Car Crash by Ian Hampton
I am selling you my used car and so far you like it very much. You take it for a test drive, show it to your mechanic, and no problems there. I am asking a reasonable price for it and you are thinking about bargaining, but don’t want to let go of the deal for a few hundred bucks.
We are very close to closing the deal and I know it.
You casually ask me what I do and I tell you that I am a car mechanic. You are a little curious now and ask me where I got this car from.
I tell you that it was sold to me by someone who was in a car crash. That guy took this car to me for repair, and when I told him how much it would cost to repair it, he asked me if would I buy it from him.
I named a price and he willingly took it. He didn’t report it to his insurance and the damage doesn’t appear on the Carfax report or anywhere else. In short, there is no way for you to know about the accident.
Then I go ahead and show you the picture of the car as it was before I repaired it, and also explain to you in great detail the parts I changed and the damage that the car took. There was no engine damage but the car took quite a lot of body work to come to its current shape.
I am working on the doctrine of Caveat Emptor, which is Latin for – Let the buyer beware. I am not actively concealing anything from you and in fact I go to great lengths to explain to you what I know about the car.
But if you hadn’t asked, I wouldn’t have told.
Am I a crook?
Putting someone at risk when you know better is not acceptable in my book. Just like it wouldn’t be okay if your spouse had sex on the side with a HIV positive and didn’t tell you about it because you didn’t ask. 😉
But Mikael, I went to great lengths to explain the c0ndition of the car and if I hadnt told you, then there was no way you could have found out, surely that must count for something?
Yes actually I think that you are 😉
Most people would not buy a car that was damaged and I personally wouldn’t because of the potential safety risk of driving a body that has been damaged previously. By not telling me you are putting me and anyone else in that car at a greater risk and you choose not to tell me. That makes you a crook and someone that should definitely not be allowed to sell cars.
If you hadn’t know about the accident that would have been a very different story 🙂
Mikael