Sold my C4S. One hour later buyer has issues...

[Palladium]

yet when I posted similar, I got slagged especially by chrisintheuk.

 

[plynchy]

Sold my M3 a couple of years ago privately, a week later the buyer was texting me saying he'd been pulled by plod and the rear tyres were illegal, rear brakes were dodgy etc etc. Explained to him, again, that the car was put through an MOT the day he collected it, and how do I know what he'd been doing with it for a week? The brakes were 1500 miles old.

Eventually blocked his number as the messages kept coming. Total chancer, the car was sound, I wouldn't sell a duffer.

The wife told me not to sell him it as soon as he turned up to view, but a sale is a sale. Women's intuition? :roll:

 

[Shurv]

It really does sound like a coil pack, exactly the same symptoms as mine when one failed. Stuart, sounds like you're doing the right thing, I'd do exactly the same, and look after the bloke. I'd pay for one coil pack, and suggest to the guy that he replaces the rest.
Not that confident in his "indy" though, doesn't sound like they know much about the issue.
SO..............................................what are you replacing it with? Amazed no one's asked already.

 

[wilpert]

The more I read posts here, the more I get convinced that I must be a soft touch and the rest of the world are hard as nails.

Lets face it, even if youve had a good touch on the purchase price, surely you wouldnt expect the car to have problems after just an hour.

Assuming this was a problem waiting to happen, it still would have happened to the seller a few miles down the road, so he would have had to get it sorted himself anyway.
Also, people are overlooking the fact that the buyer must have placed a 100% trust in the seller or he would have had an inspection carried out, in which case again, it possibly would have shown up a problem and then the sale may well have fell through.
He must have asked all the usual questions about the mechanical soundness of the car, at which time the reply would have been "yes the car is great, runs like a dream blah blah" or would the seller have said, "yes it runs fine then goes clunk and plumes of smoke after 45 minutes"

Doesnt the buyer deserve a bit of help for shaking hands on a deal and trusting the bloke he bought the car from. Same thing doesnt the seller have a bit of a moral duty to help the bloke who bought his car on trust.
People seem too webbed up on the legals these days and seem to have lost touch on old fashioned fairness and trust.

 

[MJA911]

@Wilpert, to me your attitude is the right one and I would be doing what the OP is doing in this situation, acting in good faith. That said, business is business and given there are so many chancers around cars, private and trade, if you've been on the receiving end of it your attitude would be affected. Or you may simply be a bit of a git of course :wink:

Edit: corrected apostrophe error

 

[Jcx]

I think Budge has been bang on BUT I have got to know him quite well outside of the forum and he is a proper bloke. A stand-up chap. Decent to the core. So I am not the least bit surprised about his approach.

I think this situation is not black and white. And like other things in life you can't approach it as being so. You assess the situation as it unfolds and you adjust accordingly.

Had Clarkey come back to me with a problem so soon after buying my 964 I would not have doubted his claims for a moment as he was also thoroughly decent to deal with. And I wouldn't have waved the receipt at him with the sold as seen terminology. Not after 1 hour of buying the car.

But if the buyer had appeared to be much less scrupulous I may have adopted a different stance. You read the person and the situation and you adjust.

Last weekend on our Wales adventure one of the chaps rolled up in a lovely 912. It whizzed along the Welsh roads keeping up with everything in the twisty wet roads. And then after 2 hours it stopped and wouldn't restart. RAC man came and told us that the points had closed. He reopened them and we were off again. The next day it was awesome again and then after 180 miles of his home bound journey it stopped and wouldn't restart. A bang on the starter motor and it was off again. Point is that this 50 year old car was fine one minute and immobile the next with no warning. You buy an old car and you drive with uncertainty. It's part of the purchase. You want certainty, buy a new car and you may, just may get it.

Just my two Penneth.

 

[MJA911]

Erroneous post c:

 

[wizard993]

Not sure why the OP even bothered posting the question as he clearly has made his mind up to "do the right thing" beforehand and no alternative views are even worth considering.

Nothing to see here :bye:

 

[Palladium]

like much of social media really, trivia dressed up as lmportant, we all do it, including me, but fair play to people who help out financially after a sale :thumb:

 

[madge]

Not sure why the OP even bothered posting the question as he clearly has made his mind up to "do the right thing" beforehand and no alternative views are even worth considering.

Nothing to see here :bye:

Well there's been an interesting and well reasoned discussion following the OP's post. Isn't that the point of a forum?

I for one think that the OP has acted in a very honourable way. Good to know that there are still some decent folks out there. :thumb:

 

[wizard993]

Not sure why the OP even bothered posting the question as he clearly has made his mind up to "do the right thing" beforehand and no alternative views are even worth considering.

Nothing to see here :bye:

Well there's been an interesting and well reasoned discussion following the OP's post. Isn't that the point of a forum?

I for one think that the OP has acted in a very honourable way. Good to know that there are still some decent folks out there. :thumb:

How do you know that when we don't know if it's a coil failure or an engine failure?

So will the OP sort it out if the engine is gone?....I think not and he will quickly migrate to the other[not decent?] camp.

 

[Palladium]

how far do we go with this, I mean lots of people buy houses, and to protect themselves they pay for a survey, so many people say to me the survey missed loads and was a total waste of money, you go with your own instinct and knowledge when you buy. You could easily move in to your new house and the boiler packs up, what do you do, get in touch with the previous owner or call an engineer. Unless someone has tried to defraud you, then when you buy privately the deal ends when the money and goods switch owners. You respect the buyer, the buyer respects the seller, but you don't want to go out dancing with each other afterwards. :thumb:

 

[wizard993]

how far do we go with this, I mean lots of people buy houses, and to protect themselves they pay for a survey, so many people say to me the survey missed loads and was a total waste of money, you go with your own instinct and knowledge when you buy. You could easily move in to your new house and the boiler packs up, what do you do, get in touch with the previous owner or call an engineer. Unless someone has tried to defraud you, then when you buy privately the deal ends when the money and goods switch owners. You respect the buyer, the buyer respects the seller, but you don't want to go out dancing with each other afterwards. :thumb:

Well said :thumb:

 

[budge]

Hi everyone. Thought I would bring this thread to a conclusion with an update....

The issue was indeed a single coil that had packed up. I've been in touch with the buyer throughout.
I offered to pay for the parts and labour, but the buyer declined and seemed more than happy to cover it. We've been in comms since and it sounds as though he's enjoying the car and getting plenty more use out of it than me.

For the moment, whilst life is so busy for me, I've picked up an F31 BMW 335D XDrive MSport Touring which has far exceeded expectations and covers everything I "need" from a car.
Hoping by this time next year I will be back in a 911 of some sort.

Cheers.

 

[Jcx]

glad its all sorted. peace.