Mates, them asking for your help, and it going wrong later..

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

I've been involved in the amateur spannering of cars and bikes for years now. I have my own little home workshop, and although I'm not an expert, there's not much I can't do on vehicles.

Over the years, I've fixed many a friend's car or bike, and often mates will ask me to go and view / test drive potential purchases for them. My record in this area has been 100% - until last week.

A mate dragged me down to see a Focus TDI. After a thorough inspection, I decided it was a good'un - devoid of accident damage, nice history, clean, straight and tidy. The guy wanted £1600 for it, and I struggled to find fault with it to haggle with. In the end, all I could advise was low-ish front tyres, the fact that it had a hideous aftermarket xenon headlamp 'upgrade' which was actually illegal and would have to be ripped out, and might need some new discs and pads on the rear at some point. Oh, and a broken centre armrest thing.

I test drove it, but as it was getting late and my mate was getting a bit anxious to leave, the test drive was quite short. Even so, I still stopped on a hill, and tried pulling away with the handbrake up to test the clutch. The clutch bit and the car stalled, several times, so that was all I could do, and it seemed ok.

We managed to beat the seller down to a grand, which I was happy with, and seemed like a bit of a bargain. My mate drove his car back, and I drove the Focus.

To cut a long story short, by the time we got home (25 miles) the clutch was slipping so badly, it was almost undriveable

So my mate had to get it sorted, and whilst they were there, the DMF was knackered too, so it cost him another £700...

Despite him telling me it wasn't my fault, I still feel bad now for recommending he buy a car that had such a bad fault lurking. I wish I had insisted on a decent test drive.

Anyone else helped a mate, only to find that what they've bought is a howler?

[Mastodon2]

Don't feel bad, what more could you have done? And surely, any reasonable person would accept that asking for someone's opinion, that they deem more competent than their own, comes with the caveat that it might still not be right?

[rallycross]

You sound a bit like one of those "know all it all" mates who comes to help their mate who knows nothing at all about buying cars.

"dont worry mate I'm an expert"

Based on below I think you owe him a clutch

"Even so, I still stopped on a hill, and tried pulling away with the handbrake up to test the clutch. The clutch bit and the car stalled, several times"

Even worse if you really are the expert adviser then why didnt you help him when he was quoted £700 for a £300 job?

[Harpo]

Ouch. Bit harsh there.
Ray, you did nothing to concern yourself about. Maybe your mate could've taken a test drive himself?

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

rallycross said:

You sound a bit like one of those "know all it all" mates who comes to help their mate who knows nothing at all about buying cars.

"dont worry mate I'm an expert"

Based on below I think you owe him a clutch

"Even so, I still stopped on a hill, and tried pulling away with the handbrake up to test the clutch. The clutch bit and the car stalled, several times"

Even worse if you really are the expert adviser then why didnt you help him when he was quoted £700 for a £300 job?

Ouch

But you're probably right...

To be honest, I don't 'tout' that I'm some kind of expert - mates ask me for advice, and I give it to the best of my ability.

I did offer to source a clutch and DMF and drop it in, but it needed a new MOT too, so the next day he'd already dropped it to a garage he uses for the MOT, and asked them to do the work at the same time.

Actually the total bill of £700 included the MOT and a couple of other bits like wiper blades, so the clutch / DMF bit was more like £600. Not an unreasonable figure for that work I don't think?

[davieboy]

£300 for a clutch and dual mass flywheel, fitted? No danger. £700 far closer to the mark.

I know how you feel O.P. , that's why I won't look at cars friends want to buy.

[Tuvra]

So he went to view a car up for £1,600 and came away with a freshly MOT'd car with a brand new clutch etc for £1,700? Sounds a bargain to me in all honesty?

[mondeoman]

So he got a car that was advertised at £1500 for a grand, then topped that up to £1700 with some work and he's now got a car in fully working order for the money he was willing to spend anyway?

No sweat for either of you.

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

Yeah, as you both say, he's now got a lovely car that works perfectly for £1700 - which to be fair, as we nicked it for a grand, is about what most decent 2nd hand examples seem to sell for.

I'm just a bit dissapoint that we didn't nick a cheap car for a grand and that he got the benefit of saving the £700.

Maybe I'm just too soft / guilty feeling, who knows? You just want to do right by and help your mates bag a bargain, know what I mean?

[Justin Cyder]

My dad was a builder & was constantly asked for recommendations for friends looking for tradesmen for this & that. He would always refuse, reasoning that if the work went wrong he'd cop the blame overtly or not.

I'm similar to you Ray in that I spanner with gay abandon for fun & I won't help mates for the same reason. Not your fault, you did your best, but there's a lesson in there for you.

[hornetrider]

rallycross said:

You sound a bit like one of those "know all it all" mates who comes to help their mate who knows nothing at all about buying cars.

"dont worry mate I'm an expert"

Based on below I think you owe him a clutch

"Even so, I still stopped on a hill, and tried pulling away with the handbrake up to test the clutch. The clutch bit and the car stalled, several times"

Even worse if you really are the expert adviser then why didnt you help him when he was quoted £700 for a £300 job?

Wow. You're a bit of a prick eh.

[littleredrooster]

rallycross said:

You sound a bit like one of those "know all it all" mates who comes to help their mate who knows nothing at all about buying cars.

Even worse if you really are the expert adviser then why didnt you help him when he was quoted £700 for a £300 job?

You sound a bit like one of those "know it all" mates who thinks they know how much Ford clutch repairs cost, but has never actually done it or priced it!!

Even worse - if you are really the expert adviser then why didn't you have a clue what you're talking about?

FYI - buggered Ford clutches (for a proper job) are about £600-700 at an indie and about £1200+ at a main dealer. DMF replacements do not come cheap. Show me a reputable garage that will do them for £300 and I will give them 30 jobs per week to do.

Edit to add: corrected for your ste grammar too.

[V8RX7]

No fee - no responsibility.

I do the same for mates and have prevented them buying crap many times.

I've been lucky for them but have twice bought cars that have bitten me shortly after buying (in 20+yrs and hundreds of cars that's not too bad) - buying loads without issue makes you a bit blasé, I did notice issues but a short test drive, being pushed for time and believing the seller were my mistakes.

I always tell them I can't guarantee finding a reliable car - particularly not at £1k price level.

[CampDavid]

littleredrooster said:

rallycross said:

You sound a bit like one of those "know all it all" mates who comes to help their mate who knows nothing at all about buying cars.

Even worse if you really are the expert adviser then why didnt you help him when he was quoted £700 for a £300 job?

You sound a bit like one of those "know it all" mates who thinks they know how much Ford clutch repairs cost, but has never actually done it or priced it!!

Even worse - if you are really the expert adviser then why didn't you have a clue what you're talking about?

FYI - buggered Ford clutches (for a proper job) are about £600-700 at an indie and about £1200+ at a main dealer. DMF replacements do not come cheap. Show me a reputable garage that will do them for £300 and I will give them 30 jobs per week to do.

Edit to add: corrected for your ste grammar too.

You sound like one of those know it all mates who [/WeCouldBeHereAllDay]

[sparks_E39]

I went to view an Audi A8 D2 with a mate, went through the checklist and everything was cool. A week later it blew the head gasket, £500 later and all is well again and it's a lovely car.