Apologies if this sounds a bit naive but I can't work it out. Maybe some of you more worldly types have an opinion.

I answered a call on the mobile yesterday showing a Merseyside 0151 number. The male Scouse voice on the other end greeted me with the name I use on Ebay and said that there was £1600 set aside for me for personal injury from a "non-fault motor accident" that I had last year. I didn't have an accident last year and I briefly toyed with the idea of stringing him along to see where it might lead but time was a bit pressing so I asked where his information had come from, but he spoiled the game and rang off.

Where is the scam and how would I have been parted from my money ? Read more

Hi guys

Wondered if you can help regarding a problematic vehicle.

I recently sold an 8 year old car in august that had only covered 36k miles with a full service record. I sell all of my cars with what I consider to be a decent quality warranty through a third party company and made sure this vehicle was no exception.

Basically im recently established and started trading cars having worked for dealers in the past. I obviously want repeat customers as my aim is to make this a full time business, and am in no way looking to make a 'fast buck' etc. and so far its been going really well.

Basically, 3 weeks on the buyer was having gearbox problems and it was diagnosed as needing a new gearbox by his local dealership. He got a 2nd opinion and they said it could be the torque converter and couldnt find a local dealer to carry out the work.

I obviously felt quite bad about the situation and paid to have the car recovered to me (4 hours away) where it could be repaired by a local dealer I use who are excellent. He was happy with this and the garage recovered the car.

Anyway, the warranty cover is for £2k and £50 an hour labour rate. Under the listed parts the gearbox is covered however they have been very slow to respond in terms of inspection.

Its now 19 days since the car was recovered and they have just inspected the vehicle today (after 3 cancelled appointments) and confirmed that work can be started. It is probably going to be another week before its fixed and obviously the gentleman has been very anxious to get the car back.

Today however I received a letter stating that he wants to reject the vehicle under the sale of goods act and that I am in breach of contract by not supplying him a repair date. I can fully understand his argument however I have done everything by the book and have not been obstructive in any way. Ultimately, I paid for a decent quality warranty and unfortunately they have been holding things up.

By my understanding, provided I have agreed to have the work completed and supplied a warranty I do not have the obligation to refund him his money. He is also trying to claim for additional money for new rear tyres (that were apparantly badly worn when he bought the car) and the road tax on the vehicle for a year.

Just wondered if someone could shed some light on the situation. Its cost me a lot of cash up till now anyway (car was recovered to my dealer by transporter and he lives 3 hours away) plus investigatory time etc. The garage I use would give me full support about the warranty company and confirm the work is to be completed. They have spoken to him several times etc.

Something else he is saying is that the fault was there when he bought the car (which wasnt the case to our knowledge - there was a slight 'tappety noise' coming from the engine which we thought was a pulley - and as the engine needs to be removed anyway we agreed to get this put right for him in addition to the gearbox) and that yesterday he was informed by the inspector that the gearbox that has gone wrong is actually reconditioned so theres no way the car could have covered 35k miles. In my eyes, it is possible for a car of this mileage to get through 2 gearboxes although very unlucky - however this model is well known for being unreliable. Also, my order forms do state that the mileage shown on the car must be regarded as not being genuine so I think im covered...however given the service history, hpi etc. I dont think its been clocked for one moment.

Any advice would be really appreciated - I just want to do whats right but also protect my interests because im newly established and this could end up costing me a lot of money when it doesnt need to.

Thank you in advance!

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