£500 scooter bought on ebay - broke down after 8 days

cornerstone13

I've been advised to post this on the motoring section (having posted originally on ebay section) and would like opinions please.

My son bought a scooter for £500 on ebay and paid with Paypal from a buyer with good feedback who, it seems, buys scooters to do up and resell.

We collected the scooter on 27th November and since then my son has used it for his 15 mile commute on eight days, plus about 100 miles of general riding around - a total of well under 500 miles.

Last Sunday, the scooter broke down on his way to work. He has roadside recovery so was able to get it back home and the mechanic has spent an included hour looking at it - the verdict is a fuel blockage, which he could not fix within the hour. We have tried to contact the seller (to seek advice on fixing it than anything else) but his wife always says he's "at work" so have been unable to speak to him.

We have been quoted £180 by a garage to fix the problem, plus the cost of getting the bike to them - say £250 in total.

Would be interested to know if we have any grounds for recompense of any sort with the seller, should we open an ebay dispute etc - any advice would be gratefully received.

Thanks for reading

gordikin

Thanks for posting..guess what...buyer beware?!

Keith

Private Sale, Buyer Beware, end of story.

Can you prove that the problem existed before bought it? Coure not, your son used it fine for 8 days.

Best pay for the repairs

computershack

cornerstone13 wrote: »

Last Sunday, the scooter broke down on his way to work. He has roadside recovery so was able to get it back home and the mechanic has spent an included hour looking at it - the verdict is a fuel blockage,

A fuel blockage is hardly the most complicated repair - take the pipe off from the carb to the tank and blow.

Only problem is that its usually caused by dirt being dragged into the system because the owner has run the fuel level low so you're not going to get much joy from putting in a claim for something that could've been caused by running it out of petrol.

kriss_boy

I think it would be pretty unfair to go knocking on the sellers door unless you believe he/she lied about the scooters condition to get the sale.

Even then Id imagine the sale was subject to being sufficiently inspected or test driven.

At the end of the day its a scooter, not an item of clothing or piece of jewelery. Bikes and cars require continual maintenance so while its unlucky something has went wrong so soon its really to be expected.

When you buy a car or bike you budget for the purchase and also the upkeep.

Rotor

Surely the crux of this is wether this man is a trader . If it's a genuine private sale then I fully agree with the above posters : it's buyer beware. If he's buying , doing up , then selling for profit he is a trader and that's not affected by wether it's 2 or 2000 vehicles and if he wants to call himself a trader or not.
If he's a trader it brings responsibilities
Any knowledgeable person want to comment on wether I've got this right and if so what these resposibilities are?
Ta

DaveMacD

I think Rotor is right up to a point, IF the fella seems to be operating as a trader. BUT, as Keith says, it could have happened any time after you bought it, and the fact it was running suggests it has nothing to do with the seller. However, a fuel blockage shouldn't cost £250 to fix. As Computershack says, if the hose is blocked, take it off and blow it clean. If it needs a new fuel filter, it costs a few quid at most for a new one. The only way there might be any real problems is if the muck got as far as the carb, and the filter is there to stop that happening.

Try cleaning out the hose, then check the filter. If you're near an empty tank, I would sacrifice the little fuel you have left to drain the dregs out (taking any residual muck with it) and then put everything back together and filling up with fresh stuff. Also shine a torch into the fuel tank to see if there is much in the way of rust in there. Maybe also consider putting one of those 'one shot' fuel treatments in as a treat (the little ones, not the big bottles, maybe £1 from Halfrauds), and as said above, try and not let the tank run dry.

cornerstone13

Thanks for your replies - we did think it would be Buyer Beware and that there wasn't much that could be done. However, the trader v private seller comments are very useful and we will consider our options from that aspect.

hewhoisnotintheknow

buyer beware

buy your son a haynes manual and a cheap tool set

Wig

It makes no difference if he is a trader or not (in this example) I believe you could get a court to believe he is a trader, if he sells more than 3 a year. However, this is a 2nd hand used old vehicle sold without warranty. The vehicle drove well for 200 miles and then developed a fuel blockage (allegedly). A very real risk of older vehicles is that they develop faults. When you buy a used vehicle without warranty you take on those risks even from a trader.

Best thing to do is to ask seller nicely if he can think of any reason this happened - maybe he did some work on the fuel system which could help you to narrow down the problem, and if he could possibly have a look at it for you to fix for free or at a reduced cost.

Failing that if you have any mechanical logic/knowledge, buy a haynes manual and try to fix it.

Failing that pay for it to be fixed.

Apples2

You spent less money on the transport to commute to work and back, than I spent on the laptop I am typing this reply on.

It's a second hand moped for goodness sake, you can't expect a lifetime warranty on everything you buy!!!

I agree, ring the seller to see if he can give you any pointers (he must know his stuff) but it is up to you to sort the problem out.

If you want a warranty in future, buy from a dealer who offers one, not from fleabay.