Consumer Law, Warranties car deal gone wrong

[jsckrader77]

I made an agreement with a "friend" to haul three cars home I had purchased to resale as demo cars. In the agreement they would receive one of the cars for hauling them for me. They picked up the car they wanted to keep and resale, but did not pick up the other two cars. After 60 days the original owner resold the cars and gave me my money back for the two that were not picked up. However when I approach the guy that was suppose to pick them up he was not willing to reimburse me for the other car he sold. He did not fulfill his part of the agreement and says he is not in the wrong.
who should be responsible for this matter? Currently I am sitting on a loss and he has profitted from a deal he did not complete. Do I go after the guy that resold the cars? Should the guy who was in breech of agreement be responsible? I would like to recover my loss.

 

[dee_dub]

Technically, the guy that resold the cars maybe shouldn't have done that, but he didn't particularly cause you any loss. You got your money back.

The guy who picked up the car and kept it without doing his end of the bargain is liable. He has your car, and he didn't do your work. I presume your agreement is in writing and the car is still titled in your name?

 

[jsckrader77]

I have a paper trail of emails that support our agreement. The car that he picked up was the one he was keeping out of the deal. It has since then been resold. He never finished his part of the deal by picking up the two remaining cars.

Can I ask for the money back he sold the car for since my intention was to resale the cars after I purchased them for profit or is he only liable for what I purchased the car for?

 

[dee_dub]

You can ask for whatever you like. Frankly, the math of the deal is suspicious to me - he was going to earn A CAR for hauling three cars for you? You were buying three cars, only selling two, and the profit on those two cars was supposed to make it worthwhile for you to give this guy the other car for his trouble? Crazy. I'm in the wrong line of business.

Considering he was going to keep the car, what you're out is the profit you would have made on the other two cars. He's got his car (or cash equivalent). You need to get the profits you would have made.

 

[jsckrader77]

I purchased all 3 cars for $200. Scrap rate at the time I purchased the cars was $350 for each and gas was around $4 a gallon. It was a 40 mile round trip so I felt it was worth the car as a trade off for payment...if the agreement was honored.

Is this something that would hold up in a court room or am I better off to let it go? The guy that was suppose to be the workman does not want to be help accountable. I feel he should be.

 

[dee_dub]

What do you know, I am in the wrong line of business.

It might hold up in small claims court. You never know what you can convince a judge of, and we don't know the other guy's side of the story. You've got receipts for the cars, an email trail. I'd say sue him for the value of the car he kept in breach of your agreement, plus whatever expenses you incurred in the deal.