[aashishnb]

My 2 bits,

From a safety perspective, you should first check if the car is 100% whole, no offences committedusing the car, no tampering or parts swapped and not many km have been added. Ther are many suggestions already about how to go about this.

You can go to Nimhans to check the truth about the medical condition.

Assuming everything he said is true, car is 100% whole, etc., even if it is a case of buyer's remorse, perhaps you are better off taking back the car instead of getting into a fight as recovering the balance amount, getting gim to register car in his mame, etc. will be painful process. You can decide on the amount you want to deduct based on how genuine you feel he is.

One imp point, even if he had a lot of money, sometimes occurence of a bad event immediately after such a decision makes one wonder if he bought the vehicle at a 'wrong mahurat' or got a 'jinxed' vehicle. Obviously, some may believe it and some won't but this is a very strong reason. In such circumstances, the buyer would want to get rid of the car asap. Easiest way is to ask you to keep it with some loss. Second best option is to resell but that'll be more haircut and effort.

Playing devil's advocate, did his mechanic give him some obscene repair estimate making him think he got a 'lemon'. You can assuage this concern with your inputs basis ownership history or offering checkup at Renault.

[amit73]

I was thinking what I would do in this situation and this is what I came up with:

1. I anyways need to sell this car
2. I want to help this guy but within a reason (irrespective of whether he is lying or not)
3. I need to minimize my exposure

Next Steps:

4. Get the car + documents back from him
5. Try visiting several used car sellers and ask them for a valuation
6. Let's say the max valuation is Y and you sold it for X to this gentleman, calculate Z=X-Y-15K (which the buyer is willing to forego)
7. See if you are willing to pay Z for peace of mind. If the amount is too high, explain all of this to the buyer and see if he can bump up 15K to, say, 25K. Also check how Z compares to 30% of X (the amount owed to you and which you are unlikely to get).

Hopefully, in this process, you would find the right thing to do. I am also anticipating that step 5 would also tell you if something had gone wrong with the car e.g. accident/part change while it was not in your possession. You anyways need to get a proof for the period the car was in the buyer's possession.

[poloman]

Buyer's remorse is an extremely strong feeling. This can worsen if some one in your circle pick on you and question the decision.

A person with a head injury who needs 10L surgery will be in extremely bad condition. He should have been shifted to Nimhans in an ambulance at the earliest. So all these plans of the buyer driving to hometown bringing the father in his car( If I got it right) and all sounds totally out of place.

It the story is not true, the buyer is of extremely immoral character for bringing his poor father's health in the frame for gaming someone.

[Sandeep500]

Originally Posted by amit73

...

Hopefully, in this process, you would find the right thing to do. I am also anticipating that step 5 would also tell you if something had gone wrong with the car e.g. accident/part change while it was not in your possession. You anyways need to get a proof for the period the car was in the buyer's possession.

Life should never be lived in X-Y or profit loss perspective in every situation. Try to verify if the guy is speaking truth and if he really is in such a difficult situation you should take the car back even without taking or cutting any money. It will give you an immense amount of inner satisfaction and life long gratitude from that guy.

[srishiva]

I hope he is not waiting to admit his father after you return the money !

Since its a hassle, you can demand the proof, if provided you can decide if humanly you can get the car back. Since you haven't got the full money and its a risk, you can get the car at least back.

Its extremely bad luck and I sympathize with you.

[amit73]

Originally Posted by Sandeep500

Life should never be lived in X-Y or profit loss perspective in every situation. Try to verify if the guy is speaking truth and if he really is in such a difficult situation you should take the car back even without taking or cutting any money. It will give you an immense amount of inner satisfaction and life long gratitude from that guy.

If only it was that easy to verify if someone was speaking truth or not.

[AbhiJ]

First.... Letting go of a car with 70% payment. Big Mistake.

If this is a fraud, this might be a way to make you say, the sale is final, and he saying I cannot pay you the 30% now, and get away with the car at a lower price.

There is no way to know for sure unless you visit the hospital (An absolute no no in these times)

Please tell us the selling price and car age to be able to judge this situation better.

[Thermodynamics]

Show empathy only when you are 100% sure it deserves.

We live in a tough world, "tough deceives as easy and easy pretends tough".

Please reach out to a cop or a lawyer preferably among friends and relatives. Take them with you when you meet him next time to assess the situation or help you haggle a bit. It is not advisable to take back the car. Either you should be content with 70% or adopt a legal route to recover the remaining.

[Sherlocked]

This is a tricky situation you have gotten in. Hope you come out of it without any loss, be it financial or otherwise.

From my limited experience in selling a car/scooter in India is never give an iota of upper hand to the other party that you are transacting with. People in India tend to take the honest guys for a ride.

Investigate the matter. Ask for evidences from the guy that his father is genuinely ill and only then you'll be able to come up with conclusions. All the best.

[AZT]

Tricky situation to be in, you wont forfeit the 30% and the buyer knows that. Either he gets it for 70% or you take it back.
Didn't even know the below happens, definitely check for this and the illegal activity part.

Originally Posted by audioholic

If he is from an automotive background or even related to a mechanic or something, your car might have been used as a parts donor since the car isnt popular and finding parts is difficult. Letting go of 10k by him can be an easy way to return your car maybe with something missing or replaced with spurious parts. But this is very improbable

[ajaiD]

Verify the claim the re-verify the car "He has not changed parts your ASS would be able to say" then keep some amount with you for car re-verification and trouble refund the rest.

or

Tell him to re-sell the car to you or whoever else. The problem here is that he still owes you 30% which will be an issue to extract.

Whatever you do follow occam's razor.

[Tgo]

Asking and verifying proof of his father's condition is not going to help. I got conned once for being naive at Bangalore Central. Luckily I was a student then and had only 500 bucks on me to spare.

If he is conning you, he won't leave any stone unturned.

[panamera13]

1.) Ask him to bring the car to your place of choosing; don't go to his place.

2.) Also, check the mileage on the car; that will give you an idea if it was abused or not.

3.) Try to know the person - is he a professional? Where does he work? Can you verify his place of employment? Does he work for a big company or unknown (in which case he was probably conning you anyway)

4.) Take his pic with your phone camera for future reference.

4.) Tell him you'll give him the 70% minus 15K if he returns the car.

5.) Don't pay him back in cash; pay via check.

6.) Have an affidavit/document ready wherein he states that he's not able to pay the remaining 30% as contracted and hence the deal is null and void. document should also state the mileage he took delivery vs returned.

6.) If he doesn't comply, file FIR and give his photo to police.

Initially give the benefit of doubt, humanity is still alive. As long as comes as straight forward, it should be ok.

7.) Never sell a car without FULL payment again. Here in the US, there's a "check" gang where they pay all the desis who are relatively new and going back to India after their IT project completion via a check and that account never has money. I always tell them to insist on "cashiers check ie DD".

Best of luck!!

[Venkat_Figo]

If you decide to return the money & take back your car, ensure a thorough checkup is done, a lorry can be dismantled within hours, so changing parts in a car in days is nothing. Have traffic offenses history checked. You may also contact your nearby police station to check if there are any cases booked for the vehicle, as a precaution.

Ensure exchange of money is well documented, preferable through online.

His situation might be genuine, but it never hurts to be careful at your end.

[WorkingGuru]

I suggest it'd be good to refund the full amount & get your car back, not just as a genuine response to a request to help for a medical emergency during an actual pandemic, but also because that 30% may not be coming anytime soon. With due respect to our legal system, do you really want to contest for 30% of the value wherein his lawyer may claim all kinds of sob stories to strain out your time? I'm not sure if its pragmatic to pursue 30% price of a used Fluence legally as it may need to be worthwhile to cover the cost & hassles of litigation.

Anyway, whatever is happening now is, for the most part, the consequence of the seller accepting to deliver the car with 30% payment remaining.

With 4 pages & 60 posts within 18 hours, IMO this topic has escalated quickly. To be frank, I find some posts with the general assumption that the seller may have changed parts/committed crimes etc, rather cynical. IMO its better to wait before one can comment on whether it is known if the other party seems to be telling the truth. IMHO Some reasonably timely clarifications by the OP if the seller had initially shown any proof of his claim & whether the OP could later verify the sellers claim, would be prudent as this thread dwells further.