Car blew up!

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margyr, Apr 18, 9:17pm
Hi there, the young girl next door brought a car the other week she travels to work each day in Hamilton, well anyway the car blew up yesterday and local garage has said motor is stuffed, they rang the seller who laughed and said he was surprised it lasted a week, yet when he was selling it was a good reliable run about, had receipts for the work done on it etc. My question is does she have any way to get money back from the seller! There are already alot of " I told You so's", going on so she knows all that but what a heart break for her to lose so much money. It was not advertised as is where is, if this makes any difference.

louweez1, Apr 18, 9:20pm
ring CAB

margyr, Apr 18, 9:23pm
yep told her that, just thought someone else here may have some knowledge I can share with her.

andy61, Apr 18, 9:26pm
When you say brought-where did she bring it! . No r in bought. Did your neighbour get the car checked out first!Never take a sellers word on car condition. I think she will have to take this experience as tough luck

newtec1, Apr 18, 9:29pm
Yes there is,the small claims court.If she can prove the conditions of sale she will have no problem being reimbersed for the costs,especialy after only one week.With what you have said i would think she would have a very strong case.

margyr, Apr 18, 9:35pm
she did take one peice of my advice which was to take her Dad with her and let him tell her if it was a good car;) no they did not get it checked but have got the so called service records and work done receipts seller supplied. And thanks for the correction to my spelling I will probably however continue to make the same mistake.

newtec1, Apr 18, 9:36pm
No way.It makes no diference where she bought it from.All she has to prove in a small claims court is the condition of sale,which will come down to her word against the vendor.If what she says is correct it should not be a broblem.

newtec1, Apr 18, 9:39pm
With what you have told us re: service records etc,she would have a strong case in the small claims.Trust me i have been through the process twice.

newtec1, Apr 18, 9:44pm
The only problem being the small cost of actioning the claim,and the time involved before she gets reimbersed.If she can get it repaired in the meantime she should go ahead, but she should also give the vendor the chance to make repairs first. Good luck.

gadgit3, Apr 18, 9:59pm
Hold on a min. what went wrong with the engine to cause it to just blow up! was the fault even knowen by the seller in the first place! or did the cambelt just let go! over heated due to lack of water in radiator and then she drove it till it stopped! those cases I would suspect she would be pushing runie poos up hills with sharp sticks to get her money back.
We need more info before we can shoot the seller down and expect money.

noswalg, Apr 18, 10:01pm
so the car exploded! how is that the sellers fault! maybe the car spontaneously self combusted, I think there is more to this story!

noswalg, Apr 18, 10:03pm
exactly what I was wondering

hamhonda, Apr 18, 10:08pm
"they rang the seller who laughed and said he was surprised it lasted a week" From that statement it sounds like he knew something was wrong with the car, but I do see your point ie cambelt etc.Being in the auto industry I hear customers often moaning about picking their cars up from garages and it now has something else wrong with it, but what they dont realise is that sometimes things can stop working without there being any sign of it about to happen

margyr, Apr 18, 10:08pm
as I said in first post when they contacted the seller he laughed and said he was surprised it lasted the week so obviously he knew of a fault he did not disclose when selling, he told her and her parents that it was a good run around and the only reason he was selling was he had lost his job and needed the cash. She being very proud of her car washed it every 2nd day and checked the oil and water when getting petrol which given the time she had the car 10 days was several times over the period. I dont know much about what exactly caused it to "blow up" apart from that the local mechanic has said the motor is stuffed.

tonyrockyhorror, Apr 18, 10:08pm
Sounds like that condition has already been met.

tonyrockyhorror, Apr 18, 10:09pm
Yes, more specifics needed if we're to offer an opinion and guidance based on these actual events.

realtrader1, Apr 18, 10:17pm
I think the material point is: what does "the car blew up" mean!Posts so far are only speculative, understandably, as there is no substance to work from.Let's know the cause of motor failure, make model, engine no. and the garage's understanding of events incl. whether the driver had eg smacked into something leading to water loss, engine overheat etc.Need much more to work from on this one.

newtec1, Apr 18, 10:22pm
Did you not read the OP. If it was sold as a reliable runner with receipts to prove it there is no question of the intent of the vendor. If it expired after only one week,that would prove to me the vendor was lying,and sold the car under false pretence.

newtec1, Apr 18, 10:25pm
We have to take for granted the engine expired due to being in poor condition at POS.You wouldn't expect a car you have just purchased to 'blow up' after only one week.

newtec1, Apr 18, 10:28pm
Like i said earlier,if what you say is correct,she will have no problems.

curlcrown, Apr 18, 10:31pm
You would if it was old, high mileage and cheap. I bet it was at least two of those things.

newtec1, Apr 18, 10:32pm
But the vendor has receipts for work done to make it a reliable car,regardless how old it is.

margyr, Apr 18, 10:39pm
thanks everyone for your input, I am off to work now but will check back later, have a nice day enjoy some sunshine if you can.

countrypete, Apr 18, 10:54pm
The statement "I'm surprised it lasted that long" can be taken to mean a number of things.Perhaps the seller thought the buyer was a lead-footed boy / girl racer and would drive the car too hard!Not saying that's the case, but that comment may have more to do with the seller's perception of the buyer, not the car.Given the limited information the OP has provided, there's no way to make definite statements about whay could or should happen next.

bellky, Apr 18, 11:03pm
I had a friend sell a van. He looked after it for years and it was a good vehicle. A couple of chaps came and picked it up, paid and drove off. They blew it up before getting home, and of course my mate ended up giving them their money back and kept the now stuffed van.