Issues with sale of motorbike

[IamMrsJones]

Hi,

DH is after some advice regarding a motorbike he sold to a dealer last week.

He spoke to the bike shop about selling his 2 motorbikes over the phone and they agreed a price for them both. After several more conversations, they agreed that someone from the shop would come and collect the bikes in a van and transfer the money into his bank account.

They came on Thursday, collected both bikes and gave him a purchase invoice for each one.

DH checked his account today and discovered that they had paid him for one of the bikes, but not the other. The shop/dealer called today to tell him that after inspection by their head technician they discovered that the front wheel was buckled and the handlebars weren't straight. They want DH to pay £500ish to get the repairs done, but as DH was unaware of the issues he doesn't feel it is his responsibility as he sold the bike to them 4 days ago.

It doesn't say anywhere on the purchase invoice that this was an offer pending an appraisal, just that they have bought the bike for the agreed amount.

So, DH would like to know where he stands in all this?

Many thanks in advance.

Hmm. I'm not a legal person, but if the first opportunity the bike shop had to look at the bikes was after they took them into their shop, I think they might have a case to argue that your dh had misrepresented the condition, albeit unwittingly. (How did he not know the wheel was buckled, though? Had it been in storage for a long time, and got damaged since his last use of it?) Is the £500 at cost price, and is he expected to pay up front, or are they just offering £500 less on the purchase price?

I think it's worth your dh doing a bit of negotiation, otherwise he might find himself with a knackered bike needing £500 worth of repairs...

Do you have any photos of the bikes just before they went to prove that there weren't any problems when the bikes were picked up?

If he knew there was a problem then that would be one thing - if you think that the garage are trying to screw you by making you pay for repairs that aren't really necessary or that have been caused to the bike once it had been transferred to them to look after then that's a whole different kettle of fish.

COuld you speak to trading standards in the morning and see what they suggest? And see if they have heard of this particular garage to know if they have form for this sort of thing?

The other thing is if you have legal cover on your house/etc insurance cover - see if they can advise you...

It does sound a dodgy way to do it as there is that period of time when they have taken possession of the bike but haven't paid for it - and if something did happen to it in that time then who should pay for it to be fixed... Plus as they have the bike it becomes a big problem for you - if you turn up to get the bike make sure that you turn up without telling them you are coming, just in case they are trying it on, so you can see if there is actually any damage Is it just me that's paranoid after watching too many watchdog undercover films of tradesman doing dodgy things?

Good luck!

Thanks for your replies. Only just got internet back on, so will show DH in the morning.

The bike had been stored in a garage and had not been damaged, but DH wouldn't have necessarily have known about the damage himself apparently, according to the technician.

I am hoping they can just come to an arrangement of some sort, i.e split the bill for repair.