As always I'm the shmuck. Sold a guy a month ago a gas tank for a 64 full size that I thought was good, seemed solid but I did not fill it up with fluid. Had to pull it out of a car to get it. Now I get a message it leaks and he wants his $150 back. Refund the entire amount? Deduct an hour labor? As is sale? Send something to get it tanked? Thoughts?

 

Can you be sure it's the same tank and he's not pulling a "switcheroo" on you? Did you tell him you didn't check it for leaks, and he took the chance by not having it checked before buying it?

 

If you REALLY have to ask the question, you already know the answer.

 

I'm of the mind of buyer beware, however in this day of online buying I think we need to have some diligence on portraying the item as "AS IS". If you did not forewarn or at least check what you were selling as a sellable item then you aimed to deceive. Your conscience should be important to you for your own sense of self worth. If you have no sense of self worth, then I guess your off the hook.

 

Other than checking it visually and not seeing any holes, no I did not fill it up but did not say I would either and he didn't ask me to. I'd find it hard to believe a guy would try a con on $150. I called his mechanic and he says it leaks. That being said, he's not shipping it back and at $100 to ship, I'm not refunding it and paying to ship it back either if it is bad. Do I chalk it up to lesson learned and eat my time, fuel and effort?

 

I guess I will eat it as yes, it bothers me. I try to be fair. Crappy point is I spent my morning pulling it out, packing it up and taking it an hour to ship from an unsolicited sale. I was contacted. I suppose the wise thing to do is not pull stuff apart anymore and if guys need a part, they can drive to IL and feel free to put the effort in.

 

That was your choice to do it, but you know what they say, "let your conscience be your guide".

 

Like you, I've spent a lot of time running out to the yards in my area and pulling old parts for guys who are in need. I consider it my responsibility to be thorough in describing each one to it's fullest. If it's pitted, cracked, weathered, non-functioning, etc. I make sure the Buyer is aware of it. This is especially important when shipping overseas. It sucks that you spent the time/money to help this guy out only to have it come back and bite you...but in the end, it was your responsibility to verify that it was or was not a functional item in it's current condition. Chalk it up to lack of communication and put it behind you. Your credibility is worth more than what this cost you. And, for the sake of those who might need your help in the future, I hope you don't give up on serving the needs of the car community with good parts. I've heard from so many people around this country who don't have the luxury of having a source reasonably close to them in which to go pull their own parts. They depend on guys like you and I to help. Keep up the good work!

 

Assuming no shenigans on the buyers part, who wants to buy a leaking tank probably no-one, you didnt check it hes out the $100 for ship your out time and labor IMO....


had it been described as is then no issue if it leaks its on him.

most parts like an alt brkt for example its easy if its the wrong one or not as described thats that but w out checking the tank for a leak ya cant really say i sold you a good part

 

This is a bit of a tough one.

I'd say that if you told the buyer clearly that you just pulled the tank out of a junk car, and believe it's good, but aren't sure, and if the tank has a repairable problem (rather than a swiss cheese top), then the right thing would be to negotiate a partial refund.

If you believed that it was good, told him that you believed it was good, but that was all you told him, then I'm afraid all you can do is refund the whole amount, which sucks, because your intentions were good.

It can be really hard selling to people sight-unseen, because of just these sorts of unforeseen problems.

- Eric

 

I am sorry you are experiencing this. I have to agree that a partial refund is necessary unless he opts to pay to ship a crappy gas tank back at his expense...I feel that whatever it would cost to ship, subtract that from the total and also subtract for the possible BS factor. If he ships it back, and you know it's your tank for certain, then refund the $150.

Tough call, but I got one learned from your experience and I appreciate you sharing it.

Again, I am sorry that you must go through this.

 

Just curious, but where did his mechanic say the tank was leaking? I'd also ask for pictures before I refund anything. People pull scams for a lot less than $150. Locally, I usually put a slight mark on anything someone has to fit to their car. Once sold a drive shaft with a TH400 yolk. The person brought it back and said it didn't fit, they wanted a refund. I told them I'd refund the whole amount when they brought back the 400 yolk & not the 350 they had with them.

 

I guess the main lesson to be learned here is to make the terms of the sale clear beforehand. But realistically, the buyer knows it's a 53-year-old fuel tank, freshly pulled from a junk car, so he should recognize the likelihood that it won't be perfect. I'm definitely leaning toward a partial refund, especially if the tank is fixable, but it's great that you've got enough of a sense of ethics to be concerned with this.

 

One other thing I find is whatever decision I have to make is to deal with it quickly and put it to bed. Otherwise that nagging or regret seems to last forever. I pay my speeding tickets quickly so I can forget about it just as quick.

 

Shipping it back is a waste of money. You thought it was good. He knew it was used and you had to remove it (I'm assuming, yes, I know what they say about assuming), anyway I would send him $100. You keep $50 for your effort and packaging etc. Lesson learned by both parties. Jmo.

 

The mechanic said its about 4" above the strap. We agreed to split the difference so its put to bed. Funny thing is for any of you who do this for a living in terms of repair, I guess you too should fill it up beforehand. The tank did look very nice with no detectable holes. In fact, the top still had areas of bare metal from where the staps were. So the shop put it together fully reassembled before finding the issue as they thought the same as me. It must be a very small leak but his quote from another shop to repair the spot was $350-450. Seems like this should be an easy repair but I haven't had this issue yet with my cars.

 

This isn't a comment on where your at now, but a thought for the future. I've only sold one used tank, and we agreed that he would pay for a radiator shop to clean and test it, which they did and the tank was good.

When I sell heads, blocks, some intakes that tend to crack I like to have them hot tanked and magnifluxed first before I offer them for sale. They're expensive to ship and I like to be sure that they're good before jumping through the hoops. Yeah, I've had some heads come back cracked so I ate the machine shop work. But I'd rather know that now than after they travel across the country and the buyer contacts me in an understandably bad mood!

John