Just search on ebay for *sold* listing to get an idea of value https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/275348046040
You’ve probably got no recourse from seller.
... which is why I asked what I asked on the previous page. If it's from a dealer and inside of six months then you have the same rights as new.
Personally i'd work out if it's cheaper to buy son a new car or get the broken one repaired and put it down as an experience. I'd bet it's the repair, but it'll be finding a good mechanic that's prepared to install a 2nd hand engine and deal with any issues that may arise.
As others have said there's no recourse with the seller - it's six months on and the cam belt hadn't gone within days when you bought it.
First thing I did when I bought an old banger of a van on eBay for a grand earlier this year was to change the belts and full service. I had limited (no) recent service history as the previous owner had done it all him self. Its cost me far more than the value of the van in parts and labour with a bunch of different issues over the last few months (I've prob spent a further £1200) but I've now got a reliable van that I know is all up-to-date and I was prepared for it.
To give you another option. My brother's car just failed its MOT in a fairly expensive way. Main dealer only parts on 2-3 wk lead time which cost £1K+ fitting, + all the usual stuff that needs done on a car with 130K miles on it - so was going to be about £2K to keep a car on the road that would be worth £4K (perhaps 5 in current market). Garage did say it would probably be possible to recondition the broken bit for a few hundred quid, but would likely take 3-4 wks. As he needs car for work, and was planning to replace anyway he bought a replacement. Scrappy offered £500 for it. He put it on ebay with a completely honest description, lots of detail and its sold for ~£2.5K. Been bought by a "dealer" - I suspect the sort of guy who does the work himself and has half a dozen projects scattered around the street! Bodywork is all sound though, and paint work etc in VGC.
TLDR; If you don't want to do the engine swap yourself, consider selling as a project for someone who does.... you may be no worse off.
Sorry for last post, not quite sure what planet I was on. It's a rough lesson to learn to dig over the service history comprehensively - hope you manage to get some goodwill from the dealer.
"Scrap" prices are high at the moment but falling, a mix of strong commodity prices mean the recycling value is high, and the parts supply shortage coupled with more older cars being kept going due to lack of new ones / high prices means there's value in the parts too. I just got offered £400 for a knackered Berlingo.
But:
I'd take the cylinder head off myself personally before doing anything. The cambelt is already gone so at this point it's really just unbolting stuff, there's not much you can mess up. Then you'll know what needs doing and can get accurate quotes rather than it costing a few hundred quid just to diagnose if the engine is repairable.
If not, then ebay it for 99p and see what you get. It'll probably do better than you might expect as the buyer will be calculating their profit for the engine fix/swap at a fairly discounted labor rate. Then he can either spend that money on an older car and save up again if he wants something newer, or you could top it up. TBH I think the middle ground of car buying (>6 years old, >70,000 miles, 3rd owner) is a lottery. The weak bits on any car are starting to fail at random intervals by that point, and unlike 30 years ago the actual engine won't ever wear out so the difference between a 200,000mile car with it's 3rd cambelt and a 100,000mile car with it's 2nd isn't really all that much.
A small update on how this played out.
Fixing the car forward wasn't an option, I took the advice from the garage to cut my losses and not throw any more money at it.
On eBay it went for 99p as spares or repairs and ended up being sold for £1200 which was way above expectations.
The guy who bought it, collected it and that'll be the last I see of it. All went smoothly.
Timing was good and we've already got my son sorted with a replacement and what looks like a way more appropriate set of wheels.
Happy all round and dad learnt a hard lesson.
Thanks again 🙂
