Bought my dream car - breaks down 2 hour later..

Paul4wolves

Right, firstly hi all, used the site for years but never signed up

Now...

6 weeks ago I bought my dream car (bmw m3) £11k on ebay auction, the next day I traveled the 3 hour journey to view and pick it up, it looked, drove and sounded as it should.

Only my way home the car developed a very loud knocking sound from the engine so much that I stopped and got it trailer home.

I tried to ring the trader however he was unavailable to talk but text me being fairly understanding.

I had the car looked at myself and confirmed that the crank / rod bearings had gone. Now the advert said that the car had already had a full engine rebuild only 200 miles ago. Obviously not a very good one.

I speak to the trader and he agrees to have to car back to look at it. Several days later he said the car must have been driven hard but he was prepared to pay half the repair bill. Bmw quoted £7000 and the bmw engine specialist I rang quoted £4500.

At this point I asked for my money back, the trader said he had spent it and a refund was impossible. Great. I got trading standards involved but they said there hadn't been any criminal activity so they couldn't help much as it was civil matter.

The trader said he could give me £8000 back which I agreed to pending a full refund however even the £8000 didn't materialise and he went radio silent until I threatened to report it stolen as I couldn't get in touch.

I asked if I could just have the car back as he has my car and my money and was told that the labour and parts bill is around £3000 currently and the engine is out, subframe off, wheels and discs off too. So It can't be moved. So the only option is to get him to get it fixed by his "mate" in his "personal garage " to avoid paying "mega dough for a company to do it"

I don't trust him what so ever, is obviously a pathological lier. Every scenario he suggest we take includes me loosing £3000 or more for a car I drove for 2 hours.

The company has only been going for 3 months. I'm currently paying for insurance on the car incase something happens to it.

I've tried the police, citizens advice, solicitors, sending court action letter, reasoning with him, trading standards (well known to them, and the local area as well as the courts), I have explained consumer rights act 2015 but the trader has said "take me to court-I swear on my dad's grave I'll win" he's on another planet. I've even tried applying for rogue traders on watchdog, it's getting beyond desperate.

At the time of sale he said he didn't have access to the spare key and documents but wouldn't send them asap, surprise surprise nothing turned up so had to apply for the v5 myself.

I don't believe the repair will be a good one and will probably breakdown as I did before, having seen some pictures of the garage it's in I don't hold up much hope.

He's now saying they don't know why the engine blew up so they need to try more parts to make sure it doesn't happen again

I'm just about at my wits end, help please.

tacpot12

Sorry to hear of your problems. You are going to have to take him to court if you want all your money back. Ignore his bluster that he is sure to win. I think you will win something, but you have to let him try to repair the car first. His mate is a legal option for the repair. I agree that the quality of the repair will be completely unknown, but if it fails again quickly, at least you can go to court.

If the trader persists with the line that you must have driven the car hard to break the engine you will have no trouble finding an expert witness who will confirm that you cannot damage a M3 engine driving on normal roads at normal speeds. I think the judge will assume that when diving a (new to you) high performance car it would not be unreasonable to try the performance out, but only within the legal speed limits. At such speeds, a good engine will not be taxed at all.

Don't worry too much about the state of the premises, I've seen good work done in grubby garages and poor work done in spotless ones.

I don't see why you should need to insure it, while it is in his care. He's responsible for anything that happens to it. Is it SORN'ed?

At least he is trying to repair it.

Norman_Castle

I don't see why you should need to insure it, while it is in his care. He's responsible for anything that happens to it.

Its an 11k car. Its annoying paying to insure a car that you cannot use but better than relying on someone else to cover any losses.

davidwood681

I know it's a bit late now but was anything regarding the dealer odd before you bought the car?

There's plenty of good honest businesses out there (far more than bad ones)

poppasmurf_bewdley

How did you pay for the car?

Cash? Paypal? Credit or debit card?

Can you get your money back through any of the chargeback schemes?

Paul4wolves

Hi, thanks for replying.

Firstly, I am being forced to pay half of the repair costs of over £3000 (each) and seems to be adding things by the day and christ knows what hourly labour rate considering its not even a company doing it.

Secondly, I genuinely didn't even drive the car hard because he made clear it had recently had an engine rebuild so took it nice and easy.

If the car goes missing now, it will be my issue, there is no way I couldn't have insurance on this due to the fact I don't even know where it is and the trader is a outright lier and con artist.

Nothing really too dodgey, a few bits of bad feedback on ebay, the car had been untaxed for 3 years (as it was his personal car) I guess on business insurance. Everything seemed ok with the car, looked the biz.. I'd get done by this car every day of the week if I was buying it again, it's annoying because I haven't even learnt anything from it alll!

I did try to pay on paypal / credit card but he only took cash or bank transfer (to his business account which he showed me had £20k plus in there and £50k sold on ebay)

Warwick_Hunt

Paul4wolves wrote: »

Hi, thanks for replying.

Firstly, I am being forced to pay half of the repair costs of over £3000 (each) and seems to be adding things by the day and christ knows what hourly labour rate considering its not even a company doing it.

Secondly, I genuinely didn't even drive the car hard because he made clear it had recently had an engine rebuild so took it nice and easy.

If the car goes missing now, it will be my issue, there is no way I couldn't have insurance on this due to the fact I don't even know where it is and the trader is a outright lier and con artist.

Nothing really too dodgey, a few bits of bad feedback on ebay, the car had been untaxed for 3 years (as it was his personal car) I guess on business insurance. Everything seemed ok with the car, looked the biz.. I'd get done by this car every day of the week if I was buying it again, it's annoying because I haven't even learnt anything from it alll!

I did try to pay on paypal / credit card but he only took cash or bank transfer (to his business account which he showed me had £20k plus in there and £50k sold on ebay)

So it’s not been used for 3 years, are there mots for that period?

cb1979

A car that had just had the Engine rebuilt would have been a red flag for me,how many miles has the Car done in total, and to fail after 200 miles after a Engine rebuild it obviously had not been done properly, the knocking is probably a Big end bearing/Crankshaft failure

The Car not being used for 3 years probably means the Engine was damaged that long ago and was recently poorly repaired to sell it

Paul4wolves

I think it's been used as his personal car but he hasn't taxed it as it has done serveral thousand miles recently and has been moto, and yes it is big end knocking, he said he fitted a used crank and new bearings but I believe it's the rods that stretch when they get hot when the bearing gets worn and cause the knocking even more.

Assuming that is correct, he's only done the bottom end and not done the head part to change the rods hence the rods are already stretched and damages the bearing, crankshaft and pistonslap again.

debunked_2

Which year BMW M3 did you buy? I have read these cars are horrendously unreliable. I'm in the process of ordering a new M3 on finance and still thinking whether it is worthwhile to opt for the extended 5 year warranty.

OP might I suggest taking this up to small claims court?

Don't mean to hijack this thread but rather than opting for the more expensive BMW AUC warranty, would it be better to go for a cheaper third party warranty after the three years are up, like AA Warranty Gold? It will be cheaper.

parking_question_chap

Buying a performance car which has been off the road for three years, had an engine rebuild and sold on an aution site. What could possibly go wrong.

Try your luck with a court case or sell for spares.