Need advice on Car sale situation

NYSpeed Automotive NYSpeed Off Topic
1

Ok, so I had a 95 Explorer, which I “sold” to a guy in the fire department with me. It was for his father, it was sold for $500, and it needed a flex plate and some other minor work, which was spelled out in the beginning.

The reason I used quotes is that he picked the explorer up before paying for it cause he had a trailer available, and so his dad could start working on it, and i wanted it out of my driveway so I didn’t have issues with the city. I kept the title, and figured I would give it to him when he paid for it. Since he was in the fire department, and I knew him pretty well, this wasn’t an issue. We worked out a payment schedule and that was that.

Well, I forgot to follow up on his with the first payment ($250) so we just agreed that he would pay the full price with the next one, which would have been today.

This weekend he called me and said that his father had given up on it and didn’t want it anymore cause he couldn’t get to the top two transmission bolts (pain to get to) I had even loaned him a couple tools to help him with it. So this is where I need help.

When he called me and told me this, he had said that he could take it to the “other guy” who wanted it for me so I could sell it to him. The other guy is the junkyard here, but scrap prices aren’t what they were when I sold it to him.

So basically i am not sure if he plans on paying me the full amount, and then he’ll sell it and just wants my help with that, or if he he plans to just basically give it back to me, with no money transacted. I am not really down with the second part, and need advice on how to handle that. I am willing to buy it back, but not for what I sold it for.

I’ll know more tonight on what his actual plan is, but would like to be prepared incase it is the second one.

2

do you have the “sale” in writing?

3

unless it is in writing, you are SOL

4

When it comes to business or money, always get stuff in writing no matter who its from. If he says he doesn’t want it, you really have no option other than to take it back.

5

Maybe offer to help with the bolts if you know how to get them out.

6

All these stories always start out with “I let him take XYZ and he was going to get me the money…”.

To me, fair would be he pays for the $500 POS and it’s then his problem to do what he wants with it. Fair will have nothing to do with it though because he has all the power as the guy with the vehicle and the money. Being a $500 car with no official paperwork bill of sale it’s not worth your time with small claims court and a he said he said battle over verbal contracts.

If the vehicle is in worse shape (aka, more disassembled) than when you sold it to him I’d use that as leverage on your point that deserve the money promised since now it’s even harder for you to sell.

G/L. Next time get cash first.

7

For $500, will it be worth getting into a sour argument with someone you have to work with and see often?

I know you want the problem gone, but $500 really isn’t that big of a deal. I’m not sure what scrap prices are but I feel the difference in what you will be getting won’t be worth escalating this issue and causing a problem.

8

I do have some emails in writing with the determined payment schedule, and may have a basic bill of sale for it, but I would have to find it. If I get the car back or the money, i would be fine, but the guy seems to be insinuation that he’d get rid of it then I would get whatever he got for it. The truck is in decent shape, and would just need the flex plate replaced to fix it in driving, inspect-able condition. I am not going to escalate this to small claims, but more looking at how to go about discussing it with him, and hopefully coming to an acceptable outcome for both of us.

Right now, I am thinking that I will tell him I will take it back if he can haul another vehicle for me later this year. That way I get something out of it, and he isn’t really out anything. Would save me $50-100 on hauling the vehicle.

We’ll see what he says later.

9

next time somebody wants to make payments on a $500 car, don’t do it.

10

I would just tell him straight up, what you want.

Tell him that it’s nothing personal, and you’re not upset about the situation, but that you need to recover the car asap so that you can do something with it. Tell him it’s not necessary for him to sell the car. Explain that you have lost a bunch of time, and that you cannot afford to pay for it to be towed, and that you find it fair that he arranges to have to the car brought back to your house with your tools in it. Then the whole situation will be forgotten.

11

Payments on a $500 car??

Tell him you’ll put it on lay-a-way. Non-refundable.

12

True