any helpful advice? bought a dangerous car

[Whiterose]

Ok, here goes..

Bought a 406 on 23rd sept went and collected it and bought it home. Long story short, I had a mobile mechanic come and check it out yesterday because something just isnt right with it. He is amazed that something hasnt got majorly wrong while ive been driving it and i havnt had an accident.
He has discovered that the mount the fuel pump is attached to has broken away from the engine. The whole thing was moving about, including the cogs that the cambelt sits on etc. He is surprised it hadnt slipped while being driven because it slipped while he was showing me. He also showed me that when he put a screwdriver on the engine, it 'arked' meaning there was a live somewhere. He said this was a fire hazard too. So not only could i have had an accident in it, it could have set on fire too!
Upon a more closer inspection of the engine, we have discovered that the whole engine etc has been completely bodged (last owner said it had an engine change) the wires are all over the place, There is loads of bolts missing (e.g. where there should be 6 bolts holding something on, there were only 2!) and everything just looks a mess.
The mechanic has said that the mounting for the fuel pump has been broken for sometime and someone has even tried to 'chemical metal' it and shoved some wood behind it.

I obviously dont want to keep the car and wondered whats steps i could take seeing as they have sold me an unsafe car? surely its against the law?

[HimBigChief]

Private sale of from a garage? If it was private, then I'm afraid it's a case of buyer beware unless you have the advert (i.e. print out of eBay page stating car in good condition, etc) and can prove that the car is not as described. Other oproblem would be that the old person could say that it was fine when sold and you have had the work done yourself. This could throw all sorts of spanners into the works. If it was bought from a garage then you would have some legal recourse. Pop down and see them and see what they have to say for themselves. It may be worth speaking to your local Citizen's advice and see what they have to say.

[jasper5]

I would ring Consumer Direct for advice....08454040506.

As far as i'm aware, any vehicle sold, from a garage or a private individual, has to be roadworthy, allegedly, in this case, the car appears to be unroadworthy and unsafe.

[omega]

sorry to hear you have bought a bad one
as said before if you bought private dont think you will have much luck so i think you either fix it or get rid.
if you need help just ask on here as you will get lots of help

[Whiterose]

Hi, Thanks,

It was bought off ebay so a private sale.

well its currently in the middle of getting fixed, Had to buy a new mounting bracket for the pump and a new cambelt. dont know how im going to get the dodgy wiring fixed. see what the men say when they come back up.

They reckon i should phone the seller up and tell them whats what. see if i can at least get a refund of the costs or something (currently £180) but im no good at that sort of thing. I clam up on the phone and doubt ill get anywhere.

im very annoyed and angry that someone has done this to me again. Why cant people just be honest when selling a car instead of putting people in danger. I take my 2 year old DD with me everywhere i go so im just thankful nothing bad has happened, its never nice thinking of the what if's.

p.s. missing bolts, Dodgy wiring & live wire, broken fuel pump mounting etc, would any of this fail an MOT? The last owner reckoned that the engine change was done by the previous owner before him, but the last owner had it MOT'd a couple of days after he bought it. Assuming that the mechanic's suspicions are correct, that all the damage etc must have been done when the engine was changed, This means it went though its last MOT in this state!

[steve_earwig]

They don't really check stuff like that I'm wondering if you should get the mechanic to go over the whole car before you shovel any more cash into it.

[Whiterose]

I would ring Consumer Direct for advice....08454040506.

As far as i'm aware, any vehicle sold, from a garage or a private individual, has to be roadworthy, allegedly, in this case, the car appears to be unroadworthy and unsafe.

I will be giving them a ring first thing tommorow and see what they say. They arent open on sundays Thankyou

[HimBigChief]

If you've still got a link to that site stick it up on here as it is possible to get them for misrepresentation/false advertising if they have stated that the car is in good condition and not mentioned any of the bad bits. eBay ads are legally binding so I think in this instance you could get him through the courts, but it may well cost you in the short term. It all depends on what it states in the eBay advert.

I had to look into this a couple of years ago when I bought my old Legacy Outback. It should have had a 2.5l engine in, but it only had a 2.0l and that went bang not long after I'd bought the car. The problem with mine was that the car came from Scotland so it's a whole other legal system up there and I just couldn't be bothered to go through all the hassle so just paid for it all myself. Ended up with me being £1000 or so out of pocket.

[Whiterose]

This is the blokes fault listing that he put on ebay -

From what I can gather it needs a new bottom engine mounting (on sale on Ebay for £9.99)

And I think a new oil sump, as it appears the previous owner has a done some sort of repair on it but it is still leaking. Found this out today when I took the bottom engine cover off.

(I have seen one on Ebay for £49.99)

Hence the reason I am selling for spares or repair.

I have asked on ebay and apparantly because he put those magical words spares or repair, it means it covers him (advice from ebay members).
So if i sell a car on ebay, no matter what condition or faults there may be, as long as i put spares or repair somewhere in the listing then it means im covered??

[Whiterose]

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWNX:IT

Dont know if this link will work? but thats the item ... number 260477021818

[turbolag]

You might get some redress via ebay if certain items have been misdescribed. However, this is tricky as it would have to be demonstrated reasonably that the seller was aware of the faults before ebay would act, but in this case 'spares or repair' covers him.

Aside from that, it's a private sale and you'r pretty much buggered. Buyer beware wih private sales. Don't spend £100 buying a car until someone that knows their spanners has checked it over.

If you don't know one end of a car from another then pay out fro a pro AA or RAC inspection. Sure, it costs £100 or so but can save you £1000's. I can't belive the number of people that skimp on something this simple to try and save a few quid then get caught with their pants down - if nothing else, if your life and that of your passengers not worth £100?

[HimBigChief]

Hmm, grey area. I'd be seeking proper legal advice on this, but he may well try to use ignorance as a mitigation tactic. Not too sure what the legal implications of all this are though. Maybe the seller knew more than they were cottoning on to, but not too sure what "spares or repairs" would cover.

It's very similar to what happened with me as he said the engine change was done before he'd got the car so I would have to sue him, and he would have to sue who he bought it off, etc. This was half the reason I decided against chasing him as it could've gone either way really.

My 406 was from eBay and needed a few more bits doing to it than the bloke knew about, but I was happy to do them myself as they weren't too much of an issue and weren't as much of a safety issue as yours.

[mjb]

"spares or repair" means it's not being sold in a working condition, so I'm afraid you're completely out of luck.

So if i sell a car on ebay, no matter what condition or faults there may be, as long as i put spares or repair somewhere in the listing then it means im covered??

Correct. Do a search for "spares or repair" and you'll see everything is broken.

The sale of goods act, which would cover you, requires the goods to be fit for purpose. In this case, it is as the car can be broken for spares, or it could be repaired...

[darrenwall]

you know where he lives , put some windows through on his house and some paint stripper over his car , not t hat i condone such action but if it was me

[Whiterose]

you know where he lives , put some windows through on his house and some paint stripper over his car , not t hat i condone such action but if it was me

I wouldnt do such a thing!! They were apparantly buying a new 4x4 though, the reason they were selling the car....

Looks like we are pretty much down the creek without a paddle then. Bit of good news at least, The men have come back in to tell me its 'fixed' and can be driven. Still a few jobs that need to be done though, well more than a few jobs but i dont think they are major ones, just ones that need doing asap. Its cost £180 so far.