wondering if you guys can help me out here. im dealing with an issue thats stressin me out and im not sure what the right thing to do is. i had a 97 for ranger that i used to drive around in as a 2nd vehicle. i ended up putting it for sale about a month ago and my cousin said he knew someone that wanted to buy it. the godparents of his kids. i was only looking to sell it for around 2grand but because it was my cousin and the godparents (who hes very close with) needed a new truck i sold it to them for only 1300. when i sold the truck to them as far as i knew everything was in perfect working order. it needed a new exhaust and a new catalytic converter which i offered to buy for them (i had saw a couple of cheap ones on ebay that i could of purchased easily).

my cell phone ended up getting messed up and i had to order a new one. in the time of when i didnt have the cell, i guess my cousin was texting me and calling a bunch of times to tell me about an issue the truck was having. he thought i was ignoring him so he got pretty heated and pissed off. well i talked to my cousin again today and evidently the truck has a bad oil leak and has an engine knock resulting in it needing a new engine. its going to be over a grand to fix. new engine basically.

i already spent the money that i got from the sale of the truck. now him and the godparents are extremely pissed off at me. somewhere the godparents got it in their head that i said i would refund the money if there was something bad that happened to the truck. yes i offered to buy them a cat converter or anything else that was small but no way in hell did i ever say i would refund their money or help pay for something big like a new engine.

when the truck was dropped off it was in working order with no issues. they even test drove the truck a couple of weeks prior to the sale and again everything was fine and they loved it. so now i have a this situation on my hands. its my cousin who i dont talk to too often but he is family and the godparents are very close to him. i can either say oh well you bought a used vehicle and sh*t happens. or i could save up some money and help them buy a new engine. the 2nd option would probably be the good samaritan way of doing things but in all honesty why should i have to pay for this when as far as i knew it was working fine when they took delivery of it? my cousin wants me to call them and work it out on the phone too because hes stuck in the middle of everything.

so what should i do?

 

Hey man, Im sorry about the stiuation, but there is a rule, Never ever sell things of high value to family memebers. Plus never ever ever move in with family memebers like your brother. There is nothing good to come in the end. SO.. If i were you, and they want you to pay for the motor, and if they mean alot to you, then I would ask for the truck back, and dont give them there money, just take the truck back! They blew it up, they can lose the 1300! Then you can do what you want with the truck! This is exactly what I would do!

 

Screw them. Their negligence lead to the knock. If it leaks oil, you check it often. They apparently didn't, therefore, their fault. Don't sweat it dude. Even if they sue they won't get anything since there wasn't a written contract saying you'd refund if anything happened.

*EDIT* - You owe them nothing.

 

It's not at all your fault, of course.

It's a fairly complicated situation, because if it was me and I had the time and money, I would offer
to install the engine myself, which would save them about $800 bucks. That's strictly if I had the time,
which I doubt I would.

The only problem with that is that it leaves you with a non-running vehicle while they impatiently
tap their feet waiting for you to fix it. Which is quite annoying. Especially with family.

But beyond that I would just say 'Sorry, I didn't have an oil leak, but if you did, then I wouldn't have just kept driving it if I were you.' haha

 

I would tell them that you're sorry it didn't work out, but to the best of your knowledge it was in fine condition when you sold it to them.

 

I'd offer to buy it back for a grand. Or, if you're mechanically inclined... offer to install the new motor for free if they pay for the parts.

 

Thats wat we like to call the "Brake light warranty" once the lights are gone the warranty is up. dont beat your self up bout it family expects more then the average joe.