Oil around rear valve

It sounds like the buyer is looking for an excuse to under value the car. How many miles and what is he offering?

The blue book value is 6,400 it has 147K. I put it up for 5,800 and went down to 5,000 because it was for his young daughter. He came back and said 4,800 and I said no because I just bought $1000 tires and had it detailed. I think the car is worth more, it has leather interior and all the options plus phone and sirius radio. I also have the carfax report as I was the second owner. I don't have to sell it but want a bigger car with 3 rows of seats for grandchildren.

Are you saying that when you bought the car it had a tiny puddle of oil at a rear of a valve cover and that's still there? As a buyer, I'd suspect that means a small gasket leak, and not a great problem. Why are you putting up with this buyer. Just say you're tired of him and find another buyer. There are lots of people trying to buy used cars today and I'd be surprised if yours isn't sold in a couple of weeks. Just relist it at $6,999.

Just tell him no, don't sell it to him, he's a knit picker, it's a 13 soon to be 14 year old vehicle, every engine will develop minor oil seepage over time, it's normal. Just relist it and move on.

Thanks for the help, we are senior citizens and hubs only knows how to gas up a car. Nit picker is a good word, hubby said the same thing better to forget him as potential buyer works at a car dealer and suspects he wants to resell it. Yes that little bit of oil was there when we bought it and nothing has changed. It is serviced regularly and they never mentioned oil there. I guess I should put 'normal seepage' on one valve in the listing or tell people when they come to see it. I want to be honest about what I know about the car. Thank you for the answers and recommendations.

Your on the right path. Just stick with it, be honest and things will be fine.

I'd tell this buyer to move along. The vehicle is 13 years old, has a reasonable amount of miles on it, and sounds like it was well taken care of. A 13 year old vehicle is not going to be perfect. Sounds like the buyer is trying to get the vehicle for nothing! There's plenty of other people out there who'd like to have a nice car like this one and pay the fair price you're asking. Tell this person to either buy it or stop wasting your time! Good luck with your sale!! Jim

I relisted the car and it was sold within 4 hours for my asking price. They said it looked and smelled like it came from from the show floor and said they know older cars may have seepage. They were very pleased, now to find me a grammy van. Thanks for the help.

That's awesome!! Thanks for letting us know! Very glad to hear that!! Now good luck with your search!! Jim

Be very careful about buying vans, some of the smaller ones are junk. If you find one make sure you have it checked by a shop.

Thank you all for your help. I will have whatever I find checked out thoroughly. We have used the same mechanic for decades and he always checks vehicles before purchase. Its wonderful to have a skilled mechanic one can trust. Once he couldn't fix a problem but directed us to another mechanic who could. I can't remember exactly what it was but do remember it was with the computer when cars first had those. As of now we want a van or a Ford Flex without a push button start.