Bought car privately - Faults hidden/found - anything I can do?

jay213

Hi I bought a Audi that I saw advertised on Autotrader on Saturday for near 7.5k which was a 2008 car that he described as being immaculate. It wasn't an ideal situation as I travelled 200 miles by train and it was raining / snowing and later starting to get dark. He picked me up and said he had the car exterior / interior cleaned out for me and had plastic on the seats as they were still wet. They had a fragrance to them and the car smelt fresh. I was going to leave the car as I got messaged from somebody whilst on my way that they had a slightly newer/less mileage car, and messaged them back but didn't actually get to speak to that person.

When viewing the car the seller managed to hide/distract a few things, the first looks like a boot leak to me, When viewing I was going to take the spare wheel out as I noticed some moisture on the wheel, he said it was just condensation. I forgot you had to screw the cap to take it out so when I pulled it didn't budge and he had loads of stuff in the boot too and he said there's too much stuff in there, I asked if there was a leak after he said no it's just condensation, then the subject was switched. I planned to look again but I forgot. At this time I was also on the phone describing what I was seeing n general with the car and asking what the other person thought. My call was recorded and you can vaguely hear the seller in the background say "there's no leak".

Anyway I've bought it whilst driving home I started to smell a funny smell, I started getting a feeling that I've made a bad decision and looked at there being 2 air fresheners in the car and thought the smell might be of damp but hoping it wasn't. Yesterday I took out the wheel and the wheel well was full of water well roughly a cm and bits of paper from the stickers that were originally stuck there. I asked the seller if there was any damage before going there and he said there was a little mark on the roof that you can't even see, he said it looked like a bird poo, in the rain and starting to get dark I couldn't see this (it was raining/hail stones the whole time I was there), but could see a few marks the next day that were bigger than that. There was a crack on one of the lights but I saw that.

Then I did a scan on the car and it had 3 errors

The more worrying is this as it's listed under engine.

008213 - Intake Manifold Flap Position Sensor (Bank 1) My Solution.

The others were
00926 - Terminal 30: Open Circuit
00927 - Terminal 30: Open Circuit

When I was saying I was thinking of leaving the car when buying to look at the other he said you never know the other person could be dodgy, the tires could be all different and cost you £400, well when I checked the tires yesterday they are all different, he claimed that they were all pirelli zeros on the phone and when I was there.

I can't believe how I missed all this and feel like he purposely misled me, is there anything I can do about this? I guess if not this is more of a warning to others to be more vigilant. Now I'm really beating myself up over this and especially not get the spare whell out as I wouldn't have bought it if I did. I should be happy I bought a car but feel stressed and like I don't even want it.:(

967stuart

If I were you, I'd stop stressing over it.
Take it for a service and they will tell you all you need to know.
If you have a to spend a few quid on it then so be it.
It's a second hand car. I've purchased plenty of cars over the years and they always need a few bits sorting on them.

A new seal or headlamp wont cost the earth and once it's sorted, you'll have a nice car on your hands.

It's hard to say if you've been mislead as if it's a private seller then they may know next to nothing about cars and in their opinion (subjective) it might be a luxury car.

I bough a secondhand Focus a few months ago, had to get a new tyre for it, full service and a window motor. Since then, the car has been perfect for me.

WellKnownSid

I'd agree with that. Drop the buyer's remorse... You've bought a second hand car, likely to have issues - otherwise they wouldn't be selling it, all cars have a genuine reason for sale, not necessarily good ones.

As 967stuart has said... Get a good service done (assume it's overdue for a major) - once it's all put right you should have a great car. You obviously got a reasonable deal otherwise you wouldn't have been prepared to travel 200 miles to get it.

burlington6

Your fault. Stop moaning. Buyers remorse.

catoutthebag

Sold as seen.

George_Michael

catoutthebag wrote: »

Sold as seen.

Correct but if a seller is specifically asked about something and the reply they give is not true then the buyer has the right to reject the car as even with a private sale, the goods must be as described.
However, the biggest problem will be proving what was stated.

jay213 wrote: »

When viewing I was going to take the spare wheel out as I noticed some moisture on the wheel, he said it was just condensation. I forgot you had to screw the cap to take it out so when I pulled it didn't budge and he had loads of stuff in the boot too and he said there's too much stuff in there, I asked if there was a leak after he said no it's just condensation

Rain_Shadow

'The topic for this week's creative writing exercise is.........'

forgotmyname

Sell it and buy something else?

You asked them if the tyres were all the same instead of looking yourself?

Is the boot leak a common issue?

foxy-stoat

The seller mis-lead a little but you allowed yourself to mis-buy this car.

If it was a trader selling as a private seller you have an uphill struggle, if it was a private seller then you have little or no chance of getting anywhere.

Put it down to experience and get it repaired - if its a 2 litre diesel or automatic or FSI petrol, get it sold chop chop and buy something else, take someone who knows about cars, see them in the light and dry day, and dont travel hundreds of miles either.

Good lucks !

jay213

foxy-stoat wrote: »

The seller mis-lead a little but you allowed yourself to mis-buy this car.

If it was a trader selling as a private seller you have an uphill struggle, if it was a private seller then you have little or no chance of getting anywhere.

Put it down to experience and get it repaired - if its a 2 litre diesel or automatic or FSI petrol, get it sold chop chop and buy something else, take someone who knows about cars, see them in the light and dry day, and dont travel hundreds of miles either.

Good lucks !

I planned to be careful but I didn't do everything I should have and missed a few things that's why I'm so upset with myself. I guess I'll have to put it down to experience and sort out the problems or sell it on. It's a auto 2 litre TFSI, would your advice apply to mine too? as I know FSI is different?

vansboy

The next potential problem you will have is the high level of engine oil consumption and a gearbox which will have a mind of it's own.

Unless these two well documented issues have been dealt with, then there is potential for much greater expense than you anticipated.

Do some searching to see if this was a private sale, or it is a trader giving you a not too true story.

VB