Trader wants money after the deal was done

[MyLittleStudPony]

A trader bought a car from me. It was advertised on eBay, he travelled to view it. He said he had a customer who wanted that exact colour / interior so travelled a long way to see the car. He looked it over and bought it then drove away in it.

About 40 minutes later he called me and said the engine light had come on and it had gone into safe mode. He is now back at his base, many many miles away and has contacted me saying I should pay to remedy whatever is wrong. He texted me a photo showing the engine light on.

He checked the car before he bought it. We have had it about 8 years and done c.100,000 miles in it, having bought it when it was one year old from a main dealer. In all that time it has never had an issue like this.

Surely he is taking the piss asking for money? He checked it, he bought it, from that moment it's his risk, isn't it?

Playing Devil's Advocate, he could have pulled of a vacuum pipe or something to make the engine light come on. I guess it could be bad luck that after 100,000 trouble free miles it goes wrong for him in the first 50....

[weeksy]

"nah mate, sorry. It was fine when you collected it"

[Yorick]

Bought as seen.

[Mr. Dazzle]

Wait until he looks in the glovebox!

[KungFooBob]

Caveat emptor.

If you were a trader, you'd be fucked. As it's a private sale I reckon he's not got an ice cubes hope in hell.

[DefTrap]

I'd probably give someone their money back if they returned it intact the same day. Otherwise, nope.

[636mick]

Have you mostly done short journeys in it? I’ve seen where the first time a car does a long trip a sensor somewhere decided it’s out of parameters and pops the light on.
If it’s that and there’s nowt wrong it usually resets after the third hot start, heat/cool cycle x 3 and it’ll go off.
Suggest that to him, if he knows his stuff he’ll be willing to try, if he’s honest.
Mick

[Mr. Dazzle]

Have you mostly done short journeys in it? I’ve seen where the first time a car does a long trip a sensor somewhere decided it’s out of parameters and pops the light on.
If it’s that and there’s nowt wrong it usually resets after the third hot start, heat/cool cycle x 3 and it’ll go off.
Suggest that to him, if he knows his stuff he’ll be willing to try, if he’s honest.
Mick

I wouldn't.

Not because I don't think your method might work, but because as soon as you start engaging with the "have you tried...?" stuff you're accepting the possibility there might be something wrong with it and you might have already known.

[KungFooBob]

I'm not a trader.

I've got a £10 Bluetooth ODB2 reader and an app on my phone. I could tell you what caused the light in 30 seconds.

You'd think a proper trader would read the codes and know what the fault is. Could be a £10 wheel speed sensor... or a £500 NoX Sensor.

[wull]

Can’t fathom why a trader is after a car with 100k on it, no money in that for him surely? Tell him to fuck off.

[Taff]

I wouldn't even engage in any sorry of conversation.
Years ago someone rang me about a month after buying a bike off me complaining that the battery was going flat, my response- are you asking me to buy a new battery for YOUR bike?

That was the end of that chat.

[Horse]

No idea whether the purchaser being a trader makes a difference.

https://www.rocketlawyer.com/gb/en/fami ... a-used-car
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[Skub]

I don't blame him for trying it on,he's maybe done it before with favourable results.

He's a trader,he looked at the car,bought the car and drove off in the car. That means it's his car,not yours.

[Taipan]

Was he a traveller? That's normally one of their stunts.

[Sunny]

I don't blame him for trying it on,he's maybe done it before with favourable results.

He's a trader,he looked at the car,bought the car and drove off in the car. That means it's his car,not yours.

This. Buyer beware. Tell him to do one.

[Felix]

If the EML was not on at the point of sale tell him to fuck off. Sold as seen is in all my ebay adverts.

[Nordboy]

It's a well known scam/ try on. Do a search and you'll probably find many stories the same.

[Mussels]

The engine light might have come on because he fitted a broken part from another car to it, your responsibility for it stopped as soon as he bought it

[Count Steer]

Not the same as this case but another on private sales - was reading something about car buying scams recently. It seems you need to plan to have the same number of people present as the buyer pitches up with. You can't risk anyone having access under the bonnet if you haven't got eyeballs on them.

(I think the particular trick that kicked the article off was slipping a dose of oil in the coolant. Go for test drive and 'something smells funny' and 'Oh dear, it looks like the head gaskets gone, I'll do you a favour and take it off your hands for....' etc).

In MLSPs case the trade buyer can whistle. If he's really trade he knows the score - but it sounds like he's trying it on.

[Cousin Jack]

He is either naive, or a rip off merchant. My money is on the latter.
We have a small group of 'traders' around here who buy old cars, either broken ones to 'fix', or running ones that they try to buy for a fraction of the original price. Best way to deal with them is to refuse to buy or sell.
Sold as seen, he is the trader, not you. You may expect some sort of threats, report them to the police.
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