A young driver claims a DJ haggled her down to less than half her asking price on her Audi by spinning a ‘sob story’ – only to advertise it for three times the price an hour later.
Sarah Hutchinson, 24, from Strathaven, South Lanarkshire, in Scotland, listed her Audi TT Quattro 3.2 for sale online for £2,500 two weeks ago and was contacted by Mark McCallum, who offered to buy the car.
Despite informing the nightclub DJ that she needed the cash to buy a more practical car and pay off some debt, Mr McCallum bombarded her with messages pointing out issues with the vehicle.
Sarah Hutchinson, 24, from Strathaven, South Lanarkshire, in Scotland, claims a DJ haggled her down to less than half her asking price on her Audi by spinning a ‘sob story’ – only to advertise it for three times the price an hour later
She listed her Audi TT Quattro 3.2 (pictured) for sale online for £2,500 two weeks ago and was contacted by Mark McCallum, who offered to buy the car
Case worker Ms Hutchinson says Mr McCallum, from Glasgow, Lanarkshire, ‘spun’ a story that he only wanted a ‘wee runner’ and that he needed the car for weekends for use with his daughter.
He even told her he would have to ‘save up’ for the repairs and that his dad would have to buy him a spare key for it.
Ms Hutchinson claims Mr McCallum, who appears to have sold numerous cars on Facebook in recent months, made her so worried that she wouldn’t be able to flog the vehicle that she agreed to slash the price to a mere £1,100.
However she was devastated to spot Mr McCallum appearing to list the car for sale online just an hour later – for a whopping £3,850.
When contacted for comment, Mark originally claimed the advert was a prank by his pal.
But he subsequently said that he would be selling the car after doing repairs on it and was entitled to sell it for as much as he wished.
Ms Hutchinson said: ‘If anyone else is approached by this guy, I’d advise them to be very wary.
‘He spun a sob story and didn’t make it clear. I [would have] had no issue with what he was going to do with it afterwards – it’s the fact he was so untruthful.
‘He said ‘I need a car for the weekend – I’ve got a daughter, we’ve moved house, we really need a car’.
‘I think part of it was that I’m a young girl. The fact is he was condescending, when I’d already done my research and checked it.
‘But when you’re dealing with things that are more geared towards men, you start to question yourself.’
After deciding to buy a new car for her short commute, Ms Hutchinson listed her Audi for sale for £2,500 because a bodywork expert reportedly said her bodywork would only need £400 to touch up.
When contacted for comment, Mark originally claimed the advert was a prank by his pal. But he subsequently said that he would be selling the car after doing repairs on it and was entitled to sell it for as much as he wished
Mr McCallum got in touch with her and offered £1,800 at first, but Ms Hutchinson showed him a screenshot of an online estimate of more than £3,400.
Telling her to ‘be real’, he bemoaned the car’s age, miles to the gallon, lack of service history, number of owners and mileage.
Despite pointing out the ‘bumps and scrapes’ in the original listing, Mr McCullum acted surprised when Ms Hutchinson mentioned them in their exchange.
After coming to see the car, he claimed there were a long list of issues and calculated that it would cost £1,600 to fix them.
During their exchange, he even tried to trade other vehicles which he was selling with her, which she turned down.
Ms Hutchinson repeatedly tried to walk away from the sale but was bombarded with further issues by Mr McCallum, until she claims she became worried the car would never sell.
Mr McCallum claimed he would have to ‘save up’ to be able to afford the repairs and that his dad would have to buy the car a spare key for him.
Ms Hutchinson felt sorry for him and was desperate to buy her new pink Nissan Micra convertible and so settled on just £1,100.
Despite informing the nightclub DJ that she needed the cash to buy a more practical car and pay off some debt, Mr McCallum bombarded her with messages pointing out issues with the vehicle
But when Ms Hutchinson and her mum went on Mr McCallum’s Facebook page to see if he was showing off his new purchase, they were devastated to see it listed for sale for £3,850.
Ms Hutchinson said: ‘Me and my mum thought we’d have a look to see if he was showing it off.
‘We were dead shocked and thought ‘that’s just an hour after we sold him that’.
Mr McCallum told Ms Hutchinson that an offer of £1800 was ‘good money’ and went on to price up what he said needing doing to the car
‘He’d put up the photos of the car in my driveway and he’d put the car was ‘immaculate’ and he was selling it for £3,850.
‘My mum was in contact with him saying ‘look, I know you’ve ripped my daughter off,’ she added.
However she claims Mr McCallum complained that the car was ‘gubbed’ and that they had ripped him off.
Mr McCallum said his father would have to buy him a spare key for the car and that he would need to ‘save up’ to repair the issues with it. When he brought up the key, Ms McCallum said she ‘never said there was two keys and never got given two keys’
Mr McCallum said: ‘I bought the car in good faith and do not need to explain myself.
‘If I bought a car through Facebook for £1,100 spent £1,500 on repairs and sold it on, that’s my business.
‘If I choose to sell it for £1,000,000, the owner cannot have any comeback.
‘She was desperate to sell as she knew the amount it would cost to fix and if I can do this and take on the responsibility then there’s nothing wrong with that.
‘They have looked at an advert and decided they are not happy, it’s my personal Facebook, it’s not for public viewing.
‘Ms Hutchinson being in debt is not my responsibility. I also have bills to pay and am a single parent.
Ms Hutchinson felt sorry for Mr McCallum and was desperate to buy her new pink Nissan Micra convertible, pictured, and so settled on just £1,100
‘I paid good money for the car in the condition the car was in. I am being made out to be some kind of bad guy which is not the case at all.
‘From my point of view having to spend money repairing the vehicle as no one would consider paying the £2,500 market value unless it was in excellent condition with a new mot, service and the body work repaired.
‘No one would consider buying a car at market value in that condition. She just has the hump because she has seen an advert that she did not like.’
While he appears to have listed numerous cars for sale on Facebook over the last year, Mr McCallum claims he does not have a side business and just ‘helps friends’ when they ask him to go to car auctions.
Ms Hutchinson added: ‘Everybody is going to haggle, but it seems that every tiny thing he picked out was detriment to the price.
‘If you know your facts and how much your car’s worth, don’t let anybody tell you differently and [convince] you [to] believe them because you’re not as confident.
‘I don’t know why I didn’t tell him to forget it. I was scared I wouldn’t get anyone to buy the car because of what he was saying.
‘The car that I was selling was a really good car,’ she added.