Don't Resell a Lemon

This could also be titled how to pass on a lemon and create bad karma.

You hear it in coffee shops and at the water cooler at work, someone got a lemon and their so pleased when they sell it to someone else. The lemon is someone else’s problem. But is it really?

Selling a lemon is ethically wrong. Granted no one wants to bite that bullet paying a fair price for a vehicle that turns out to be nearly worthless but inevitably what happens is that if you’re passing bad vehicles on to others, it’s only a matter of time until you or your friends and family end up with one.

The right thing is to get the lemon off the road.

Here are some guidelines:

 I) If you sell a used vehicle, be completely honest with the buyer. 

 II) Tell them that you know it needs x, y, z repair and you’ve decided to sell it rather than fix it. 

 III) They may be into fixing the car then the transaction is a win-win in business and ethically.

When to just call the junk man:

1     It won’t start (and it’s not the starter that’s broken).

2     If your driveway is soaked with oil.

3     It needs more than $1,500 in work.

4     Or it goes from one repair to another for three months in a row.

Getting the junk car off the road benefits everyone.

1     Good will makes society a better place.

2     Good cars don’t stall on the highways creating traffic and accidents

3     Good ethic makes the economy grow strong.

On a personal note: a family member bought a lemon from a mechanic who said he had fixed everything and promised a 90 day warranty. When things started going wrong in 30 days he wanted thousands to fix it. Rather than pass the junk along, we took the loss and called the junk man.

Good Karma: We now have a reliable car

Bad Karma: The mechanic, we heard through the grapevine, is having multiple business and personal problems.