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Sold car to a private individual who is now taking me to samll claims for repairs

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Fred316

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Ohio

I sold a used car I had to a private individual. The car had been posted for sale for three weeks while I continued to drive it. There were several people interested in the vehicle, the last interested party ended up purchasing it from me.

The car had over 150,000 miles on it and was advertised with a list of problems it had and that would need fixed or replaced. I included pictures of rust damage and also stated the specific interior and exterior lights that did not work and would need replaced. Every problem the car had I listed. I posted pictures when appropriate.

The individual came to look at the car and test drive it. The only inspection this individual did was to look at the rust damage, which was all. I repeatedly told him of the problems with the interior and exterior lights. His response was " I dont care". I had to explain to him how all of the features worked because he never asked or looked at any of the cars components.


He never opened the hood, looked under it or checked fluids, nothing. He asked if it came with a warranty which I told him no, the extended warranty ran out at 100,000 miles.

I had taken the car to a new car dealer for a trade in appraisal after the private party had test drove the car. He acted interested but provided no payment arrangements and stated it would be at least a week before he could have money.

The dealership who provided the trade-in appraisal had a sales man and a manager inspect it and test drive it and had no problems with it. They offered me $1,500 less than I was asking from a private sale, so I held off on the offer. Their offer was within blue book value.

The interested individual made payment through his bank to my bank 8 days after he had drove the vehicle. He never came back before making payment to look over it a second time. It took him three days after the payment was made to come pick the vehicle up. Again, he never looked over the vehicle at all. The title was signed over and he drove it home.

Once he made the payment, I stopped driving the car, which had absolutely no problems other than the ones listed in the sale ad.

Four days after he drove the car home, I received a call complaining of oil leaks but he provided no particular details of what was leaking or what was wrong.

Almost two months later, I received a call stating he was taking me to small claims court for over $3,000 in repairs. He had a service garage conduct the repairs who claims the engine was "pieced together" and was leaking oil bad.

This individual is claiming sine I never told him it was being sold "AS-IS" I am responsible for the repairs, even though he never asked me to help pay for such repair. He has also asked the service tech. to come as a witness.

I have told him I am sorry his car has problems but told him I had told him the car had no warranty when he asked and that it ran fine when I stopped driving it.

He insists on small claims so I am getting all of my firepower ready.

Thanks for any and all responses.
 


Antigone*

Senior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Ohio

I sold a used car I had to a private individual. The car had been posted for sale for three weeks while I continued to drive it. There were several people interested in the vehicle, the last interested party ended up purchasing it from me.

The car had over 150,000 miles on it and was advertised with a list of problems it had and that would need fixed or replaced. I included pictures of rust damage and also stated the specific interior and exterior lights that did not work and would need replaced. Every problem the car had I listed. I posted pictures when appropriate.

The individual came to look at the car and test drive it. The only inspection this individual did was to look at the rust damage, which was all. I repeatedly told him of the problems with the interior and exterior lights. His response was " I dont care". I had to explain to him how all of the features worked because he never asked or looked at any of the cars components.


He never opened the hood, looked under it or checked fluids, nothing. He asked if it came with a warranty which I told him no, the extended warranty ran out at 100,000 miles.

I had taken the car to a new car dealer for a trade in appraisal after the private party had test drove the car. He acted interested but provided no payment arrangements and stated it would be at least a week before he could have money.

The dealership who provided the trade-in appraisal had a sales man and a manager inspect it and test drive it and had no problems with it. They offered me $1,500 less than I was asking from a private sale, so I held off on the offer. Their offer was within blue book value.

The interested individual made payment through his bank to my bank 8 days after he had drove the vehicle. He never came back before making payment to look over it a second time. It took him three days after the payment was made to come pick the vehicle up. Again, he never looked over the vehicle at all. The title was signed over and he drove it home.

Once he made the payment, I stopped driving the car, which had absolutely no problems other than the ones listed in the sale ad.

Four days after he drove the car home, I received a call complaining of oil leaks but he provided no particular details of what was leaking or what was wrong.

Almost two months later, I received a call stating he was taking me to small claims court for over $3,000 in repairs. He had a service garage conduct the repairs who claims the engine was "pieced together" and was leaking oil bad.

This individual is claiming sine I never told him it was being sold "AS-IS" I am responsible for the repairs, even though he never asked me to help pay for such repair. He has also asked the service tech. to come as a witness.

I have told him I am sorry his car has problems but told him I had told him the car had no warranty when he asked and that it ran fine when I stopped driving it.

He insists on small claims so I am getting all of my firepower ready.

Thanks for any and all responses.
thanks for the story...tell him to pound sand.
 

Fred316

Junior Member
Thanks, sorry for the long story, it just takes a while to explain this entire mess.

I would like to tell him to pound sand, I guess I'm just to nice for that.
 

Antigone*

Senior Member
Thanks, sorry for the long story, it just takes a while to explain this entire mess.

I would like to tell him to pound sand, I guess I'm just to nice for that.
Don't be nice Fred. In this case nice may cost you money ~ stand up for your rights. Especially if this guy is trying to take you to the cleaners, and it looks like he is.

Remember to ask this when you get to court. Did the car pass inspection and were you able to register the vehicle in your name? If the answer is yes and you have all your other documentation showing that you stated the car had problems you should be on solid ground.
 

Mass_Shyster

Senior Member
Thanks, sorry for the long story, it just takes a while to explain this entire mess.

I would like to tell him to pound sand, I guess I'm just to nice for that.
If you end up getting a summons for small claims court, don't ignore it. Show up and bring a copy of your ad with you.
 

sandyclaus

Senior Member
buyer beware!

Most private-party cars are sold on an AS-IS basis, unless otherwise specified. The prospective buyer asked if there was a warranty, and you said there wasn't. You claim that your ad specified several issues with the car, you made the effort to point out possible problems when the person checked it over, and you even took it to the dealer to have them appraise it.

I didn't hear you say that the buyer was a mechanic or that he had the car looked over by a mechanic before he put his money down and drove the car off. That's important to your defense, because it is the BUYER's responsibility to do that if there is any concern with regard to the condition of the car. Since it was never looked over by a mechanic per the buyer's request (at his expense), you are NOT liable for any additional repairs that they may incur to make the car "PERFECT". They didn't buy a PERFECT car, they bought a used car that they knew already had problems. They bought the car AS-IS and made a conscious and very foolish choice to do so in spite of the problems it had.

Make sure to bring with you the copy of the ad that lists all of the problems with the vehicle before the person bought it. Any smart buyer would have had a mechanic look it over to ensure just what he/she was buying into. Since the new owner did not, he can chalk it up to a learning experience (i.e. POUND SAND).
 

Fred316

Junior Member
Most private-party cars are sold on an AS-IS basis, unless otherwise specified. The prospective buyer asked if there was a warranty, and you said there wasn't. You claim that your ad specified several issues with the car, you made the effort to point out possible problems when the person checked it over, and you even took it to the dealer to have them appraise it.

I didn't hear you say that the buyer was a mechanic or that he had the car looked over by a mechanic before he put his money down and drove the car off. That's important to your defense, because it is the BUYER's responsibility to do that if there is any concern with regard to the condition of the car. Since it was never looked over by a mechanic per the buyer's request (at his expense), you are NOT liable for any additional repairs that they may incur to make the car "PERFECT". They didn't buy a PERFECT car, they bought a used car that they knew already had problems. They bought the car AS-IS and made a conscious and very foolish choice to do so in spite of the problems it had.

Make sure to bring with you the copy of the ad that lists all of the problems with the vehicle before the person bought it. Any smart buyer would have had a mechanic look it over to ensure just what he/she was buying into. Since the new owner did not, he can chalk it up to a learning experience (i.e. POUND SAND).
Thanks, you are corret, he neve even mentioned having some one inspet the car before purhase. Technically, the only thing he inspected was the rust damage.
 

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