EPV

You may find this strange Dave but most car buyers haven’t a clue about the mechanics of it. I’d say 95% of people who are likely to buy the OP’s car wouldn’t even know what a Lamda sensor is, let alone what needs to come off to replace one. I think sometimes the mechanical minded salesman among us forget that whilst you love tinkering around with engines and enjoy that part of the job, most people either don’t have a clue or don’t want to know!

I agree. I’m yet to see any clause or text that says you can’t make a deduction for usage.

It’s an easy decision. You can’t sell a retail car like that imo. There are some cosmetic things you can easily ignore on your chosen end of the market. Bumper scuffs, scuffed alloys etc. A rippped seat says to a punter that you don’t give a fuck. Replace it mate. It’s for the best.

Scapyard, new seat

We need some sort of tool shed where you lot can congregate and nerd over your big ends

They're just not ready to buy a car. People that book and appointment then ring up an hour later mumbling something about their spouse having to to work or the cat has been sick are just not ready to buy a car. Some are never ready.

WE HAVE EDIT BACK PEOPLE

Put it like this. Unless you can prove the “bang” is down to misuse you’re going to lose. The CRA tells us that within 30 days a reverse burden of proof exists meaning the customer has to prove the fault was existing at the point of sale. That doesn’t really matter from what I have read from old heads who have been to court. The judge will look at you like someone who has sold a fucked car to a poor unsuspecting member of the public. So for now, get the car inspected, on your pound note and if you can happen to prove it went bang due to misuse, be glad that all it cost you was £250 or whatever the inspection costs. It would be different if the customer was trying to reject a car because he got a puncture. You have sold him a car, it’s gone bang within a few weeks. This only end up with one winner. Take charge, get it inspected and go from there. A fellow trader off here, who has become something of a mentor to me, once said “you can be completely in the right at times yet still be wrong” Never a truer word spoken I think.

My arse

You need a proper diagnosis. “Gone bang” doesn’t tell you much. If he’s been showing off to his friends, has he been ragging it shitless, red lining it beyond its capacity? You need a proper diagnosis. Generally speaking though, with something like this, you’ll lose in court. Whatever the law says etc, someone has bought a £4K car from you and three weeks later it’s “gone bang” which is all that will be seen by a judge. Get a proper diagnosis done, full independent inspection and with any luck the report will say the punter ragged the nuts out of it, slipped it into second at 50mph, sent the revs through the roof and caused the “bang”

Separate application, separate fee.

Ring the manufacturer, find the intervals. If it’s very overdue then do it. If it’s only just due or due a few months back be prepared to offer half the cost as a discount off the car.

Doesn’t sound overly cheap to me but I reckon it would go quickly. I just sold a 2005 S4 (same 4.2 V8) and it was averaging over 100 as views per day on AT and it sold in a week.

No, i’m more likely to watch Eastenders to be honest. I think everything is fetching proper money at the block lately! Retail prices some of it today.

Well yeah nobody wants to drive a red C1 unless you’re mates with big ears

I sold a red A5 in a fortnight. Red makes cars stand out nicely. On some cars.

It’s bad enough opening this forum and listening to a bunch of pessimistic c*nts never mind looking them straight in the eye...

Joe public usually have minor niggles with a car, or have money problems, or want a quick sale so they can buy a house or whatever else they need the money for. Traders selling to a car buying service will 99% of the time be offloading shite. Comebacks? What could they do other than refuse to deal with you again for unloading shite on them?

Welcome. As a trader, if you had a big old barge with a £3k gearbox problem and you had an 80% chance the assessor wasn't going to pick it up when appraising it, wouldn't you try and palm it off on them? That's why.

Benji, take note. This is the sort of opportunity you should be leaping upon. @MrV

Indeed. I took a battered Toyota Avensis Estate in against the same c250 and have £500 (£400 below below, it needs all sorts) and sold it on to my electrician for what i paid for it plus a free fuse spur. I am rid of if and didn’t make anything but it’s gone. But as you say on a £10k car it’s a slightly different story! Gave not have

Oh and I had a very similar lunatic ringing me on a £10,250 C250 estate last week. He had a BMW X5 in chop, sounded nice, pan roof and 20" wheels, M Sport, over 100k on it but still, not the worst swapper I'd ever see I expect. Without valuing it, I asked what he was looking for out of it and he said "well, I've seen them going for £10,500-11,000 on Autotrader...." so I said well, expect to see around £2000-£2500 less than that as a trade in but please, let me have the reg and I'll do some research and come back to you with the best price I can. 5 mins research, an HPI check and I'm at £9k, so my off-the-cuff assessment to him was right. I call him back, willing to go to £9500 if it's very tidy and I have a good margin in the outgoing car so I'm happy enough with the deal at that price. I tell him the "good news" "No no, that's miles away from where I'm at, not interested" "Sorry to hear that, may I ask what sort of figure did you have in mind?" I ask. "Well, I was expecting at the very least, you to offer me a straight swap. You have the profit I'm sure in the Mercedes, so it would make sense for you to do a straight swap" "Ok, well whilst I can see how that is attractive to you it means I am having to value your car £1250 over it's worth and I have to sell two cars to make one cars' worth of profit" I state. "No no" he continues, "you still have the profit in the Mercedes so you're not losing out" "Hmm, well that means the profit from the Mercedes in theory transfers to your BMW, in essence, and that means I'm having to sell two cars, the Mercedes and your BMW to get my profit, the profit on one car, meaning I'm standing to make nothing on your BMW, which with respect, isn't attractive to me given it may take several weeks to sell your BMW, as nice as it sounds" *3-5 seconds of silence as it dawns on him his maths is so bad it's embarrassing* "ooohh eeerr...no but...errrr" he stammers "I'm sorry we couldn't make a deal" I interrupt to save his blushes "but perhaps it may be better for you to advertise your car privately and give me a call when you have sold it and we can get you in this fine looking Mercedes I have" "Yeah, exactly what I was going to say" he lies on "I will sell it privately, that's what I'll do. If I'm still interested I'll ring you back and make you an offer on the Mercedes" Don't bother I thought. I sold it on Saturday, full asking price to a sensible bloke who could add up. I don't know how some people survive in the world.

4 times? He'd have had two viewings and be told no, FO by his third attempt!

Well done mate, top work.

Anything. I had chemical guys orange degreaser and then I just got some “no nonsense” degreaser from Screwfix.