My brother had an oldish hyundai. While he had it the cast iron exhaust manifold cracked (a common problem with these cars), and the price of an OEM part was astronomical. As a result he found someone to make a custom stainless steel header and downpipe set, which was much cheaper. Unfortunately, due to the design, it was not possible to replace the cat, so it was removed and replaced with a pipe.
Over the next 2 years, the car passes its next 2 inspections, including emissions. At which point he sells it, advertising it as 'non-standard exhaust manifold'.
2 months later, the new buyer takes it for inspection and it fails marginally on emissions. He subsequently takes it to be investigated and repaired. The repair involves completely replacing the exhaust system with new OEM parts - a catalyst cannot be fitted to the headers, so a new manifold and downpipe had to be sourced, and the custom pipe had been welded to the rear section - so that also had to be replaced.
The new buyer, having been left with a bill for around $2500 then writes to my brother. He explains why the repair was so expensive, and that this was by far the cheapest quote he could find, and that he has sought legal advice, and that as the car was significantly different to advertised (i.e. no cat), asks very politely that my brother should make a contribution to the repair cost (suggesting that the rear exhaust was slightly damaged, and a repair would have been imminenet) but nevertheless the suggestion is that my brother should cough up about $2k.
I'm not really sure what to think. My brother thinks the buyer is just trying it on, and he hasn't got a hope of a case. I'm less sure.
However, I'm wondering what others views are.
(Not sure whether this should have gone in the garage forum - but the question is not particularly technical, so I thought here might be better).
Over the next 2 years, the car passes its next 2 inspections, including emissions. At which point he sells it, advertising it as 'non-standard exhaust manifold'.
2 months later, the new buyer takes it for inspection and it fails marginally on emissions. He subsequently takes it to be investigated and repaired. The repair involves completely replacing the exhaust system with new OEM parts - a catalyst cannot be fitted to the headers, so a new manifold and downpipe had to be sourced, and the custom pipe had been welded to the rear section - so that also had to be replaced.
The new buyer, having been left with a bill for around $2500 then writes to my brother. He explains why the repair was so expensive, and that this was by far the cheapest quote he could find, and that he has sought legal advice, and that as the car was significantly different to advertised (i.e. no cat), asks very politely that my brother should make a contribution to the repair cost (suggesting that the rear exhaust was slightly damaged, and a repair would have been imminenet) but nevertheless the suggestion is that my brother should cough up about $2k.
I'm not really sure what to think. My brother thinks the buyer is just trying it on, and he hasn't got a hope of a case. I'm less sure.
However, I'm wondering what others views are.
(Not sure whether this should have gone in the garage forum - but the question is not particularly technical, so I thought here might be better).