Sold Car - Now Buyer Reports Clutch Failure & Wants Money

Jumblebumble

tekton23 said:

Thanks for your replies!
Yes, the car has been primarily used by my wife for local very short journeys to the shops, over the years that we have owned the vehicle. We bought it used approved and have no idea how it was driven by the previous owner, but presumably in a similar manner given the very low mileage. 
I have had clutch fail 20 years ago in another car, so do know the signs. There were none at all that I was aware of in this car and I had driven it regularly during the past few weeks. It seemed fine. 
I have also been on the receiving end of having total engine failure a month into owning a used van. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Ultimatley, I gave up owning a vehicle for about 10 years after that, as it was clear I couldn't afford running costs whilst being a student. I discovered at that time, that there was nothing I could do in terms of recovering costs and just had to suck up the £2,500 bill. Once fixed, I sold on the vehicle and paid off the costs. 
I don't see why I should cover someone else's repair bill now the car has been sold. As the point has been made by many of you, this is a part that does wear out. Given I am now driving another used car, bought Used Approved, there is nothing in place to protect me either. So if my clutch failed, I would have to pay that too even though I am only a few month's into a 1 year warranty. So it is a risk with any vehicle bought used, as the part cannot be visually inspected prior to sale, without the need for excessive dismantling.

Thanks also for making the point about fraudsters and it being part of the act. I am sorry to hear about your experiences and am really taking note here! I hope they are resolved soon.

Just forget about Mr Angry as it is not your car and not your problem.
You have no idea if this is a fairy story
If you were against all advice here  to pay out he would have had considerable betterment in any event as he did not pay for a car with a new clutch
If he wants a to buy a car with a warranty on a clutch he can approach a dealer and ask if they will give him one.

AdrianC

BooJewels said:

Sorry if it wasn't entirely clear, I'm not going to spell it out in detail to be honest, as it's on-going.  It involved the sale of a vehicle, where the con was the buyer pretending to be something they weren't, in order to secure credit, that was never settled.

So the buyer fraudulently took out credit provided by a trade seller, who didn't bother properly credit-checking?

BooJewels

AdrianC said:

BooJewels said:

Sorry if it wasn't entirely clear, I'm not going to spell it out in detail to be honest, as it's on-going.  It involved the sale of a vehicle, where the con was the buyer pretending to be something they weren't, in order to secure credit, that was never settled.

So the buyer fraudulently took out credit provided by a trade seller, who didn't bother properly credit-checking?

No. I think you already know that's not the case. I'm not explaining any further. The OP got the point, so just move along.

AdrianC

BooJewels said:

AdrianC said:

BooJewels said:

Sorry if it wasn't entirely clear, I'm not going to spell it out in detail to be honest, as it's on-going.  It involved the sale of a vehicle, where the con was the buyer pretending to be something they weren't, in order to secure credit, that was never settled.

So the buyer fraudulently took out credit provided by a trade seller, who didn't bother properly credit-checking?

No. I think you already know that's not the case. I'm not explaining any further. The OP got the point, so just move along.

If it wasn't phishing, and it wasn't getting credit, then I haven't got the first clue what your cryptically hinting, tbh. 

But you said "ask you to explain", and now you're saying you won't.
<shrug>

BooJewels

If you really can't complete your day without knowing the details, you're welcome to send me a PM to ask. But you're distracting from the OP's issue without adding anything useful and I regrettably enabled that.  I apologise to the OP for the derailment. 

homersimpson246

tekton23 said:

Thanks for your replies!
Yes, the car has been primarily used by my wife for local very short journeys to the shops, over the years that we have owned the vehicle. We bought it used approved and have no idea how it was driven by the previous owner, but presumably in a similar manner given the very low mileage. 
I have had clutch fail 20 years ago in another car, so do know the signs. There were none at all that I was aware of in this car and I had driven it regularly during the past few weeks. It seemed fine. 
I have also been on the receiving end of having total engine failure a month into owning a used van. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Ultimatley, I gave up owning a vehicle for about 10 years after that, as it was clear I couldn't afford running costs whilst being a student. I discovered at that time, that there was nothing I could do in terms of recovering costs and just had to suck up the £2,500 bill. Once fixed, I sold on the vehicle and paid off the costs. 
I don't see why I should cover someone else's repair bill now the car has been sold. As the point has been made by many of you, this is a part that does wear out. Given I am now driving another used car, bought Used Approved, there is nothing in place to protect me either. So if my clutch failed, I would have to pay that too even though I am only a few month's into a 1 year warranty. So it is a risk with any vehicle bought used, as the part cannot be visually inspected prior to sale, without the need for excessive dismantling.

Thanks also for making the point about fraudsters and it being part of the act. I am sorry to hear about your experiences and am really taking note here! I hope they are resolved soon.

Just to add to this and what others have said, my dad (now no longer with us) was able to burn a clutch out in less than 5K miles and did on many many occassions, its what started me off with the spanners when I was around 6 or 7 helping him, it was alright when he had Morris Marina's and Cortinas and even Sierras but when he had a Mondeo MK3 TDCI it started to get to be a bit of a pain.

It was just the way he drove, he didn't ride the clutch but reved the engine too high and used the clutch to control the speed when manouvering and it just wrecked them.  Its entirely possible that you could have driven the car for months or years and it would have been fine, they might have decided to go for a tour of the Lake District and try the steepest roads with it, you just don't know.

In my driving career (over 20 years now) I have only had two clutches fail and both were at well over 100K miles.

I'm afraid this really is the purchasers problem to deal with, if they wanted a warranty they should have bought a car from a dealer where this sort of thing should have been covered after only a few days.

Just forget about it and most importantly don't enter into any more correspondance with them or offer to make any part payment or anything like that.

Its their car now and its their problem.

Mutton_Geoff

Jumblebumble said:

The resale value of a high end Porsche and it's ilk  is likely to be far lower without a dealer service history and the difference will way exceed the extra cost of said dealer service.

I've owned several Porsche in my time (and still do). My previous one had not been near a Porsche dealer since the warranty ran out but instead was regularly serviced at one of the (many) very reputable independants. The resale value was not in the least affected by the fact the service book wasn't stamped "Porsche" but it was important that the service history was up to date.

Current one still under warranty so it does go to the supplying dealer. Decent Porsche dealers (in my opinion) are hard to find, so I drive over 100 miles (past two others) to go to the dealer of my choice for servicing.

Jumblebumble

Mutton_Geoff said:

Jumblebumble said:

The resale value of a high end Porsche and it's ilk  is likely to be far lower without a dealer service history and the difference will way exceed the extra cost of said dealer service.

I've owned several Porsche in my time (and still do). My previous one had not been near a Porsche dealer since the warranty ran out but instead was regularly serviced at one of the (many) very reputable independants. The resale value was not in the least affected by the fact the service book wasn't stamped "Porsche" but it was important that the service history was up to date.

Current one still under warranty so it does go to the supplying dealer. Decent Porsche dealers (in my opinion) are hard to find, so I drive over 100 miles (past two others) to go to the dealer of my choice for servicing.

Maybe true but if you were part exchange it would the Main Dealer think the service history was comparable ?
My guess is they would use this to pull your pants down