Been burned by an Ebayer motor trader.... any comebacks?

fanatic said:

Your find we are tough love on here, but we don't like people being stitched up.

I'm sure your gutted/emotional etc- but you must set these aside and resist the temptation to delve into faults until you have followed the recognized procedure Citizens Advice will confirm and help you with templates.

You have scanned the Crock of **** thread and when you have done as the advice has suggested- I'll help via pm to construct a basic letter if you need help from someone who will help you avoid common pitfalls.

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Cheers guys.
I will indeed read the 'crock of ****' thread again
thanks for the pm offer, appreciate it

I'm not tooo overly gutted. Like I say, the car drives excellently, pulls like a train and is in good nick apart from this 'issue'. I've Got to keep my spirits up about it!

lakesrob - cheers mate!

mad Hat man - thanks.. will do

The Mad Hat Man said:

ere fanny - wheres the link to the scottish guy??

read that Anderow, but you have to be prepared to walk the mile..........

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Err I'm trying to remember if someone could stop the room spinning

had a look at the ad, given that its a 99 it'll be on plastic dowels in head so gasket failure is more common with these or so I've read

Would think that as sold without a full breakdown of faults might benefit you but then again for the price its not too bad, factor in a weekends work for you to change the head, £20 for gasket IIRC and £50 for bolts and dowels is it ? Not too bad overall if it drives well currently

fanatic said:

Err I'm trying to remember if someone could stop the room spinning

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I've got plenty to go on, in the 'crock of ****' thread... so I am going to contact him tomorrow morning and see what he says. I very much doubt he will offer to fix it or refund. As he doesn't have a repair part to the business, and he was saying the place that does his repairs is way overpriced!!!

If he does as I expect, I will contact trading standards and citizens advice and see what my position is....

Appreciate the help and support guys.

anderow said:

I've got plenty to go on, in the 'crock of ****' thread... so I am going to contact him tomorrow morning and see what he says. I very much doubt he will offer to fix it or refund. As he doesn't have a repair part to the business, and he was saying the place that does his repairs is way overpriced!!!

If he does as I expect, I will contact trading standards and citizens advice and see what my position is....

Appreciate the help and support guys.

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Banjoman

Dr_evil said:

had a look at the ad, given that its a 99 it'll be on plastic dowels in head so gasket failure is more common with these or so I've read

Would think that as sold without a full breakdown of faults might benefit you but then again for the price its not too bad, factor in a weekends work for you to change the head, £20 for gasket IIRC and £50 for bolts and dowels is it ? Not too bad overall if it drives well currently

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That's my hope mate! thanks for the input.
I've got all the bits in and have spent about £130 so far with new oil and coolant and LR filters etc. Now, if I can do the HG in a long day which I am sure I can, then I will be happy. If however the coolant system still pressurises when I give it some beans... meaning a cracked head. I will be SOL having repaired the engine!!

Think I will see what he says and go from there. Will update asap and thanks all once again

Banjoman AKA CannonSnapper
http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f37/niki-dickson-cars-perth-188713.html

anderow said:

That's my hope mate! thanks for the input.
I've got all the bits in and have spent about £130 so far with new oil and coolant and LR filters etc. Now, if I can do the HG in a long day which I am sure I can, then I will be happy. If however the coolant system still pressurises when I give it some beans... meaning a cracked head. I will be SOL having repaired the engine!!

Think I will see what he says and go from there. Will update asap and thanks all once again

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replace with steel dowels and should be a long day I reckon, stripped a 2012 ford 1.6 fiesta engine last tuesday in under an hour and that was a full strip taking out crank, pistons and everything else so head on a TD5 shouldn't take long to whip off and replace with new gasket

fanatic said:

Banjoman AKA CannonSnapper
http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f37/niki-dickson-cars-perth-188713.html

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Thanks. I searched his thread out and read most of it. A woeful story with a great ending so thanks again.

Dr-evil

If i end up having to go that route (I can't afford to have the car sat on the pavement for 6 months waiting for court action so I might be forced too) I will update as soon as it's done.
It's definately plastic dowel era... Ive got some metal ones on order so hopefully it is curable with a bit of spannering..

anderow said:

Thanks. I searched his thread out and read most of it. A woeful story with a great ending so thanks again.

Dr-evil

If i end up having to go that route (I can't afford to have the car sat on the pavement for 6 months waiting for court action so I might be forced too) I will update as soon as it's done.
It's definately plastic dowel era... Ive got some metal ones on order so hopefully it is curable with a bit of spannering..

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fix it yourself go through courts log time and your hourly rate plus parts. Use that as a claim

anderow said:

Thanks. I searched his thread out and read most of it. A woeful story with a great ending so thanks again.

Dr-evil

If i end up having to go that route (I can't afford to have the car sat on the pavement for 6 months waiting for court action so I might be forced too) I will update as soon as it's done.
It's definately plastic dowel era... Ive got some metal ones on order so hopefully it is curable with a bit of spannering..

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Simple enough, theres a guide on someones TD5 rebuild thread on here

as said earlier too someone close might help you out

anderow said:

I was thinking this. It will be first thing on the list tomorrow I think before I strip the head off.
The cards are stacked against me though I think.
Paid cash. Off ebay. he seemingly doesn't have a proper ebay trader account.
Log book not in his name but the customers who PXd it.

I can imagine he will try and deny responsibility unless I record the call!

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The first thing you need to do before you start to strip it down is get in touch with Citizens advice.
They will tell you what to do and how to do it.
He is on ebay as a registered business and a motor trader.
The log book wont be in his name as he is a motor trader.

Did you get a reciept by any chance.

Am I the only one to read this thread from start to so far
and just think its just one of them things you win some you loose some
I've bought and sold lots of cars and motorbikes over the years Not as a dealer but just because I like a change
Some of them from a dealer and some private and I've had some real nice ones and some that I've had to spend a lot of time and money on

We don't know the dealer knew it had a head gasket problem
We don't know if he had even looked at it
Listing it without an MOT gives you an idea it was just a trade in that he couldn't be bothered with

Don't get me wrong I feel for the guy as I said I've been there myself more than once but its part of buying a second hand car you go look at it you decide what or if it needs any work and you buy it or walk away

I've got a discovery 2 V8 I used it Sunday and it worked fine but we all know the block could crack tomorrow if it wanted to
now what if I sell it Monday and the buyer comes down looks at it takes it out for a hour long test drive and then buys it
And then he drives it back home and the block cracks or his wife don't like the colour

What your saying is he should make me fix it or give him a refund on what is now a dead car or just take me to court

Every time this has happened to me I've ever just repaired it 80% of the time that's what I've done or I've asked the dealer what they can do if anything and sometimes they will repair it for free or just charge parts

2 choices

1) rollover and feel agrieved.
2) walk the walk and see what you can do.

dont touch it until yu have given him the opportunity to mend it. If yu do, all bets are off .

I agree with Mad Hat Man - DO NOT attempt to repair it yourself if you want any comeback, legally you won't then have a case. You must give him a chance to repair it, or have it repaired, or offer you a refund. You might want to ask him for a partial refund - get the job priced up by a proper garage and ask for them to pay that amount.
Trading Standards will give good advice, and the threat of you taking up a case through them might just persuade him to pay up.

Just read the ad and I think this bit is what might win you the day.

"Drives great, 3 dash lights illuminated, scan check saying one front ABS sensor inop.
General service and minor repairs as stated will make this a superb vehicle."

Also, if this bloke is a trader, he has to give you 3 months warrantee. He hasn't really got a leg to stand on, but you might have to force the issue by taking him to court.

The buying a crock sticky was awesome and worked for me. Just make sure you're calm and assertive when you speak to them so there's more chance of assistance. Resist the temptation of having a kicking off session.

Question is did you speak to the dealer, what has happen as from reading back you said you were gonna speak to him last Monday!!

jaysjetski said:

Question is did you speak to the dealer, what has happen as from reading back you said you were gonna speak to him last Monday!!

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Right, I've spoken to him and basically he has said he didn't know about the HG issue and the car was advertised as having faults and was cheap...

So I said well what are you going to do about it, and he said well 'I only passed it on to you from the customer who PXd it...' , you need to speak to him, hes got a shop just down the road. Now I know in the eyes of the law, this is probably not going to work for him, but that was his line...

So I rang citizens advice who then said I 'do have rights in this situation, but as the car is 1999 YOM any faults that could be due to 'wear and tear' are not covered by the laws. So basically I would have to go the court route. I said a head gasket wasn't an expected wear and tear item... and the guy said that due to the age of the car there was no cut and dry solution to the issue. Especially as it had been advertised with a fault.

and as I'm already getting dirty looks from neighbours for having a van and two or 3 cars parked outside, I cant justify leaving it at the side of the road for maybe months going this route..

So,....after some thinking...I have decided as I like the car apart from this issue that I'm going to take it on the chin and repair it (and a lesson learned...) To that end I have got all the bits, new oil and coolant etc for under £140 and I have started stripping it down to get the head off. Unfortunately the weather is not playing ball (Im doing it on the roadside as my garage already has a project car in it lol) and the wind is so strong here the bonnet will probably get torn off at present!
As such I will update the tech thread I have running (and this one) about the conclusion to this affair. When the weather improves Im going to get the head off but need to get the engine crane out as got no helpers and have got to take it off with exhaust manifold and turbo on, (detached at downpipe) because one of the turbo bolts is not going to come off without a big fight..

On first impressions the engine is in very good nick. no evident wear to the cam or rocker lobes and no contamination of the engine oil (right amount when I drained it out, no diesel) and no visible oil in the coolant.
So Im hopeful steel dowels and new head gasket etc will see me purring again..
I will also have learned a fair bit about the TD5 engine which should help me in future.

fair play to you anderow, tbh, £140 is a lot of money, plus your time, but if you like the vehicle and it can be "easily" repaired, then I'm with you.

You could have a protracted long drawn out with the dealer and still ended up with nothing.

Maybe worth seeing if he'll cover the cost of the parts ?

good luck with it though.