Another sold a car, buyer wants money thread

[Griffith4ever]

GasEngineer said:

sortedcossie said:

Had the same thing a few years ago, sold a sub £3,000 car on Ebay classified advert. 4 weeks later started to get text messages about loads of things failing on it. He reckoned some of them failed the day after buying it, so why wait a month to tell us.

Big giveaway for me was he wouldn't answer the phone, but would reply back to a text straight away. 100% scammer.

Not 100% scammer. Advice on this forum is to conduct such contact by emails or messages rather than phone calls. He may have thought you were the scammer by trying to catch him out with a phone call that couldn't be referred to later.

In my experience , people who will communicate with text and emails and not voice are avoiding confrontation or are crap liars. Speaking to people also resolves disputes far more amicably than text communications where they hide behind their phone / computer and are typically less reasonable.

I banned my staff from leaving voice messages or sending an email when calling in a sickie ( in all my jobs when working for others). Voice call to me only. Reduced Monday morning post football match sickes to near none.

If someone responds to texts but not voice calls they are avoiding you but meeting the bare minimum requirements of communication. In work and personal life :-)

Edited by Griffith4ever on Wednesday 24th January 09:23

[Hol]

I would also take screen grabs of the vehicles they have for sale now and over the next few weeks, to show that they are trading and not the private buyers they claim to be.

You might not ever need it, but it’s proof of dishonesty in their purchase, if you needed to evidence it.

[vaud]

Griffith4ever said:

If someone responds to texts but not voice calls they are avoiding you but meeting the bare minimum requirements of communication. In work and personal life :-)

You haven't seen many young people recently then

[Griffith4ever]

vaud said:

Griffith4ever said:

If someone responds to texts but not voice calls they are avoiding you but meeting the bare minimum requirements of communication. In work and personal life :-)

You haven't seen many young people recently then

Haha - fair point! - though - perhaps that also reflects their unwillingness to interact "properly" any more. God alive how much less stressful asking a girl out would have been if we even had SMS when I was a lad - you had to actually go up and ask, to their face!

[ingenieur]

Prizam said:

ok, I'm going to block and ignore.

Let's say she is genuine and goes legal. Does she have a timeframe to do this within?

AFTER you get paperwork from the court you can continue to argue. It isn't the case that receiving paperwork means you're immediately in trouble, going to court and destined to lose. Given right is on your side it is unlikely the buyer would even take it that far. They would be advised well before this point not to bother so you shouldn't hear from them again.

It happened to me before and the lady was complaining to me from Scotland hundreds of miles away. I offered to have the fault repaired for her but never heard back... she would have to bring me the car. I think you can insist on seeing the problem first hand without being unreasonable if it gets that far.

[coldel]

The idea of caveat emptor is an old one and no longer relevant, I do see this posted so many times on PH as some sort of easy get out clause but its not.

The AA website is a nice summary https://www.theaa.com/car-buying/legal-rights it posts quite an objective view that actually if you didn't advertise correctly for example you are still on the hook, however, that process for the buyer is long and expensive.

The mistake a lot of people make in car adverts is to go over the top 'the best car out there, nothing wrong with it, drives like new' etc. when its a 20 year old Ford banger. Be to the point and factual in your advert, and you should have no problem simply telling these scammers to either leave you alone or proceed with the court papers.

[Hugo Stiglitz]

OP have you searched for it online, see if it's been relisted and its description?

[Prizam]

coldel said:

The idea of caveat emptor is an old one and no longer relevant, I do see this posted so many times on PH as some sort of easy get out clause but its not.

The AA website is a nice summary https://www.theaa.com/car-buying/legal-rights it posts quite an objective view that actually if you didn't advertise correctly for example you are still on the hook, however, that process for the buyer is long and expensive.

The mistake a lot of people make in car adverts is to go over the top 'the best car out there, nothing wrong with it, drives like new' etc. when its a 20 year old Ford banger. Be to the point and factual in your advert, and you should have no problem simply telling these scammers to either leave you alone or proceed with the court papers.

Most of that site is about dealers, please see the section "Buying a used car privately"

[sortedcossie]

Griffith4ever said:

GasEngineer said:

sortedcossie said:

Had the same thing a few years ago, sold a sub £3,000 car on Ebay classified advert. 4 weeks later started to get text messages about loads of things failing on it. He reckoned some of them failed the day after buying it, so why wait a month to tell us.

Big giveaway for me was he wouldn't answer the phone, but would reply back to a text straight away. 100% scammer.

Not 100% scammer. Advice on this forum is to conduct such contact by emails or messages rather than phone calls. He may have thought you were the scammer by trying to catch him out with a phone call that couldn't be referred to later.

In my experience , people who will communicate with text and emails and not voice are avoiding confrontation or are crap liars. Speaking to people also resolves disputes far more amicably than text communications where they hide behind their phone / computer and are typically less reasonable.

I banned my staff from leaving voice messages or sending an email when calling in a sickie ( in all my jobs when working for others). Voice call to me only. Reduced Monday morning post football match sickes to near none.

If someone responds to texts but not voice calls they are avoiding you but meeting the bare minimum requirements of communication. In work and personal life :-)

Edited by Griffith4ever on Wednesday 24th January 09:23

If the car had failed as badly as this guy was telling me on text, then if I'd paid £2,500 of my hard earned cash i'd be open to communication via any channels. In my case he was 100% trying it on.

[Muzzer79]

Prizam said:

coldel said:

The idea of caveat emptor is an old one and no longer relevant, I do see this posted so many times on PH as some sort of easy get out clause but its not.

The AA website is a nice summary https://www.theaa.com/car-buying/legal-rights it posts quite an objective view that actually if you didn't advertise correctly for example you are still on the hook, however, that process for the buyer is long and expensive.

The mistake a lot of people make in car adverts is to go over the top 'the best car out there, nothing wrong with it, drives like new' etc. when its a 20 year old Ford banger. Be to the point and factual in your advert, and you should have no problem simply telling these scammers to either leave you alone or proceed with the court papers.

Most of that site is about dealers, please see the section "Buying a used car privately"

Indeed and caveat emptor is still very relevant in a private sale.

[coldel]

Prizam said:

coldel said:

The idea of caveat emptor is an old one and no longer relevant, I do see this posted so many times on PH as some sort of easy get out clause but its not.

The AA website is a nice summary https://www.theaa.com/car-buying/legal-rights it posts quite an objective view that actually if you didn't advertise correctly for example you are still on the hook, however, that process for the buyer is long and expensive.

The mistake a lot of people make in car adverts is to go over the top 'the best car out there, nothing wrong with it, drives like new' etc. when its a 20 year old Ford banger. Be to the point and factual in your advert, and you should have no problem simply telling these scammers to either leave you alone or proceed with the court papers.

Most of that site is about dealers, please see the section "Buying a used car privately"

Yes that is further down the page, but the page shows you overall what your rights are under CRA for buying both privately and via a dealer

[DartyBistard]

coldel said:

Yes that is further down the page, but the page shows you overall what your rights are under CRA for buying both privately and via a dealer

CRA doesn't apply to private sales - it says that explicitly in the link you provide.

[coldel]

My bad I was thumping out a response. There are laws in place (as mentioned in the link) that mean even in a private sale if you misdescribe the car and the buyer takes you to court, it can still be found against you as a seller. Caveat Emptor does not over ride a private seller misdescribing a car. You are not off the hook for everything the moment you sell the car.

[pigface1000]

OP do you have ebay link of the seller?

Also dont respond to the buyer

[mikeiow]

pigface1000 said:

OP do you have ebay link of the seller?

Also dont respond to the buyer

Pretty sure the OP has rightly dealt with this now:

Prizam said:

TikTak said:

Good for you and good luck OP.

As a small mention that I didn't see any others point out is, you've got no idea what she's done to the car intentionally or not once she drove it away so absolutely should not taking a return.

Frame the receipt and hang it on the wall. Maybe even get a big comical arrow stuck on the side that points to the bit that says "Sold as seen".

Thanks, blocked her now, I had to google how to do it on eBay. I think I feel some relief from doing this. I also had a conversation with my wife, who agrees with you lot, that she is trying it on.

You are correct, I have 2 options here. Well.. 3, if you include block and ignore.

1 - give her money, in my mind, this is tantamount to blackmail with no guarantee the problem will go away and she won't just come back for more.
2 - get the car back, it's either broken, or it definitely will be out of spite. Either way, it won't be in the same condition it left in.

[vaud]

I found the old sales contract that BV72 (a barrister and former member of PH shared for editing and re-use.


AGREEMENT

1. This Agreement is made on Friday 13th NNNN between Billy Spiv (the Seller) and Johnny Keen (the Buyer).

2. The Seller agrees to sell and the Buyer agrees to buy JALOPY POS MARK XXIV registration number 1AM MUG for £LOOOOOOADZ (the Price) together with its tools, equipment, entertainment system, handbook [and the following spare parts: MOULDY COLLECTION OF OLD SHIZZ] (the Car).

3. The Seller acknowledges receipt of the Price. The Buyer acknowledges receipt of the Car.

4. The Seller warrants and represents to the Buyer that the Seller has unencumbered title to the Car and is entitled to pass that title to the Buyer and that the Car is not subject to any finance agreement or other encumbrance.

5. Otherwise, the Car is sold as seen and tested by the Buyer, without any express or implied warranty as to condition or suitability for purpose.

6. This agreement is governed by the laws of England and Wales and the parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Courts of England and Wales.

Signed and dated

[Oceanrower]

I miss BreadVan72…

[thejaywills]

silly to consider taking it back, you have no idea how it's been treated.

Havent read the thread but as a trader: She's likely either had an armchair mechanic friend comment about it and changed her mind or figured out that she could have gotten it cheaper or is working for or with a dealer.

Or worst case; something has gone twang and it's just luck of the draw.


None of these scenarios are your responsibility however and budget car buyers need to start accepting their responsibilities and exposures when buying a car especially when it's over a decade old.


End of the day it is why dealers charge more for a used car and why caveat emptor is a principle for private sales.

Edited by thejaywills on Tuesday 30th January 04:13

[witko999]

This sort of thing is just the latest idiots negotiation technique. They don't want to return it and there's nothing wrong with the item. They just want to trick you into giving them a partial refund. I've had it loads recently whilst selling things on ebay.

[Via Potsdamer Platz]

It's just such a PITA to sell a vehicle privately these days. I will only sell to someone I know or part exchange with a reputable dealer.