Conned in a private car sale

facade

motorguy wrote: »

A friend of mine has a 2012 Golf GTI for sale with a months MOT. Shall i tell him its only worth £100? :eek:

We both know it will sell better with 12 months MOT. Trade in won't matter a jot.



Big warning bells go off on a 12 plate car with a few weeks MOT, why hasn't it got a full one?- obviously it is going to fail and cost thousands to put right.

Clive_Woody

Lincar wrote: »

I said I was going to have the car look at and if it was anything serious I would let her know. She said ok. I repeated this as I was driving and also when we got back to my work.

But you decided to buy the car before having it looked at. Once purchased it became your problem.

You seem to be under the impression that the seller agreed to accept liability for any issues post sale, whereas all she said was "ok" when you told her that you would let her if there were any post-sale problems.

ess0two

DoaM wrote: »

£1,500 for a 2005 Jazz? :eek:

Unbelieveable…...

Supersonos

Lincar wrote: »

I trusted what they both told me.

Can you prove they were lying?

phill99

It's always somebody else's fault isn't it.

Jackmydad

The moral of the story is, that when buying a secondhand car:

- Don't trust the word of anyone. (Sad I know, but true.)
- Take a knowledgeable friend or a mechanic to look at prospective purchase if you can't do it yourself.
- Do your research on that model. If the gearboxes are weak then know that. Know the model's common faults.
- Don't accept that "They all do that". They most likely don't. Or if they do it's expensive to fix!
- Make sure you know the approximate value of the model and year.
- Don't be afraid to haggle.
- Don't be embarrassed to walk away. It's your money.
- Don't feel pressured. There's always another car just waiting to be bought.

It's very MSE buying privately, and I've had some great bargains myself over the years.
It's fraught with pitfalls though.