WA Purchased Dirt bike off Private Seller

[Cookiemonster19]

Hi
I recently bought a Dirtbike (YZ250 2001) and on the advertisement he listed:

• New Plastics
• New radiator
• New throttle
• New cables
• New brake lines
• New bearings

He also promised that it has just had the top end rebuilt and that it had been serviced last week and ready to go ( I have screenshots)
After visiting and buying the bike I took the bike to my mate who is handy with dirt bikes ( I don’t know a lot about them), as we serviced it we realized that it was in a bad way and not functional as there was a lot of coolant in the oil ( it would have been obvious to anyone that had done the last service that there was a serious problem) this would literally destroy the motor very quickly if taken for a ride, also noticed that the plastics had cracks in them and obviously not new and radiator is in very bad shape and needs replacing, the throttle, the cables, the brake lines and the bearings don’t look new at all and in fact look pretty worn.

Inside the top end (which supposedly had just been rebuilt) we found that the bore had a pretty decent gash in it and the piston had been scratched up so we took it into a mechanic that specializes in Yamaha Bikes and they said that the top end was in very poor condition and needed to be rebuilt. The water pump is also rooted and was leaking coolant through the seep hole (which is designed to leak out coolant when it needs new seals ( I have a video of it leaking) which means that it needs to have new seal kit installed in the water pump. This leak would have been obvious to anyone servicing the bike.

This guy who sold me the bike had his mate ( a “mechanic with all the tickets”) work on the bike and he did the last service a week ago and rebuilt the top end, we have spent 2 days working on this bike to get it “ridable” and we have now had to send in the motor to the Yamaha bike store for a quote and repairs and a complete top end rebuild.

The guy who sold me the bike was replying to my messages but now that I mentioned that I want some money back (because its not as advertised and that want to be reimbursed for rebuilding the top end of the motor because that was advertised as new) he has ceased communication with me.

I was wondering if he would have a leg to stand on if I have to take him to civil court.

Cheers!

 

[Atticus]

After visiting and buying the bike I took the bike to my mate who is handy with dirt bikes ( I don’t know a lot about them)

So first mistake.... You should have taken bike to mate for inspection before making a decision
Second mistake..... After finding multiple faults, you have gone ahead & spent a lot on money carrying out repairs.

You can send a letter of demand for costs incurred, threaten to take him to court.... When at court you will have to persuade a magistrate (on balance of probabilities) that he fraudulently represented the bike as something it wasn't, (screen shots will help) & provide proof of the faults & cost.... You will need his full name & an address for serving court papers

Would have been much better to have, (once discovering the faults), send him a letter of demand for the amount quoted for repair, to either pay the cost of repair, or take the bike back & return your money in full....

 

[Cookiemonster19]

So first mistake.... You should have taken bike to mate for inspection before making a decision
Second mistake..... After finding multiple faults, you have gone ahead & spent a lot on money carrying out repairs.

You can send a letter of demand for costs incurred, threaten to take him to court.... When at court you will have to persuade a magistrate (on balance of probabilities) that he fraudulently represented the bike as something it wasn't, (screen shots will help) & provide proof of the faults & cost.... You will need his full name & an address for serving court papers

Would have been much better to have, (once discovering the faults), send him a letter of demand for the amount quoted for repair, to either pay the cost of repair, or take the bike back & return your money in full....

yeah ok thanks mate