Real-life MMD: Should I keep schtum about car problems when I flog it?

crimson.addict

Of course you should tell your friend. It's your friend and £1000 is a lot of money. How long do they expect to keep the car for? I would want to know if it was me. Tell them, if they don't want to buy it then that's ok it is their choice. Personally, i would never sell a car to a friends or family anyway.

gailsmail

Definitely be honest with your friend - what kind of friend would you be if you kept quiet? Don't you hope she/he would be honest with you if the positions were reversed.
I believe in being honest about the car you trade in even in a dealership. I traded in a 2001 Scenic for a 2007 Scenic, and told them about the gear box fault I had been nursing along for 18mths until I could afford to do the swap - it turned out it was just as well, as the newer model had the same fault which I could immediately identify and return the car to the dealer, which of course they then fixed.

Brian_Steele

Firstly, this is a friend we are talking about. When this fault inevitably occurs a little way down the line and you are asked if you were aware of the problem, do you plan to lie through your teeth?

Secondly, where friends are not involved, this does go to the heart of Caveat Emptor. If you buy privately then you have no comebacks. If you buy from the trade, then you have rights. That's why it costs more. How would you felt if your pride and joy blew up a few weeks after you got it?

I did once sell a car privately and the cambelt snapped on the guy's journey home up the M23. A catastrophic failure and I would have been mortified if I had known about a fault, but I actually had a clear conscience because the maintenance was completely up to date and it was just "one of those things". Again, caveat emptor.

WinniethePooh

Of course you must tell! I'd be very uneasy about not telling a stranger, let alone a friend. Of course, if you want to lose a friend ....

tallgirld

You say this person is your friend. I can not understand why you would want to keep quiet about it.

This just reminds me that people just can not be trusted!

IainHL

daveeeeed wrote: »

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Will it cost more than £1000 to rectify if the work is doing reactively (as opposed to as a prophylactic measure)?

:eek:

Perhaps you meant proactive?

Wsb5tails

Never sell to anyone you know. We thought we were doing a hard up family member a favour letting them have our car for less than we were offered in trade in. Many months later they hadn't done any maintenance and let the oil run dry resulting in a new engine.
We never heard the end of it, they wanted us to pay for the repairs and seemed to think we should have done something to prevent it happening.
Never again.

dottydoglover

you say the person who wants to buy it is a FRIEND so how much of a friend are you and how much do you value friendship.

kevanf1

The prospective buyer is a friend. Surely that is all that needs to be said? It's a friend for heaven's sake do you want to keep that person as a friend or not?

I would (and have) point out what the faults are and what your mechanic pal quoted for fixing them. Don't forget, another garage might only charge you £50 and yes, I have known that amount of difference.

Streethawk_2

Never, ever sell a motor vehicle to a friend or family member.
If something breaks on it that you couldn't even have known about there are immediate guilt issues etc. Just don't do it.