffy stuff in the inside of the bonnet was asbesdos and that it fell away, i thought it was that, that court fire but im told asbesdos doesnt burn well ?

Morba · 2 Jul 2007 at 00:32

mazza7282 said:
I've had 5 Vectras (still got one) and only 1 one was a dog actually, and the other rangie had nothing wrong it either.

.........................................

Will a HPI tell me if its stolen ?

im sure there is more to it than that!

HPI will tell you if it has been registered as stolen.

Lashout_UK · 2 Jul 2007 at 00:32

I doubt it was asbestos, it'd have been the standard fibre or rubberised sound deadening material to grace most British vehicles since the 60's to muffle the engine and induction roar.

mazza7282 · 2 Jul 2007 at 00:34

I knew why there was a reason why my workplace gave me a company car, so things like this stop happening to me

Fine if i ent got a leg to stand on, and I can't find him them I will have to leave it at that and get to devils pit in luton in november if its open.

Im gonna get the obvious £50s done to get it goin, and send it for an MOT and see what happens and how much that will set me back.