Sold my boat now he wants to sue me HELLP

[DAN M VAGOS]

Okay so five months ago I sold in 1989 Bayliner mind you it was still cold and we still got snow. The gentleman insisted on hearing it and seeing it run before he gave me any money so I told him no problem the boat runs great. So he made an appointment to come back three days later which I told him would give me enough time to work unwinterize it. So he showed up in the boat started right and ran for probably 10 to 15 minutes. He Purchase the boat and was on his way. Now five months later he's telling me the water pump is not pumping and the boat still has not been in the water yet this year. Now he wants me to pay half for the job. I did have him sign a printed out bill of sale not handwritten that states as is no implied warranties. He's telling me that he recorded our conversation five months prior and I told him the water pump was fine which it was that the time I mean he was here he saw it and new enough about boats to know that it was in working order. I live in mass if that makes a difference. Let me know what you all think thanks .

 

[oldjeep]

Just to be clear, when you ran it you had it on the hose - correct?

I will say that I had a very similar thing happen to me this year. I had sold my 2005 before the ice was off the lakes so the guy only got to hear it run on muffs. I assured him that it was fine and told him if he had any problems to call me. Sure enough I got a call the first day he took it out - overheating. He swore he had never run it until that day. I believed him brought it over to my place and pulled the impeller. Turned out that when I had replaced it a few weeks before the guy bought it that I didn't get the water tube connected - it slid to the side. Fixed up and happy buyer.

So back to your problem - sue you? If he is talking about the impeller then it is $25 for an impeller and $25 for some gear lube and about 45 minutes worth of work. Or if it is a cobra drive, 10 minutes to replace the impeller and nothing else.

(All assuming this is an I/O)

What engine/drive or outboard do you have?

 

[oldjeep]

OK, looking back at old posts I can see you had a Force 50 along with some previous over heating problems
http://forums.iboats.com/forum/engi...-chrysler-outboards/624039-overheating-or-not

 

[alldodge]

No attorney here, but I would say it appears you sold it in good faith. No where that I know of (remember non-attorney) a person can be recorded without being informed of it. Anyone can sue anyone for anything, so he can try but don't know if he would win

 

[DAN M VAGOS]

When he came to see it run it was in a whole bucket of water. And yes overheat alarm would go off from time to time but it turned out it was just a week temperature sensor the alarm would go off when the engine was off the mechanic said from heat saturation so that had nothing to do with anything.

 

[Augoose]

Legality of recordings (for this purpose) are based on consent from either one or both of the parties who are subjected to being recorded (one party vs two party consent). Some states are two party states in that both parties must consent to being recorded and those states are listed below. In one party states only ONE of the parties needs to consent to a recording for it to be legal - the second party does not need to be notified nor is the recording party under any obligation to notify the recorded party, but that consenting party must be involved in the recording.

If you lived in California,Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts,Montana[SUP] [/SUP](requires notification only vs actual consent), Nevada, New Hampshire,Pennsylvania or Washington and you were recorded without notification (sign, verbal acknowledgement, etc) then the recording could be criminal and illegal.

If you knowingly sold him a boat with issues, shame on you.

If he recorded you in Massachusetts I'd let him know he may have violated state law by recording you if he did not have your consent - you'll likely not hear from him again.

 

[Starcraft5834]

Dan. A couple things...as mentioned an impeller is not expensive..the guy who bought it should have replaced himself and assumed it needed to be done. Secondly he said he recorded you...did you give your consent? If not. Here in Pa thats a wiretap violation and a felony...check your state regs...if its a crime in Mass hes obviously an uninformed goof who is trying to intimidate you..he has no case..ignor him..if he presses tell him you will have him charged...

 

[oldjeep]

When he came to see it run it was in a whole bucket of water. And yes overheat alarm would go off from time to time but it turned out it was just a week temperature sensor the alarm would go off when the engine was off the mechanic said from heat saturation so that had nothing to do with anything.

You ran it in "a bucket of water" for 10-15 minutes? How big a bucket have you got?

 

[DAN M VAGOS]

Lol a cut 55 gallon. With the hose running and yes I had to dethaw it lol

 

[foodfisher]

As is is as is. Who knows what happened after he took possession?

 

[Bubbasboat]

Legality of recordings (for this purpose) are based on consent from either one or both of the parties who are subjected to being recorded (one party vs two party consent). Some states are two party states in that both parties must consent to being recorded and those states are listed below. In one party states only ONE of the parties needs to consent to a recording for it to be legal - the second party does not need to be notified nor is the recording party under any obligation to notify the recorded party, but that consenting party must be involved in the recording.

If you lived in California,Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts,Montana[SUP] [/SUP](requires notification only vs actual consent), Nevada, New Hampshire,Pennsylvania or Washington and you were recorded without notification (sign, verbal acknowledgement, etc) then the recording could be criminal and illegal.

If you knowingly sold him a boat with issues, shame on you.

If he recorded you in Massachusetts I'd let him know he may have violated state law by recording you if he did not have your consent - you'll likely not hear from him again.

So this guy decides to record me. He being one of the two parties being recorded give his consent to being recorded. He does the recording. Now he can sue me based on that recording? Sounds wrong in any state!

"who are subjected to being recorded" Isn't there a third party involvement somewhere in this?

Just asking!!

 

[H20Rat]

Lol a cut 55 gallon. With the hose running and yes I had to dethaw it lol

so wait a minute... What was the air temp when you fired the engine up? Its possible you toasted the impeller right there, even if it was in a bucket of water. If the engine was cold enough, and you barely had the intakes covered, the water pump could have started sucking water and the cold metal of the lower unit would have froze it, before making it to the pump. Once the lower unit warmed up some more, the water would have reached the impeller and it would have started pumping, before overheating. It would require a couple specific conditions, but certainly impossible.

 

[H20Rat]

And yes overheat alarm would go off from time to time but it turned out it was just a week temperature sensor the alarm would go off when the engine was off the mechanic said from heat saturation so that had nothing to do with anything.

That makes no sense... Outboards will not heat soak... Once you turn them off, they quit generating heat. I've owned a force 50 motor. It didn't EVER have an overheat alarm go off, it is not normal nor do I think it was the sensor.

 

[DAN M VAGOS]

Ok first off it was not that cold maybe 40 and second the water pump was working he saw it I don't care what I put in the old posts. Dose that mean that if a boat I had 10 years ago can't be fixed in 10 years ?

 

[dingbat]

This is exactly the reason your bill of sale includes "as is" language. If BoS includes said language, tell him to stick his recorder where the sun don't shine and go pound sand.

 

[redneck joe]

if the bill of sale says 'as is' then let it go or flip him $50 to cover half the repair (watch what you say in case he records you or you record everything).


Be the bigger man if you feel the need. I would cover a small repair however I feel he crossed a line about recording sh**. Thats just a guy out to be a ****.


That said - even in Canada he should have been on the water a few months ago - why just now complaining that he 'hasn't been on the water yet'?

 

[southkogs]

Also look at Mass. state laws regarding verbal contracts too. In most cases (I'm not an attorney at all) I don't think making a verbal statement (i.e. - "yes, the impeller works") can be considered a contract or warranty. If he recorded you saying something like "I guarantee you the impeller works and will never fail on you, and I'll back that up" then perhaps he could make a (very weak) attempt to corner you into a verbal contract ... with his very likely illegal recording.

 

[NYBo]

It's a Force so it doesn't emit a solid stream tell-tale. So maybe he doesn't have a legitimate problem anyway.

 

[64osby]

No warranty or implied warranty, especially if "as is" in included in BOS, even if not the implied idea would be your selling a used boat. I would think any court would hold up to this, unless our in CA. :lol:

The issue seems to to be you have a buyer with buyer remorse or he is just a moron. Tell him it ran and pumped water when sold. Now it is all his.

 

[jbcurt00]

Definition of a gad-fly. Search the archives, a variety of problems of a used boat buyer suing the seller. Although I think the seller always prevailed, it was a huge burden that was mentally taxing. Some people suck. Good luck. My 1st choice would be to ignore the buyer after notifying him AS IS =AS IS.