Buyer wants to sue me for backing out of sale of vehicle

[Carina]

Jurisdiction

California

Recently I decided to sell my vehicle. I posted it on craigslist, met with a buyer, and he talked me down pretty low and i verbally agreed to it. he gave me a deposit of 1k with the agreement he would have the vehicle checked out and wanted to be sure he had a good warranty. the next day, i went to a dealership to get a new vehicle and decided to see what they would give for a trade in. they ended up offering 2k more for sale of my vehicle! after thinking about it, i decided to take the deal with the dealership and i tried to reach my buyer to let him know the situation and that i just couldn't sell it for that low a price because kbb says my car is worth more for private party. i returned his 1k deposit which he accepted, but later that day he emailed me saying basically i had breached the contract and he's going to take me to court. does he have any leg to stand on? we never wrote up any contract. i only gave him a receipt for his deposit, which i returned to him and he accepted. he says since i breached the contract (which we never signed anything besides me signing the receipt for the deposit), could he win in court? we do have some emails back and forth with me stating the situation and that we could no longer accept what he had offered because our car is worth more. he says he can make me pay the difference on a similar vehicle because i breached a contract.

 

[adjusterjack]

he's going to take me to court.

There is no "going" to take you to court. He'll either sue you or he won't sue you. Until he does, there's nothing you can do but ignore his hot air and not worry about his threats.

does he have any leg to stand on?

Possibly. He could theoretically sue you for specific performance or monetary damages for the difference between the agreed price and the cost of an identical car if he goes out and buys it.

However, that kind of litigation gets complicated and whiners generally just want to huff and puff without following through.

we never signed anything besides me signing the receipt for the deposit

One way or another, that's a contract and, depending on how it's worded, you could be vulnerable if he actually does sue.

we do have some emails back and forth with me stating the situation and that we could no longer accept what he had offered because our car is worth more

Your unilateral rescission of the contract doesn't mean squat.

he says he can make me pay the difference on a similar vehicle because i breached a contract.

As I said before, there is that possibility. If it gets into court there's no way to predict how it will go.

Meantime, I suggest you ignore, block his texts, block his calls, stop talking to him. Talking is what gets you in trouble.

And now for your life lesson from the school of hard knocks: NEVER take deposits when you put a car up for sale. Buyer brings cash, in full, and picks up the car. Until then, you make no commitment and it can be sold to the first person who comes along with the cash.

 

[Carina]

There is no "going" to take you to court. He'll either sue you or he won't sue you. Until he does, there's nothing you can do but ignore his hot air and not worry about his threats.



Possibly. He could theoretically sue you for specific performance or monetary damages for the difference between the agreed price and the cost of an identical car if he goes out and buys it.

However, that kind of litigation gets complicated and whiners generally just want to huff and puff without following through.



One way or another, that's a contract and, depending on how it's worded, you could be vulnerable if he actually does sue.



Your unilateral rescission of the contract doesn't mean squat.



As I said before, there is that possibility. If it gets into court there's no way to predict how it will go.

Meantime, I suggest you ignore, block his texts, block his calls, stop talking to him. Talking is what gets you in trouble.

And now for your life lesson from the school of hard knocks: NEVER take deposits when you put a car up for sale. Buyer brings cash, in full, and picks up the car. Until then, you make no commitment and it can be sold to the first person who comes along with the cash.

But we returned the deposit and he accepted it back. Doesn't that mean that its done, cancelled? If he would've refused the deposit, it seems like he would have a leg to stand on.

 

[army judge]

But we returned the deposit and he accepted it back. Doesn't that mean that its done, cancelled? If he would've refused the deposit, it seems like he would have a leg to stand on.

All you can do is as suggested, wait it out.
If he sues, he sues.
I don't see a basis upon which he can sue successfully, because you returned his money.

In cases like this, when the deposit isn't returned, that's usually what he'd get.

As it stands, he's been made whole.
He has no damages.
If he wants specific performance, as stated that's a lot of effort, and can't happen in small claims court.

I suggest you simply ignore him.
You're under no legal obligation to explain, or answer questions, so don't.

 

[Disabled Vet]

Food for thought Carina, The dealership could of ended up paying you LESS for your car. Reason is the profit they were making off the other car. I stopped in a dealership one day and was asked by the owner if i had ever sold cars. I told him No and he offered me a job. I was bored since being a cripple isn't fun sitting at home every day. So any way, I didn't stay there but 7 months as i hated the job. I hated the fact of watching people get their teeth ripped out by greedy car salesman. I found how to look at the boss computer screen and see the price the dealership had in the car. I would bust my butt to get down to that number for a customer or within 1500.00 of it. I considered 1500.00 enough profit per auto. So you see.... The dealership could of been making 4,000.00 on that car. Then reduce his profit to make you think your getting more for your trade in. Then hope someone over pays when they sell your car. Plus.... Dealerships make money off your loan as well. Always seek a loan straight from the bank to start with. example.... I had a older guy that had shaky ( not bad, not good) credit. So this was back in 2005 he thought he would end up paying between 10-12% interest. Well he had a loan from chrysler about 6 years before that he paid every payment on time. So they offered him a loan for 4.9%, So the dealership told me to tell him great news. Your approved at 10.5%..... wow yes they made the difference between the interest rates. Of course i didn't let that fly either. I called the guy with this information. I told him about the lower interest rate offer. explained how he could get the 4.9% by saying he had another dealership call him with that offer. He almost didn't do it because he was afraid if he was to state that he would lose this car... Good luck in your deal

 

[txls]

Many people threaten to sue and few do.