[Kaumad]

Wow, I am astonished at the skepticism and lack of trust in our own species!
It is disconcerting to see that a majority of the replies on this thread is to hold your ground. While I do see some of you requesting to first check if it is indeed a genuine case , I would definitely spend a bit more time and validate his words before jumping to conclusions.
Please, lets show a bit more empathy!

[swami69]

I think the 30% in absolute money terms will influence a decision. We do not know what was the agreed price and what this 30% is..

As per your financial health, if the 30% is a small number in your terms, you need to stick to your ground and conclude the sale. He may not give you that 30%, which you may have to write off. If the case is genuine, at least you will not feel guilty, because, you can always say you gave it at a 30% discount and you have helped him in the time of crisis. If you find the case is fake, then, you can still feel that you took a conscious decide to avoid headache and hassles.

But, if the amount is big in your terms, then you need to take back the car, follow the guidelines by other posters here, go through some hassles and refund the money after any deductions safely, protecting your side from all angles. Here again you would have helped him if the case is genuine.

Swami

[car love]

Which ever way you go about this one, please be very very careful and take all precautions. You really dont know ANYTHING about the buyer. A friend of mine was woken up one early morning at home by a team of Andhra Pradesh cops at his home. They wanted to know if he was the owner of a said car. He said it was indeed his old car but he had sold it to another person. My friend is a very methodical chap and had done paper transfer etc correctly. Lucky for him. The said car was used in a double murder in Andhra. Had not my friend done the paperwork, he would be running pillar to post by now.
Not scaring you by this episode but you really dont know....

[Sedate]

To me, it looks like Buyers Remorse.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buyer%27s_remorse

Better will be to verify whether he is telling the truth and then proceed accordingly. If it is a genuine case the I think it is humane to do the right thing. Everything is karma based - A loss here may mean a larger gain somewhere else.

Well this comes from someone who suffers from Buyers Remorse all the time. The solution I found was to buy less things.

[Nithesh_M]

Did he insist on making the 70% payment or did you do it out of goodwill?
Sounds fishy to me. He made 70% payment and took the car to a service station. What are the odds he switched parts there with used/worn parts?

That 10-15k he's offering to keep would be peanuts in comparison to what he can make from selling those good parts to other unsuspecting Fluence buyers who are desperate to find parts for a discontinued product.

[vijayshouree]

My prayers are with the Buyer's Father and I wish him a speedy recovery

Originally Posted by lazybird

As of now, I have given the delivery of the car unfortunately with 70% payment

First of all, this is a big mistake of delivering the car with 70% payment of the actual deal. But, whatever happened, happened. Two things to do now. Everything has been covered in the posts above and I am with the majority opinion.

I am sure, it is very hard for you to get the rest 30% (no matter whether the buyer's situation is genuine or not).

1. If you can, please take the time and go to the hospital and check the authenticity of his dad's condition. Nothing wrong in doing this. If his situation is genuine, Take the car and refund the amount by keeping some. Get your car checked by your FNG and return the rest amount.
2. If his situation is not genuine, then he is clearly cheating and you can make your plan to get the balance 30% or settle the deal. You can take one or more of your tough friends to get the thing moving.

You seem to be a very very nice Guy. But, believe me, it is not wrong if we are a little more cautious while dealing with strangers and money. I was a victim of these kinds of things many times and learned (learning) lessons in a very hard way.


Cheers,
Shouri

[KL01toKA03]

If you want to get the car back provided the story is correct, ask him for details about the patient and the doctor treating him at NIMHANS. Tell him that you will check with your contacts at the hospital to verify the story. He will most likely say that the patient was not moved to NIMHANS because he is critical/dead. In that case, you will have to think about legal options to recover the remaining money. As many others pointed out, this seems to be a case of buyer's remorse.

[lsjey]

Is it possible to revert back the transaction? Shouldn't a new transaction be done to buy back the car? Wouldn't the history of ownership increase with the buy back?
Plus with any newer issues added, it is not advisable to get the car back. Worst case write off the 30%

[Tgo]

In such cases how does one decide when to hand over the car to the new owner, whether you're the buyer or the seller.

Basically, what is the correct way to go about for such transfers which suit both parties?... specially when its an unwritten sale deed.

A - Full Payment -> Ownership Transfer -> Vehicle Handover
B - Ownership Transfer -> Full Payment -> Vehicle Handover
C - Token Amount -> Ownership Transfer -> Full payment -> Vehicle Handover

In any case ownership transfer can get complicated due to many reasons:

- Loan outstanding on the part of the seller
- Loan approval for the buyer
- Hypothecation removal
- NOC for interstate transfer
- Insurance, PUC, Registration lapsing in the middle of these formalities

[AtheK]

Seeing the car was with buyer for just a day or so, don't think any major swap would have happened, a hit and run case can perhaps be the case, but then the car can't be fixed in a day, and a visible inspection will ascertain of any damage.

Coming to second side of the coin, irrespective of whether he is lying or not, what if he does not transfer ownership of the car and also does not pay 30% of the pending amount. Now you have two headache, one you lose 30% money, second a car running around in the country on your name. He can always recover his money by selling the car in chor market, but you would always be worried about what happened to a car which is still on your name.

I suggest as I did earlier, verify the authenticity of the claim first and then proceed.

[humyum]

Firstly, can you help with what is the amount in question. I guess the advice pouring in with routes to take will change considerably depending on the dough.

[jkrishnakj]

Well - if the case of hospitalization is indeed genuine, you don't want to be on the wrong end of his / his families thinking. Acting tough with documents and with clauses as an option will work if the person is a crook or acting rogue.

What if the OP wants to act tough, the case is genuine, the buyer is having a hard emotional time with the dad, hospital, finance etc..and the mind share to the OP is not there and then, with all the frustrations, decides not to pay the balance 30%?

I would still say - get the documentation, get the car checked, return the money with acknowledgement and dust off that incident. Am sure there will be another buyer very soon for the Fluence.

[Stribog]

Originally Posted by Kaumad

Wow, I am astonished at the skepticism and lack of trust in our own species!
It is disconcerting to see that a majority of the replies on this thread is to hold your ground. While I do see some of you requesting to first check if it is indeed a genuine case , I would definitely spend a bit more time and validate his words before jumping to conclusions.
Please, lets show a bit more empathy!

Ditto - I am astonished that the first reaction seems to be, "he must be cheating you", "buyers remorse" or "he swapped parts".

Lets get a few things out of the way,

In a Pandemic time, for a rare car such as the Fluence, I doubt he could have swapped parts (finding even duplicate parts would be a challenge) in 1 day.

Accidents do happen, in India esp - take even our own 2 wheeler threads, so many long term reviews have minor / major accidents of bike owners.

Finally, this can be easily verified, even the name of the patient and a call to the hospital will ease the doubt - now some one really cynical will think that this guy bribed the hotel receptionist or whatever to push a false tale and I really have no answer that.

If I were you, I would verify that a patient by the name is indeed admitted for an accident case, if this is the case, would release the full payment.

The car was barely on sale, and it can just as well go back. Worse come worse OLX or cars 24/7 (forget the name of the other online auction vendor) always exist, but assuming even assuming a 10% chance this is real, I would personally lose even Rs 15k-20k (even more) if it meant saving a life.

[satishv1987]

It is not wrong to be skeptical of the reasons given by the buyer. There is no doubt that in times of need , one should always lend a helping hand. But there are far too many people out there ready to take advantage of the other person's willingness to help.

I would suggest that you propose the following to the buyer.

- Ask the buyer to first return the car and the other related documentation (Forms 29/30).
- You can ask an experienced mechanic to do a thorough inspection. You could even consider taking it to an authorized Renault service center.
- While the inspection is happening, offer to pay the hospital admission fee. You could offer to visit the hospital to check on the buyer's father as well.
- Surely after a major surgery, the patient will be in the hospital for a few days . The hospital bills will have to be paid only at the time of discharge. That gives you enough time to ascertain if the car was tampered with .
- In this window, you can also prepare a notarized agreement declaring that the car was with the buyer on the said dates and that the sale is being reversed due to certain reasons.
- You can propose to repay the 70% at the time of discharge.

If it is a genuine case, the buyer will surely agree to the above terms. If he exhibits even an iota of reluctance, then it is clearly a case of fraud.

[sameer sultan]

You have got into a situation!

I don't want to judge the buyer or his intentions.

It is you who have posted in this forum so I shall take the liberty to judge you!

Though this is also wrong but thats how it is.

I think you were desperate to get rid of this car and when you got a firm offer that too in these times of uncertainty, when you saw 70% of the cash you succumb and delivered the car. When popular cars itself are not selling and people are very nervous with their spending in these times you got lucky to get a buyer for a discontinued model, when buying a car is probably the last thing on peoples mind. The right protocols while selling a car were not followed by you and you are a victim of the current time.

OK now what?

Get one thing clear. You are NOT getting that 30%.

At the same time you have the 70% for a "failure" model, i'd like to plug in (1 in hand 2 in bush).

To get out of the situation I would suggest get into a dialogue with the buyer. He wants the 70% of the money back and you also want to come out of it without much damage.

Tell him that you will return 50% of the 70% and take the car back. You will return the balance amount once you sell the car to another buyer. Do the paper work and set a time limit of 1 month to finish the deal.Maybe if he insists you could also give him a PDC for the balance amount as an assurance.

Try and sell the car and pay him the balance.

If he protests make him understand that you do not have any moral responsibility to take back the car after the deal is done as he has taken the delivery went to a service station changed horns and probably went on a joy ride as well.In fact you have to get the balance 30% and give him the papers of the car. Just because he has a medical emergency you are offering him this deal.

Don't ever give him an impression that you are also stressed by the fact that you stand to lose 30% of the agreed amount. If he feels you are breaking then he will put more pressure on you.From his texts he is already pressuring you and wants this to happen in a hurry.

Hope you come out of it unscathed.