Bought a duff car on ebay. Any comeback?

grouperbobby_2

Hi,

I bought a 2004 Fiat Ulysse for my wife who is a child minder at the start of January from a trader on ebay. Last week the car wouldn't start and we have had it in the garage and they say there is no compression in the engine and we are looking at bills up to at least £1000 possibly £3000 if it needs a new engine. Do I have any legal rights to demand anything from the trader? One other thing I have noticed that although he is a trader (he had quite a large warehouse full of cars and bikes) he doesn't advertise as such in ebay. I have tried to contact him by email (as I don't have his phone number) but I have had not even an acknowledgement.

Richard

shelly

I'd advise calling the CAB. They were really helpful to us last year when we had car problems. Unfortunately we had no comeback as we hadn't asked specific questions about the problems and the trader was under no obligation to tell us.

There are a couple of links here that might help. http://www.adviceguide.org.uk/index/your_world/consumer_affairs.htm

freddysmith

What were the terms and conditions on the Ebay listing for the car.
Did they give any warranty?

zenseeker

I don't think that you have any come back, as it is up to you to inspect the vehicle before handing over payment. I assume it was working fine when you drove it away, so the fact that it developed a fault some time after may not be covered.

I could of course be wrong, I hope that I am for the sake of your bank balance!

StaffsSW

If he is indeed a trader, and a warehouse full of vehicles suggest that he is, then yes, you are covered under the Sale of Goods act - regardless of whether it was bought on eBay, off ebay, from Autotrader, local classifieds, E&M etc - the car has to be "fit for the purpose" and a major engine failuer suggests that it was not FFTP.

Forget using any ebay mediation service - with Motors sales they take very little interest.

As above, your best bet is Citizens Advice, or the local Trading Standards to where the car was collected from. It's only where you buy a car from a Private seller that "caveat emptor"/Yoyo comes into effect.

Sort of highlights why business registration on eBay is quite important in the scheme of things...

Chippy_Minton_2

Was it a classified advert on ebay?

grouperbobby_2

Chippy_Minton wrote: »

Was it a classified advert on ebay?

no it wasn't. it was only when we got there to pick it up that we discovered he was a dealer.

Brooker_Dave

grouperbobby wrote: »

Hi,

I bought a 2004 Fiat Ulysse for my wife who is a child minder at the start of January from a trader on ebay. Last week the car wouldn't start and we have had it in the garage and they say there is no compression in the engine and we are looking at bills up to at least £1000 possibly £3000 if it needs a new engine. Do I have any legal rights to demand anything from the trader? One other thing I have noticed that although he is a trader (he had quite a large warehouse full of cars and bikes) he doesn't advertise as such in ebay. I have tried to contact him by email (as I don't have his phone number) but I have had not even an acknowledgement.

Richard

Get another quote £3k for an engine for a 04 fiat is lunacy.

grouperbobby_2

Brooker_Dave wrote: »

Get another quote £3k for an engine for a 04 fiat is lunacy.

That's for the new engine, labour and replacing the injectors (worse case scenario).

Brooker_Dave

grouperbobby wrote: »

That's for the new engine, labour and replacing the injectors (worse case scenario).

You'd not fit a new engine in an old car though.

Just get a used one from the scrapyard.

That's if it actually needs another engine...

Brooker_Dave

grouperbobby wrote: »

That's for the new engine, labour and replacing the injectors (worse case scenario).

Looks like the Fiat is just a rebadged Peugeot, and the engines are just a Peugeot Hdi (assuming it's a diesel) so used ones are plentiful and cheap.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSA_EW/DW_engine#DW12