Sold Car Issues

Associate
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19 Dec 2002
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the worst is he will leave neg feedback, had this a few years ago when selling a merc on ebay. car was fine we had had it for 4 years but i knew it was on the register as we had had it repaired.
put the add on the bay and stated the fact it was cat d , also it was a daily driver, lady made contact through ebay very interested, wanted to come and look at car prior to buying, details exchanged then everything went quiet. day later we gets a guy ring up trying to get the price down, tells me his partner wanted it but didnt speak much english, we refused his offer and thought ok leave it on the bay.
basic gist is he tried to haggle and came to see the vehicle, i have cash etc, in the end we dropped the price maybe foolishly by a couple of hundred because we were fed up with the bartering (3 blokes turned up at 7pm and stayed looking at the vehicle till nearly 9pm) he payed then drove off.
hour later he rings ranting and raving about warning lights on dash and car driving funny etc telling me he was bringing it back next day for his money back or a reduction. i told him no refund but if he came back i would get the car scanned for any faults (knew it was clear) he starts threatening me on the phone , know where you live etc , so i told him i had his texts and details and would be reporting him to the police and hung up.....never heard from him again chancer.
as others said tell him to jog on. i spoke to the police incidentally and they said private sale no comeback.
 
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as a add on , they expect most folk to collapse and offer then a partial refund, its how some buyers work, just ignore them. he will go away.
 
Soldato
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Hi guys,

I sold a car on ebay and wrote in the description of the issues I was aware. He then haggled me down and stated he would buy the car as spare or repairs and take it away with a recovery truck due to the issues and have it worked on. He then decided to turn up without the recovery truck and drive it home and then the engine went kaput. The ad didn't state spare or repairs as the car would still start but it was him that text an offer after the agreed deal on ebay saying he wants to pay a bit less and would take it as spare or repairs. He is now saying he's going to take me to court for fraud.... Yet he is the one who didn't stick to his side of the agreement(tow it away) and he was the one who stated he'd take it as spares and repairs. I'm pretty sure I have nothing to worry about but I'm wondering if anybody else has had similar issues with a chancer?
Playing devils advocate here, your advert listed the car with faults but *did not* explicitly say that it was specifically being sold as spares/repair. How the buyer decided to pick the car up seems completely irrelevant to me. What were the issues you advised him of?

You may well have agreed a whole lot of things outside of the Ebay ad, but that's what they're going to use as basis for the agreement when he complains. Any outside communication would surely be he said/she said.
 
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Soldato
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Playing devils advocate here, your advert listed the car with faults but *did not* explicitly say that it was specifically being sold as spares/repair. How the buyer decided to pick the car up seems completely irrelevant to me. What were the issues you advised him of?

You may well have agreed a whole lot of things outside of the Ebay ad, but that's what they're going to use as basis for the agreement when he complains. Any outside communication would surely be he said/she said.

How can it be he said/she said if I have messages from him stating he wanted to buy it as spares or repairs and also stated he would collect it with a recovery truck after he looked at the video and thought it wasn't the issue that I thought it was(tensioner pully)? He agreed to a price of £1400 on ebay but then haggled after via message, so surely he has gone against ebays T&C? He was happy to go ahead with with the deal we agreed and under the conditions he stated in his messages.

I'm not asking that in an arsey way BTW. Sorry if it comes across like that :D
 
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Hi guys,

I sold a car on ebay and wrote in the description of the issues I was aware. He then haggled me down and stated he would buy the car as spare or repairs and take it away with a recovery truck due to the issues and have it worked on. He then decided to turn up without the recovery truck and drive it home and then the engine went kaput. The ad didn't state spare or repairs as the car would still start but it was him that text an offer after the agreed deal on ebay saying he wants to pay a bit less and would take it as spare or repairs. He is now saying he's going to take me to court for fraud.... Yet he is the one who didn't stick to his side of the agreement(tow it away) and he was the one who stated he'd take it as spares and repairs. I'm pretty sure I have nothing to worry about but I'm wondering if anybody else has had similar issues with a chancer?

Was the car transaction processd via eBay? For example, did he use buy it now or make an offer that concluded the sale within eBay?
If he did, eBay may side with him as the car was officially not sold as "spares or not working". I think he might have the eBay 30 day protection on his side unless you specifically stated it was a non runner.

If eBay motor adverts do not fall under the 30 day protection scheme like other listings you would seem to be in the clear?
If the transaction was not concluded within eBay then they cannot take any side on the matter.
 
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Soldato
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eBay may side with him as the car was officially not sold as "spares or not working". I think he has the eBay 30 day protection on his side unless you specifically stated it was a non runner.

It was running though when he bought it, I had been using it and had also picked my daughter up from school the day before, but the engine has been making a tapping noise for over a week, I told him about this and put the info in the ad about what I thought the issue was. He test drove it and also looked it over and was happy before driving it away.
 
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It was running though when he bought it, I had been using it and had also picked my daughter up from school the day before, but the engine has been making a tapping noise for over a week, I told him about this and put the info in the ad about what I thought the issue was. He test drove it and also looked it over and was happy before driving it away.


That means nowt, if the car was sold within eBay and not listed as "spares or parts" then by default it is listed as a runner unlless eBay motor listing are different to other listings?
How did the payment take place, did he pay via eBay/PayPal or was it a payment outside of eBay?
 
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It was a classified advert.

What i find funny is that he was the one who said he'd buy it as spares or repairs and tow it away as he thought something more serious was wrong with the car, and then he drives it away and blames me for it...
ebay will not be intrested then end of, hes just trying for more money from you, and you're winding yourself up about it

as its an advert, no payment through ebay they cannot do anything

you have not done anything wrong, ignore and move on its as simple as that
 
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Soldato
Joined
5 Apr 2009
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All the talk about spares or repairs is just confusing the issue and I don't think is relevant in the slightest.

You advertised a running car, he bought it (as a private sale) as a running car, he drove away in his running car.

If it broke later, tough titties, that's the deal with private sales.

I doubt it has broken though, he's just trying to bully you into giving him some money, the same way he tried to low ball you with the £1100 spares or repairs offer with the "it'll cost a lot" sob story.
 
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There are many discussions about this on pistonheads. The result is often the same, some threatening emails and messages. I'll take you to court threats. Every time nothing comes of it.

Private sale is sold as seen. You aren't a trader, you aren't a mechanic who said it was perfect.

How do you know he didn't drive it home in first gear bouncing off the limiter..

Block him and move on. People like him prey on the trusting good nature of normal people.
 
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