Had a 2001 Rover 75 1.8 (I know; K-Series) Connoissuer a couple of weeks ago with 110k and a bit of history but 11 months MoT and a months tax left on it. Advertised it for 5 weeks for £1395 when, at last, a chap drove down here to Southampton from Gillingham in Kent to see it.

He had a quick look at it, let me drive it on the test drive said he was happy with it and offered me £1300 for it, which I accepted. That was 12 days ago.

He phoned me today to say that on the drive home it overheated on the M3 and as well as topping the water up he also had to put a gallon of oil in it to get him home. He has since taken it to a ex-Rover dealer who told him the engine is kaput, though it still runs but smokes like a just-lit barbeque, but the head gasket survived the journey! He's been quoted £600 to sort it.

Basically, he wants to know what I'm going to do about it.

If he'd phoned me from the M3 I would have probably given him his money back and have the car dragged home.

I reckon it's his fault for continuing the journey knowing there was a fault with the cooling/engine, where he should have stopped and seeked assistance. I suggested he goes ahead with the repairs as, even with £600 spent, it's still a nice cheap car, that once sorted will probably give years of loyal service.

If he sells it like it is he'll be out of pocket. And I did remind him that he was delaing with the 'bottom end' of the market with cars at this price.

What do you guys think?

Kev.

Hi Kev

It's a bit odd he spent that amount of money on a car (1300 is still a lot to tightwads like me, but still cheap for a 2001 car!) and let you drive it/not drive it himself and had just had a quick look as that would suggest to me that it's someone who knows how to put fuel in a car but that's about it.

It's also a bit odd that he rang 12 days after the event...

If it was me, because i'm a soft bugger, i would give him a hundred quid as a goodwill gesture before he gets either solicitors/trading standards involved if he is in his rights to but not sure about that...

But my way of thinking is maybe why when i worked in the motor trade i was out the back cleaning the cars rather than being in showroom in a shirt and tie selling the things lol!