Sold my neighbor the wife's car and he says it has problems

Makoto

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A few years ago we moved into our home and since then i've made friends with the guy next door. car guy, pro mechanic, awesome dude. he's helped me diagnose and work on this 09 escape over the years. So he's always told me when i get ready to sell he wants it. He gets in a bind and really needs a car in the last couple months and that motivates me to get the wife in a new car. Literally the whole reason we bought a new car is because he wanted ours. I thought I was helping a guy out. His wife has it for the day, mentions it is kinda noisy, and so he took it to work today. He calls me up asking if this TSB was performed. I'm all "what TSB"?

then I find out that he's assumed I was the original owner this entire time.

so we both feel like jackasses. I already paid off my truck with the money he gave me so its gone and the whole reason we got a new car was to get him this thing, which he never ACTUALLY test drove.

he's not asking for anything, I actually offered to give him 500 back because its all I have on me, to which he replied it won't do him much good. so he doesn't want anything (which is good cause I don't have it) and just kinda ranted for a while and apologized for burdening me with this. I'm just like "shit man, of all the cars I've had and people got, nobody ever complained until I sell one to my next door neighbor".

so we got a new explorer and my 2016 f150 is paid off. he's kicking himself in the butt wondering how he's gonna get out of this thing, and I'm not fully convinced there is anything major wrong but I DO trust his judgment.

I just had to drop this somewhere because I honestly can't do anything and don't know what I would do if I could. What do you guys make of this?
 

evilcw311

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He bought it without test driving it. His problem.

Take it for a drive with him and see what he’s talking about. That way you can say you did your due diligence


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ttocs

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uhm, so the mechanic, bought a car and didn't check it out? I mean its bad enough when lazy mofo's don't take a used car to check it out but he has no excuse....
 

Shaggy

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So is the "TSB" a bad thing and is there something wrong with it?
 
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Makoto

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its always made some noise on startup but i legit thought it was the water pump.
 

96blak54

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People prey on folks like you. Sorry its happened. Go get a bank loan, give his money back....less a few hundred, square it up with him.

Dont allow his ignorance to cloud over you. You will mentally allow him to have ownership over you. Just bite the bullet, give his money back.
 
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evilcw311

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People prey on folks like you. Sorry its happened. Go get a bank loan, give his money back....less a few hundred, square it up with him.

Dont allow his ignorance to cloud over you. You will mentally allow him to have ownership over you. Just bite the bullet, give his money back.

Are you crazier than normal with this?? The guy worked on this vehicle before. He knew what he was buying. He’s a mechanic and should of known to drive it first.

Stop sweating it. It happens. If it’s a tsb he can take it to ford and they’ll more than likely take care of it.

We’ve all bought vehicles that quickly developed problems and I’m sure we’ve all sold vehicles that soon developed problems. Difference is you normally didn’t sell it to your neighbor so you don’t hear about it.

It doesn’t make you a bad person. It’s just a situation that sucks. Still doesn’t change the fact he bought it without fully inspecting it.


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Makoto

Makoto

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People prey on folks like you. Sorry its happened. Go get a bank loan, give his money back....less a few hundred, square it up with him.

Dont allow his ignorance to cloud over you. You will mentally allow him to have ownership over you. Just bite the bullet, give his money back.

After sleeping on it and thinking on it that would be nuts. I figured out what bothers me most about this. I trust his opinion and he thinks the motor has major issues but he just assumed some things and I assumed he had a better understanding of the car and did his research. Going into more debt to pay for his error is just untenable, we now have a 2018 explorer car note to take care of and I used his money to pay off my truck.

I offered him $500 to help offset any costs he might incur and that's as far as I feel comfortable going. He's a great guy and not trying to get one over on me, he's a real car guy who has helped me (and still does) more times than I can count.
 

PinkieT

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We had an issue with our Focus. I found a TSB covering it, but the dealer said out of warranty, we had to pay. Correct me if I'm wrong but the manufacturer will reimburse a dealer for recalls no matter how old or how many miles a car has, but a Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) is a cheat sheet for service techs to help them diagnose and fix problems.
 

evilcw311

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We had an issue with our Focus. I found a TSB covering it, but the dealer said out of warranty, we had to pay. Correct me if I'm wrong but the manufacturer will reimburse a dealer for recalls no matter how old or how many miles a car has, but a Technical Service Bulletin (TSB) is a cheat sheet for service techs to help them diagnose and fix problems.

Some tsb’s are covered and some won’t be. A lot of it depends on the specific dealer.


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Silver95bird

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No. Just ask owners who went thru the tsb for the leaking intake manifolds. Some were even reimbursed for replacements done years earlier.

The difference is itsi not considered a safety issue, so it's not a recall . There can be time limits like the intake, was 7 years from date of manufacture. Didn't one of the other boards have a Ford rep that handles that kind of thing ?

I've heard of shady dealers getting reimbursed from Ford, and still charging the customer as well. Double charging is something corporate frowns on if they find out about it though.
 

ttocs

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again the dude is a mechanic and worked on the car before. Doesn't sound like you implied there was any period that he could have returned it its an as-is sale.

I guess the real question is do you think you will need him to help you work on any cars in the future if he is that good but this whole situation would make me wonder....
 

96blak54

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Are you crazier than normal with this?? The guy worked on this vehicle before. He knew what he was buying. He’s a mechanic and should of known to drive it
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Long as both parties have a civil understanding with the situation, it makes sense to move forward, but if the buyer shouldnt expect the seller to fit the bill of any repairs.

Hope it works out for you. Now get your neighbor to become a member here. So that we can oogle your old car!
 

Duffy

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Caveat emptor.............being a mechanic he should have known to do a bit of looking at the vehicle even if he had worked on it a bit in the past. I's say "sorry for the bad luck" and move on.
 

Burninriverdiver

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Sorry for your luck man, that's crappy he put pressure on you to buy it. If you sold it elsewhere he wouldn't have let you live it down though.

My old neighbor (I was 13) sold a van to a group of guys heading to New Mexico the next day, we lived in Ohio. He told me he refused to sell it to a few of his friends so he'd never have to deal with it again. For some reason it always stuck with me, Ive usually opted for losing a few hundred bucks and traded my vehicles in (or drove one to the scrap yard).

Wish I had some advice for you but I wish you luck and hope your neighbor stays reasonable.
 
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Makoto

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Hope it works out for you. Now get your neighbor to become a member here. So that we can oogle your old car!

its an 09 escape so nothing to see there lol. i drive a 2016 twin turbo 6speed f150 daily :D
 

laramik

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Makes me wonder if this guy is using his "mechanic" title to try and work one over on you. I'd tell him tough sheet, it worked for me so sorry ...

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PinkieT

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Just had a similar problem. I was the original owner of my 2013 Hyundai Sonata, maintained it well, documented everything. It had 157,000 miles. Sister-in-law's daughter needed a reliable vehicle cheap so sold it to her and her boyfriend two months ago for $3k, $500 less than I was asking. I had my mechanic do a full check on it first, no problems. Just heard today that the engine ran out of oil and seized up. He said no oil puddles where they parked or in the road when it quit. I'm waiting for him to get it to a mechanic and figure out what happened. If the oil didn't drain out, possible head gasket failure??? These kids are living paycheck to paycheck and had to borrow money from family to buy it. I'm not legally obligated to do anything, being an as-is sale, but still I feel bad. I'll help them some just because they are family, don't know how much yet.
 

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