And I will just apologise in advance for such a long post.
I need advice...
A few weeks ago, my partner and I drove past a Subary Liberty 1995 that was for sale. We liked the look of it, so we called the owner (who lives in Perth, but the car was out the front of her mother's house) and asked her about it. She told us there was absolutely nothing wrong with it except a hole in the muffler.
We took it for a test drive, and the muffler was extrememly loud, but other than that my partner, Daniel, didn't notice anything wrong with it.
We talked the owner down to $4000 (from $4,700).
The owner told us that her RWC had expired in January, but it would be simple enough to get a new one as the car hadn't been driven much since then so nothing had changed.
She asked us if we would get it done, as she lives in Perth, and we agreed- our first mistake, but she seemed trustworthy...
My partner told her that the muffler needed to be fixed first in order to get a RWC, and we offered to get it done.
We transferred $4000 to her bank account.
The next day we picked up the car from her mother's house and took it straight to the mechanic to fix the muffler hole.
As we were driving back to the mother's house (the owner had requested we drop the car back until the money had cleared) my partner noticed a whiney grindy sound from the transmission that he could obviously hear now that the muffler wasn't blaringly loud anymore.
When we dropped the car back, we told the mother that we believe there is something wrong with the transmission and that we do not want to complete the sale until we know exactly what it is.
We called the owner and told her about it that night. She was pissed off and thought that we were trying to trick her, but she agreed to get her mother to take it to the mechanic the next day to get it checked.
The owner called us back the next day and explained that the mechanic said "there were 4 bolts missing from the transmission mount" which was causing the sound. Supposedly he fixed it and said there was nothing else wrong with the car. We don't trust the mechanic, and believe it was perhaps a friend of theirs.
That night, my partner went to the mother's house and went for a drive with her in the car (she drove). He could still hear the sound clear as ever, but the mother told him "that's just the Subaru sound".
My partner called his mechanic friend who works for Subaru, who said "any kind of whiney grindy sound in any car coming from the transmission is not good and means there's something not right".
That night we called the owner. She did not answer, so we left a voicemail message stating that we believe there is something definitely wrong with the car and we would like our money refunded.
We did not hear from her for 2 days and she did not return any calls or texts.
We drove past the car the next day and her mother had put up new larger FOR SALE signs on the car. We assumed this meant she had accepted to refund our money (as she was obviously trying to resell the car).
The owner finally called us back this morning, very angry, saying that she has spoken to her lawyer and looked up her rights and as far as she is concerned the sale is final and she will not be refunding our money.
I asked her why she had put up new FOR SALE signs on the car, and she replied with "you have no proof of that".
We were 1/2 hour away from where her car is, but we raced there to try and get photographic evidence of the FOR SALE signs, but by the time we got there they were already taken down.
We saw the police and they told us it was a civil matter and we would need to speak to our lawyers and take her to court.
Another point which I think is quite important, is that WE HAVE NOT SIGNED ANYTHING. Not a single thing. Not transfer papers, not a contract, nothing.
And we also DO NOT have the car in our posession. We never took it into our posession except when we took it to the mechanic to get the muffler fixed. It is still sitting out the front of the mother's house.
So here is where we are stuck...
We desperately want our money back so we can buy a car that isn't wrecked, but if we wait to take her to court it could take months before we see our money, plus after the court/lawyer costs it may not even be worth it after all.
Any advice? Ideas? What are our rights? Is there any way we can get our money from her now?
Can the fact that she sold us a car WITH rego and plates but WITHOUT a RWC help us in any way? (I know it's not allowed).
Any help would be much appreciated
