Sold Car - Now Buyer Reports Clutch Failure & Wants Money

tekton23

Hi,
I have just sold a car, it had a very low mileage circa 20k and was 7 years old. We bought it used approved. Has only been used for short local shopping journeys and the occasional weekend away. Has always been MOT'd and serviced at the Mini official service centre. Full service history, all records kept and I was paying for an insured warranty monthly. It had a clean bill of health at the last service, after I had all brake pads replaced and a new alternator belt.
I sold it 12 day's ago via ebay. Buyers very nice people. They have since been in touch to say the clutch has failed. They have been told by several garages that it may require clutch and sometimes the flywheel too. If done at a garage, to do both could cost upwards of £900 if at Mini, £2,000. The V5 documents have been changed on the day of sale and my Mini insured warranty cancelled.
They are asking me to cover the repair cost. What do I do? What is the fair thing to do? I would never have sold a car if I had any suspicion there might have been a problem with it. There were no signs of any issue. I had paid for new brake pads and alternator belt at the last service, precisely so I could sell it, knowing it had a 100% clean bill of health. The money has been used to pay off credit card bills.
Feeling very stressed, having just been told this. Grateful for any advice!
T23

The_Fat_Controller

Ignore them. 
Private sales are not covered by any sort of guarantee on the part of the seller.

ToxicWomble

As long as your description was accurate and true - not you problem.
Can you post a copy of the advert ?

DoaM

For a private sale all that matters is a) the seller has good title (i.e. they can lawfully sell the goods) and b) the goods match their description. Anything else is Caveat Emptor - buyer beware.

Ignore them.

daveyjp

12 days is more than long enough to wreck any clutch.

As its a private sale thank them for their business and bid them good day.

waamo

Why should you pay for them wrecking the clutch? 

Mistral001

Look at it this way.  The buyer would probably have had to replace the clutch over the next few years anyway as it is a 7 year old car and clutches wear out just like brake, pads or tyres. Also  if he had gone to a garage instead of buying privately, he would have paid a lot more.  The buyer might sound nice, but he certainly is not behaving very nice in trying to get you to pay for his new clutch.

The_Rainmaker

I could have had the clutch trashed within 30 minutes of collection.  Wear and tear part, buyer beware.

frayedknot

Not your car, not your clutch.

This is a well-known ruse by chancers to get a car even cheaper. There's probably nothing wrong with the clutch they just fancy that you might give them £900 for a nice holibobs.

Even if the clutch had failed, they probably caused it and it's not your problem.

As for £2000 for a clutch replacement that's a joke, They didn't buy the car from a main-dealer but are now spouting main-dealer prices.  The parts are less than £200, add 4 hours at £100 an hour and I'd say £600 tops, less at a back-street garage.

jimbo6977

Refer them to the response given in Pressdram v Arkell

greyteam1959

jimbo6977 said:

Refer them to the response given in Pressdram v Arkell

And that was......jog on ??