Please help - Sold car and its now got a fault, buyer wants refund/bring car back

motorguy

dan_cup wrote: »

as a good will I offered £400 refund, paid £1450 for it. he wants £1000 if we wont take it back.

Why are YOU offering £400 partial refund, given its not your car??

Unless maybe you're a part time trader and have got caught out?

motorguy

dan_cup wrote: »

Right here is a breakdown of my problem:

Sold a car via ebay through my own personal ebay account. It was sold for a family friend on thier behalf. My in laws have a garage so the car was also on thier forecourt but has no associtation with them. My ebayer account has been used to sell some of his cars in the past but its nothing to do with them.

The buyer has had the car 2 weeks and has got back to me this week saying that it has a knock, likely a valve/rocker/piston.

He wants to send the car back for a full refund but when I say he will have to sort it out with the owner (whose on holiday at mo) he says no. Its my issue and becasue he came to garage to pick the car up (legally its the collection point?) its the garages responsibilty and he has long distance rights (travelled 300 miles) of 28 days to get a refund.

Hes also fired a load more legislation at me as he says its his profession.

The garage has no links to this vehicle, it was sold as seen as any private auction sale is and I mentioned in the listing I was selling it for a customer of the garage. I assume he believes the garage is trading on my ebay account which it isnt and certianly not in this case.

as a good will I offered £400 refund, paid £1450 for it. he wants £1000 if we wont take it back.

Can anyone help me out with what right myself and the buyer have?

Hes adamant its the garages fault but it has nothing to do with them, he says hes going to the small claims court on monday to get his costs back.:beer:

By your own admission you've sold several cars for the garage via your own private ebay account, and now you're selling a car for 'a friend' who just happens to be going away on holidays.

Personally i think you're a dabbler in the motor trade. I certainly wouldnt be disposing of a garages trade ins on ebay if i wasnt getting a back hander from them for my trouble.

Also, theres absolutely no reason why you should have been doing anything other than listing your 'friends' car and then giving the buyer your 'friends' phone number and tell them to do the handover. All a bit odd that miraculously your 'friend' hadnt the car insured and it 'had' to be parked on a garage forecourt.

Also very odd that you, personally were immediately offering a £400 refund on a car you dont own?

You're either very very naive OR far more likely a small time trader keeping below the radar and you've got caught out.

Either way, i dont think is going to go away, so maybe leave car selling to the grown ups in future, eh?

dan_cup

motorguy wrote: »

Why are YOU offering £400 partial refund, given its not your car??

Unless maybe you're a part time trader and have got caught out?

Because that's what the owner has asked me to offer.

The buyer says he wants nothing to do with the former owner and says its all my issue.

No I'm not a part time trader.

I'm a electrical engineer that got asked to advertise a car for a friend of my inlaws, and now I've been bitten.

motorguy

dan_cup wrote: »

No I'm not a part time trader.

I'm a electrical engineer that got asked to advertise a car for a friend of my inlaws, and now I've been bitten.

Why?

Why did some friend of your wifes parents ask YOU specifically to sell THEIR car, and now want nothing to do with it??

They had noone in their entire circle of friends who had an ebay account, to the extent that they had to ask a complete stranger to them to sell it for them, and now they, miraculously are taking nothing at all to do with it??

IF it were the truth, i'd be giving the buyer their phone number and address and saying take it up with the seller mate.

But ODDLY you're not doing that??

You're only hope is to divert the buyer to talk to the seller direct, thus removing you from the equation and reducing any hope of implicating you as a trader in the middle.

But i dont think you're going to be able to do that because i dont believe thats the situation you are actually in.

motorguy

And what was your motivation for taking this car that belongs to some friend of your wifes parents, keeping it for them on a garage forecourt, photographing it, listing it, fielding any queries during the time it was listed, and then organising a handover of the car to the new owner???

Did you do all that because you're a nice guy?

dan_cup

motorguy wrote: »

By your own admission you've sold several cars for the garage via your own private ebay account, and now you're selling a car for 'a friend' who just happens to be going away on holidays.

Personally i think you're a dabbler in the motor trade. I certainly wouldnt be disposing of a garages trade ins on ebay if i wasnt getting a back hander from them for my trouble.

Also, theres absolutely no reason why you should have been doing anything other than listing your 'friends' car and then giving the buyer your 'friends' phone number and tell them to do the handover. All a bit odd that miraculously your 'friend' hadnt the car insured and it 'had' to be parked on a garage forecourt.

Also very odd that you, personally were immediately offering a £400 refund on a car you dont own?

You're either very very naive OR far more likely a small time trader keeping below the radar and you've got caught out.

Either way, i dont think is going to go away, so maybe leave car selling to the grown ups in future, eh?

Thanks for your views, but your wrong.

It wasn't a trade in, he never bought a replacement from us.

The owner asked us to deal with it. Naive-possibly in hindsight

The owner told us to offer the £400.

techspec

I must admit - now i am hearing it was a friend of the inlaws who owned the garage - your losing me too.

I mean - your friend, fair enough - quite a few people sell for a friend.

But a total stranger? I tell my friends i can't do it (value my account too much). I can't imagine anyone doing this for a stranger.

This car sounds like a trade -in from your in-laws garage.

If thats not the case - its how it looks.

techspec

dan_cup wrote: »

Thanks for your views, but your wrong.

It wasn't a trade in, he never bought a replacement from us.

The owner asked us to deal with it. Naive-possibly in hindsight

The owner told us to offer the £400.

You keep saying 'us' / 'we' when talking about the garage.

Its nothing to do with you is it?

dan_cup

motorguy wrote: »

Why?

Why did some friend of your wifes parents ask YOU specifically to sell THEIR car, and now want nothing to do with it??

They had noone in their entire circle of friends who had an ebay account, to the extent that they had to ask a complete stranger to them to sell it for them, and now they, miraculously are taking nothing at all to do with it??

IF it were the truth, i'd be giving the buyer their phone number and address and saying take it up with the seller mate.

But ODDLY you're not doing that??

You're only hope is to divert the buyer to talk to the seller direct, thus removing you from the equation and reducing any hope of implicating you as a trader in the middle.

But i dont think you're going to be able to do that because i dont believe thats the situation you are actually in.

They asked my in law to put it on their forecourt and he asked me to put it on eBay to get nationwide views, I don't know the owner personally.

I'm not sure why you think the owner wants nothing to do with it????

The buyer says he doesn't want anything to do with the owner, just the garage. I assume coz he thinks were liable where as he wouldn't have a comeback privately.

I've tried to pass him to the owner but he won't have it, he also won't answer my calls, only responds via texts.

motorguy wrote: »

And what was your motivation for taking this car that belongs to some friend of your wifes parents, keeping it for them on a garage forecourt, photographing it, listing it, fielding any queries during the time it was listed, and then organising a handover of the car to the new owner???

Did you do all that because you're a nice guy?

Because my father in law asked me to. He's family, why would I not help family out.

It makes no odds whose car it is, he's asked for help to sell it for the owner.

I have eBay, my FIL doesn't.

And yes I am a nice guy. I get told all the time

dan_cup

techspec wrote: »

I must admit - now i am hearing it was a friend of the inlaws who owned the garage - your losing me too.

I mean - your friend, fair enough - quite a few people sell for a friend.

But a total stranger? I tell my friends i can't do it (value my account too much). I can't imagine anyone doing this for a stranger.

This car sounds like a trade -in from your in-laws garage.

If thats not the case - its how it looks.

Hey with hindsight I won't be doing it again, but yes to me he is a stranger.

I can assure you it's not a trade in.

techspec wrote: »

You keep saying 'us' / 'we' when talking about the garage.

Its nothing to do with you is it?

No it's nothing to do with me. Should I use 'them'?