I was looking to buy a modified v8 commodore and had been looking for a while on Facebook buy and sell sites, when I noticed a car that caught my eye and I just so happened to know the seller. I expressed interest in the car. He messaged me back telling me that it was an awesome car in mint condition and he’d love for me to have it. He wanted $20000 for it but I could have it for $17000, the amount he’d recently spent on the engine.
He stated that he had spent $17000 on the engine build 30000 klms ago and it was having a major service the next day as well as new tyres and brakes and the car had a 2 year fully transferable warranty. He said the car was mint except for a bit of rash on the rims and a few scratches on the paint, mainly on the front bumper and he already paid for a new club sport bumper for it that I could have once it was delivered.
Being just before Xmas I’d dipped into my car fund a little and told him I wouldn’t be able to pay $17000 until probably February so if the car was still available then I’d probably buy it. He said that because it was such a great car , and we were mates he’d rather see the car go to me and he would let me pay whatever I was short whenever I could and he’d bring it to my place for a test drive.
I test drove it and it’s a very nice car that seemed to go hard enough to have the 450.2 hp at the wheels he’d claimed it had achieved on the dyno 2 weeks ago so I gave him $12000 plus my car for $3000 which left a balance of $2000 owing.
2days later the car started stalling when putting it into gear and you’d have to rev the engine higher before putting it into gear. I asked him if he’d had problems with it stalling as it seemed to idle low for an auto(700rpm) and he told me he’d turned down the idle screw. This can’t be done as it is an electronic throttle. I found it was sucking air through a hole cut in the bottom of the otr airboxand a missing clamp and sealing these fixed the problem but by now the Diff had broken from the jerk of putting it in gear at higher revs costing me $1500 to fix. I’ve replaced the front sway bar rubbers as there was a clunk in the front end when you turned. Now I have a clunk in the back end as well and the check engine light is now on and it seems to be a temperature sensor failure causing the car to overheat. I’ve asked about the warranty and engine build documents several times and now he’s getting nasty. Also the bumper has never been supplied to me and they retail for around $1800 plus paint.
I found a picture of my car on a post I’d saved from a car for sale and contacted the person about the engine build. He says the previous owner had done the work to the engine before he owned it so the engine wasn’t built by my friend and isn’t under warranty. And it turns out that my mate had only owned the car for a week before he sold it to me and it was in his girlfriends name. All our correspondence has been on messenger so I have it all in writing. I signed nothing stating that I owed any money on the car and he hasn’t produced the promised bumper bar or warranty. Now he’s threatening legal action if I don’t give him the $ 2000. I’ve told him I’ll pay the money when I get my warranty and engine build papers and bumper bar, but he will not and can’t deliver on these promised items. As far as I’m concerned I owe him nothing and if anything I was duped into buying a car that hasn’t got a daily fresh engine and is obviously going to cost me more to money. The fresh engine and warranty were big selling points when I bought the car.
Just wondering where I stand? I’m confident he won’t get anything from me if he does take it to court but just want to make sure and I’m tossing up the chances of me maybe suing for damages as a result of his misleading and deceptive conduct resulting in costing me thousands of dollars in future repairs. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
He stated that he had spent $17000 on the engine build 30000 klms ago and it was having a major service the next day as well as new tyres and brakes and the car had a 2 year fully transferable warranty. He said the car was mint except for a bit of rash on the rims and a few scratches on the paint, mainly on the front bumper and he already paid for a new club sport bumper for it that I could have once it was delivered.
Being just before Xmas I’d dipped into my car fund a little and told him I wouldn’t be able to pay $17000 until probably February so if the car was still available then I’d probably buy it. He said that because it was such a great car , and we were mates he’d rather see the car go to me and he would let me pay whatever I was short whenever I could and he’d bring it to my place for a test drive.
I test drove it and it’s a very nice car that seemed to go hard enough to have the 450.2 hp at the wheels he’d claimed it had achieved on the dyno 2 weeks ago so I gave him $12000 plus my car for $3000 which left a balance of $2000 owing.
2days later the car started stalling when putting it into gear and you’d have to rev the engine higher before putting it into gear. I asked him if he’d had problems with it stalling as it seemed to idle low for an auto(700rpm) and he told me he’d turned down the idle screw. This can’t be done as it is an electronic throttle. I found it was sucking air through a hole cut in the bottom of the otr airboxand a missing clamp and sealing these fixed the problem but by now the Diff had broken from the jerk of putting it in gear at higher revs costing me $1500 to fix. I’ve replaced the front sway bar rubbers as there was a clunk in the front end when you turned. Now I have a clunk in the back end as well and the check engine light is now on and it seems to be a temperature sensor failure causing the car to overheat. I’ve asked about the warranty and engine build documents several times and now he’s getting nasty. Also the bumper has never been supplied to me and they retail for around $1800 plus paint.
I found a picture of my car on a post I’d saved from a car for sale and contacted the person about the engine build. He says the previous owner had done the work to the engine before he owned it so the engine wasn’t built by my friend and isn’t under warranty. And it turns out that my mate had only owned the car for a week before he sold it to me and it was in his girlfriends name. All our correspondence has been on messenger so I have it all in writing. I signed nothing stating that I owed any money on the car and he hasn’t produced the promised bumper bar or warranty. Now he’s threatening legal action if I don’t give him the $ 2000. I’ve told him I’ll pay the money when I get my warranty and engine build papers and bumper bar, but he will not and can’t deliver on these promised items. As far as I’m concerned I owe him nothing and if anything I was duped into buying a car that hasn’t got a daily fresh engine and is obviously going to cost me more to money. The fresh engine and warranty were big selling points when I bought the car.
Just wondering where I stand? I’m confident he won’t get anything from me if he does take it to court but just want to make sure and I’m tossing up the chances of me maybe suing for damages as a result of his misleading and deceptive conduct resulting in costing me thousands of dollars in future repairs. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
