Weird situation I am in..

[mauz_stan]

Ok, here is the situation I am in. I looked over a car on ebay,it was somewhat local and decided to buy it(1977 deville).  I asked the seller to DRIVE UNDER ITS OWN POWER to a place where we would meet and exchange the goods. There was no deposit, as this is a local purchase, i simply telephoned him and told him I would be very interested in it and maybe will buy it, but I want to inspect it.

i explicitly told him to drive it under its own power and i will reimburse the gas, so to check it if it works(if it makes it 200 miles, then sure i wouldve bought it).  NO tow/shipping etc etc. So we meet up on a scheduled day, and i brought a friend with me who knows more about cars to check it out. In less than 5 minutes my friend spots thatit has a blown headgasket(it was advertised as everything is in good condition!!), and I want to back out of the deal. Seller says fine, but I have to pay for shipping, because they brought a tow truck here for 250 miles and fuel is expensive+their time. I tell them politely to **bleep** off and go pound sand, I am going to walk away from this.  Its not as advertised. 

Does the seller have any recourse to fit me this shipping bill? I DID NOT SIGN ANYTHING or handed over the money yet. 

My friend does tell me that the body is in good condition but it will most likely need a new engine. A swap would cost ~5000$ which is waay more than the car is worth even though its a classic. I kind of want the car, and maybe could talk the seller down but it is just a husk, a rolling chassis at this point and i can get away with paying 1000$ for  something like that on CL

[tony1963]

Unless you and the seller agreed on further terms, then the cost to transport the vehicle is part of the deal that you struck with him.  Had you agreed up front that you would have to put up a deposit for transportation, then you would owe.

The only way that I can see that you would be responsible if you agreed to meet and you didn't show up.  They could claim breach of contract and pursue damages.

In my view, he is on his own here.

[victorjunkman55]

When a vehicle has a blown head gasket it should be a little loud. You are under no obligation to give seller anything ( I might have given a few bucks for gas beings the owner brought the car to me, but that's me) Should I have seen the tow truck on this deal, I too  would have backed out. Good Luck to you.

[sockmonkeydave]

@mauz_stan

He misrepresented the car, the tow bill is on him.

Will it need a new engine, perhaps, but you won't know until you get into the engine.

If it's just a blown head gasket with no other engine damage, it may just need a head job.

The head would need to go to a machiene shop, so they can check for  warpage.

With the age of the car it's hard to say what other work it wil need.

[legitimate_bidder]

The deal was that he would DRIVE it. He TOWED it, because he knew he couldn't drive it 200 miles with a blown head gasket. He breached the terms of the contract, AND tried to commit fraud by concealing known damage. You don't owe the bastid a dime.

[legitimate_bidder]

And it must be a real turd, too, 'cause i know I wouldn't drive 200 miles to sell a car on mere speculation...or even a sure thing, unless I was desperate to get rid of it. (And I've never been desperate to get rid of anything...)