Second hand car sale and an unhappy new owner or attempted scam?

[DSM10000]

Friends of ours have recently sold a 2004 Audi TT Convertible.

It had a fairly high mileage (150,000) and was cosmetically a little tired with bumper scuffs front and rear but otherwise perfectly serviceable.

A lady enquired about the car, came to see it twice and agreed to buy it.

Approximately two weeks later the new owner is claiming that the Alternator has failed and it will cost £550 to fix and she expects our friends to pay half of the costs!

There were no warning lights of any kind at the time of sale and so Caveat Emptor applies.

The new owner is unwilling to give any details of the quote for repair (a new rectifier pack is most likely) and a quick online search shows Alternators available for just over £200 on an exchange basis. Fitting should be 30 minutes.

Our friends declined to contribute to any repair costs as they have no liability in law. The new owner has responded by threats of legal action which has been ignored.

I was wondering if this is a tactic others have come across?

 

[clk320x]

Just tell them to block/ignore her David.

Absolutely ridiculous - private sale sold as seen.

 

[DSM10000]

Just tell them to block/ignore her David.

Absolutely ridiculous - private sale sold as seen.

That's exactly the advice I have given them although sometimes with people like the new owner it can be "amusing" to let them carry on!

 

[MrGreedy]

I think plenty of people will try on whatever they can get away with and don't care if they scam you.

My wife sold a coat on Shpock (thankfully) and two days later the person got in touch and said the coat was filthy and soaking wet, and the it was like this when she picked it up. Of course it wasn't, and had been, why would she have handed over the cash to a soaking coal that wasn't in a bag!?

I would either:

- put in writing, preferably via letter as I assume they have the purchaser's details as part of the contract purchase they filled out (easily downloaded as a one pager e.g. from AA that you print and can fill in with a pen), that the car was sold in good conscience, as seen, with no known faults, and as they aren't a trader, should not be expected to have to apply warranty or consumer rights as if they were a trader, and the price and contract reflected this understanding between the parties; or,

- depending on convenience, drive over right away and offer to buy the car back there and then (having walked around it to check condition), and put it in writing and video themselves handing over a one time offer to buy the car back for the sake price minus reasonable transport costs.

Then engage no further and be prepared to (successfully) defend it though small claims in an afternoon.

 

[Darrell]

Chancers. I f*****g hate them.

Everybody thinks they know their rights these days because they read 1 line off a wiki page.

 

[DSM10000]

I think plenty of people will try on whatever they can get away with and don't care if they scam you.

My wife sold a coat on Shpock (thankfully) and two days later the person got in touch and said the coat was filthy and soaking wet, and the it was like this when she picked it up. Of course it wasn't, and had been, why would she have handed over the cash to a soaking coal that wasn't in a bag!?

I would either:

- put in writing, preferably via letter as I assume they have the purchaser's details as part of the contract purchase they filled out (easily downloaded as a one pager e.g. from AA that you print and can fill in with a pen), that the car was sold in good conscience, as seen, with no known faults, and as they aren't a trader, should not be expected to have to apply warranty or consumer rights as if they were a trader, and the price and contract reflected this understanding between the parties; or,

- depending on convenience, drive over right away and offer to buy the car back there and then (having walked around it to check condition), and put it in writing and video themselves handing over a one time offer to buy the car back for the sake price minus reasonable transport costs.

Then engage no further and be prepared to (successfully) defend it though small claims in an afternoon.

Sorry, why would they drive over and buy the car back?

That is giving in to the new owners demands.

Also, what is there to "defend" if they have bought it back?

 

[DSM10000]

Chancers. I f*****g hate them.

Everybody thinks they know their rights these days because they read 1 line off a wiki page.

Their rights in law are very limited.

The car was sold as described with no known faults at the time of sale.

Simples!

 

[AMGeed]

Post# 2 says it all.
Had it done to me and its not pleasant.

 

[DSM10000]

The fact that the new owner is unwilling to give details of the quote tells me all we need to know!

 

[Darrell]

The fact that the new owner is unwilling to give details of the quote tells me all we need to know!

Chancers/piss takers.

“I know my rights innit”

 

[merc estate]

Tell them to do one chancers.
We once sold a Claris cliff plate on ebay and my wife packs things bomb proof, the parcel went from Essex to Scotland the people reckoned the plate was smashed when it arrived, so we said take photos and send it back to us and will will claim off the P.O. insurance. We never heard from them again.

 

[John]

A guy I work with once sold an E55K.

It was running fine and sold as seen.

The new owner decided to haunt on the basis the new car was running like crap yadda yadda.

It sounded to me like the IC pump needing upgrading / replacing from the symptoms being reported, and having had the same car myself I was more familiar with them than most cars.

My colleague was clearly slightly concerned as, not being from the UK originally, he wasn't sure what the situation was here.

Having questioned if the new owner test-drove the car (not that this matters but it proves it was running fine as a point of logic), the new owner had test-driven.

Myself and another guy in my team both advised him the same thing... sold as seen and certainly no faults present on the test drive.

Told him to ignore the chancing mofo and he stopped getting calls after a while.

It's one reason why quite often I will trade these days (unless I can sell my car on a forum like this where you have a fighting chance of getting a good buyer like I did with my E55 although I realise forums are not for everyone).

I always used to sell my cars but things changed in the late noughties and has not improved by the sound of it.

I probably also have less patience than I used to.

Twats!

 

[Skd884]

Simple end to this thread, block their number job done.

 

[markjay]

The fact that the new owner is unwilling to give details of the quote tells me all we need to know!

As others have said.... the seller does not have to engage with the buyer after a private sale.

They saved £££ by not buying a car from a dealer, which would have gotten them a warranty.

They also decided not to spent a hundred quid or so on an AA / RAC pre-sale inspection.

And it seems that they also didn't spend any money on a mechanical breakdown warranty either, which would have potentially covered the cost of repair.

They made their choices. And they decided to gamble on a car sold in a private sale. That's all there is to it.

Scammers? I don't think so. Chances? Most likely.

 

[DSM10000]

Simple end to this thread, block their number job done.

I am not asking you or anyone what to do, nor am I asking for your permission to end the thread.

If you read my first post I clearly stated that my advice was to ignore the new owner.

The reason for my post was to see if others had similar experiences.

 

[DSM10000]

As others have said.... the seller does not have to engage with the buyer after a private sale.

They saved £££ by not buying a car from a dealer, which would have gotten them a warranty.

They also decided not to spent a hundred quid or so on an AA / RAC pre-sale inspection.

And it seems that they also didn't spend any money on a mechanical breakdown warranty either, which would have potentially covered the cost of repair.

They made their choices. And they decided to gamble on a car sold in a private sale. That's all there is to it.

Scammers? I don't think so. Chances? Most likely.

No one would offer a warranty on an 18 year old car that has covered 150k miles.

As said, I was curious if anyone else had experienced such behaviours after a private sale.

It seems that some see this as an opportunity to recoup money with the pointless threat of legal action in the hope that some will be concerned and worried and therefore comply

I sold a car years ago and had a message from the new owner telling me that he was dissspointed that he had to stop and refuel and that I should have provided enough fuel for his journey so would I please cover his costs!

I didn't respond, I was too busy laughing!

 

[Jobsworth]

This seems to be very common these days. I’d ignore it.
It’s not limited to private sales either. On the same industrial estate as me is my mate Ben, who has a car sales pitch with twelve years and an awful lot of cars under his belt. He gets his fair share of chancers, and credit to him, he looks after people. A month or two back he sold a mini countryman, petrol engined, to a chap from Kent. A month or so goes by, and the fella rings up. The car has gone into his local mini specialist and apparently the car needs a new timing chain. Ben offers to have the car back and sort it out. I do most of his work, and it’ll be done right for sensible money. Fella refuses. He trusts his local guy, wants Ben to pay the bill there. No problem, Ben speaks to the specialist. Its a big bill. £1500. Way over the odds. Ben doesn’t argue, pays the guy.
Two weeks go by. Car arrives on a transporter, note on the seat says “specialist has messed it up, car has been removed from specialist. As Ben has paid the bill it’s now his problem to get it fixed”. Ben comes to me, head in hands. I do some digging. Found some bolts sheared off, someone’s had a go at drilling out. Pissed. Broken drill bit in there too. Grr.
I do some phoning. “Specialist” doesn’t appear to exist.
What I think happened…
Customer decides to get timing chain replaced. Asks handy mate to give him a hand. Mate speaks to Ben with fictitious quote. Gets money which they split. Then some bolts shear off. Mate decides he can’t do it anymore. Customer decides to get car sent over. I could be wrong, but this is what it smells like to me. I tell Ben the same.
I fix the car. It wasn’t difficult.
Ben had a sit down with the guy when he collected it. No money was asked for, but a few home truths were told. Ben is too soft, but I appreciate he has a hard earned reputation to hold up.
I have two big mantras in business I’ve always lived by:
Your happy customers are your greatest advocates.
A good reputation takes years to obtain, and seconds to lose.

 

[DSM10000]

Your friend Ben is far too nice.

Money paid for the job. Job botched by a third party is no longer his problem and no legal redress but everyone has to make their own judgment calls

 

[Jobsworth]

Your friend Ben is far too nice.

Money paid for the job. Job botched by a third party is no longer his problem and no legal redress but everyone has to make their own judgment calls

I’d agree with that. Trouble is, these days internet reviews are very easy to publish and harder to get removed. Ben’s argument is, “keep them happy, good reviews follow”. It works. His reviews are exemplary. Ok, he needlessly spends a few quid sorting out problems he shouldn’t have to pay for, but in the old days advertising budgets were huge. Mantra rule number 1

 

[Darrell]

I am not asking you or anyone what to do, nor am I asking for your permission to end the thread.

If you read my first post I clearly stated that my advice was to ignore the new owner.

The reason for my post was to see if others had similar experiences.

Keep your knickers on geezer.