i have a little dilemma here....

before i bought my fabia vrs i had a polo gti.

i had a few problems with the polo, the gearbox went so i had to replace that, it's a common problem on 6n2 polo gti's. i also replaced the windscreen as it had a crack in it, and the lambda sensor as i thought that might have been the route of a problem i was having with the car stuttering. overally including fitting of the gearbox i spent around £700 on repairs and jobs that needed doing.

Anyway, after doing all that i thought to myself that i needed a car with lower mileage and newer, as i was doing a lot of mileage for work.

So i put my polo gti up for sale dirt cheap as i just wanted rid of it, as i'd already bought the fabia vrs, so the polo sat there for quite a while not being driven, and i eventually got round to putting it up for sale on edition38 (a vw enthusiasts forum). The car had 105k on the clock and it had a stutter which i was informed was the coilpack, and i was going to get another coilpack before anyone bought the car.

Anyway, to cut a long story short somebody from edition38 pm'd me telling me that they wanted to come down from up north, 200 miles away, and take the car there and then as it was so cheap. i let him know about the problem with the stutter and that i wasn't keen on them taking the car before i had got that sorted out, but they insisted that they still wanted to come and take the car, and it had to be that night, so i agreed as long as they understood that i'd explained about the problem.

Before they arrived i got a mate to have a quick look at the car and check that there was nothing else majorly amiss with it, and we actually traced the stutter down to the HT leads, they seemed to be arcing, so we doused them in WD40 to insulate them and the car drove almost perfectly, and i let the new owner know what we'd done so that they could replace the HT leads when they got the car back home.

So these people drive 200 miles down here, get to a petrol station where we'd arranged to meet, test drove the car, and all was fine, and they agreed that they wanted to take the car. They tried to push me down on price, but as it was already so cheap anyway i wouldn't budge from £2k, which was already way cheaper than another polo gti fore sale on edition38 which had 140k on the clock and was £700 more expensive.

So after the test drive we went back to my house and sorted out money and documents and stuff. I had all the spare keys, the MOT's, all reciepts, etc etc, but i couldn't find the V5 anywhere, and as it was such short notice i obviously couldn't do anything about it at the time, so i promised I would send off a form from the post office to the DVLA to apply for a new V5 for the new owner. Another offshoot of the story is that I sent off the form and the money to the DVLA and they never arrived at the DVLA, so i have no clue what happened there, but in the end the new owner applied for it themselves and that all got sorted, although it cost them £25 which admittedly i need to pay for as it was a messup on my behalf losing the original v5.

Anyway, swop money, give new owner everything they need, made up a reciept with a copy for myself and a copy for the new owner stating car is sold as seen, no warranty implied, and obviously timed and dated, and both mine and the new owners signatures. Off the new owner goes and starts driving home.

about half an hour later i get a call from the new owner and they tell me that the car has stopped on the motorway and that they can't get it to start again. I ask what they would like me to do about it and they tell me they will call back if there is a problem.

I heard nothing again that night, then the next day i get a message on the forum saying that the cambelt had snapped on the way home and that they got the AA to tow them home and had taken the car to Awesome GTI.

They claim that it was going to cost them £1500 to get this sorted as the engine needed replacing as a 105k old engine wasn't worth repairing.

Now i bought a gearbox from a polo gti from a breakers for £250, so not sure how just an engine on it's own, plus fitting could come to £1500.

Anyway, the new owner messaged me telling me they want me to contribute to the repair costs. Now the car was sold as seen and this was written on the reciept. I realise that it must be incredibly annoying for the new owner to have the car break on them literally on the way home.

Legally the owner should have no comeback as the car was sold as seen, and i do feel sorry for them. I did say that i would see would i could do as far as a contribution towards repair costs went. Then ever since then my finances have gone tits up and i was hit with some absolutely massive bills to pay, the latest being a £600 for my fabia vrs cambelt service (the irony).

So now i have the guy telling me he wants the money (which at the end of the day would be a goodwill gesture from me) and him telling me that i have broken my word after telling him i'd try and contribute. There is no way that i am prepared to put myself in further financial trouble for what at the end of the day was a car i sold in good faith.

So really i am just looking for peoples comments. I feel really bad for the guy, but not really sure what more i can do when i can't physically afford to hand any cash over anyway, and really if he wasn't a member of an enthusiasts forum i would have never felt any obligation to do anyway.

sorry for the long post!

Without sounding too harsh, he has bought the car 'sold as seen'.

Tough for him.

Don't let him hassle you, but you shouldn't have said you would try to help him out.

You may feel bad about it, but ' Caveat Emptor' and all that.

he is basically saying that he is going to release the whole story onto the forum, and is basically implying that it will make me look bad.

when you are personally involved in a situation like this you tend to see it from your own side and nobody elses, and really i just wanted to get it onto here and see what other people thought.

Let him do it, then explain your side of the story.

Don't let anyone bully you, after all you gave him the full story.

A cambelt failure can happen anytime.

Sold as seen, end of.

Its not even as if the breakdown was down to a problem you knew about and had tried to cover up, cambelts break as and when they feel like it, for all you know the belt could of snapped due to them thrashing the nuts off it.

Mr Grumpy's post is spot on IMHO.

You're obviously a decent guy that didn't set out to sell a dud car, no need for you to feel guilty. How could you have known the belt was going to fail? Anything, absolutely anything can, and often will happen on a used car.....or a new car actually! Difference here is you hadn't charged extra money to cover profit margins and a warranty like a garage has to.

Don't let it get you down.

Ok look at it another way - the car was fully serviced (with stamps) to the manufacturer's specification and you included all receipts, etc. How would you (a non mechanic) have known that the cambelt would fail? I can understand if it had patchy history, etc, but at the end of the day he signed to say he was happy with the condition of the vehicle at the time of sale - if he didn't have a mechanic strip the car down and inspect it properly, then that's his lookout

Chris

Tough on the guy and maybe a bit of guilt on your behalf, could have snapped on you... Should have put "no warranty given or implied" on the invoice as this would stand up in a court of law (if it went that far) Its not like you have to give a warranty...Take the feedback of the forum but wait several days before you stand up for yourself

HTH

Phil

Tough on the guy and maybe a bit of guilt on your behalf, could have snapped on you... Should have put "no warranty given or implied" on the invoice as this would stand up in a court of law (if it went that far) Its not like you have to give a warranty...Take the feedback of the forum but wait several days before you stand up for yourself

HTH

Phil

i wrote on the reciept

"car is sold as seen, no warranty included"

those are the exact words and i have my copy of the reciept infront of me.

Have you spoken with Awesome to confirm IF they have seen this car?

Like the others have said sold as seen and all that

Have you spoken with Awesome to confirm IF they have seen this car?

Like the others have said sold as seen and all that

not that i don't trust awesome, but when i was selling the car my mate came with me and the guy who was buying the car also had a mate with him. while i was out on the test drive with the prospective owner, the guys mate was telling my mate how they were really friendly with awesome gti.

i will send sarah a quick pm just to confirm the story, but tbh i don't really want to get into all that as at the end of the day as it doesn't really affect matters at the moment.

You did your best and the car was below its value, its harsh but you have already contibuted in a way. If you offer any more you are sort of admiting some sort of liability.

He's got a nerve asking for you to contribute in the first place. Tell him to get bent.

I've sold my car privately and am now having issues with the buyer? - Yahoo! UK & Ireland Answers

As has been said there was no way you could have foreseen the cam belt going.

As said SOLD AS SEEN

Tough on the other guy, but that's life.:( Please do not give any help as you are in no way liable either legally or morrally. If he contacts you again explain this to him, and as you will probably never see him again don't feel guilty.:)

I sold a Fiesta SI once, 1.6 16v, and it liked to drink oil, so I flogged it.

It threw a conrod 2 days later, and the cheque still hasn't cleared. :eek: He emailed me, telling me I'd conned him and was going to cancel the cheque :eek:, I replied telling him I'd take it to small claims, and asked him if he'd checked the oil, and he admitted he hadn't over email!!!

I was young though, and never would I accept a cheque again! :P

A good friend of mine sold a car with a blown head gasket, it blew 48 hrs after he'd sold it and siezed the engine. He was taken to court, and ended up with a CCJ :eek:

As people have said before,you don't owe this guy anything.It was just bad luck that the buyer had a problem with the car.You have done everything you need to!

I had a slight problem when i sold my last car,the guy txt me after 4 weeks to tell me it needed work for the m.o.t. that came to around £800 and wanted me to pay towards it.I sold the car with no tax/m.o.t. as it was sorn and he inspected it and told me he would take it like this.

I was polite and just told him were to go.

You are not a car dealer and didn't give them the hard sell on the car, they wanted to buy it and not pay dealer prices - the car is now their problem not yours, you sold it in good faith. How do you know that they weren't thrashing up the motorway at 60 in second gear? They could just be trying it on. What do people expect from a 105000 mile car? Looks like you picked the right time to get rid of it.

The other bloke doesn't have a leg to stand on. It's just one of life's harsh lessons that we may get from time to time. If he'd wanted a warrantied vehicle he should have stumped up ££££'s more and bought from a dealer, even then its not all straightforward.

Tbh, I don't blame the guy for trying it on, but you don't owe him ANYTHING. You sold the car as seen, you were honest and open about the condition of the vehicle before he came down to buy it.

Stand firm, politely tell him you're not going to contribute as the car was sold as seen without any warranty and he accepted the car on those conditions.

The buyer obviously thinks your a nice guy and thinks he can try it on. Firm but polite is the way forward. If you were supposed to know that the cambelt was just about to snap, you could make a fortune in a garage!!

Steve

'If you buy a car privately, you have no statutory protection. Your only redress is in relation to any misdescriptions made by the seller.'

Have you spoken with Awesome to confirm IF they have seen this car?

Seconded.

There might be nothing wrong with it and he is trying it on :thumbdwn:

Agreed with everyone else; you have neither a legal nor a moral responsibility to pay for a new engine, even if the car's actually been to Awesome.

I agree with all the previous comments: it was sold as seen, so no legal recourse to you if it goes wrong after buying it .

Did anyone hold a gun to his head and force him to buy it? No. I bet this idiot buys cheap, copied DVD's from a guy down the pub then complains that the quality is cr@p.

If you put no pressure on him to buy it and he was more than happy to give you the money then he's accepted responsibility for it and even if you mentioned afterwards verbally that you might contribute to any costs you can still change your mind and not help. Christ, it's not like he's been run over or something, it's a second-hand car and its broken down. Tough. Tell him to put it down to experience, get a life, move on and stop wasting both his time and yours.