Bought vehicle from eBay car trader, but found it was missing an item and they are not responding

I found a car being sold from a garage in the Midlands. I wasn't able to get over to see it, so bought it unseen on Saturday 11th May and had it delivered the same day. All a bit of a rush by the delivery chap re. paperwork and I was left the car, keys, service history and green 'new keeper' supplement - he took the rest. Didn't ask me to sign anything and left. On looking around the car, which as you can guess, looked sadly nothing like the pictures (but I guess that is the risk you take buying unseen), I noticed that I could not find the locking wheel nut - now that is a big issue as you can imagine, especially as the wheels are in an absolutely awful state and need chemically stripping and refinishing, hence they need taking off the car. I have sent several messages to them over the last couple of days and even a Whatsap that they contacted me on, but they are simply not answering any of my messages, whereas when we were negotiating/asking details, they were pretty on the ball and professional. Now, being a car listing with a fixed price by a trader, the sale does not complete via eBay, does it, (there is no bidding, 'Offers' or 'Buy Now' button to press) as it isn't an auction, so how on earth can I get help if the sale doesn't log between me and the seller? When you go to log a dispute, or ask for help, it asks you to click onto which purchase it relates too, but as I said - it doesn't go through the conventional way so I have no sale to log onto. They currently have 24 vehicles listed from £1500-£18,000 and on the face of it appear decent enough guys, but I am starting to get concerned they've got my money and now couldn't give a monkey's, so I really need some help. Yes I could drive all the way to Birmingham and front up, but that shouldn't really be neccessary should it? Any suggestions...Thank you all.

Message 1 of 6
See Most Recent
1 ACCEPTED SOLUTION

Accepted Solutions

Bought vehicle from eBay car trader, but found it was missing an item and they are not responding

How bad is the car compared to the images and description of the car in the listing?  Is it just a case of badly kerbed alloys and a missing locking wheel nut key?  If that's the case you could just drill the locking wheel nuts off, although you would need to buy replacement locking wheel nuts afterwards.  However, in the meantime, just put another ordinary wheel nut on each alloy where the locking wheel nut would have gone.

 

With regards to the kerbed alloys there are several places all over the UK that could do a decent job at refurbishing the alloys.  I've always used Lepson's in Gillingham, Kent whenever I've needed alloys refurbished on any of the cars that I've owned over the years as they always do a first class job.  By the time you get the alloys back again you'd never be able to tell that they'd ever been kerbed.

 

If the matter is more serious, such as the car is covered in rust on almost every panel, belches excessive amounts of white smoke out of the exhaust when you start the engine, indicating a head gasket failure, or any other major problem, then contact your card provider and explain that you've been misled into buying a car that was advertised as being in good condition but is far from it.  You have one hundred and twenty days from the date of purchase to start a chargeback, so the sooner you get started the better.  Hopefully you will be able to get your money back.

 

Finally, before you committed to buying the car did you run any checks on the car to ensure that it didn't have any outstanding finance on it, had not been recorded stolen or written off, etc?  If you failed to do these checks and you subsequently end up finding out that one or more of these factors have been recorded against the vehicle then things could stand to get a lot worse.  Always best to do your checks first, then if everything comes back OK go and view the car in person and make sure you're happy with it.  That way you're less likely to get screwed over.

View solution in original post

Message 2 of 6
See Most Recent
5 REPLIES 5

Bought vehicle from eBay car trader, but found it was missing an item and they are not responding

How bad is the car compared to the images and description of the car in the listing?  Is it just a case of badly kerbed alloys and a missing locking wheel nut key?  If that's the case you could just drill the locking wheel nuts off, although you would need to buy replacement locking wheel nuts afterwards.  However, in the meantime, just put another ordinary wheel nut on each alloy where the locking wheel nut would have gone.

 

With regards to the kerbed alloys there are several places all over the UK that could do a decent job at refurbishing the alloys.  I've always used Lepson's in Gillingham, Kent whenever I've needed alloys refurbished on any of the cars that I've owned over the years as they always do a first class job.  By the time you get the alloys back again you'd never be able to tell that they'd ever been kerbed.

 

If the matter is more serious, such as the car is covered in rust on almost every panel, belches excessive amounts of white smoke out of the exhaust when you start the engine, indicating a head gasket failure, or any other major problem, then contact your card provider and explain that you've been misled into buying a car that was advertised as being in good condition but is far from it.  You have one hundred and twenty days from the date of purchase to start a chargeback, so the sooner you get started the better.  Hopefully you will be able to get your money back.

 

Finally, before you committed to buying the car did you run any checks on the car to ensure that it didn't have any outstanding finance on it, had not been recorded stolen or written off, etc?  If you failed to do these checks and you subsequently end up finding out that one or more of these factors have been recorded against the vehicle then things could stand to get a lot worse.  Always best to do your checks first, then if everything comes back OK go and view the car in person and make sure you're happy with it.  That way you're less likely to get screwed over.

Message 2 of 6
See Most Recent

Bought vehicle from eBay car trader, but found it was missing an item and they are not responding

There is no eBay Buyer Protection for Motors sold on eBay which is why you cannot open a case. eBay will not help you, you are on your own, I'm afraid.

 

Did the listing state the locking wheel nut was included? If not, you will need to buy one, as it doesnt form part of the sale. I would never buy a car unseen, I bet the seller was REALLY happy with you.

 

You can buy locking wheel nuts online 

 

 

Message 3 of 6
See Most Recent

Bought vehicle from eBay car trader, but found it was missing an item and they are not responding

papso22
Experienced Mentor

For vehicles ebay offers no buyer protection so you are on your own dealing with this seller.  As they seem to be a dealer you have more legal rights than if they were a private seller.

Message 4 of 6
See Most Recent

Bought vehicle from eBay car trader, but found it was missing an item and they are not responding

You don't need to drill anything ,you can get a special socket set with a left handed tapered inner thread ,opposite of a broken stud remover ,i.e. female not male.

 

Halfords 696823 😜

Message 5 of 6
See Most Recent

Bought vehicle from eBay car trader, but found it was missing an item and they are not responding

Have you looked in the spare wheel compartment, in the tool bag that should be in there? (or where ever the toolbag is, perhaps inside the boot in rear compartments).

Message 6 of 6
See Most Recent
Got buying related questions? Start here: