bad luck or was he taken for a fool

mrmotivator

Hi people, looking for some advice. Recently my friend bought a car from a fella I know, its a lovely looking car but since he got it, it has given him nothing but trouble. The suspension needed work, other parts of the car needed a little work and now the turbo is gone. The car is only 4 years old. Does the turbo normally go on a car so young? I dont know much about it but Im assuming its unusual for a car with not many miles on it. I feel very bad as I recommended this car to my friend as I knew the person, but now Im beginning to think that this fella knew there were a number of things to be done to the car and decided to get rid of it and say nothing. Any advice or thoughts? was thinking of confronting him on behalf of my friend, or should I just stay out of it?:mad:

Anan1

How long ago is 'recently'? I take it the seller's not a dealer? First off, do you have good reason to believe that the seller knew of these issues when he sold the car? Secondly, did your friend verify that the car had been properly maintained before buying it?

mrsteacher

very sorry to hear about your friend, I hope ye get the issue sorted, I know nothing about turbos so Im of no use:-( I do think its bad form of this person not to say anythign if he knew there was something wrong with the car, he'll have no luck for it!

jimbooth

from what i have heard a lot of cars with turbo's in the city have problems as they dont get to kick in enough and therefore get "gunked up"
Also, dont feel bad about recommending the seller of the car, your friend bought it on good faith,was up to him to check out the car fully before handing over the cash lots of things go wrong with second hand cars at any time

mrmotivator

Anan1 wrote: »

I take it the seller's not a dealer? First off, do you have good reason to believe that the seller knew of these issues when he sold the car? Secondly, did your friend verify that the car had been properly maintained before buying it?

Thanks for your messages so far, yes we have good reason to think this person knew about the issues and covered them up, my friend and I both looked at the car,also had a mechanic friend look at it and drove it also. The car has a service book with it showing miles and dates of services also.

Anan1

mrmotivator wrote: »

Thanks for your messages so far, yes we have good reason to think this person knew about the issues and covered them up, my friend and I both looked at the car,also had a mechanic friend look at it and drove it also. The car has a service book with it showing miles and dates of services also.

Did the mechanic give the car the all-clear? Can you give us some kind of a timescale here - when the car was bought, when each problem occurred? Was the seller a dealer? Why do you think that they knew of the issues?

krissovo

Sounds like its been clocked or a ringer with so many issues. Did he do background check?

Cars are generally sold as seen unless from a dealer with warranty, that mechanic friend wants a kick up the @ss if there are so many issues post sale.

Anan1

krissovo wrote: »

Sounds like its been clocked or a ringer with so many issues.

Ah come on now, it's quite possible for a genuine, well-minded car to need a new turbo and suspension work after four years. Jumping to conclusions without all the facts won't help anyone.

Welease

If it was a private sale, then irrespective of what he knew/you think.. you have no legal recourse..

The goods only have to be a) his b) fit the description..

:mad:

mrmotivator

mrmotivator wrote: »

Thanks for your messages so far, yes we have good reason to think this person knew about the issues and covered them up, my friend and I both looked at the car,also had a mechanic friend look at it and drove it also. The car has a service book with it showing miles and dates of services also.

Sounds like you need to use a different mechanic next time. What makes you think the issue were known and covered up though?

What make and model is the car and what miles were on it?

mrmotivator

background check was done on the car, mechanic gave it a quick once over, nothing too in depth I suppose. Ya the problem is it was bought privately, its an Audi A6 with approx 78,000 miles on it, i dont think I should go in to the reasons we suspect he knew about the problems as he could be on here for all I know! just feel bad for my firend, thought ye might have some words of wisdom! thanks :-)

Nonoperational

It's not out of the world unusual a car with 80k would need a bit of suspension work. The turbo shouldn't go at that mileage but it's certainly not unheard of.

-Corkie-

gpf101 wrote: »

It's not out of the world unusual a car with 80k would need a bit of suspension work. The turbo shouldn't go at that mileage but it's certainly not unheard of.

Thats very true. More to the point his friend will probably need a DMF shortly and maybe injectors and DPF if fitted to that A6..

Leonard Hofstadter

Those 2.0 TDI A6s are dreadful for reliability, in a way your friend should be thankful it's the turbo went, those engines are known for their dodgy oil pump, which results in the engine being starved of oil and writing off the engine!

Unfortuantely OP, there is very little you can do. Private sales are a case of buyer beware, unless there is something wrong with it that is likely to result in loss of life, such as dodgy brakes, cut and shut etc.

mickdw

Suspension faults should have been spotted prior to purchase if they existed at that time so that cannot be blamed on the seller. Turbos have been known to go at the mileage thats on that car. As corkie said, alot of possible bills down the road with this car and none of them would be any reflection on the previous owner!

mrmotivator

-Corkie- wrote: »

Thats very true. More to the point his friend will probably need a DMF shortly and maybe injectors and DPF if fitted to that A6..

What exactly does this mean Corkie? as you can tell I dont know much about cars, think I had better warn him!!:-)
Im thinking of buying a car myself shortly, all this talk of things going wrong is putting me off though, I havent a clue what make of car to go for, I wouldve thought Audi was a good make previous to my friends situation but don't think i'd buy one now!

-Corkie-

mrmotivator wrote: »

What exactly does this mean Corkie? as you can tell I dont know much about cars, think I had better warn him!!:-)
Im thinking of buying a car myself shortly, all this talk of things going wrong is putting me off though, I havent a clue what make of car to go for, I wouldve thought Audi was a good make previous to my friends situation but don't think i'd buy one now!

DMF is basically the flywheel which breaks up in a lot of diesel cars with mileage circa 100k. DPF is a filter between the engine and exhaust which filters soot and burns it of safley later. These need to be replaced also and cost roughy 900 euro. The DMF is about 1k to replace. Injectors are 800 euro a pop.

Must be someting with the A6. Look at what happened here.
What sort of car are you buying??

vtsboy

Was the mechanic paid to give the car a once over? As said already those A6's give awful trouble. Who is telling you about all these faults? Main dealer? Mechanic that looked at car? Unfortunatly its a mechanical object and things do go wrong. As for it being clocked or ringer..... Thats just making assumptions