Sold Car - Now Buyer Reports Clutch Failure & Wants Money

Stubod

LOL...they are trying it on, just ignore them and get on with your life....

tekton23

Thanks for your replies. I've bought a van in the past and had total engine failure one month in, cost me £2,500 to fix. So I sympathise with the buyer as it is not nice to have a failure so soon after buying a used car. However, the replies on here are pretty unanimous. 

[Deleted User]

Seeing more and more of this scam, yet another good reason to do bangernomics, and keep a car until it dies.

macman

You haven't told us how you described the vehicle, either in the ad or verbally? What questions did they ask you about it's condition?
If, for example, you had said 'excellent mechanical condition, you should have no trouble with it', then they might have a case.

macman

greyteam1959 said:

jimbo6977 said:

Refer them to the response given in Pressdram v Arkell

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

More along the lines of 'go forth and multiply'...

Semple

macman said:

You haven't told us how you described the vehicle, either in the ad or verbally? What questions did they ask you about it's condition?
If, for example, you had said 'excellent mechanical condition, you should have no trouble with it', then they might have a case.

Whilst I agree it's better not to use the words "mechanically excellent" in the advert just to avoid any recourse by a chancer. Even if they had put that in the advert, the buyers would have done their own inspection plus would assume they had taken it for a test drive, and were obviously satisfied with the condition to proceed with the purchase. At that point to the best of your knowledge the car was mechanically excellent, therefore nothing but caveat emptor applies.

What you wouldn't get away with is lying. For example if you'd stated it had been serviced every year in line with manufacturers recommendations. But it turns out during your ownership that you skipped a few years. Then you'd possibly have a case. 

Stubod

..I always put "sold as seen" on the receipt....

tekton23

Thanks for your replies. The ad text reads:

TITLE: 
MINI COUNTRYMAN ONE 2013 Excellent - Low Mls - Full Mini Service History
DECRIPTION:

Extremely well looked after and loved, for sale now, serviced, MOT'd and taxed. It has a full Mini service history and was MOT'd in December. It has sparkling new front and rear brake pads. Completly clean vehicle health check (tested and documented Jan 2020 by Mini). Taxed until October 2020. Two original keys. All paperwork and service history documents. Exterior and interior are in excellent condition. Please visit to inspect further, I have included hi-res images and it has just been washed and cleaned. Pepper pack and Cosmos Black fabric interior finish. sport leather steering wheel floor mats passenger seat height adjustment storage compartment pack automatic headlight activation air conditioning interior lights pack secret storage compartment in base of car boot rear parking sensors Available immediately. Payment strictly by cash or bank transfer (prior to collection) only. No response to scammers.

AdrianC

"Sparkling" brake pads...?

He's got no hope of getting anywhere if he does go so far as a small claim - you can point to that Mini-dealer "vehicle health check". How many miles before the sale was that?

tekton23

I've checked and one of my emails to him says the car is in excellent condition.
It certainly was when it was driven away, we have never had an issue and had no cause to think there were any issues, or parts about to fail. Not a squeak.