AIBU to feel upset that a family member profited from me?

[RainbowStars27]

Bit of a long winded one but bear with.

A few years ago I bought a car off a close family member. We negotiated a price and finally landed on a figure. All fine no issues.

This week, I have found the receipt of when the family member bought the car. (It was in the glove box). She paid less for it than I paid her. Baring in mind, she bought the car 2 years earlier, added many miles and obviously the car aged 2 years.

I feel because it is family, they should have been honest with what they paid and not made a profit out of me. They have argued that that’s what they thought it was worth at the time. (It definitely wasn’t).

yabu: I should have checked what they paid for it and accept my losses.

yanbu: you shouldn’t treat family members like that, they should have been honest and not made a profit from me.

YANBU. I've sold a car to my brother in the past and I would never have considered doing this to him.

If you were buying from a stranger would you expect them to disclose what they paid for it?

Second hand cars are holding their value in a way they weren't pre-covid.

The seller would also have needed to pay more for their next car.

The choice is either sell to friends or strangers how much of a discount would you expect is reasonable?
They might still have got more going to the open market.

No, but they’re not strangers, they’re close family. There’s no point pretending it’s the same as if they were, it’s just not.

I just think full disclosure on the part of the seller would have been advisable, to avoid exactly the bad feeling that has arisen.

If Op hadn't found the receipt she wouldn't be bothered.

The relative could probably have sold it to someone else for the same as Op paid.
Op benefits from knowing the car and the type of driver their relative is, ie they aren't the one lady owner (with teenage son)

Cheeky, but you were happy enough to pay the price at the time, so done deal.

No because that means I’d be worse off.

I would have paid out X amount for the car and then paid more money to hand over to my family member.

That would be stupid.

But I wouldn’t charge my family member more than what I paid for it as I’d simply want the money that I paid for it back.

If they wanted to make a profit on it then sell it to a stranger, not a family member or friend.

Why would I want to profit off my own family member.
I’d like to give them the best deal I could which doesn’t lose me money.

If it had gone up in value, then I’d simply sell it for what I bought it for - therefore family member gets a good bargain and I come out even.

Do I think it's a bit crap? Yes.
Would I do it? No.
But presumably you paid a price you were willing to pay and they sold it for less than they could have to someone

So yabu for 1. Not cleaning the car properly in TWO years 2. Actually going back two years after the deal to complain.

But you don't come out even if all cars have gone up, and you need to buy another one. It'd only be the case if you sell the car at below market price, but what you paid for it, to a family member and don't buy another. If it was a house we were talking about, would you sell it to family for what you'd paid for it years earlier? Or at the market price now?

As my namesake always says Never sell an old car to a friend or a relative!

You are fortunate if you could afford to sell for less than its current worth.
Keeping in mind you likely need the cash to buy your next car.

If it was say a house that you'd had for 10 years and was worth more today than when you bought it.
Would you think the same? I don't want to profit from my house?

The unusual bit is cars increasing in value, for so long many people looked for nearly new because you saved a fortune vs a brand new car.
But then new became hard to get so second hand started to really hold their value.

Did she upgrade it? My DP has added a reverse camera, top of the range speakers, Michelin tyres, etc. to my DD’s car and it’s worth more than we paid for it.

Why did she get it so cheap? In all honesty, it f she got herself a bargain then current market price is fair, why should she share the savings she got?
if it was because it was a write off and it was heavily reduced but she didn’t tell you, then that’s not on … but it’s the sort of thing you’d need to check before you buy anyway

Just keep it in the memory bank and treat that person in the same manor going forwards - eg dont do mates rates, dont trust them etc, Apply this to that relationship. Then its equal and you can have the quiet satisfaction of knowing that

Cars have gone up significantly in price the last couple of years. You can no longer get a cheap 10 year old car anymore

It depends.

There was a time a few years ago when second hand cars shot up in value, and if the family member needed to sell at the car's value at the time in order to buy the next similarly hiked-up-price car, then it's market forces.

It's not that you shouldn't have researched the price they paid for it, but the market price for a car of that condition and mileage at that exact time.

I can't remember how much I paid for my car a few years ago. To the nearest hundred, anyway.

How big is the price difference?

Our crappy old car was worth about twice what it has been worth post COVID. So in 2019 we'd probably have sold it for less than £1k but in 2021 it was worth twice that... Assuming she was buying another car she had to factor in the buying market for cars at the point she was selling.

You should’ve done your research at the time and it’s odd and fairly rude to bring it up now. The used car market has been strange since Covid and cars worth much more than their previous value.

You bought a car from a used car salesman ( that’s exactly what she was) You made an agreement that you were happy with at the time. You have no cause for complaint.

Next time, autotrader.co.uk to check pricing on similar vehicles and years. I agree with the live and learn. On the other hand, the used vehicle market is heating up and cars are going for more than they did before because new cars are so expensive. I'd still avoid that person in the future.

Happened with my two sons.

Son bought a very used car for $300 and a case of beer. Drove it for two years.

Sold it to his brother for $300 and a case of beer. It was in an accident and the owner got $500 to repair the damage from the insurance company.

And yes, it's fairly common to through in a case of beer in our part of the world.

You say now you feel it wasn't worth what you paid for it yet you still went ahead and purchased it
I'm sure your family member didn't force you to buy the car from them so clearly you got a car you wanted at what you thought was a reasonable price. You cant feel mad at them now you know they paid less for it than you did