Advice on Ebay Car Purchase

scotty71

Hi all :cool:

I'm after a little advice re a car I was trying to buy from Ebay. To cut a long story short, I saw I car I wanted yesterday, bought it at the buy-it-now price thinking everything was ok, leaving the seller an e-mail saying that i wanted to view it (handily enough he only lived approx 20 miles away!)

last night he sent a reply to say that a) did I definitely want it as he had lots of interest in it and it had another 3 days left to run at auction & b) i couldnt view it until thursday due to his work commmitments, fine i replied. then another e-mail arrived an hour later to say that his circumstances had changed and he was no longer selling it!

he then sent a mutal cancellation thingymajig from e-bay which I didnt agree to as in my opinion it wasnt a mutual agreement to end the contract.

I sent him a reply back to say that I was disappointed with how he had handled the auction and then low and behold today he had replied to say that when he took the car to MOT they told him it had been in an accident and needs to be jigged at a cost of around £500. He said he is prepared to sell it to me at a reduced price but I need to get the repairs done myself!

So what would you do? buy it cheap and get it fixed? Or walk away?

I'm just a little concerned also that he has listed a car on e-bay with no mention of this............. maybe I've had a lucky escape???

And advice would be much appreciated

frivolous_fay

I've not bought a car on ebay but I'd say asking to view BEFORE bidding would be the mark of a serious buyer. I'm not surprised he asked if you were serious - despite clicking buy it now, you might have just walked away on viewing, and wasted his time!

You should absolutely, totally, fundamentally know what kind of a car you're buying on ebay, and that means checking it out.

As you've not agreed with the cancellation, you've cost the seller his fees. The fact that you've had further emails from him would suggest that it does have a genuine problem, and that he's asking for less money indicates an unusually honourable seller. (or possibly a dealer bound by regulations)

You need to weigh up the cost of getting it fixed v. the purchase price.

Snooze_Control

Well, there's a first for everything but I agree with Fay .

I would only add that you should snap his hand off with offer of a mutual withdrawal from the sale as there's obviously something fishy going on and it sounds like he's done you a favour.

SC

Marvo434

Don't just walkaway from this car whatever you do,


RUN!!!


It's a wrongun, leave it. It will always be marked as a one time total loss. It os worth little over scrap.

hummingbird

The seller hasn't dealt honourably with you from start to finish, so definitely don't buy the car.

moneymakestheworldgoround

Hi

I sell cars on ebay (and in the real world)and it sounds like hes having you on. You wont agree to mutual agreement to not complete sale - he loses out on fees, so what can he possibly say to get you to not go ahead ...aha perfect solution.

You run away and say ok lets not do sale, he gets fees back and does deal with someone who may have offered more money.

Dont touch the sale with a bargepole - but dont cave in and give him his fees back. Its now an item not as described !

jazzy

I would also suspect that he his making this story up about the car needs re jigging.

I doubt if a mot test would pick up on this? If they did it should have a fail sheet!

moneymakestheworldgoround

Hard for me to comment without knowing the year and price of car, but I think I would notice if £500 of jigging needed doing, and you'd have to be a whizz at photo touch up to get away with that.


The fact the seller emailed you asking if you were really interested and then saying not available after an hour of you clicking the BIN makes me disbelieve him.

the MOT story came out the next day

Seems like a load of rubbish to me

Did he have car on auction and BIN ? If so, I reckon he had tons of interest and emails, was in process of considering offers, you clicked on BIN and he missed out on a few extra quid !

scotty71

thank you all for your advice and replies.

you have all confirmed what I thought - that something definitely going on. luckily today after searching on autotrader I have found another lovely car which I have purchased. :T

My only worry now is that this person will try and sell this car to some other person without telling them that it has been in an accident!

Rabiddog_2

It hasnt really been in an accident its just a ruse. :rolleyes:
But also, buying a car before looking at it :eek: