tandino

iTrader: (1)

Hi Guys.

This is the story so far....

I bought my 95 RA almost two weeks ago.
Paid for it in cash and thrown into the mix were a spare set of wheels and tyres which was a deal clincher for me.
We agree'd the price of the car and the spare wheels and tyres which were being stored at the place where the present owner had his new wheels and tyres fitted.
Guy seemed a very genuine bloke but to cover myself i wanted the wheels and tyres included in the receipt.
He duly wrote it for me with the location and contact number of said premises where they were in storage.
I would have been traveling back up to the same area a few days later to run my Father & Stepmother to Heathrow airport so no biggy i could try to collect them en route.
Seller said he would contact the premises where the tyres were stored and pave the way for me to collect.

Drove off in my new RA with a big grin on my face.

A few days passed so i dropped the seller a text saying that i wouldnt be able to get to the premises where the wheels were stored by closing time, so could he pick them up (he works nearby) and bring them to his home where i could pick them up later on the way back from Heathrow.

No response.

Next day i tried contacting him on his mobile but it rang off.

Next day i tried mobile again - went to answerphone,i left effectively the same message as id texted a couple of days earlier.

No response.

Next day i tried home phone number, his Father answered and i asked to speak to the seller, mentioned who i was.....Father returns to the phone stating he's gone out and that his car was not there (now i thought this was strange that he didn't already know he wasnt in when he answered....)
I asked his Father to get him to ring me.

No response.

This was approximately one week on from buying the car, effectively i have now tried 5 times to contact seller with not even a text to say 'im dealing with it but busy etc' which i could totally understand..

The date of me running my Father to Heathrow was looming so i thought i might as well contact the garage (wheel and tyre specialist) myself where they were stored.
After a bit of to'ing and fro'ing it turns out the seller had left the curbed wheels and tyres there for over a year with no contact, and as a result they had disposed of them!!!.

This is where cogs started turning in my head and to me is why the seller hadnt been in touch, im guessing he realised i would not be happy.

I sent him a message stating that i felt he was ignoring me and that the phantom wheels didnt exist anymore and that i would be seeing him for some compensation in lieu of the wheels i was owed.

Finally i got a response that one of his friends was critically ill in hospital and that he was busy and was going to get in touch with the place where the wheels were stored, he said he didnt know the wheels were disposed off and that he was going to find out why as he couldnt understand why they had been binned...

I texted saying i was sorry about his friend but that didnt stop him texting me saying he was very busy but dealing with it - that is all i wanted.
I also said if the wheels do turn up im all ears..

Guess what, no response!!

I ve just sent him another text (which i know he's received) so im waiting on an answer.

Not holding out much hope but i just want to know where i stand legally on this as effectively i was sold a car and a set of wheels (receipted) and i only have the car!
Can i take him to small claims?
Any advice etc gratefully appreciated!!

Cheers Pete.

scotty01

I doubt you will see any cash or him again. You paid for goods without seeing them or even knowing if they exisited! If the wheels were his and included in the sale why didn't he have them at his house when you picked up the car???

tandino

iTrader: (1)

As i said, he had new wheels and tyres fitted at the garage and from memory of the conversation his friend or 'a' friend worked there so he left them there for storage, perfectly beleivable i thought...
That and the fact that his family are selling the house and he is looking to buy in the area made it feasible.
People buy stuff everyday on the internet without actually knowing if they actually exist, its called trust and yes i trusted him.
If i was buying the car from some backstreet pub car park then no i wouldn't have done it but it was from a very respectable 3/4 million pound house in a leafy Surrey village.

What i want to know is if he has signed and receipted it then what legal standing do i have to recover either a set of wheels or some money towards them!,
Surely a signed receipt counts as a legally binding document?

Midlife......

iTrader: (2)

Legally there was an offer to treat / chaffer (of the car and wheels) an acceptance and consideration (payment).

You can therefore claim from him the cost of the wheels (and the cost of doing so) as he broke the contract of sale.

it just depends if you want to chase it up (knocking on his door or small claims court) or chalk it up to experience.

Shaun

tandino

iTrader: (1)

Thankyou Shaun.

Thats what i thought.

Cheers pete.

scotty01

If you read my post mate it says why didn't he have the wheels at his house when you picked up the car?? Not why wern't they stored at his house. If i sell something with a car it is at my house for the prospective buyer to view at time of sale, not just pop over to this random garage they will know what you are after! Technically the reciept is a binding agreement but like i said i doubt you will get anywhere with it short of turning up at his 3/4 million pound house and banging his door down.

First rule of buying anything is trust no-one, that way you don't get stung

tandino

iTrader: (1)

I know exactly what you were saying.
The reason the wheels werent at his house is that he wasnt advertising them with the car.
I didnt want to pay what he wanted for the car so i asked what else he could throw into the deal - i already had various bits and pieces to go with the car already but was negotiating.
He didnt want to come down and i didnt want to go up, the wheels were the deal breaker in that if he threw them in i would pay the asking price.
And as for rules of buying, ive owned in excess of 50 cars and im not that old.
In fact when my friends want a new car they take me along to haggle!.
This is the first time ive ever had a problem, i got a good deal on the car but i want whats owed to me......

jonny_693

iTrader: (5)

Sounds very unlucky mate. Dont let it go, I would suggest trying to agree a price on the phantom wheels. How much were they realistically worth? A trip down to his house with a few lads might help smooth things over.

Pars

Go wee next to his radiators and turn the heating on