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Honda Civic Seller Punishes Buyer for Offering Half of Asking Price With Useless Drive

Even on Marketplace or the online used-cars market, where the strict rules of commerce found in places like a car dealership don’t exist, common sense should prevail. When it does not, we get viral stories like this one.
Honda Civic listed on Marketplace is the "star" of the latest viral story from Northern Ireland 29 photos
Photo: Kennedy News and Media
Grab yourself a cuppa, because here is a very relatable story about buying a used car online, one we could all learn something from. Janis Drikis is a mechanic from Northern Ireland and he recently listed his old Honda Civic on Marketplace, with an asking price of £550 (roughly $716 at the current exchange rate).

Charlie, who owns a scrapyard business, offered him less than half the amount, telling him he’d drive by to pick up the car right away if he agreed to sell it for £250 ($325). What Charlie didn’t know was that Janis took offense in the offer and that he had decided to teach him a lesson, one that would hopefully discourage similar behavior in the future.

Janis gave Charlie a thumbs-up and texted him an address, where the car was supposedly located. To get there, Charlie had to leave work and make an 86-mile (138 km) drive, so he spent a little over two hours on the road back and forth, not including the time he must’ve lost driving around trying to find a house that did not exist. Instead, Janis told Charlie to head to the hospital in the area and, while there, “get himself checked” for “making so stupid offers,” Janis tells LadBible.

You can imagine what Charlie’s response was. Janis believes he was being both funny and educative, teaching Charlie “a lesson” for trying to rip off people online. In his defense, Charlie says the Civic did not have MOT (a regular inspection by the Ministry of Transport, which makes a vehicle road-legal) and was not drivable without an additional £1,000 ($1,300) in parts, so it was scrap. He offered a price worthy of scrap car and if Janis was offended by it, he should have just said so.

“Just say no like other people and there's no harm done. I don't know why he'd take it into his head and play this trick,” Charlie says. “Everyone thought it was smart and funny but I didn't find it funny.”

On the other hand, Janis says he’d get the asking price if he sold the car for scrap himself. Moreover, with less than £100 ($130), anyone can get it ready for a MOT inspection. It may be “down on power” a bit, but it’s still a drivable, decent car, and he might have even settled for less the asking price. He says other people on Facebook agree with him, so he’s feeling pretty happy with the lesson he taught Charlie.
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Editor's note: Photos in the gallery show the 2021 Honda Civic sedan.

About the author: Elena Gorgan
Elena Gorgan profile photo

Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends.
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