NEED ADVICE.. I bought a car and seller refuses refund

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 1:24 am

Hey, you own that car s you have paid for it, or paid a deposit of full agreed price and the previous owner or their family still has possession? That is nuts on your side of things, even if you refuse to take possession of it it for you made an error of some sort. Say, have you insured it got it in your name with rego. Wot if the other side prangs it, they claim since you have paid for it ,is it then your responsiblity for insurance? You are in a tricky spot and they have your money. PLEASE...You need legal advice locally and not from anyone in here - there is that caveat emptor or whatever - latin for buyer beware....

If I found myself in situation you descrbe I would be taking possession of car and keeping it secure and insured and registered in my name - sort the bitch you have out with owner or their family or yourself

1111giles · Post by **1111giles** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 5:31 am

sven '2' wrote:And blow any chance of recovering the $4k...

Looking at the way this farce has developed, I think early 'firm' action would have been appropiate.
The way I would go about it would not leave my 4k at risk.
What with the vendor still using a 'sold' car etc etc. Insured ??
Looks like(from this side of the world) these people are not worthy of trust !!

Sure it probably is a civil matter - but we ALL know how frustrating and potentially expensive, and farsical that route can be. I do know as I once had to sue a Guy over a 'commission' sale that he made go tits up, fortunatley I won but I could have done without the delay and the stress.
Very sorry to hear this is not a smooth transaction, and I hope you can resolve it to your satisfaction.

sven '2' · Post by **sven '2'** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 7:09 am

If it were me selling the car, would park it on the street, lock it, complete the sale papers and submit to RTA (+/- a stat dec as a good measure), and send the buyer a copy of the key via Registered Post, advising where the car is.

Transaction complete.

The new owner now has the risk - insurance etc. Up to them as to how they protect their new car

AlpineRaven · Post by **AlpineRaven** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 9:38 am

What is the update now? -> what is being done?
Cheers
AP

LauraElyse · Post by **LauraElyse** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 10:21 am

steptoe wrote:Hey, you own that car s you have paid for it, or paid a deposit of full agreed price and the previous owner or their family still has possession? That is nuts on your side of things, even if you refuse to take possession of it it for you made an error of some sort. Say, have you insured it got it in your name with rego. Wot if the other side prangs it, they claim since you have paid for it ,is it then your responsiblity for insurance? You are in a tricky spot and they have your money. PLEASE...You need legal advice locally and not from anyone in here - there is that caveat emptor or whatever - latin for buyer beware....

If I found myself in situation you descrbe I would be taking possession of car and keeping it secure and insured and registered in my name - sort the bitch you have out with owner or their family or yourself

It isn't in my name and we haven't insured it or anything. It is still fully in the owners name.

I know it's stupid that we haven't taken it. We were stressing about it all weekend.
We just thought that maybe if we didn't ever take possession of it then we would have a better chance at getting out money back.. but we're probably wrong.

LauraElyse · Post by **LauraElyse** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 10:25 am

I really appreciate all your replies and advice.
I know we have been very stupid with all of this, and I swear after the stress of all this, I am never buying private again.

We thought this lady was trustworthy because she sounded so lovely and she is a Christian (she even produced some Christian movie and got a grammy or emmy or something for it).

The owner is now refusing to hand the car over to us until the transfer papers are all signed and sent off and she has confirmation that it is in our name.
We don't want to do that because we cant trust that she is actually give us the car after we do the transfer. And what if she racks up fines and stuff for us?

We honestly don't want to let this get to court, but she has us by the balls. Unless we do exactly what she wants then we don't see money or car.

AlpineRaven · Post by **AlpineRaven** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 11:59 am

LauraElyse wrote:I really appreciate all your replies and advice.
I know we have been very stupid with all of this, and I swear after the stress of all this, I am never buying private again.

We thought this lady was trustworthy because she sounded so lovely and she is a Christian (she even produced some Christian movie and got a grammy or emmy or something for it).

The owner is now refusing to hand the car over to us until the transfer papers are all signed and sent off and she has confirmation that it is in our name.
We don't want to do that because we cant trust that she is actually give us the car after we do the transfer. And what if she racks up fines and stuff for us?

We honestly don't want to let this get to court, but she has us by the balls. Unless we do exactly what she wants then we don't see money or car.

May be worthwhile getting the papers signed at conditions to gain trust ie. funds transferred ok, monies on hand reciepts then sign transfer papers.

As soon its in your names starting the time/date and your car is in your hands then its safe - fines wont come in.

But problem I am concerned about is - is the car under finance? because if it is - ooh not good news...

Its not the matter buying from private again, As soon you hand over the money you need to draw up an contract from both parties starting from date & time pending on RTA.... finance etc As soon you pay deposit legally the car is yours and shouldnt sell it off as long you have an contract, in these days its sad you cant trust anyone, alike back in these days... sad yeah...

Hope it progress well for you guys.
Good Luck
Cheers
AP

LauraElyse · Post by **LauraElyse** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 12:32 pm

Okay, so we picked up the car.
It was a struggle, as they didn't want to hand over the car until the transfer forms had been processed, but we eventually convinced them.

Funny thing- while we were in the house signing the paper, a man knocked on her door asking about the car. She quickly told him to go to the end of the driveway and made sure we didn't hear anything.

She then asked us to leave while she talks to her daughter about us taking the car today. We drove past and the man who knocked on the door was looking through the car with the owner's mother.
I went over to him and told him it was sold, and he said nobody told him that. The mother was nervous and was trying to fix what she had said.

Isn't this ridiculous?!
They had re-advertised the car in The Age a few days ago and they were still showing people through it.
All the while she was refusing to refund us our money, and telling us the car is legally ours.

One more think I could use advice on:

The mother wouldn't let us take the transfer papers because she didn't trust that we would hand them in to VicRoads.
Is she able to lodge them herself? Because I thought the buyer had to?

d_generate · Post by **d_generate** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 1:25 pm

You are supposed to hand them in yourself but in reality either party can hand them over, do you have any form of recipt at all? I guess you could call the police & ask if they could meet you there to pick up your possession (papers) explaining the situation.

I can sort of see where the seller is coming from if the last time she drove the car there was nothing wrong with the tranny and you take it away to get the exhaust fixed and it comes back making funny noises.......how does she know from the other side of the country that you didn't hammer the thing to death and break something then decide not to take it, obviously you didn't but she's not to know.

Anyhow it looks like you've got it now, get it fixed and don't hold it against the car, you got it for a fair price and if it cost's you another few hundred it's got to be expected in something that's 16yrs old.

Next time don't be so naive and things will be much easier.

AlpineRaven · Post by **AlpineRaven** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 2:20 pm

wow that is good now that it is in your hands now..
Parts are cheap since youre in Melbourne. You can get a working transmisson for low as $80 from wreckers, otherwise your looking around mid $500 to $1k for a better one.

All the best
Cheers
AP

steptoe · Post by **steptoe** » Mon Sep 27, 2010 8:43 pm

I got this image of a girl in overalls learning how to swap out a gearbox and doing a good job of it - busting a few nails in the process

PLease ring your relevant RTA for advice on who must report what and give what on a sale and transfer of a registered vehicle.

What the freak is this woman doing ? Trying to sell to interested party to get more than what you have paid ? Worse than gazumping - they have your money !

Might just be a front or rear wheel bearing too not the gearbox. Good luck with it. Keep in touch

sven '2' · Post by **sven '2'** » Tue Sep 28, 2010 7:42 pm

steptoe wrote:I got this image of a girl in overalls learning how to swap out a gearbox and doing a good job of it - busting a few nails in the process

PLease ring your relevant RTA for advice on who must report what and give what on a sale and transfer of a registered vehicle.

What the freak is this woman doing ? Trying to sell to interested party to get more than what you have paid ? Worse than gazumping - they have your money !

Might just be a front or rear wheel bearing too not the gearbox. Good luck with it. Keep in touch

That is one side of the story...