If there is "buyer beware" is there an equal "seller beware"?
Is seller beware the same as buyer beware? My neighbor had a vehicle that was overheating on him and he said throwing water out of the tail pipe and bellowing smoke (the classic blown head symptoms). He knew I was in the hunt for a vehicle since the last failed to pass smog with out expenses near equal to the value of the vehicle. He said if I was willing to repair the head on the engine he would sell the vehicle to me for $150 bucks. I thought if the leak in the head was not bad I could repair it with a professional grade block seal and have a running vehicle for a fraction of the cost and a little TLC. I started the vehicle and did not see the tale tail symptoms (then again I did not run the engine that long, just wanted to see if it started). It did not have to go far so I drove the vehicle to my home. Upon checking it out it never got hot when I ran the engine or seen any water and smoke thrown from the tail pipe. There also was no oil in the water or water in the oil. I even drove it to Ace to have an extra key made, never any sign of over heating. I am thinking maybe it was another cause or a sticking thermostat that was causing his over heating, and not a head gasket. Should that be the case should I tell him and offer him more money or since he was so sure (so sure at one point he tried to talk me out of buying it) it had a bad head it was his misfortune in misdiagnosing the cause of the overheating and way under sold the vehicle? They always say “buyer beware” does the same go with sellers?
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7 Answers
In my opinion, an honest person will do the right thing. The only seller beware advice I know of is to disclose whatever defects they know of or risk being sued.
When selling houses, there is definitely a seller beware clause, called a disclosure statement. If the seller does not disclose the defects they know about in the house and yard, they can be sued.
Every time I sell a product to a customer on credit even long term customers I have to do due diligence on their ability to pay for it especially now more than ever thanks wholly to this crappy economy.
Right now you are ahead of the game. There might be a piece of gunk blocking the hole in the gasket. It might stay there forever or pop out tomorrow.
If you drive it for a month and the problem does not return, invite your neighbor out to dinner and pick up the tab. You both will be winners.
Consider it Karma.
@marinelife Thanks. I just seems fair somehow. He’s your neighbor -someone you see every day. A little sharing of good fortune goes a long way.
Not traditionally. However, in a litigation-rampant society, it’s sort of “beware” of every transaction—buyer or seller.
Absolutely. This even applies to internal relationships in large organizations. IT departments know about ‘seller beware’. Some business departments in need of IT fall into the category of obnoxious customers. When arguing about cost estimates they often resort to comments like ‘hey, any 16-year old student can do this in 2 weeks’. I always have to bite my tongue to not respond ‘hey, then get your own 16-year old student’. Actually this sometimes happens. A year later or so some poor successor in these departments approach IT again, ‘hey, can you fix this problem?’. But very often their stuff is beyond repair.
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