A moral question for you all.

Today I went to look at a '99 Civic DX hatch FS with 128k miles, private owner.

I went to open the hood and the end of the latch broke off in my hand.

After that, the hood wouldn't latch until the cable was manually pushed back in.

From personal experience and based on anecdotal evidence, this happens all the time on Civics. I had to fix one on a '96 I bought last summer.

The owner is pissed and feels I should pay for the repair because it wasn't broken when I got there. The Honda shop up the road wants $100 for the repair.

I feel like I was just unlucky enough to be there when it happened and the problem was waiting to happen. My instinct is that the cable was already binding, and that's why it took force to get it open in the first place, and why it had to be pushed back in for the hood to latch.

What do you think?

 

He could just get it repaired and sell the car to a new buyer for a hundred bucks more than his asking price..... Nobody really looses... (Except the new buyer).. Ha.

 

**** that! He had the car in that condition to begin with. What if the engine blew on you while on the test drive and you were driving normal? Or the clutch went out, or the whell fell off? If the door handle broke then that had to be something he did prior. He is trying to push one over on you. Unless you really pulled hard as hell. As far as the latch goes, it is probably an easy fix anyway. But those ar ethings you would have to fix "if" you bought it. Tell him you will not fix it and that you won't buy the car now because of his shady antics. That's what I would do anyway. GL

 

Unless your like the hulk and ripped that hood open, I wouldn't pay him a cent. If ***** gonna happen its gonna happen, tell him to get over it.

 

tell him you'll by the car for $100 less than what he's asking

 

Yea I don't really see how he could want you to pay for it unless you were trying to break it or being stupid (which I SERIOUSLY doubt you were on a car you were interested in buying).

I agree with you on it probably being close to breaking. That kind of stuff happens to Civics ALL THE TIME.

Owner is just ignorant and pissed because its gonna make it harder to sell unless you buy it.

 

It is an $18 part from Honda and it is easy to replace.

They break all the time, the 96-98's have this problem because it has happened to me twice! (Don't know about 99-00 because I never had one)

I would not pay for it, it is not like you pulled it with brute force on purpose did you?

 

Of course I didn't go ripping on it trying to break something. I just wanted to see under the hood (where there was a nice blue green corrosion on one of the battery terminals).

I think the cable was already binding or otherwise acting funny. Otherwise, shouldn't it have retracted on its own instead of being stuck so the hood wouldn't latch at the front?

 

Here is a prime example of why I never do 3 things:
1. Test drive the car alone. Always have the owner with you.

2. Never open the hood, trunk, fuel door, or glove box yourself. Always have the owner do it.

3. Never ever, ever, ever, ever, let the owner tell you "the buyer" that you are responsible for their car. They are responsible for the car until it is legally in your name!

You owe him nothing. Simply walk away from the situation. If he tries to go to small claims court over it there is no judge in the nation who would side with him. It is simply the owners responsibility to take care of the car before you purchase it.

One example is this: I went to a BWM/Triumph motorcycle dealership to purchase a new bike in 2000. While I was there my brother was sitting on different bikes and trying them on for size. He was 25 at the time. When he stood up from testing one bike it knocked down 14 bikes that were all lined up side by side. He caused more than $1200 in damages. The dealership took responsibility due to the fact that he was not operating the vehicle when the "accident" happened. They explained that while a potential buyer is viewing the merchandise they, the dealer, are 100% responsible for any physical damage done...unless it is intentional vandalism.

Moral to the story...unless you are driving the car and have an accident...anything that happens is the dealers responsibility even if the dealer is a private party. That is why so many dealerships for cars and motorcycles have big, bold, and obnoxious signs asking you to not sit in the cars or on the bikes without assistance from a salesperson.
Simple as that.

 

tell him to f off.

 

I wouldn't tell the guy to f... off. Be respectful about it but don't be bullied. Unless he can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that you did the damage on purpose and vandalized his car there is nothing he can do to you other than yell and complain. He has no legal leg to stand on.

That is the legal side. If he gets violent or threatens you simply call the police. No need to argue or get physical. The police will not tolerate that. They also won't take sides. They will try to get you two to go to court to settle the matter. Once that happens the owner is found responsible and you will be free to go.

 

This is excellent advice, thanks for posting.

I'm not going to tell the guy to f*** off. Not my style. But I'm not going to fork over $100 to get this fixed at a dealership, either.

The car was certainly far from mint condition, and I have a feeling the screw holes in the dash from where the owner screwed a satellite radio into it would be more of a deterrent to the sale than the hood release cable.

 

**** breaks its his car not yours it was prolly cob jobed befor you got to open it, he's just trying to get some money i bet he'd ask for the money and not even fix it and sell it that way, tell him to go to hell

 

The current condition of the car is a direct reflection of the owner's respect for the car. If there is other evidence in the vehicle that he didn't respect it then it makes it that much harder for him to claim you were at fault.
Either way it isn't your responsibility and you should just walk away. Don't give him any of your personal information no matter how badly he wants it. No name, address, phone number, cell number, email, or anything. Sounds pretty basic but sometimes we say more than we should when we are under stress. The less he knows about you the better off you will be.

 

I didn't realize there was a TSB for this until I googled it -

http://www.tegger.com/hondafaq/tsb/civic/x99-089e.pdf

 

Its his own responsibility, If you did nothing to force it or try to break it its not your problem at all. Tell him to go take his cheap *** to the Honda shop and have them fix it if he cant himself.

 

same thing happened to me, anyone who's a tech will tell you that sometime **** just happens and you just got unlucky and it sucks but you should'nt be responsible due to the fact that thats a common problem with the latch and the age of the car

 

I wouldnt give him a penny. It happens all the time, it's noithing new, explain that to him, and say sorry but im not giving you anything. It's not your fault it broke.