Second Hand Car From Private Seller

Old_Ben

Hi All,

Wow! What an awesome collection of facts and advice!!!

Right, I recently bought a car from a private seller so I am aware of my reduced rights compared to buying from a dealer. However, the listing stated that the car was "well maintained" and when I viewed it I asked a few searching questions such as "have you had any issues with the car?" "how has it been running?" etc and got all positive answers.

I week after I bought it I took it into a garage to have a coolant leak diagnosed to find that;

a. the Thermostat has been removed and
b. the Head gasket is shot!

I am no mechanic, but the garage where I took it seem to be convinced that this was a problem before I bought the car.

Where do I stand (legally) asking for a refund or for the seller to cover the cost of the work? On my receipt it states "sold as seen."

Many thanks,

Ben

System

No help at all but I do love the line

"I asked a few searching questions such as "have you had any issues with the car?"

Its not particularly searching

verityboo

Do you have a copy of the original ad. Although there are less rights buying from a private seller they cannot lie. It might mean legal action (or the threat of it).
How much was the car, how old, how many miles and what model? Did the seller supply any service history?

Old_Ben

verityboo wrote: »

Do you have a copy of the original ad. Although there are less rights buying from a private seller they cannot lie. It might mean legal action (or the threat of it).
How much was the car, how old, how many miles and what model? Did the seller supply any service history?

Yes I do have a copy Verity. 8000 GBP (darn US MacBook!), 2002, 107000 miles, Range Rover Vogue. It has a complete service history until about (I can't see the Docs as they are with the mechanic ATM) 2010 and 2011 is written in by hand with no official stamp.

Thanks.

mattyprice4004

Proving that the problem was there when the car was sold will be very hard.

Also, I'm an MG/Rover mechanic and the amount of cars I've seen where the garage has said it's head gasket failure and it's infact nothing of the sort is unreal.

I'd say only around half of cars brought to me diagnosed with it, actually have it. It's usually water pump / radiator etc.

If you have no other symptoms, it's unlikely to be head gasket failure. When it does fail, if the water leaks into the oil it means you get a sump full of lovely chocolate milkshake, if it goes into the cylinders it means when the engine is running it'll pressurise the cooling system, blowing hoses and seals etc.

The only mode of HGF where you wouldn't see much would be an external leak, between the block and head. Check the diagnosis carefully, I think it's something else.

Old_Ben

Thanks Matty,

They did a pressure test to confirm it was the head gasket.

I have tried to contact the seller to discuss the situation however when I eventually got through they ended the phone call as soon as they realised I was the buyer and have subsequently turned off their phone. Not the behaviour of some one who has nothing to hide??

mattyprice4004

Pressure tests just show the cooling system is losing pressure, not any particular area. I think they're having you on!

Very unusual to have HGF on any of the lumps in the Rangeys.

Get the water pump changed, get a proper thermostat in place (I wonder if they made that up?) and see where you stand.

Old_Ben

Ah really?

What do you mean "Very unusual to have HGF on any of the lumps in the Rangeys."

mattyprice4004

Old_Ben wrote: »

Ah really?

What do you mean "Very unusual to have HGF on any of the lumps in the Rangeys."

Lump is slang for engine, sorry.

It's not common, and 107k isn't massive mileage. My money's elsewhere.

Old_Ben

Thanks for all you help so far.:T

A quick update,

I spoke to the garage today and the told me that they had been advised that HGF is rather uncommon in Range Rovers and the test they carried out is void as the car has LPG. So, they retested it using the emissions test to find out that is has in fact failed. I have no concerns about the integrity of the garage, so anyway I have asked them to carry out the work (at quite a cost!!).

My next question - for all you legal boffins out there - is if I took the previous owner to a small claims court would I have a chance of winning.

The facts are:

I bought the car and asked if there were any issues, to which I was told no. I have a witness to this.

The self-printed receipt stated "sold as seen.'

The head gasket has been confirmed as blown by a professional mechanic, with the thermostat being removed before purchase.

Any help greatly appreciated!

mattyprice4004

I'd still be very wary - the 'sniff' test for the products of combustion is very inaccurate. I've had false positives and negatives before today.

If they carried out a pressure test, the fact it is LPG carries no bearing on this whatsoever.

It honestly can't just be me that doesn't think it's HGF, and thinks this garage is a little uneducated?