warning about possible scam
 

A potential buyer when inspecting my car held up an oil covered finger ( after apparently dipping it in the coolant header tank) and suggested HGF, and maybe I would like to reduce the price agreed. Knowing in the 2years I have owned the car its never used oil or coolant and had both replaced during the summer service, I cancelled the sale and had it stripped down by a rover/mg specialist.
he found the head gasket to be perfect, all the water pipes and passages clean with no oil traces but there was clean !!!!! oil in the part of the expansion tank immediately under the cap. So a new set of gaskets following a pressure test and head skim and an unwanted bill for the work. I would not have believed someone could be so devious in trying to scam a few quid off the price but have passed this on so hopefully no other member gets caught, and yes I wont leave a possible buyer alone round the car again.

It is easy to fall for such deviousness if oneself is not totally car savvy, so stay alert. That should now raise your selling price with evidence of your new costs and work carried out. Good luck. However, I would not bother taking any more work to your "specialist".

Some years ago I was selling my daughters Daewoo Matiz for her.
When the chap looked under the bonnet he told me the head gasket had failed. I know where the head is and what is above and below it.
The leak was the rocker cover gasket.

macafee2

I think l would have investigated the header tank myself before taking it to a garage for a partial strip-down.
And l would also have thought that the garage should have spotted the subterfuge before carrying out the unnecessary work. :shrug:

Buyers will try all the tricks to reduce the price, when we were selling the Wife's Mini one of the potential buyers reckoned the clutch was slipping, and needed £500 off the price because it is such a big job. I refused and we ended up letting the daughter in law have it and after 6 months and several thousand miles there is no sign of any clutch problems.

As mentioned above, some buyers (not all, most are genuine) will try all the tricks you can think of. Be honest with your advert, listing any issues and confident that you know what you are selling. If any 'funny business' starts, just pull the rug by saying how sorry you are but you couldn't possibly sell the vehicle with the aledged fault.

Sellers don't expect this and their immediate reaction will show whether they are being truthful or not. You can then suggest that they might like to double check the fault, just to be certain, and whether they wish to proceed further ?

You might be surprised at just how many 'issues' disappear when the seller takes control and decides whether to sell or not.

It's quite a common scam unfortunately - I have CCTV set up, only allow 2 people to view a car and have a couple of friends supervising to avoid this kind of thing.

Another reason I absolutely hate selling cars - I even got grief from one forum member after he travelled 100 miles to view my 75 (described as a workhorse with some cosmetic defects) and found it wasn't absolutely mint (for £500!)
The mind boggles... :)

To be fair, I think that was because it hadn't been given a full valet prior to the viewing.