Boat bought on E-bay

What is the name of your state? NY
We bought a boat on e-bay about a month ago. It was listed as having a 1985 motor and in good working order. We just had tune up and the mechanic has stated by the serial number on the boat that the motor is 1975 upper and a 1976 lower unit. The owner who had it before said he had a mechanic rebuild the motor and was not aware of the difference.
A motor ten years older is a big difference and our mechanic does not want to perform anymore work on the motor because too much has been done in a botched up way.

The boat was listed as is.with only needing a tune-up. However it was mis represented in the advertising.
Do we have any recourse?

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

Originally posted by allwrappedup
What is the name of your state? NY
We bought a boat on e-bay about a month ago. It was listed as having a 1985 motor and in good working order. We just had tune up and the mechanic has stated by the serial number on the boat that the motor is 1975 upper and a 1976 lower unit. The owner who had it before said he had a mechanic rebuild the motor and was not aware of the difference.
A motor ten years older is a big difference and our mechanic does not want to perform anymore work on the motor because too much has been done in a botched up way.

The boat was listed as is.with only needing a tune-up. However it was mis represented in the advertising.
Do we have any recourse?

My response:

Sure you do. However, a few questions first - -

1. From what State did you buy the boat; i.e., where is the seller?

2. What was the date of purchase?

3. What was the final purchase price?

4. On what date did a professional inspection occur?

5. Did YOU inspect the boat prior to purchase?


IAAL

We are both in Ny.
We did inspect boat but not the engine since we needed to get it to our Marina., which was about 1 1/2 hrs away.

We do not have a written agreement to inspect first. We paid with a cashiers check on August 1 ,2003. $2,750.00 and gave a $200.00 deposit = $2950.00

The inspection by the mechanic that found the problem was on 8/21/03. Our first mechanic did not spot or look up the serial numbers on the engine, he just gave it a carburater adjustment. We had no reason to think the engine was older.

We did look over the boat originally but we do not know much about engines . The seller started the engine for us and it started right up. We would take it a get our mechanic to tune it up.

We also were not told of a soft spot in the bow of the boat but held to our agreement because it seemed minor to fix. The boat trailer was also suppose to have new bearings and taillights but our marina had to replace the bearings to move the trailer because they broke off when they moved the trailer.

We have e-mailed the seller, who states that he had the engine rebuilt by his mechanic and was not aware of the different engine types. He is looking for reciepts. He owned the boat for 5yrs.

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

You bought a boat and motor. Plain and simple. You don't need an "agreement" to inspect the boat first. That was you "duty" - - because when you don't, and you put your money down, it's called "Caveat Emptor" (Let the buyer beware). You weren't "beware". You trusted. That was wrong. You didn't perform "due diligence" prior to purchase.

As for the motor and hull, he made an honest mistake. It was your job to have the boat and motor inspected before plunking your money down.

IAAL

It was not possable to have our mechanic look at the boat until we brought it to the marina. It took the mechanic a few days to fiqure out that the engine was of two different types. ( this was why he looked up the serial numbers.)We by ourselves are not able to tell the engine year with a naked eye.
What we are really upset with is the misrepresented engine years. This makes the boat worth even less than we purchased and we could not have been aware of this unless the mechanic pointed it out. It is not visable to an untrained eye.
We would not even expect the seller to refund all of our money but it was misrepresented in the ad that we bought it from as having a 1985 engine. Our engine is 10 years older than what the advertisement stated.

[JETX]

IAAL, my friend. You fell for it AGAIN.
Did you not see where the writer was from?? Did you not realize that no matter how accurate, sympathetic or detailed your response was, it would be answered as this one was???
Damn, I thought I taught you better!!!

What exactly do you mean " look at where the post was from"?? What preconceptions do you have? I would not think this is an area to post prejudices. I am not originally from Ny (which doesn't matter anyway but you are wrong...and it doesnt give you the right to post these comments. I have very high moral standards and where I come from I would want to do things in a moral way. I can thankfully afford to eat the money I have spent but, do not feel these comments on this board are called for. I had general questions and am thankful for the time the lawyers spend in answering these posts but, yours Jetx is uncalled for ....e-mail you friend direct and make private comments if you feel the need. I asked honest questions and obviously some of you as lawyer take this as a joke .

[JETX]

Okay, lets close this whiney, moronic thread.

1) You bought a boat on ebay.
2) You failed in your due diligence on inspecting the boat prior to purchase. (Of course you offer excuses, too far, etc. but they do nothing to alleviate your obligation to inspect). Simply, it wasn't 'convenient', so you assumed additional risk
3) You brought your post here and got an accurate proper response from a respected (by most ) senior member.
4) You then decided to argue your position (really, no legal argument, just excuses).
5) You now refuse to accept the fact that, based on the information in your post, you have little (if any) case against the seller.
6) Instead again of accepting it, you are doing as most NewYukkers do, try to pass the blame to everyone/anyone else.

So, in closing, your choice:
- accept what you have been told here for free and learn from it, or
- pay for an attorney, who if told the same as you did here, will answer as we did, or
- go ahead and file a small claims suit against the seller and present your case to the court.

The latter is probably your best option since the cost is low, the seller is in the same state (btw, you have file in HIS home county) and no one has any idea what evidence the seller has in defense, and finally, no one can determine how the small claims court will rule. Most of the time their rulings seem to have little real relevance to the law anyway.

So, your choice..... go for it.

Thank you for the extra info which most layman have suggested also. You seem to do the most whining especially about Ny which you must have something against. I am not what you call a NYuccker and obviously you've had some bad experiences.There are Yuckers in every State as far as I can tell. I do not even have the accent you probably hate also.....there is only one person that knows your heart.

[JETX]

"Thank you for the extra info"
*** You're welcome.

In response to jetx, I see your point on how he should of been aware on what this poor guy was purchasing. He posted questions to which he received replies. But I don't see what being from NY has anything to do with it! For one I was a new yorker for 27 years and I just recently moved to delaware. I am very proud to have been a New Yorker, to which I still have hundreds of family members. To say that and I quote
"6) Instead again of accepting it, you are doing as most NewYukkers do, try to pass the blame to everyone/anyone else." Is an insulate not only to not only allwrapped, but to me, my family, and the state of NY! There are a lot of hard working decent people in NY, and I believe you should apologize for that remark, I am pretty sure you wouldn't like to be put down like that. Aren't you surpose to be a mature adult!

[I AM ALWAYS LIABLE]

My response:

No, we don't apologize to New Yorkers, or to New Jerseans. We've been contributors to this forum for years and, for the most part, New Yorkers and New Jerseans have a difficult time accepting the law and accepting that they blew it. Rather than accepting, they come back to argue. Sometimes, they argue for the sake of arguing and, as I've said before, New Yorkers would rather eat their own children than admit they were wrong.

But, once we've answered them, we usually don't re-engage them because it's useless and we leave them to the realities of their situation.

One day, the "light bulb" will come on for our writer, and he'll say, "You know, those guys were right." That's because, under the law (which we know very well) we are correct.

So, no. We don't apologize to New Yorkers. Never have, never will.

IAAL

YOU NEED SERIOUS HELP THEN, FOR ONE YOU ARE PUTIING ALL NEW YORKERS IN ONE CATAGORY. AND NOT ALL OF US ARE THE SAME! MOST NEW YORKERS DO RESPECT THE LAW AND THE WHAT COMES WITH THE LAW! SO ONCE AGAIN YOU NEED HELP. HOW WOULD YOU LIKE IT IF I PUT YOU IN THAT CATAGORY THAT ALL PEOPLE IN L.A. ARE NOTHING BUT A BUNCH OF LOW LIFE GANG BANGERS. YOU WOULDN'T LIKE THAT, WOULD YOU ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU KNOW THAT ITS NOT TRUE! SO I SUGGEST YOU GET SOME SERIOUS COUNSELING WITH WHAT EVER PROBLEMS YOU HAVE WITH THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN NY AND NJ! I WILL NO LONGER WASTE MY TIME WITH PEOPLE WHO ARE IGNORANT BULLIES. PEOPLE COME ON THIS SITE LOOKING FOR HELP, THEY DON'T COME HERE LOOKING TO BE PUT DOWN BECAUSE THEY COME FROM CERTAIN PLACE, BY PEOPLE LIKE YOU, YOU SHOULD BE BANNED!

[JETX]

And this is a perfect example of the unreasonableness of NewYukkers.

This guy has gotten so livid over the issue of "NewYukkers" that he can't follow the forum rules (no all-caps) and can't even spell:
PUTIING = putting
CATAGORY = category
CATAGORY (again)
WHAT EVER = whatever

"HOW WOULD YOU LIKE IT IF I PUT YOU IN THAT CATAGORY THAT ALL PEOPLE IN L.A. ARE NOTHING BUT A BUNCH OF LOW LIFE GANG BANGERS. YOU WOULDN'T LIKE THAT, WOULD YOU ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU KNOW THAT ITS NOT TRUE!"
*** But it IS true!!

"I WILL NO LONGER WASTE MY TIME WITH PEOPLE WHO ARE IGNORANT BULLIES."
*** But yet you did in taking the time to write and post your diatribe.

"PEOPLE COME ON THIS SITE LOOKING FOR HELP,"
*** Okay, got me curious. Where is the post where YOU were looking for help??

"YOU SHOULD BE BANNED!"
*** And with all of FIVE posts (at this time), you simply have insufficient experience and/or 'ranking' to get anyone banned. But go ahead and try, we all enjoy a good laugh.