I am looking for some advice for a friend of mine. He just purchased a used 95 Legend GS on Friday. The seller came and dropped the car off at his work. Well today was the first day he did a good amount of driving with it. It was fine in the morning, but after sitting and being restarted it began to smoke. It smells like burning oil, not sweet like antifreeze. Apparently these cars have a history of valve seals going bad. He paid 2,600 for the car, but so far has only paid the seller 700. He is supposed to pay the rest on Monday. They both signed a piece of scrap paper saying that he agreed to pay the remaining amount on Monday, and my friend has possession of the paper. My friend called the guy and told him what happened and said he wants some money off the car for the repair since the guy said nothing was wrong with it. The guy said he did notice a little smoke before he dropped it off, but didn't think anything of it. The guy only wants to give my friend 300 bucks off for basically having to replace all the valve seals in the heads. Anyway, is there really anything my friend can do in this situation?

 

Get the seller to take the car back, repair it, give it back to your friend, and have your friend pay the rest of the 2600? That's what I'd do.

 

I would encourage your friend to give the car back in exchange for his deposit. Your friend has the car, the seller has the deposit, who has the title? is there a Bill of sale, was it registered? Most bill of sales for used cars in private transactions includes "as is, where is" clearly written some place, which devoid's the seller of any warranty. If that is not written someplace, you may be able to go through your states DMV to handle this problem, but that takes time, but is free and you can represent yourself. I believe the limit for small claims is $1000 so that may or may not be an option, but again that complicates things, adds expenses and takes time. I would walk away if at all possible.

 

The seller still has the title. There is a bill of sale which my friend has. The seller wrote the selling price as 1800 on it opposed to the 2600. But the only thing the seller has is the title. I think my friend is going to try and return it.