Ever been stiffed when buying a car?

I recently bought a car just as a toy over winter! The guy selling it had it in his girlfriends warehouse, all shiny and nice! Looked great and he assured me there was nothing wrong with it! I did all the usual stuff and crawled all over it, took it for a drive and bought it! A few days later we had that awful rain, low and behold the passenger side of the car filled up with water! If I knew where he was I would run him over in it! Also the hydraulic clutch was on its way out! Of course I wouldn't know until the following day because he would have pumped it once before I went round so it had pressure! So….What has happened to you lot! I can't be on my own?
 

Told ya    

Bad luck Walt  8O

Mate of mine bought his wife a nice looking Nissan Micra [old shape] from a local back street dealer a few years ago. When she came to drive it for the first time on a long run she put the car in to fifth gear and discovered that it jumped out of Fifth!

Guy takes the car back and explains what was happening .

Collects the car next day to find the gear knob has been changed for one that just has 4 gears and reverse on it . Owner of the back street garage informed him that the mechanic had put the wrong gear knob on the car when it was serviced   And it was only supposed to have 4 gears not 5 from new .

Worst thing was he took his word and his missus drove round for 2 years with a 4 speed Micra .  8O


Cheers………

My goodness me! Increddible! Funny really but dispicable really! I have never sold a car that had anything wrong with it! 8O

walt said

I recently bought a car just as a toy over winter! The guy selling it had it in his girlfriends warehouse, all shiny and nice! Looked great and he assured me there was nothing wrong with it! I did all the usual stuff and crawled all over it, took it for a drive and bought it! A few days later we had that awful rain, low and behold the passenger side of the car filled up with water! If I knew where he was I would run him over in it! Also the hydraulic clutch was on its way out! Of course I wouldn't know until the following day because he would have pumped it once before I went round so it had pressure! So….What has happened to you lot! I can't be on my own?
 

I tend to look at it more philosophically. I've bought cars which have needed work - deliberately - because the price reflects the condition. If its genuinely misdescribed, then you have some recourse in law. Also, if its from a trader, then you have more rights. But if its a vague description and you've gone googly-eyed when you see the car, you're on your own!

Isn't fixing problems as they arise, part of the fun of older cars???

1st MK1 dropped a drive shaft CV joint less than 10 miles away from the Guys house when I bought it.

Didn;t make any noises ont he test drive, and was week later when I pisked it up.

Sod's law was my view at the time, I'd probbaly have gone back if it was now and said somethig though. Little wiser and older now I suppose  :wink:

Sorry to about your purchase, I have been caught before also.

I went over my previous car with a fine tooth comb. took it for a long test drive, paid a fair price.

Very happy, within a week the engine was smoking like a james bond car, first shower of rain and I had a puddle on my lap and I found a large amount of filler in the back panel.

Took the shine of my purchase, but how fussy was I when looking for the golf, used fine tooth comb and a magnifying glass, and didn't purchase anything until I went home and thought for a few days.

hope things can be sorted cheaply…. I've been there and know how your feeling :cry:

I'm a little relieved walt - when I saw the post title I was worried for a minute that you had just polished your Rivage one too many times to reveal an old shabby paint job and discover it really has 150k miles on the clock and 10 owners!!

Serious though, feel sorry for you, it's a nightmare when u get stiffed on a car like that. What did you buy out of interest?

Just so you're not alone, I've been done over, luckily it was only ?350 I lost. I bought an X reg Polo (this is 10 years ago) for ?400, it had a fuelling problem which I couldn't sort out, so I sold it broken, for ?50 a couple of months later, after maybe only 600 miles use.

I tend not to purchase expensive cars, so that the most I can lose, isn't too much!

Sorry to hear you been diddled. Old work colleague bought a Ford Ka , but it get worse than that bit . Had the car a few weeks when it received a car park wack to the door. Took it to a bodyshop to get it striaghtned. When he went to pick it up the bodyshop explained they had strighthened out the panel, but noticed the door  didn't seem to shut correctly all the way round. Further inspection showed the car had a had big smack at some point in the past and the chassis was twisted 8O . He had paid ?2000 for it through a private sale, so no come back.

Errr?. Not really stiffed as I bought it as a restoration project but?? On 10 mile journey home my GTI snapped its alternator/water pump belt, replaced that and then with about 2 miles to go engine seized halfway round a roundabout.

Previous owner, a small time trader had the bottom end rebuilt by one of his team of expert tradesmen and one of the new shells slipped and grabbed the crank. Oh well made the decision on whether to rebuild the engine a no brainer..

It was a mk1 MR2….It really is in beautiful condition and as such I paid top money for it, it was in a rare colour with only 50k on the clock with full service history to prove it! However I had it a week and spent over ?400 putting right the clutch and leak! Gutted! It's fine now however, it just took the pleasure out of it for me though! It will be going in spring!  :cry:

I am an EBAY sucker.

Sierra 2.9 XR4x4, had 2 pair of unmatched size tyres which is bad for the 4x4, and a nocking front prop.

Sierra 2.0XR4x4 had a blown head gasket and supped water, and a nocking front prop

Sierra 2.0XR4x4 Craked head

My Current Daily driver Volvo 850T5 has a smokey turbo, blocked breathers, intermitent reverse lights ( ?150 ) 2 nearly bald tyres and has cost me ?1700 in parts in 12 months!!

My capri 1.6 laser was not too bad, beter than expected…

My last ebay purchase a 1.9STDT Pug 405 was supposed to only need a drive shaft. Buth the brakes are in need of work, engine mounts are shot , two CV boots split, emissions are high. And the twiddly nob on the lamp dimmer is US!!!!

I don't generaly spend much so I expect problems.  I actualy made a profit on the secondd 2.0 XR4x4, and managed to salvage a nice dashobard. I have made some good money buying wrecks and selling parts on for a profit.

TT

This isn't quite as bad as all of those but has a happy ending!

When I was 16 I saw an advert for a Mk2 Driver in my local paper at a garage….went along to look at it (obviously wasnt going to get a test drive!) without my boyfriend, now husband. .. Saw it and had to have it!! I sat in it,had a quick look, didn't even start the engine! Then this teenage chav came along and said he wanted it straight away but was trying to get a knock down price. I just said straight away "no, il offer you the full price now" and that was it! The saleswoman said it was the easiest sale she'd ever had - i didnt even argue over road tax or anything! ?995 lol!! Well when my husband got home from work I just said he needed to go pick our new car up, he was so  shocked! I know it seeems a lot of money but it's been really reliable and is in good condition so Im glad I did it

I bought a white mk1 MR2 many years ago from a garage in norfolk, it looked really mint really good condition in and out with no rot round the arches etc (common for old mr2s), but it turned out it had undergone a engine swop with a corrola similar engine 1.6 16v but the problems that came after were unreal, bits fell off ( trim, exhasust and so on) I ended up passing most of the bits on my daily commute down the m69. I ended up swopping it for a 320 bmw, felt sorry for the guy it went to as his bmw was mint.
Another major headache came from my Impreza, i owned it 3weeks before the engine blew up, this time it was a private sale and i even had the rac inspect and test drive it before i bought it, needless to say they got out of a warrenty claim saying they could not predict that sort of failure so it was a waste of 200 quid for the inspection and ?3500 for a rebuilt engine

Gadzooks! Do you think the previous owner knew about the engine fault though or was it just bad luck? 8O

the previous owner was a really nice bloke and i dont think he knew it was going to happen, I did later find out it was quite a common problem on early STIs, and the reason it was sooooo expensive is theres only a few places in the UK who you can trust on these types of car as most normal garages wont have a clue and as it was a rare early STI one of only 200 made in japan in '93 meant i couldn't get a 2nd hand replacement and had to rebuild

Bet it was fast when it wax fixed though!

oh yes, it ran a 13.4 sec quarter at santa pod, it was de-catted, re-mapped and use to spit flames on over run 8O  8)

Sounds like my ex girlfriend! 8O