I bought a faulty car

snodge182

Hi all,

Last Friday (6 days ago) I bought a 2007 Volkswagen Golf Match 1.6 FSI. Since then I have had the coolant light come on, it was only slightly below min level so I topped it up - next day after a long drive it seemed lower than when I topped it up, not sure if its going down. Now however, the check engine oil light is on, and a big oil patch on the road outside my house under the engine.

When I was buying it I asked the seller (private seller on facebook marketplace) if there were any leaks or fluid loss from the engine or anything and he assured me that there were none at all and he's been under the car and it looks perfect under there. My partner was with me at the time and she assures me I'm not dreaming it up.
I've noticed the oil in the engine and the coolant are both brand new looking, they don't look contaminated or bad at all but the oil leak is pretty substantial.

I had a look in the engine bay, and after removing the plastic engine covering there is a pipe that would normally connect the top of the engine to the air filter box, which has been melted and seperated into two halves. The air filter box is also broken (which he failed to mention considering he said he serviced it every 5000 miles himself after the last official service at 90,000 miles).

I'm not sure what I can do from a legal point of view as I was led to believe the car was perfectly running and thats the reason I bought it. I paid via PayPal (friends and family unfortunately), but paid via PayPal using my Santander bank account (I understand through Santander I could possibly raise a dispute).

Any help is much appreciated! Thank you in advance!

Grumpy_chap

As a private sale, you have very few rights, unfortunately.
How many miles has the car done and how much did you pay for it?

angrycrow

Whilst you could take him to court for falsely declaring no leaks unless he stated it in the add and you can produce a copy it is his word against yours. I don't fancy your chances. Even if you won you then have to try and extract the money from him. 

You have very little come back on private sales, it is a 13 year old car and has done at least 100,000 miles from what you have told us. 

Your only other hope is to demonstrate he is actually a trader hiding behind Facebook Market place which is very common. If you have a phone number for him Google it to see what else he has been selling. Again your option is to then take him to court with little chance of recovering any money.

Best thing you can do is work out where coolant is leaking (probably the water pump) and where the oil is leaking from (likely valve Cover gasket). If my guesses are right you are looking at around £100 to £150 DIY or £300 to £400 at an independent. I can recommend a good one in West mids if you are up that way. 

macman

Chargeback won't work, as you didn't pay direct, but used your debit card via a 3rd party (Paypal).

foxy-stoat

snodge182 said:

I'm not sure what I can do from a legal point of view as I was led to believe the car was perfectly running and thats the reason I bought it. I paid via PayPal (friends and family unfortunately), but paid via PayPal using my Santander bank account (I understand through Santander I could possibly raise a dispute).

Any help is much appreciated! Thank you in advance!

Get it fixed and dont drive it.

If it was a private sale then you have no comeback, unless the guy wrote in the advert 100% perfect, no leaks, no faults etc etc.
You would still need to prove that the fault was there when you collected, and if it was you would of noticed it when you looked at the engine.

couriervanman

Did you do a decent test drive and give the car a good look over

MEM62

It is a 13-year old car with over 90,000 miles on it.  It is not going to be problem free.  You have no rights against the seller.  Take it to your trusted garage, have it checked over, the faults repaired and I am sure you will see some reasonable service from it.  

JamoLew

snodge182 said:

I had a look in the engine bay, and after removing the plastic engine covering there is a pipe that would normally connect the top of the engine to the air filter box, which has been melted and seperated into two halves. The air filter box is also broken (which he failed to mention considering he said he serviced it every 5000 miles himself after the last official service at 90,000 miles).

Did you not notice any of this before you bought it ?

foxy-stoat

JamoLew said:

snodge182 said:

I had a look in the engine bay, and after removing the plastic engine covering there is a pipe that would normally connect the top of the engine to the air filter box, which has been melted and seperated into two halves. The air filter box is also broken (which he failed to mention considering he said he serviced it every 5000 miles himself after the last official service at 90,000 miles).

Did you not notice any of this before you bought it ?

I don't think so because the seller said the car was perfect....expensive lesson there.

snodge182

Thank you for all the help, I decided to fix the car and carry on as normal. Private selling is a nasty world and I think I'll migrate to electric soon after all this headache. Less maintenance supposedly!

foxy-stoat

Private buying is a minefield yes.  Good luck with the electric car, you will probably be spending at least 3 or 4 times more buying the electric car (don't forget monthly battery rental) than your current Golf.