My first eBay car buying experience...

[Lucie W]

Earlier in the week I had a glass of wine and thought it would be a good idea to bid on some cars. Unfortunately the E30 1990 320 convertible got away (it was beautiful ) but I won the 1.7 Puma with 88k miles (woohoo, low mileage, I thought). Another Puma to add to the fleet.

Next day I drove up to Derbyshire to collect my mother and drove down to Hemel Hempstead to get the car. Took it for a drive, a few bad bits but I signed the logbook and got the key and started it. Had a glance down at the odometer and it read 08322...I turned the engine off and checked the MOT certificate which also said 8300. Hmm. Went and rang on the guy's door and asked if there'd been some mistake. He claimed to be completely surprised by it and went and sat in the car to have a look (I'm sure that as he whipped the trade plates out to let me have a drive round the block, he's likely to be au fait with cars). I said I'd like my money back and he started blagging that 'these engines can cope with hundreds of thousands of miles' and 'you'd have knocked the mileage up from 88k to 108k in a few years anyway' - great!

Got my money back, drove up to Derbyshire to drop the mother off and back home. Ten hours! Oh well...will be more careful next time.

On the plus side, saw my first SLS gullwing on the road

[scoobykev15]

Exactly the opposite exerience with me.I've just bought an mg tf on an 02 plate with 50k and a popped head gasket.£500 later and steel gasket,timing kit,water pump and underfloor pipes and the whole thing stands me at 2 grand .Lovely little summer toy and at least a grand profit when i sell it on!

[Muzzer]

It's such a shame that a great buying format and idea such as eBay has been spoilt by scammers and dodgy sellers.

It's now at the level that you expect the seller to either mess you around, rip you off or disappear with your cash.

Edited by Muzzer on Thursday 29th April 15:34

[anonymous-user]

Why didn't you check the mileage and MOT certificate before handing over the cash?

Very lucky to get your money back. I can't help but feel in a similar situation a bloke would be up st creek with that one.

[Lucie W]

MSTRBKR said:

Why didn't you check the mileage and MOT certificate before handing over the cash?

Very lucky to get your money back. I can't help but feel in a similar situation a bloke would be up st creek with that one.

I should have done, I know, but it didn't cross my mind that someone would have advertised the mileage wrong. A bit naive, and it's lucky that I did check it before leaving.

How could you not get your money back though? He tried to fool me into thinking the car had 20k less miles than it did; isn't this against some law or something?

[slickchange]

Yeah The first car I bought from ebay was a mini with a metro turbo engine in it. Advertised as mechanically great and a bit cosmetically scruffy but no major rust.
I got there and it was pissing oil and smoking badly on idle along with a flat battery that would not take or hold a charge. mmmm
Some people have no idea of mechanically great or are hoping the buyer has no idea either. Think the worse and then you can only be plesently surprised....

[NiceCupOfTea]

Doesn't the Puma have a 6 digit mileometer? Certainly the later digital ones - was this an early mechanical one? Even so, didn't think any cars had had 5 digit ones since the 70s!

[Lucie W]

NiceCupOfTea said:

Doesn't the Puma have a 6 digit mileometer? Certainly the later digital ones - was this an early mechanical one? Even so, didn't think any cars had had 5 digit ones since the 70s!

My 2000 Puma has a digital one; this was a 1997 model with a mechanical one - it said 08322 (Cant remember exactly what the last two digits were, it certainly started with 08***.

[anonymous-user]

Lucie W said:

MSTRBKR said:

Why didn't you check the mileage and MOT certificate before handing over the cash?

Very lucky to get your money back. I can't help but feel in a similar situation a bloke would be up st creek with that one.

I should have done, I know, but it didn't cross my mind that someone would have advertised the mileage wrong. A bit naive, and it's lucky that I did check it before leaving.

How could you not get your money back though? He tried to fool me into thinking the car had 20k less miles than it did; isn't this against some law or something?

I'm not sure if it's against the law because it could quite easily have been a mistake on the advert, however unlikely. If he'd written a receipt saying 'sold as seen' and you signed it, I think you'd find it hard to get your money back because it's a private sale and not a dealer.

[Lucie W]

MSTRBKR said:

Lucie W said:

MSTRBKR said:

Why didn't you check the mileage and MOT certificate before handing over the cash?

Very lucky to get your money back. I can't help but feel in a similar situation a bloke would be up st creek with that one.

I should have done, I know, but it didn't cross my mind that someone would have advertised the mileage wrong. A bit naive, and it's lucky that I did check it before leaving.

How could you not get your money back though? He tried to fool me into thinking the car had 20k less miles than it did; isn't this against some law or something?

I'm not sure if it's against the law because it could quite easily have been a mistake on the advert, however unlikely. If he'd written a receipt saying 'sold as seen' and you signed it, I think you'd find it hard to get your money back because it's a private sale and not a dealer.

I believe he is a small-time trader (trade plates and he had another vehicle for sale when I checked on ebay). Does someone need to have trading premises to be called a 'trader'?

I'm not that bothered, just a bit of a pain to waste a day and over £100 in petrol.