• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

POLL: Would you sell a car to friend/relative?

M

Murpheeee

Diamond Member

Would you sell a car to friend/relative?

Obviously if you knew there was something wrong with it you would not. But Even if you thought it was in perfect working order, things can go wrong anytime......would you feel guilty if it did? Would they suspect you knew about it?

I think I would prefer to sell to stranger who you will never see again.


POLL inspired by the story of a co-worker:

My co-worker Fred bought a new car every three years.
As he was getting ready to get his latest new car, another co-worker Mark expressed interest in buying his old one.
Mark currently drove a scrap heap and this 3 year old car in perfect condition was quite a step up and investment.
Fred agreed to sell to Mark for the price he was getting offered as a trade in.

I should point out that Mark knows nothing about cars.
2 weeks after he bought it, he and his wife went on a longish trip and got stuck in a traffic jam not moving for two hours.
He left the engine running during all this time, resulting in it overheating and blowing the cylinder head. EXPENSIVE!
After this disaster, one thing after another started going wrong with teh car and he ended up getting rid of it a year later.


While it was totally nothing to do with Fred, he still felt really bad and wished he had never sold it to Mark who he had to see every day at work.
 
Absolutely NOT, if something goes wrong I do not want them showing up at my shop expecting a free reapair.
Small business between family members cause bad blood and hard feelings.
 
Originally posted by: Roger
Absolutely NOT, if something goes wrong I do not want them showing up at my shop expecting a free reapair.
Small business between family members cause bad blood and hard feelings.
Click to expand...
What if you weren't a mechanic though?

 
Nope, especially if you know for a fact that you have a family known for being cheapos. Selling a car should be like a quickie.. "Wham bam.. Thank you ma'am.."
 
I will and have in the past. I,m very upfront with what is currently wrong with the car at the time of sale. If something does fail and it seems unreasonable for it to have failed I usually take care of them.
 
What if you weren't a mechanic though?
Click to expand...

Still would not do it, it can only cause hard feelings if something goes wrong, if nothing goes wrong would I see that family member coming to me and saying "This is a great car, thanks !" ?

Never 😉

In the past I have given vehicles to family members 🙂

(If something goes wrong, they cannot bitch at me)
 
If I was Fred, I sure as hell wouldn't feel guilty. It's Mark's stupid fault for overheating and blowing the cylinder head.
I saw this tag on an Airsoft gun once - it should be expanded to a lot more things:

"Seller not responsible for user incompetence."

- M4H
 
Mark was honest.....he admitted that he left car idling for 2 hours.

What if he was not completely truthful and said I was just driving and it overheated......
Now I have to pay $$$$ for repair 2 weeks after you sell me the car....what you gonna do about that???


how would you feel then?
 
i sold an older truck to my son-in-law & gave him a great price.

the truck had been extremely reliable the 13 years i owned it & i figured it wouldn't suddenly
start breaking down.
 
I have yet to get rid of any cars I've owned! :Q Me = Redneck. ;-) They all still run, except for the 72 Cutlass Conv my dad has stored. That needs some work, but, you can't blame me for not selling it.

The other 3 cars still run and I still drive.

I think when I'm ready to get rid of one of these they won't be of any value to anyone but a junkyard.
 
No way, no how. I've given cars to family for FREE, and they were still upset that it needed repairs. I've even been given a car for free (yes, the same one I gave to another family member) and felt guilty when I didn't want it any more, and gave it to someone else. I felt like I needed permission to get rid of it since it was given to me.
 
I have done this twice. I always make explicit any warranties and their length, and if anything goes wrong after my warranty period, it gets fixed on their dime. If the other person is honorable and agrees to it, there should not be a problem.

In fact I bought my brother's house recently and we had no problems because we treated it like a business deal. We left our personal feelings out of it and haven't had any disagreements or hard feelings.

Sometimes when family members do business with each other, they don't specify details one would normally specify to any other buyer because they are friends. This is a BIG mistake. Business is always business.
 
Originally posted by: jemcam
No way, no how. I've given cars to family for FREE, and they were still upset that it needed repairs. I've even been given a car for free (yes, the same one I gave to another family member) and felt guilty when I didn't want it any more, and gave it to someone else. I felt like I needed permission to get rid of it since it was given to me.
Click to expand...
I was in the same predicament when I used to have my '89 Jeep Cherokee. Dad bought it for my mom and ended up giving it to me as a Christmas present. A year after I wanted to sell her (she was already clocking 130k miles), but Dad kept saying not to. That was until he got into an accident with it. 🙁
 
Years ago I bought an old VW Fox from my uncle for $700.

After spending another $700 on repairs on it I sold it about 6 months later to get a newer one.

I sold it for $1000.

When he found out he was pissed I sold it for more than he did.......conveniently forgetting the extra I spent on it :|
 
I sold my buddy my '82 Celica GT with 250K miles and we verbally agreed that it would probably not have much longevity left in it without at least some minor attention, however low and behold it still runs like a tank. Decent deal for 400 bucks.
 
Originally posted by: wyvrn
I have done this twice. I always make explicit any warranties and their length, and if anything goes wrong after my warranty period, it gets fixed on their dime. If the other person is honorable and agrees to it, there should not be a problem.

In fact I bought my brother's house recently and we had no problems because we treated it like a business deal. We left our personal feelings out of it and haven't had any disagreements or hard feelings.

Sometimes when family members do business with each other, they don't specify details one would normally specify to any other buyer because they are friends. This is a BIG mistake. Business is always business.
Click to expand...

Although this seems good on paper I still don't think it is a good idea. The problem is that family/friends typically have higher expectations than a normal buyer (especially in unexpected cases).

I would never risk a relationship to make a sale.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top