Last week, I was called at Motormech by a Coupe owner wanting to sell a Coupe for spares. I asked for details and photos to be emailed, which turned up a day or two later.

Having decided that the car sounded like it was beyond repair, I asked the seller for his price, which was several times what I wanted to pay, so I let him down gently and declined.

However, I was then surprised to see the car advertised on Ebay with only a passing mention of the issues he'd revealed to me.

Ebay ad

The car looks familiar - look at photo 2 in the ebay ad - was it a forum car previously?

Admittedly, the advert does mention "spares / repairs", but there's only a passing mention of the rust problems and engine issues



Here's an extract from the email the seller sent me



He also asked for £500 for the Azevs, which he admits "need a refurb"

I'm not saying this car isn't worth buying, but it certainly isn't as good as the Ebay ad implies.

Proceed with great care.

Justin - if you're a member on here, I apologise for dropping you in it, but the Coupe community is quite close-knit and it detests such underhand behaviour. You now stand little or no chance of selling the car (or your other Sprint Blue breaker) on this forum.

Having investigated further, it appears I'm not the only person he's tried to sell the car to - I'm sure someone else will be along shortly to explain further....

I have spoken to the man in question but he was enquiring about mine. He asked what i thought about his and I said it was to expensive for what was needed. When asked why he didnt mot it he did say about the welding and the fact it really requires another engine to pass emissions.

This guy's tried flogging it to me too.

His name is Justin and he was wanting to chop his coupe and some cash in against my sprinty.

He gave me £100 deposit and has been arsing me about for the past month, changing his mind and trying to barter a better deal than we'd agreed to begin with.

He's asked for his deposit back now and I've point blank refused.

has that been in the past couple days? Yesterday he wanted to put a deposit on mine aswell!
* id refuse aswell

He's gone quiet over the last few days, but it's been ongoing for the past month or so

Ok thanks. I will see if I hear from him tomorrow as expected.. will update anything I find out..

i will be down on saturday to pick the car up joe I am giving a mate a full tank of diesel to take me down we are leaving about 8 am to come down

And me .

He's a member on here,can't remember his name but I no longer answer phone to him.
If its the one I saw last year then steer clear as I condemned it.
Had serious defects with suspension,brakes engine and structural corrosion not to mention the paintwork.

I've also had contact from him

Jesus he has been doing the rounds properly.

`Please no time wasters` quoted from his EBay ad...the irony. It should be condemned for that exhaust set-up alone.

I have never understood why an advertiser would put this on an advert

I'm glad to see that the ad has been revised quite considerably to better explain the issues - the whole reason I posted this in the first place has now been addressed - the new wording means that the car won't be bought by an unsuspecting owner, thinking it simply needs a tune-up and a bit of rustproofing

For clarity (and to pacify the seller, who I know is reading this thread), the reason for the existence of FCCUK is to promote and encourage Fiat Coupe ownership - in my opinion (and that of many others) this extends to identifying cars that are not what they seem.

Let's turn the tables for a moment - if, as a new Coupe owner, you found that some of the forum regulars were aware of a Coupe with hidden issues and that these issues were kept quiet, you'd be rightly annoyed when you bought it and found the car to be rather less good than you first thought

Maybe it's just me but if I've sold a car in the past on eBay or to someone I know I'm very honest! If something is wrong, even if its a scratch or squeaky passenger seat I try to be upfront its a respect thing plus I wouldn't want someone conning me back. Cars are not cheap and it's not fair to waste someone's time, money and impact their life on with a dodgy car.

I need a car for work and for my family as my parents aren't in great health. I spend good money and wisely do my research where possible to try and get a good deal. If someone is dishonest it angers me because a broken car has such an impact on my life not only my wallet/pocket. If your selling because the car is a bad one at least be honest, it's a form of fraud passing off a bad car and a suitable or good one. My brother had a CCJ registered to a guy on eBay who sold a bad van, he's still trying to get his money back to extend the court are close to taking it from the guys future house sale.

Touch wood I've only ever bought one bad car in the last 12 years that wasn't anything like the eBay ad. I returned the car half an hour later and had all my money back. It had clearly bad ruined by abuse and they had hidden it well until part of the suspension fell off on the way home.

£1500-600, that's a saving!

I would break it myself as i'm sure you would make more money selling the good bits than what he is advertising as it is

This is the type of coupe that gives the car a bad name. Which is one of the reasons I almost didn't buy one

I waited for roughly two years before going through with a purchase. Apart from a few things (one of which I believe to be my own fault) it's been an absolute pleasure to own. It's unfortunate but I guess some people do sometimes get caught out with these, or impulse takes over and they rush into buying something they later regret.

I did see this add on eBay and my knowledge of these cars is far from Brilliant but it had "walk away" written all over it, the alloys however did look pretty nice!

Well done Nigel and a thank you to the owner. Well done for manning up and being honest.