Ever felt guilty about selling a dodgy motor????
Discussion
recently a sold a car with a few known problems, not saying what, just in case.
Anyway I felt dead guilty about it but my current sutuation meant there was no way I could keep the thing and no way to fix it properly. Sold it to a nice fella that new nothing about cars really (didn't even check the oil) but he did get it cheap for what it was.
Felt both guilt and relief all at the same time as he drove it away. My only justification was that I've bought a couple of cars in the past that were basically fooked so this was just karma balancing things out a little.
Anyone ever knowingly sold a nail of a motor?? did you give a flying fcuk???
Anyway I felt dead guilty about it but my current sutuation meant there was no way I could keep the thing and no way to fix it properly. Sold it to a nice fella that new nothing about cars really (didn't even check the oil) but he did get it cheap for what it was.
Felt both guilt and relief all at the same time as he drove it away. My only justification was that I've bought a couple of cars in the past that were basically fooked so this was just karma balancing things out a little.
Anyone ever knowingly sold a nail of a motor?? did you give a flying fcuk???
i have 
But didnt feel too bad as he got it very cheaply and also cause i told him i was taking the dump valve off before i sold it and he said he wanted it so i left it on.
When he came to collect the car he brought a bankers draft for minus £50 as he didnt want the dump valve which was still on the car and seeing as i couldnt get it off myself i let him have it.
Also he tried to sell it back to me a year later for only £200 off the price!!
Cheeky bugger, so no i didnt feel bad that the turbo eventually blew on it only 2 months after i sold it
But didnt feel too bad as he got it very cheaply and also cause i told him i was taking the dump valve off before i sold it and he said he wanted it so i left it on.
When he came to collect the car he brought a bankers draft for minus £50 as he didnt want the dump valve which was still on the car and seeing as i couldnt get it off myself i let him have it.
Also he tried to sell it back to me a year later for only £200 off the price!!
Cheeky bugger, so no i didnt feel bad that the turbo eventually blew on it only 2 months after i sold it
dave_s13 said:
recently a sold a car with a few known problems, not saying what, just in case.
Anyway I felt dead guilty about it but my current sutuation meant there was no way I could keep the thing and no way to fix it properly. Sold it to a nice fella that new nothing about cars really (didn't even check the oil) but he did get it cheap for what it was.
Felt both guilt and relief all at the same time as he drove it away. My only justification was that I've bought a couple of cars in the past that were basically fooked so this was just karma balancing things out a little.
Anyone ever knowingly sold a nail of a motor?? did you give a flying fcuk???
I sold one that I'd had a mountain of problems with, but I really thought they were all fixed (and I have £800 worth of receipts to prove it!).
I still felt terrible when I heard it had cost its new owner £400 within 3 months, but then that's exactly what its replacement did to me.
Swings & roundabouts.
Caveat Emptor etc.
I got rid a ZX with just about *everything* wrong with it (head gasket, both CV joints, needed a clutch etc etc). I reckoned it was a grand to put right (hence I was getting shot of it).
I traded it. It was clean, polished, fairly tidy and had 4 new tyres. Dealer took a 30 second look, didn't even start the engine (it would have sounded like crap) and offered me £100 above book for it. I pratically tore his hand off.
Suspect he made a lot on the car I bought, but I ripped a dealer off. Guilt, hell no. Pride....
I traded it. It was clean, polished, fairly tidy and had 4 new tyres. Dealer took a 30 second look, didn't even start the engine (it would have sounded like crap) and offered me £100 above book for it. I pratically tore his hand off.
Suspect he made a lot on the car I bought, but I ripped a dealer off. Guilt, hell no. Pride....
Would feel guilty about private punter, not a dealer though.
Mate was trading in a car he hadn't used in a while. Went to start it to take it to the dealers and a core plug popped out.
Typically it was the one under the inlet AND exhaust manifold - we shoved a load of sealant on, but only managed to get it half way back in.
Ended up towing it to just round the corner from the dealers and driving it in from there. Still don't know when/if the thing eventually dropped out.
Cheers, Phil
Mate was trading in a car he hadn't used in a while. Went to start it to take it to the dealers and a core plug popped out.
Typically it was the one under the inlet AND exhaust manifold - we shoved a load of sealant on, but only managed to get it half way back in.
Ended up towing it to just round the corner from the dealers and driving it in from there. Still don't know when/if the thing eventually dropped out.
Cheers, Phil
Sold my old Sylvia and knew it needed an exhaust and clutch but didn't say anything - I could feel/hear they were at fault. 400 pounds or so each. Heard the radiator went soon after too. The buyer didn't even want to look under the bonnet and I had to persuade him to even drive it (that's how smitten he was - it was in such good nick at the time).
Felt a little sorry for him, but I'd been offered 800 cash by a dealer and he offered my 1,400 of the 1,600 asking price and I was leaving the country a few days later to work abroad. I think his wife was cross that he'd sold his Sunny for it and made him sell it soon after.
>> Edited by trefor on Monday 21st July 16:18
Felt a little sorry for him, but I'd been offered 800 cash by a dealer and he offered my 1,400 of the 1,600 asking price and I was leaving the country a few days later to work abroad. I think his wife was cross that he'd sold his Sunny for it and made him sell it soon after.
>> Edited by trefor on Monday 21st July 16:18
I got my own back on a dealer some years ago...gave them a mint '84 Fiesta as a trade in for 500 nicker.
The stupid bastard couldn't look past the fact I'd looked after it, and whilst pulling out in my nice new car asked if there was any way of verifying the mileage. I told him there was a stack of paperwork in the car that clearly detailed all the work that had been done over the last couple of years. No no he said, 42K is a low mileage for a car that old - can you verify that?
Check the paperwork, I advised, smug in the knowledge he'd paid 500 squid for a 142,000 mile Fiesta. Cher-ching!!
The stupid bastard couldn't look past the fact I'd looked after it, and whilst pulling out in my nice new car asked if there was any way of verifying the mileage. I told him there was a stack of paperwork in the car that clearly detailed all the work that had been done over the last couple of years. No no he said, 42K is a low mileage for a car that old - can you verify that?
Check the paperwork, I advised, smug in the knowledge he'd paid 500 squid for a 142,000 mile Fiesta. Cher-ching!!
Alan420 said:
Allow me to buy you a virtual beer!
Why thankyou sir.
I had to take the car I bought off him back about 4 weeks later as a bit dropped off it.
It was a Fiat, so it was kind of expected. He said nothing about the wreck I left him, so I assume it went striaght to auction.
Sold my mazda 323f 2.0l V6 when the tappets started chattering from cold and she was drinking oil I decided to sell. I even told the bloke twice, and he never heard it from cold about the noise when it started and he still bougth it!!!A Saint. I dont think he realised that it is a quad cam engine which would cost a fortumne to overhaul!!!!!
Local dealer was offering £500 off any car on the forecourt whatever condition your car was in.
I explained that the car was at another garage being inspected but would happily accept £500 notes for it.
He agreed and bought the remains of my VERY crash damaged escort assuming it was just broken down (easier to list what wasn't smashed up - ashtray).
He bought me a pint in the pub a few weeks later for having the balls to do that!
I explained that the car was at another garage being inspected but would happily accept £500 notes for it.
He agreed and bought the remains of my VERY crash damaged escort assuming it was just broken down (easier to list what wasn't smashed up - ashtray).
He bought me a pint in the pub a few weeks later for having the balls to do that!
I've sold a few old dogs in my time, but then I've been suckered and bought some junk as well. Its just part of the fun of second hand cars.
Favourite bodges included jamming a screwdriver into the back of an oil pressure gauge and bending the spring, so the gauge showed 40lb of pressure even the engine was not running. The bloke who bought the vehicle said "Its got good oil pressure".
A mate had an old Ford with a rust hole in the top of the wing. He was selling his car when there was snow on the ground so he piled a heap of snow over the hole.
Favourite bodges included jamming a screwdriver into the back of an oil pressure gauge and bending the spring, so the gauge showed 40lb of pressure even the engine was not running. The bloke who bought the vehicle said "Its got good oil pressure".
A mate had an old Ford with a rust hole in the top of the wing. He was selling his car when there was snow on the ground so he piled a heap of snow over the hole.
Got my MGF back after it’s second head gasket had gone pop. Driving along with the missus and said “does this sound right to you, it just doesn’t sound quite right to me?’ the wife also decided it didn’t sound quite right (it had always sounded a bit noisy at low rev’s which was apparently a big no no) so we said sod it, drove it straight onto a local VW forecourt and bought a V5 Golf. Got a blinding trade in value (it was always clean and shiny) and quite a good deal on the Golf, although the moment we did the deal the nice friendly salesman turned into a right miserable git! All I can assume is that we beat him down too far on his margin, but still he was so miserable!
Consequently I did not feel a pang of guilt when I turned up a week or so later to pick up a part and found out that the engine had blown up two days later…….whoops!! According to the guy it was going to cost him about £2.5k to get it fixed.
Matt
Consequently I did not feel a pang of guilt when I turned up a week or so later to pick up a part and found out that the engine had blown up two days later…….whoops!! According to the guy it was going to cost him about £2.5k to get it fixed.
Matt
I've had a few dogs, but mostly sold them when they were sorted, mug that I am... Now motorbikes, that's a different matter :ahem:
However, I had a wife that could trash cars faster than a demolition derby: her track record included the Skoda that blew a head gasket (and was subsequently stolen
), the Peugeot 309TD that she turned over on a blind bend - allegedly forced off by a bin-wagon that was never traced 
- the Escort that she'd had two weeks and reversed into the end of a brick wall, and the piece de resistance: the Citroen Xantia of which - despite a big flashing orange lamp on the dashboard - she NEVER checked the oil and then expressed surprise when one of the conrods came through the front of the sump.
Ian
Now motorbikes, that's a different matter :ahem: However, I had a wife that could trash cars faster than a demolition derby: her track record included the Skoda that blew a head gasket (and was subsequently stolen
), the Peugeot 309TD that she turned over on a blind bend - allegedly forced off by a bin-wagon that was never traced - the Escort that she'd had two weeks and reversed into the end of a brick wall, and the piece de resistance: the Citroen Xantia of which - despite a big flashing orange lamp on the dashboard - she NEVER checked the oil and then expressed surprise when one of the conrods came through the front of the sump. Ian
I was in a bit of a pickle with my last car and refused to sell it to anyone but a dealer. It might as well have said 'bottomless pit' in a big flashing neon on the roof.
It looked good but there was no denying it was a FIAT.
I have absolutely no qualms about letting the trade take 'Frankenstein' ('cos bits were always being bolted on it) 'cos they really should know better.
FFS there were big holes where the dual controls were bolted onto the bulkhead.
But I told no lies and left him with some lovely tyre marks on the forecourt when I left PDQ
It looked good but there was no denying it was a FIAT.
I have absolutely no qualms about letting the trade take 'Frankenstein' ('cos bits were always being bolted on it) 'cos they really should know better.
FFS there were big holes where the dual controls were bolted onto the bulkhead.
But I told no lies and left him with some lovely tyre marks on the forecourt when I left PDQ
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