Hi there, i recently sold my 2008 Vespa scooter as was hardly being used - only 350km in the 4 years I've owned it.

I'm not mechanically minded at all, so every year I've taken for an MOT I've had all the work done that I've been told has been required - over £1000 of receipts during this time.

The MOT had expired so I dropped it to a garage. They took it to a MOT centre 16 Aug and it failed on sticking brakes and faulty indicator. which the garage fixed, they then took it back to the MOT centre and it passed with no advisories on 22 Aug.

I sold the scooter privately on 19 September after the buyer came to view.

On 21 September I received a text saying the head gasket was blown and water pump failed which would cost £4-600 to fix.

I explained that it had just had a new MOT, been to a garage and an MOT centre and nothing had been mentioned to me.

I offered £100 as a goodwill gesture around 3 weeks ago.

Yesterday I received another text saying it has been with a local dealership, they do not know what the issue is but need to strip down the engine to find the fault and have suggested a new engine or sell for scrap. Buyer says he has done less than 1 mile since purchase and wants a refund?

Thanks in advance

Be aware that my son had a similar issue with a motorcycle which he sold which turned out to be a [problem].

The people involved regularly purchased motorcycles and scooters, all of which had a head gasket failure almost immediately (usually after less than a mile!), often with a report from a garage to back them up. However, when asked to return the motorcycle to the garage which had replaced the head gasket 2 weeks before the sale, we never heard from them again.

We contacted the police after a friend of my sons had the same experience and the people were eventually prosecuted for attempted fraud.

You can see why your post has raised alarm bells.

You have absolutely no liability for any damage or fault which occurred after the sale of the motorcycle so long as you sold it as a private individual and so long as you didn't make any false statements about the condition. You are not obliged to make any contribution to the repairs nor are you obliged to give a refund.

There are plenty of threads on here involving the sale of second hand vehicles.

Have a read, then come back with any specific questions you have.

You sold it privately, they saw it before they bought it, it's their issue now.

Did they not say the head gasket had gone and the water pump broke, but then said they don't know what the issue is and a garage is going to have to strip it down? It does sound a bit dodgy, probably trying to get you to pay up for the fake garage visit.

Not much they can do.

well, the law says that as they ahd the opportunity to inspect it before they bought it and you are not a dealer or a professional mechanical engineer it is buyer beware.

Now how it was advertised and the price it was offered for will be part of that offer and consideration so be frank with us, did you give any indication as to its condition such as saying good runner or other such wording?

As for taking it to local dealership, this is a double edged sword as now even if you ahd some duty towards the buyer you werent part fo that process so it becomes entirely a matter for the buyer and basically tough.

Not using a mc or car can cause more damage than wear and tear and the mileage should have given some indication that it has sat there collecting condensation inside it. Buyer's lack of experience is again not your problem.

Any mechanic can replace vespa head gasket in 20 minutes and £7 parts.

£600???

That's clearly a sc@m

Thanks for all the replies.

In my advert I included:

"It's far from showroom condition but if you want a reliable runaround this is for you"

I never had any problems with it so that was a true statement. Plus 2 garages never mentioned anything which is weird!

Even then, you're not a mechanic. It 'failed' after they bought it and used it, it wasn't sold in that condition otherwise they wouldn't have bought it.

Don't offer them anything.

Any mechanic can replace vespa head gasket in 20 minutes and £7 parts.

The old two stroke air cooled engines can indeed be done cheaply and quickly, even by the roadside. Some of the newer models are water cooled four stroke engines, so certainly not a 20 minute job. even so, £600 for a head gasket is excessive.

was this sold directly P2P privately not via any site where there is a 1/3rd intermediary like say Paypal/ebay etc involved?

if not then sadly its tough on them.

they can wave their arms all they like nothing they can do and I cant see a court of law deciding otherwise.

to the best of your knowledge you made your observations upon your usage of the product.

the fact that it sat around for 10yrs doing basically nothing will have caused more harm than good

but if you didn't conceal these facts from the buyer nor were asked ...TINY applies here [tough its nor yours]

The only issue I can see the op running into is that he stated this is a reliable runaround if the purchaser can prove that Infact contrary to his advert this was not a reliable runaround and In fact with parts replaced with receipts to prove he could end up having to pay for this should the purchaser want to go small claims procedure.

All adverts should be honest but lack opinions what’s someone’s opinion of a reliable run around can differ to another person therefore all opinions should remain purely to ones self in an advert especially when one only did a very very small amount of miles on his reliable runaround

Don’t say excellent condition drive rides A1 perfect condition like new or very reliable or perfectly reliable all these are key words to bite oneself in the backside

They're saying it will cost £600 for a garage to repair a head gasket which costs £7 and perhaps 30 - 60 minutes of time. It's obvious it's not legit.

That said, you don't know if there will be a problem until there is a problem. OP isn't a mechanic and so saying it is reliable isn't an insurance policy.

hes pulling a fast one

if theres proof of the work being done then maybe he could take a chance taking you court but hes taking the ****

a new waterpump and fitting would be £150 tops , and head gasket altogether 300-400 tops that includes coolant

if just head gasket dealership usually charge 200-300 tops

if he threats you with court action then you tell the person you want the proof of receipt of dealership thats done the work if he refuses then you know hes lieing about repairs but if he gives you one makesure you contact the dealership to verify they did do work on it as theres people that can do fake invoices

also people would usually say sold as seen on the private sales i used it on a cbr 125 when gearbox was faulty never disclosed it just said its runs that was it and never heard nothing

also how can the buyer know if its failed if he only done 1 mile before taking it garage to get fixed i find that bull because how would you know its failed on stuff by doing 1 mile and i bet he lives far from where you are

and wait 3 weeks:!:

you would only know if theres a problem and take to a garage if you was overheating or getting milky oil or overflow from cap coolant or oil in coolant or see coolant on the floor

if theres proof of the work being done then maybe he could take a chance taking you court but hes taking the ****

 

 

a new waterpump and fitting would be £150 tops , and head gasket altogether 300-400 tops that includes coolant

 

if just head gasket dealership usually charge 200-300 tops

 

if he threats you with court action then you tell the person you want the proof of receipt of dealership thats done the work if he refuses then you know hes lieing about repairs but if he gives you one makesure you contact the dealership to verify they did do work on it as theres people that can do fake invoices

 

also people would usually say sold as seen on the private sales i used it on a cbr 125 when gearbox was faulty never disclosed it just said its runs that was it and never heard nothing

Head gasket wouldn't be anywhere near £300. It's a 30 minute jobby with £15 max for the gasket itself.

Head gasket wouldn't be anywhere near £300. It's a 30 minute jobby with £15 max for the gasket itself.

don't forget dealers charge more then non dealers mine cost 200

don't forget dealers charge more then non dealers mine cost 200

Then you were utterly ripped off. You don't have to accept their prices, and many places will still fit if you supply.

well I got quoted at 3 other garages and got quotes between £200-300 so that why I decided just to go the one I mainly use that actually do a proper job as I don't trust blackburn garages