Your thoughts

[Kira]

Hello, My friend's son needed to sell his 2000 Luxury SUV w/170K. A good riding, big cruiser with matched tires, unripped leather, rear A/C controls and the merest beginnings of rust.

I offered to place ads online. I snapped pictures of it and was diligent to include clear photos of the vehicle's body damage. I photographed the bad side from the same angle as the good side.

After posting the ads I chatted with my friend and he mentioned that his son would prefer not to have the buyer too near by as the vehicle has a recurring EVAP related CEL. This came as news.

The lad called this evening to tell me he sold the car. I asked him about the CEL and he said it didn't come back on during the 60 mile drive to the new owner's home. He added that the new owner has a brother who's a service manager in a local dealership/garage. He also added that when he got home tonight the new owner called to mention the CEL had come on. The kid claimed ignorance. He lied.

Hmmm.....Do I tell Santa? I suggested he keep some bandages and anti-septic on hand because the new owner might come by and say 'Hi'.

It's bugging me a bit. Nice kid otherwise. The vehicle was SUPER fairly priced. The body damage wasn't that bad at all. The buyer obviously wanted this particular vehicle. It is in otherwise very good condition. The buyer has access to extremely easy repair scenarios......but the kid did lie about it-even to me to a degree.

Am I a childish dreamer? Is the kid merely realistic? Does offering a vehicle at a near give away price create license to lie by omission? The buyer did snap up a value priced vehicle. Is a extremely serviceable vehicle in otherwise great shape good enough to overlook this transgression? Should the buyer have been suspicious of the low, low price?

What do you think? Darn it. Kira

 

[rjundi]

Car has 170k miles. The CEL could be a new issue besides the known.

What does a buyer expect with a 14 year old vehicle? Would not sweat it.

 

[gregk24]

He knew about the issue, then lied to the buyer about it...this is wrong, he LIED. Wrong! He will get his.

 

[AdRock]

Personally I think it's pretty much [censored] not to tell the buyer about the CEL. If he was pretty much giving the thing away at the price he asked then I don't think it would matter to the buyer if he said it had an intermittent CEL.

I've sold cars for cheap and told the buyer about problems. BUT, I also pulled comps for sale and showed that even with a CEL and a few problems they were still getting a deal. I only had a few people that decided not to buy.

What you do is your choice either way don't worry about it. Just keep in mind that if the kid will lie about something so small then you should be weary of anything else he might ever tell you. Also, if it would make you feel better, go ream his butt about it. I probably would.

 

[Chris142]

might just need a $10 gas cap

 

[sxg6]

Being a very honest person, I don't agree with what your friend's son did at all.

As a potential buyer, the CEL would not have scared me away if the price was right and the vehicle was in good condition. I say he should've been completely honest, and I'm sure that there would have been a buyer that would've purchased the vehicle knowing that it has a reoccurring EVAP CEL.

 

[daves87rs]

I would have been honest about it myself....but if it is not a mjor issue, I'd just let it be.

Most people know when you buy a cheap car it is going to need some repair...

 

[Pops1050]

Worry about it or not it's blatant deception and they made you an accomplice !!

 

[Donald]

What does your friend think about what his son did?

While likely the CEL coming on again is related to the first time it came on you cannot be sure. Once the new owner took possession who knows what he may have done!

The son will at some point not be told the truth about something he is buying and maybe will learn a lesson.

Most people do not (should not) believe what a person selling a used car tells them unless it can be verified. Usually partial truths.

 

[expat]

If I were the buyer I would ask questions and expect truthful answers.
But when all is said and done I would 'expect' a vehicle of that age, sold privately, to be "Sold as seen and inspected"

If I were the seller, I would have been truthful and told the prospective buyers about the "Possible problem" although I might also 'suggest' it could be something minor, like the gas cap seal.

Your friend did not, but at least he did not otherwise try to Hide/Fix/Bodge the problem. If he had, he would be in real trouble.

I guess he can just deny there was ever a problem, and hopefully only have his conscience to live with.

 

[NMBurb02]

That was a pretty lousy thing to do. Why didn't he tell you and the prospective buyer about the CEL? Because he thought it would affect the sale or at least the price. Why did he tell you about the buyer having a service hookup? In order to make himself feel better about lying.

What should you do about it? I really do not know. You did not sell the car, you were just a conduit and could only post the information that you were provided. I would seriously consider avoiding future interactions with your friend, as he/she was in on the deception.

 

[urrlord]

He should have told the truth withholding that info is dishonest.It has nothing to do with you,you were ignorant of the CEL situation,You are innocent.However if the kid ever asks for you to post something for him again politely refuse.
my 2 cents

 

[Pops1050]

Originally Posted By: Pops1050
Worry about it or not it's blatant deception and they made you an accomplice !!


Kira , after rereading your post I misspoke. YOU are not an accomplice but regardless of circumstances or perceived "good deal" it's still deception. Your friend knew it had a problem as well. Bad business. I wouldn't have appreciated it.

 

[Sam2000]

Well Kira, you've learnt something about your neighbors morals and on balance I would say don't get involved.

The buyer could have checked for this problem and given his connections could have easily had the vehicle checked out, which would have been advisable anyway.

Even now, he could call up what the OBDII system recorded and potentially reveal that the seller must have known about the issue.

If you decide to get involved, it could make things awkward with your neighbor for the cost of what might be a minor repair for someone who should have been more cautious then he was.

Take this as a lesson you've learnt about how much to trust your neighbor and how not to buy a used car. Sleep well at night. In the scheme of things this is minor.

 

[Kuato]

Kira, don't feel guilty that someone else lied. This guy isn't the only one that needs to unload a vehicle and doesn't mention things, and the reasons to do so as well as any blame are his.

My thoughts are to go wash your hands of it and file it away for future use.

 

[A_Harman]

He should have told the buyer about the CEL. An Evap code is nothing serious, though.

 

[pottymouth]

The buyer was irresponsible. The rule of buying a used car is believe only that which you can verify. Why didn't he take the vehicle to his brother's garage for an inspection?

While the kid was dishonest(and that is in no way excusable,) what did the buyer of a high mileage 14 year old vehicle from a private party think he was getting? A warranty?

Whenever I have sold a car privately, I always use a bill of sale and specifically state that the car is as-is, where-is. I encourage any buyer to have a mechanic inspect the car. I will always disclose anything I know about, but I am offering no warranties of any kind. As they say, "If it breaks in half on the way home, you own both halves."

 

[gfh77665]

Unfortunate, but its unnecessary to beat yourself or anyone else up over it. There is much larger things in life. Just move on.

 

[Drew99GT]

Originally Posted By: Kira

What do you think? Darn it. Kira




I think you need to stop worrying about small stuff like this! With the number of vehicles bought and sold on a daily basis, this is small potatoes in the grand scheme of used vehicle shady deals.

 

[uc50ic4more]

It seems as though, although you were initially an unwitting party to a deception, that it is bothering now that you *do* know about the deception; and that doing nothing about it now makes you less of a passive, unknowing party in it.

Posting a message to an online forum, perhaps hoping that enough people will say "Don't worry about it" or "it's no big deal" (unless it had happened to them, in which case it'd be a Crime Against Humanity!) that your conscience will be assuaged will not change what you already know: The question now is whether or not you will take actions solely to serve yourself by making yourself feel better or whether you will take actions to set the deception right (a third option is, of course, to do nothing). You could probably make yourself feel better by telling the lying party that you did not appreciate being a party to his deceitful enterprise and that you'll not be helping him further. You could set this right by alerting the poor purchaser that they dealt with a fraudulent liar and let them decide what to do next. Our whole world will slowly, in small increments, go to H-E-you-know-where if we continue to lie to each other to serve our own childish greed; and this process will be hastened when people who know better do nothing and "let it slide".

What would a good man do? What would an apathetic, uncaring person do? How about a coward? What if you were the victim of this deceit?