Why I walked away from a car.

fonecrusher1

Was almost going to buy a car on Wednesday but alas the deal fell through.:(

Well how disappointing and frustrating. The seller refused to hand the car over to the mechanic I had arranged to inspect the car. His excuses for not letting the car get checked were not substantial. This was one of many parts of what looked like a bit of dodgy deal.

So here are the little and not-so-little signs that basically forced me away from this car.

1. Hesitant about giving his name in the first call. There was a 2 second pause between me asking and him and him saying his name. I initially thought this was my imagination but there was definitely a pause.
2. He removed the ad from the car selling website the day after I expressed interest and claimed not to know why this was.
3. Said he bought the car 8 months ago. When I did a reg check on the car the report said the car was last purchased 4 months ago.
4. Then he said the car was his brother's not his. I never found out who actually owned the car!
5. The car reg check revealed the car had not been taxed for quite a few months a few years ago. Why? Possibly for legit reasons, possibly not? Also there had been quite a few owners. Lets just say quite a few owners for the year of the car.
6. Refused to hand over the car to the mechanic I had arranged to inspect the car. The mechanic said that he politely offered a number of methods of getting the car over to his shop but the seller refused.

Maybe the car was fine, maybe not, but this really is a case of being safe rather than sorry. There was too much potential for this to turn out to be a very costly mistake.

Would you have went ahead with the purchase with your money?

Bear in mind I am not saying the car was dodgy. I just decided to walk away.

NIMAN

Plenty of cars out there, sounds like the right move to me.

road_high

Sounds like a very lucky escape to me!

djimi

Aside from the fact that I would say you should be bringing the mechanic to the car, not the other way around, Id say you were absolutely ring to walk away. Even if the car is on the level there is no point doing business for what is a large sum of money with someone that you are not completely sure about. This bloke sounded dodgy.

sean1141

If someone rang me looking for me to bring my car to their mechanic I would look to be paid for my time and fuel. I would have no problem with them bringing their mechanic to look at the car but it's very hard for a mechanic to inspect a car fully without a lift or pit

JaManSnowFlake

It's better to be safe than sorry. My brother got burnt two years ago buying a Golf. The car was basically held together with sticky tape, ge sold it on and was burnt for a few grand.

Momento Mori

Smart decision!

Bearcat

Caveat emptor

Col200sx

Yep right decision

In the summer after doing all my research, chatting to the owner few times etc, I'd bought my train/bus ticket (Galway - Wicklow) and paid for a cartell check.

He knew I'd find a problem if there was one, I'd told him numerous times.

Then 8 hours before travelling, he texts saying: "Engine mgmt light is on".

On the plus side I didn't waste a day heading East, but was down around €70.

But as they say, there are other cars out there

oconnelld17

Definitely did the right thing, I feel sorry for the person who he probably sold it too (assuming there was something wrong with the car not saying there was)

There should definitely should be some kind of law brought in to help people when buying a car privately

Maybe there is, open to correction.

Anyone have any stories about buying private cars that turned out to be crackers on wheels?????

oregano

djimi wrote: »

Aside from the fact that I would say you should be bringing the mechanic to the car, not the other way around, Id say you were absolutely ring to walk away. Even if the car is on the level there is no point doing business for what is a large sum of money with someone that you are not completely sure about. This bloke sounded dodgy.

When I first went out on my own selling cars I used to bring cars anywhere to help get the sale. Car parks, clients homes, wherever. I still do it, if the customer legitimately can't get to me.

But, I will never bring a car to a buyers mechanic again. The mechanic may pass the car or not, but as a seller you end up waiting around for what can be ages while the guy could be doing anything to your car on his ramp with his tools.

Or, and this is often the case, the mechanic gets me to bring the car to him so he can knock it because he has another car to put the customer into.

So I just say no nowadays, and let them bring their mechanic. Most people are cool with that.

I got me a feeling the OP got a dealer masquerading as private. If he lies about that, what else could he be lying about???

Supergurrier

You did the right thing

Bigus

Well done .

oconnelld17

op, can you give us any info on the car you intended to buy??

Make model mileage, just as a matter of interest

Have you any other cars in mind???

lifer_sean

oregano wrote: »

Or, and this is often the case, the mechanic gets me to bring the car to him so he can knock it because he has another car to put the customer into.

+1

been there also !

Not only do you lose the sale, but the buyer is then convinced you are pulling a stroke, even though the car has no genuine issues.

unkel

fonecrusher1 wrote: »

The seller refused to hand the car over to the mechanic I had arranged to inspect the car

I'm not sure why you bothered to post here in great detail after that

I'm not even sure why that upset you

Seller has dodgy car. Hopes some mug will buy it. You're not a mug. You're not buying it. Happy end

fonecrusher1

unkel wrote: »

I'm not sure why you bothered to post here in great detail after that

I'm not even sure why that upset you

Seller has dodgy car. Hopes some mug will buy it. You're not a mug. You're not buying it. Happy end

I don't know why you decided to contribute such a worthless post to the thread to be honest.

I'm telling people why I walked away from the car. Has that upset you in some way? : )

Joshua J

The mother was looking for a 2nd hand car bout two weeks ago. She was walking past an indy dealer and called in cause he had Pug 205 which is car she wanted. Quoted €3250. She came home and told me so I had a look on donedeal and found another one same year and similar milage close buy for €2850. Decided to give the guy a call and arranged to meet ten minutes later in a hotel car park (alarm bells).

So arrive in car park waiting, when the seller pulls around the corner and my mum says "That's the car I was looking at earlier". Was not pleased at this stage, he was trying to rip €400 out of an old woman. Anyway we jump out and blah blah blah says that the dearer price was with warrenty and lower price without, that he has nothing to do with donedeal etc, the young lad musta mixed up prices etc. Anyway she wanted a 205 so thought I'd have a look.

So was giving her the once over and he kept chatting to me trying to push the nct in my face. He was saying I could take it for a drive around the car park. I said if he wants to sell I'm taking it on the road. He said he had garage insurance and could only take it if I have fully comp open drive. Said I did. Rough wee run. No clutch, was like butter, brakes were spongey. On the way back the mother was asking should we make an offer. I said no.

Anyway got out and he kept handing me the nct test sheets so decided have a look and took a walk round the car. Saw at the bottom of the passenger door an off colour bubble of rust. Ran my finger on it and then saw a few marks on the bumper and ran my finger over them. Pulled my hand away and was covered in blue paint (blue car). Turned to your man told him we'd pass on it and headed off. Mother said she gonna call in some day and reef him out of it, told her It'd be water off a ducks back.

Kevwoody

unkel wrote: »

I'm not sure why you bothered to post here in great detail after that

I'm not even sure why that upset you

Seller has dodgy car. Hopes some mug will buy it. You're not a mug. You're not buying it. Happy end

And I thought the whole point of boards.ie was to discuss things which happen to us on a daily basis !

Mister Jingles

Joshua J wrote: »

The mother was looking for a 2nd hand car bout two weeks ago. She was walking past an indy dealer and called in cause he had Pug 205 which is car she wanted. Quoted €3250. She came home and told me so I had a look on donedeal and found another one same year and similar milage close buy for €2850. Decided to give the guy a call and arranged to meet ten minutes later in a hotel car park (alarm bells).

2850 for a car that is at least 15 years old ? Was it a GTI ?

Chuck Stone

unkel wrote: »

I'm not sure why you bothered to post here in great detail after that

I'm not even sure why that upset you

Seller has dodgy car. Hopes some mug will buy it. You're not a mug. You're not buying it. Happy end

Twat.




It's worth the ban.

McGrath5

Fair play to you OP, you trusted your instinct and walked away. There is plenty more fish in the sea.

Joshua J

Mister Jingles wrote: »

2850 for a car that is at least 15 years old ? Was it a GTI ?

Lol cheers. For 205 read 206 .

glic71rods46t0

unkel wrote: »

I'm not sure why you bothered to post here in great detail after that

I'm not even sure why that upset you

Seller has dodgy car. Hopes some mug will buy it. You're not a mug. You're not buying it. Happy end

And you're a mod:eek: .

Howjoe1

If the seller is willing to lie then it's never worth the risk.

M44B19

Could be a cool idea for a new thread.

Why you walked away, telling random stories of weird and dodgy buyers/sellers.