Private Sale Gone Bad

Thanks for the reply's guys. A lot of people have advised not to respond which is why i haven't and had blocked his number. As said above he has given me no details of what is actually wrong which is what most people would do and not just say the engine has gone.
The thing is the engine is what i would be most confident with as it was rebuilt less than a year ago by a Porsche specialist that i paid for having all new internals and oil pump etc etc. And now hes saying its just gone? This was a selling point as he knew all this work had been done which he was happy with. The only thing we both knew needed doing was that the air con wasn't gassed and the car had lost its radio code other things were cosmetic like wheels could do with a refurb to which i had knocked the price down.
I was planning to respond with a single formal response like Daffy has said if he writes something again.
 
Still don't understand why he only wants 50% contribution from you? Surely you"d want all the costs covered? Interesting though that you now say the engine has been rebuilt recently, how many miles had the motor done? What happened that required a rebuild?
 
If you’re worried about it I don’t understand why you haven’t sought legal advice. The only reply you’ve had worth considering is from @Village who is a solicitor, but even he/she is working on very minimal info and has had to make some assumptions which may or may not be true. Every other piece of advice you’ve had here is a guess representing what that person thinks ought to happen, you may as well ask a random selection of strangers down the pub.
Seriously, if it’s bothering you, go and ask an expert, they’re not expensive and can put your mind at rest and bring an end to this.
 
Still don't understand why he only wants 50% contribution from you? Surely you"d want all the costs covered? Interesting though that you now say the engine has been rebuilt recently, how many miles had the motor done? What happened that required a rebuild?

He said it's because he would still be keeping the car after but yeah it's still strange. The motor had done 102,000 and I had low oil pressure which resulted in internal engine damage. I paid out a lot of money to rebuild it all and had not had any issues with the car at all after a year. The car was sold at 112000 miles and now he has said about a problem.
 
If you’re worried about it I don’t understand why you haven’t sought legal advice. The only reply you’ve had worth considering is from @Village who is a solicitor, but even he/she is working on very minimal info and has had to make some assumptions which may or may not be true. Every other piece of advice you’ve had here is a guess representing what that person thinks ought to happen, you may as well ask a random selection of strangers down the pub.
Seriously, if it’s bothering you, go and ask an expert, they’re not expensive and can put your mind at rest and bring an end to this.

Completely understand this. I'm not looking on a van forum for serious advice as legal advice like you say is the way to go. Was just a discussion and seeing if anyone had had any similar things happen which a few people did.
 
I've had this before on a sale of my Corsa Van about 12years ago.


The new owner can claim against a previous owner if they can prove the previous owner knew about the fault and didn't tell the prospective buyer. The empathies is on the new owner proving the original owner knew about the fault which is really hard to prove.


So if a garage recently told you the engine was about to blow up and you quickly sold it. If the new owner contacts the garage and obtains this info, they could make a claim. It doesn’t mean a court will up hold the claim.


I my case I ignored all emails and messages for a while. Eventually I replied saying I sold the vehicle being honest and in good faith. If they felt I miss leaded them or was dishonest and can prove this, feel free to take me to court. When your claim fails, I will attempt to reclaim any costs. I didn’t hear anything.


If you sell a car with “Should pass an MOT” in the advert and the following day the car fails. They have no comeback because it says “Should” not “will”.

I think this is a scam. You'll be fine.
 
Like I said earlier , if I was in your shoes I would be defo taking a drive to his house and seeing where the car actually is, if the car is fine which I suspect it is , then he and I'm no expert is commiting fraud and you can put this to bed very quickly.

If it smells like a scam it usually is
 
How much did you sell it for btw, quick check says you should only have to pay £4150 for your old car.

Of course if you wanted to play the long game , as you know the mot is due by the 16th Dec , you could simply converse with him around that date and see what he says
 
How much did you sell it for btw, quick check says you should only have to pay £4150 for your old car.

Of course if you wanted to play the long game , as you know the mot is due by the 16th Dec , you could simply converse with him around that date and see what he says

Hi mate i did actually think about going to his house to see if he would be driving it but been busy with work to see if i could catch him. I sold it for £4000 and had come down from the asking price.
 
Google searches come up with many similar stories as being scams. They hassle you until the previous owner pays or its clear they can't bully a payment then move on
 
I think it's quite clear to everyone now this is a scam.

I would be turning the tables on him as if he's tried it on with you , he's bound to have tried it on with someone else and he might have bullied someone else into paying up ( and he's clearly in cahoots with his so called mate too)

I would be driving to his house asap at night when the car is more likely to be sat on the drive , if it's there , phoning him pretending to want to help him see if he drops himself in it (whilst recording it ) , take a few pics of the car on the drive and being driven and then present all you have to the police and see if they will arrest him for fraud.
 
How much guarantee did you get on the engine rebuild? You say it was less that a year ago. I would suggest to him that his engineer/mechanic/specialist has a chat with your engine builder to discuss the faults in detail.

It does have scam written all over it. Telling us the rough location of where he lives would be useful. You could then arrange via pm to get a video taken by a helpful member of the car being driven (if it is). Whatever you do, don't give out specifics on a public forum tho'.
 
Having done a trading standards course on car and vans sales I know exactly where you stand, this scammer can claim nothing off you, from a private sale. Just ignore him and move on - It really is that simple.
 
Haven't heard anything else as of yet.No I wouldn't give out the full address on the forum but the area is Bracknell.
The guarantee on the engine only stood if you had the next services with them and it was a year. But he could of definitely contact them as he had all the invoice etc in the folder with the history.
Everyone I've spoken too online and friends and family has said it sounds like a scam.
 
On a lighter note I had a similar experience a few weeks ago. I purchased a 5ltr box of chardonnay from waitrose and on the box it clearly and boldly stated that if I kept the wine in the fridge it would last 6 weeks....well its gone after 3 days!!
Please help...or do I need help??
 
Did the guy chase you again for cash?

Yes he has now sent me a letter saying that due to me not responding his next plan is to go for the full amount and take me to a small claims court. Suggesting that I'm guilty etc by not responding and blocking him.

I will post a picture of the full letter when I get a chance.
 
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