Friend got ripped off private sale

Friend got ripped off private sale

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Seaweed

Original Poster:

50 posts

93 months

Saturday 23rd July 2016
quotequote all
So my friend decided to buy a Vauxhall corsa 2008 off of a private buyer. He paid top dollar for it and was delighted with his purchase. He took the car over to me so that I could have a look. When I opened the bonnet I noticed that there was no coolant. When I opened the oil filler cap there was Mayo residue on the cap. I informed my friend that the head gasket had failed and advised him not to drive the car. He is quite upset as the car cost him £4000 and he had been saving for a while. He phoned the seller back who laughed down the phone at him and told him that he had been ******.

Can anyone selling a car be trusted these days ?

PositronicRay

26,954 posts

182 months

Saturday 23rd July 2016
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Frozen sausages, troll, etc etc.

daemon

35,724 posts

196 months

Saturday 23rd July 2016
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Seaweed said:
So my friend decided to buy a Vauxhall corsa 2008 off of a private buyer. He paid top dollar for it and was delighted with his purchase. He took the car over to me so that I could have a look. When I opened the bonnet I noticed that there was no coolant. When I opened the oil filler cap there was Mayo residue on the cap. I informed my friend that the head gasket had failed and advised him not to drive the car. He is quite upset as the car cost him £4000 and he had been saving for a while. He phoned the seller back who laughed down the phone at him and told him that he had been ******.

Can anyone selling a car be trusted these days ?
No, is the short answer, but if i had to expand on it, i'd say "Trust, but verify" (a Ronald Reagan quote from memory) - too late now for that though.

Back to your friend. He has options - he has been sold a car with a fault that was known to the seller but hidden / not declared. He could go for "not as described" through the small claims court for the cost of the repairs.

As hes going to have to get the work done anyway, i'd be making the seller feel as much pain as possible of it too by going down the court route - that is of course if the seller is actually the registered keeper, and didnt meet your friend at Tescos or similar?

AWRacing

1,710 posts

224 months

Saturday 23rd July 2016
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Expensive mistake to make. If you're unsure on what to look out for when car buying then take someone with you - remind your mate to take someone competant with them next time

DS197

992 posts

105 months

Saturday 23rd July 2016
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Tough st. Should have called you to view the car with him if he was so concerned.

Frik

13,542 posts

242 months

Saturday 23rd July 2016
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Did this really happen?

AWRacing

1,710 posts

224 months

Saturday 23rd July 2016
quotequote all
daemon said:
No, is the short answer, but if i had to expand on it, i'd say "Trust, but verify" (a Ronald Reagan quote from memory) - too late now for that though.

Back to your friend. He has options - he has been sold a car with a fault that was known to the seller but hidden / not declared. He could go for "not as described" through the small claims court for the cost of the repairs.

As hes going to have to get the work done anyway, i'd be making the seller feel as much pain as possible of it too by going down the court route - that is of course if the seller is actually the registered keeper, and didnt meet your friend at Tescos or similar?
Does this not depend on the wording of said advert?
if there was an advert and not word of mouth

Seaweed

Original Poster:

50 posts

93 months

Saturday 23rd July 2016
quotequote all
Thanks guys. It's shameful and I feel really bad for him. He told me all he did was walk round it for 10 minutes and then drive it. He never lifted the bonnet. The seller seemed to be in a rush so I think he was kind of forced into buying it.

Janesy B

2,625 posts

185 months

Saturday 23rd July 2016
quotequote all
Small claims.

Bristol spark

4,381 posts

182 months

Saturday 23rd July 2016
quotequote all
If its just the HG surely its not that big a deal?

I managed to do the HG on my S2000 myself, cost less than £100 including getting the head skimmed.
It was not difficult at all, just a load of bolts, and doing in the right order.

There must be a step by step guide on a corsa forum somewhere.

wack

2,103 posts

205 months

Saturday 23rd July 2016
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Janesy B said:
Small claims.
Small claims is what you should do IF the advert said good condition, good runner, no known faults etc

If his name wasn't on the V5C or has only been on it for a few weeks report him to trading standards as a dealer not declaring such, that's a criminal offence

from the AA

The only legal terms that cover a private sale contract are:

the seller must have the right to sell the car
the vehicle should match the description given by the seller
the car must be roadworthy - it is a criminal offence to sell an unroadworthy car and an MOT certificate from a test several months ago is no guarantee that the car is roadworthy today.


steve-5snwi

8,592 posts

92 months

Saturday 23rd July 2016
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4K for an 08 corsa seems a lot, mines going up soon and it will be less than half of that. Head gasket and timing chains are common on the corsas

Trabi601

4,865 posts

94 months

Saturday 23rd July 2016
quotequote all
Couple of things here.

Who pays £4k for an 8 year old Corsa? I'm not an expert on values, but that 'feels' stupidly expensive.

Secondly, mayo on the filler cap and missing coolant doesn't mean the HG has gone. I'd be cleaning off the cap and refilling the coolant then seeing how it runs.

This is, of course, if it's not just a made up school holiday trolling.

Edited by Trabi601 on Saturday 23 July 19:08

imagineifyeswill

1,223 posts

165 months

Saturday 23rd July 2016
quotequote all
Mayo on the filer cap is not automatically a HG failure, its quite common on Vauxhall engines only doing short runs and never getting properly hot. I would top up the coolant and test the car out properly before condemniing the HG.

Jimmy Recard

17,540 posts

178 months

Saturday 23rd July 2016
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Paying four grand for an eight year old Corsa? He was had even if it were faultless.

As said, top up the coolant and give it a proper test.

Wacky Racer

38,099 posts

246 months

Saturday 23rd July 2016
quotequote all
imagineifyeswill said:
Mayo on the filer cap is not automatically a HG failure, its quite common on Vauxhall engines only doing short runs and never getting properly hot. I would top up the coolant and test the car out properly before condemniing the HG.
Drain the coolant completely, flush and refill.

Also anybody who buys a car without even opening the bonnet is a fool.

tleefox

1,110 posts

147 months

Saturday 23rd July 2016
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£4K for an 8 year old Corsa?

Mug.

sim16v

2,176 posts

200 months

Saturday 23rd July 2016
quotequote all
wack said:
From the AA

The only legal terms that cover a private sale contract are:

the seller must have the right to sell the car
the vehicle should match the description given by the seller
the car must be roadworthy - it is a criminal offence to sell an unroadworthy car and an MOT certificate from a test several months ago is no guarantee that the car is roadworthy today.
I think the third point is a load of rubbish.

You can sell a car in any condition you want, just look at cars being sold as projects/need repairs everywhere.

It's up to the buyer to decide whether the car is safe/roadworthy, as already said, the truth can often be hidden.


TooMany2cvs

29,008 posts

125 months

Saturday 23rd July 2016
quotequote all
tleefox said:
£4K for an 8 year old Corsa?

Mug.
<nods>
And he needs to buy a replacement, you say...? Walk this way, my good friend...

MG CHRIS

9,077 posts

166 months

Saturday 23rd July 2016
quotequote all
If this is real then it not normally the hg its the timing chain gasket between the engine and timing chain cover. The water pumps sits in the middle and the gaskets are prone to leak water into the oil pretty badly in fact.

To be sure you need to do a hydrocarbon test if that's ok I would say it the gasket.