Sold semi truck - blew a head gasket - guys trying to sue me!

[andr15]

Hi all, i'm new to this forum and in dire need of some help and information. It all started when i sold a 1998 Peterbilt semi truck to an individual in March of 2012. I had the truck listed on ebay as a 1998 Peterbilt with 1,000,000 miles on it and 220,000 miles on the engine since it had been rebuilt from the previous owner(but with no paperwork from previous owner). A guy calls me and says he interested in buying it, two days later he commits and wires me $24,000 to buy the truck. The following day he flys one of his employees to my nearest airport, I pick him up and we headed to my place for him to inspect the truck. Once we got to my place he looked over the truck, inspected it, crawled underneath it and took it for a test drive. The truck had no flaws, no waring signs of any issues, ran top notch, etc...

The guy drives the truck 600 miles home, the next day the owners call me and tell me how much they love the truck. Fast forward 4 days to Saturday morning and I get a phone call from the owner of the truck saying it may have blew a head gasket. I spoke with the owner and apologized for any inconvinience and told him if all it was, was a blown head gasket I would pay for half of it which would be roughly $1,500 on my end. Fast forward another 2 days. He takes the truck to his buddy at a Peterbilt dealership and they say the truck had 2 inch to short air filters in it and it ****** in a bunch of dirt, Peterbilt says they wont even touch the engine with any repairs. The guy now wants me to buy him a new engine for $10,000 and pay for $6,000 of labor to put it in or have Peterbilt rebuild it for $18,000. I told him I'm sorry I can't do that, this was an "As-Is" sale, I felt like I was going above and beyond offering to pay for half the head gasket job.

Basically where I am at right now is the guy hired an attorney, they are trying to sue me for damages / lost wages, the tow off the road, new engine, labor of putting the new engine in, a total of $30,000 and I don't even get the option of giving him his money back and getting my truck back? They want to take this to a Jurry Trial which will cost me $15,000+ in attorney fees not to mention if I somehow lost??

What is your guys' take on this and do I have any way to defend myself without an attorney?? Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[Zigner]

Have you actually been served?

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

I think it was amazing you managed to get a guy to buy that Pete for 24k. I would explain to him that according to Ebays TOS, vehicle sales are not a binding contract, however, when his employee took possession of the truck, after performing a legal DOT inspection, He not only completed the contract to buy it As-Is, he certified that he inspected the vehicle and that no indicators of any head gasket damage were present at that time. If he is taking this to trial, he is not only claiming you gave him a warranty, rather than making an As-Is sale, he is claiming his employees falsified DOT mandated inspections.

 

[Mass_Shyster]

They want to take this to a Jurry Trial which will cost me $15,000+ in attorney fees not to mention if I somehow lost??

Find a cheaper attorney.

Zigner, you're slipping.

 

[Zigner]

Find a cheaper attorney.

Zigner, you're slipping.

Did the OP say he had been served?

 

[Mass_Shyster]

Did the OP say he had been served?

Nope.

Think geography.

 

[Zigner]

Nope.

Think geography.

I see where you're going with that!

I'll leave the honors to you

 

[andr15]

Yep I have been served, they requested a jury trial in April and this is just getting way out of hand. I agree 100% that this guy bought the truck "As-Is", his guy did an inspection, If private sale guys like me or hell even dealers had to back up some sort of warranty up like this, they wouldn't be in business!! Not to mention the truck is a MILLION mile truck. Like I said I went above and beyond and offered to pay half the head gasket job which was $1,500 on my side, $3,000 overall. The guy then became very hostile and threatening with BS criminal charges saying i committed theft by deception. After all this BS and pissing me off I offered to buy my truck back for the $24,000 and even pay for the tow home which was going to be $2,000 and he wanted more money then what he paid for the truck!! I literally have no money to defend myself in court, how gutsy would it be of me to just go in and defend myself?

 

[Zigner]

Yep I have been served, they requested a jury trial in April and this is just getting way out of hand. I agree 100% that this guy bought the truck "As-Is", his guy did an inspection, If private sale guys like me or hell even dealers had to back up some sort of warranty up like this, they wouldn't be in business!! Not to mention the truck is a MILLION mile truck. Like I said I went above and beyond and offered to pay half the head gasket job which was $1,500 on my side, $3,000 overall. The guy then became very hostile and threatening with BS criminal charges saying i committed theft by deception. After all this BS and pissing me off I offered to buy my truck back for the $24,000 and even pay for the tow home which was going to be $2,000 and he wanted more money then what he paid for the truck!! I literally have no money to defend myself in court, how gutsy would it be of me to just go in and defend myself?

This site is for US law only.

As for the last question you asked...gutsy is not the word for it. Unwise, foolish and downright stupid are phrases that come to mind.

 

[tranquility]

I agree with Zigner on the need for representation. This seems like a good case. Sure, there are issues. But, there are a number of things which are in the OP's favor and there is the issue of damages where the buyer seems to want more than a contract expectation in any event that would make is sad to lose because of lack of legal knowledge.

I bet an attorney will cost less than you would lose from self representation.

 

[justalayman]

the issue isn't that it was sold as is but they are claiming you installed improper parts (air cleaner) and that was the ultimate cause of the engine failure. Did you have the proper air cleaner in the truck?

I'm not a big truck guy so you'll have to help out here. Is it normal to change the air filters like you would in a car? How often should they be changed?

How many miles did the buyer put on the truck before experiencing the problem?


I do know a bit about motor vehicles though and I'm not seeing the connection between an incorrect air filter and a blown head gasket. Is there any possible connection that you can see?

 

[andr15]

Here are a little finer details for you guys since you have shown a little interest. When I sold the semi, I stated the engine had 220,000 miles on it since being rebuilt because thats what previous owner had told me, I sold the truck "as is" and with no paperwork or documents from CAT or any source to prove that, it was just "hear say" from the guy I bought it from. Also FYI, I owned the truck for roughly 3 months and decided i wasn't going to put it on the road, thats why I sold it if you're wondering that as well.

Long story short like I said I offered to help pay half the head gasket job, It was then determined by one of his "buddies" that he always does business with at a Peterbilt dealership that the engine needed to be either swapped or totally rebuilt because the air filters were 2 inches too short and the engine sucked in some dirt and they believed it destroyed the engine over a long period of time. (Not my fault nor did I know about this). His buddy at the dealership created some heavily inflated receipts on the minor inspection work they did which has made this situation even worse.

Here's where it gets interesting. My Ex-attorney and the Plantiff's attorney sat down in a round table discussion to try and resolve this matter. I also attended this meeting and I asked if she(opposing attorney) knew anything about engines if she was going to be representing someone that has issues with an engine. She explained she knew nothing about engines, she then stated the plantiff disagreed with the fact that the engine was rebuilt as she past forward to me pictures of an intake manifold on the engine that showed some dirt as well as pictures of the short air filters, THATS IT, they never took pictures of the cylinder head off the engine to show worn liners or the bottom of the cylinder head or anything! It is documented at CAT in 2006 that the engine was rebuilt! The best part is I Googled the serial number of the engine and it was being sold by a private company that deals in these engines with just a bad head gasket, and nothing else!

I have some good evidence that they are trying to take advantage of me, yet in the long run I don't have the money required to fight in a jurry trial.

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

Maintenance of high mileage truck engines only need comply with DOT regulations regarding leakage of air, oil, etc. There is no federally mandated maintenance schedule, only the required for a yearly inspection. Once the engine is out of factory warranty, the owner is free to treat his engine as he chooses, aside from federal leakage and pollution requirements. They appear to have drawn the line. You should obtain council to defend yourself. The first motion would be to dismiss an action away from your local court, as the vehicle was purchased at your place and you should not waive venue rights.

 

[justalayman]

The best part is I Googled the serial number of the engine and it was being sold by a private company that deals in these engines with just a bad head gasket, and nothing else!

Huh?

are you saying the engine from your truck is currently being sold as a used engine in need of repair?

It is documented at CAT in 2006 that the engine was rebuilt!

and there was only 220000 miles put on the engine from then until 2012 (~37k/year)?

I stated the engine had 220,000 miles on it since being rebuilt because thats what previous owner had told me

did you say your only knowledge of the rebuild was the word of the person you bought it from or did you simply say it was rebuilt 220k miles ago and as such, making a representation that a buyer could depend on?

 

[HomeGuru]

OP, when did you do your good search; before or after selling the truck?