Long story, but on Saturday I sold my ultra-reliable 4 year old Golf 1.6TDI. It has never missed a beat- in all the time I’ve had it all I’ve done is fuel it, service it, put tyres on it, clean it, and MOT it. Transaction all completed, V5 slips filled out, money transferred.

And then, in the past 5 minutes, the new owner has texted me to say that the car has entered limp-home mode, on the motorway, and they’ve made it to VW in Preston.

Would you reply? Is it my problem?

Yes and no.

Sold as seen if you’re a private seller and you weren’t aware of any problems when you sold it.

Though I’d probably feel pretty guilty if I was the seller, how do you know your new car isn’t about to do the same?

I might reply depending on my view of the buyer and how reasonable I reckon they are. I wouldn’t consider it my problem unless I’d lied to them about something.

are you a dealer …. if not, not your issue.

Txt “Sorry to hear that,you did fill up with diesel,didn’t you?”

If you can offer help, I’d offer help, without implying any liability or wrongdoing. They’ll suspect you, which is only reasonable so it’s all about seeing it from both sides and not taking offence while also not taking a hit that may not be yours, I reckon.

No, not a dealer, and no, no lies told- immaculate car with FSH, that I (perhaps stupidly) sold for a few hundred quid less than I was (later) offered elsewhere as the new owner gave me a sob-story about being skint. (I had half an idea to call her and tell her that someone had offered me £300 quid more, but it seemed like bad karma.)

The thing is, a while back I bought a generic Gendan ODBII code reader, as the wife’s car was starting to throw up faults (her car has now been replaced). And so I intentionally plugged this into the car before sale to check no codes were stored, and showed this to the lady. So I know it was a good one.

What if she’s misfuelled it? She had a petrol car previously.

Northwind- she’s now about 280 miles south of where I am now- and I now have no car.

Sold a car years ago and the head gasket went 3 days later. Turned out I’d sold it to an absolute psychopath who was hell bent on killing me in revenge. Gave him £200 against a quoted garage repair of £700, which even without the death threats I would probably have done anyway.

Common (ish) scam. Get a VW specialist (mate) to give a diagnostics sheet saying £300 of repair work needed. Pester you for money refund to cover it.

Don’t reply, other than to say “tough titties”.

EDIT:

Northwind- she’s now about 280 miles south of where I am now- and I now have no car.

And exactly how is she going to prove that the car wasn’t being driven like a Paris-Dakar entrant for those 280 miles?

TFO- Ah. She’s just said something about a VW working mate…..

As above, sold as seen. Seen this scam before.

sold for a few hundred quid les

So the money she saved can now go towards fixing her car.

so she has driven it 280 miles…. its a mechanical piece of equipment sold by someone not qualified to say its “all good” bought by someone not qualified to say its”all good”

i see no reason to be helping out – unless you knowingly sold a lemon.

Here’s her exact SMS:

“Hello Gary, just thought I’d let you know I’m currently sitting in Preston VW as the car went into limp mode after 3 hours on motorway! EML came on so called my old boss at VW and he told me not to risk it! Fingers crossed!!”

I’d say ‘I’m sorry to hear that but it was working to your satisfaction when you bought it and left here and whilst I sympathise with your position I don’t feel it’s my responsibility if it subsequently had an issue’

She’s trying to scam me, eh?

Bloody hell, after taking in that sob story and thinking it was the right thing to do.

Chump.

Just tell her your car is sulking because it’s missing you….it should buck it’s ideas up in a day or two.

She used multiple exclamation marks.

String her up!!!!!!!11!!1!!!!!1!!!!!

I think I’d reply

Sorry to hear that but as I’m sure you understand, the car was sold as seen.

If she’s honest then it’s just bad luck for her and part of buying privately. She may convince herself that you have somehow sold her a dud but unless you’re trying to be her friend, you’ve acted in good faith and have no reason to feel guilty.

I would reply saying “that is a shame. Car was sold as seen and in good faith.” I would then ignore her.

That message doesn’t mention anything about money, so I wouldn’t bother replying and starting a conversation. She test drove it, and I guess no AA inspection, so her problem now.

So you sold it on Sat and today it goes into limphome mode.

A really sick car tends to throw up wobbles within the drive home.

I’d be tempted to phone the VW garage and ask them if its diagnosed yet and your her partner….

I’ve sold a few cars privately, if one the drive home THAT DAY a fault appeared I might help them out. Otherwise you’ve no idea whats happened or if you being done over. If it really is coincidence at what point do you stop offering a “private seller warranty”?

I’d reply:

“Good luck, I hope it turns out OK. Really sorry to hear it’s started having problems since you’ve owned it when it gave me no trouble at all.”

She’s not actually asking for anything, so a sympathetic reply implying lack of responsibility seems about right.

So the money she saved can now go towards fixing her car.
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Indeed – my current car was “cheap”, hence I’m not really all that worried by the large bill I’ve just paid which i was kind of expecting.

Tough titties, as long it was correctly described in the advert.

A sympathetic reply would not hurt though.

Just say it turned a bit nippy today,hope it warms up soon 🙂

I wouldn’t reply. I wouldn’t enter any dialogue or conversation. If you receive a rude text or voicemail simply reply back ‘if you contact me again I will report you to the police for harrasement.

If you receive ‘we will take you to court’. Reply back ‘be assured I will defend myself fully and vigorously in court as the car was sold in a private sale and you checked the car over and had every opportunity to exam the car further. Whilst in my care/in your company the car did not show any fault. Goodbye.

I wouldn’t reply.

It could be that as they’re on the motorway they’ve hammered it to see how fast it goes. Maybe there’s a sensor somewhere that said stop and put it into limp mode.
*I am not a mechanic and this could be (and probably is) wrong.

Phone Preston VW and ask them if the car is there . 01772 702288 speak to the service desk

I also had this when I sold a car the bloke phoned next day and said the battery was dead, he scared me so I gave him half the cost of battery to his paypal account

Good luck

To be honest guys, this has been the most reliable car I’ve ever had, and I was in two minds about selling it for that very fact. I even got it changed form the long-life service interval to ‘standard’ every 10k miles because I didn’t fancy it- so its cost me more. For it to break down 2 days after I sold it? Doesn’t add up.

What makes me suspicious is that the buyer gave me (possibly fictitious) a long story about how she’d been out of work a while, how she was now temping, how her existing car (a 14 year old Mk4 Golf GTI) had started to let her down, and how an old aunt had given her the money to buy this car to turn her fortunes around- and like a muppet I went for it, even though the very next day someone offered me £150 more, and THE DAY AFTER THAT!! someone offered me £300 more.

So if she’s skint, and has no integrity, maybe this is what she would pull.

Sounds like a con. Do not reply.

Sympathy but no liability. No further comms, not your issue.

codybrennan said:[/i]

stuff

You’ve already given this more thought than it deserves. Not your problem. Forget about it.

Phone Preston VW and ask them if the car is there . 01772 702288 speak to the service desk

Ask them if it has ever been there.

I bought a car privately, drove it home and a week later the engine light came on. A air/fuel sensor failed at £450 plus fitting.

On the drive home from Gloucester to Manchester the car was spot-on.

It was coincidence that the sensor failed when it did, the EML only came on WHEN it failed so not the sellers problem. TBH the seller was the type of bloke who probably would have helped out (copper who was obsessed with servicing it/doing everything right on the dot) but it wasn’t his problem in my book.

“have you tried switching it off and on again?”

Does sound like a con. Buy car at less than market value, claim a breakdown and hope for some more money off (since if you fell for the initial sob story, maybe you’ll fall for this one) and then sell it on at a profit – potentially say £600 profit for little actual work if she can sell it on a market price.

Just be very polite and say she should check her warranty.
If she can’t find the documents tell her to google the sold as seen warranty.
Tell her should she require any works doing to go to the nearest car repair garage. Once fixed tell her to pay and not to bother you again.

I’m going with con…did she bat her eyelids or wear a short skirt on the test drive whilst telling you the first part of the sob story?

As said above…ring Preston VW and see if they’ve had the car in…but even if they have…it could still be a scam with a friend in servicing.

Sold as seen in my book.

So, have you called VW Preston.. ?

If you want to be nice, text back that turning the car off, wait 10 secs and restart usually clears a Limp Mode problem… other than that, sorry,can’t help.