Legal Question in Business Law in Pennsylvania

My husband and I recently placed an ad in our local classifieds in order to sell our motorcycle. Within hours we were contacted by a young man who was interested in seeing it. We made arrangements to meet a few days later since he was coming from out of state. But we also made it clear we had other interested buyers at the time and we wanted to sell ASAP. The day said buyer arrived we ran into a small glitch with the Harley's security system and wasn't 100% sure why the bike kept asking for a security pin in order to start since normally it recognized the key fob which automatically bypassed the "input pin" step. After putting in the pin to disable the alarm and start the bike, a quick test drive later... he told us he wanted to make a deal. We told him our price and he excitedly agreed. He said and I quote, "It's a DEAL!". He then told us he would be back Thursday (4 days later) to pick up the motorcycle, title, and sign the bill of sale. And he was willing to do so if we contacted Harley to find out why the bike wasn't recognizing the fob. I told him I'd be in touch the next day! After contacting the dealership and finding out all we needed to do was replace the key fob battery, I contacted the buyer to let him know. He said great! He'd be up on Thursday to pick up the bike. We touched base on Tuesday and all was still a go. So, since we assumed the bike was sold we contacted all other potential buyers to let them know it was no longer available. On Wednesday evening said buyer contacted us saying he was no longer going to buy the bike since he didn't have the money to do so. I was appalled, frustrated and felt totally taken advantage of (I did a lot of research, phone calls, form printing, etc. So everyone knew what needed done for an out of state private sale) and all we get from said buyer was a "sorry wish I could help" attitude. Are we at all protected by any contract laws?! The price both parties agreed on was $7,000. The sellers are from PA buyer Maryland.


Asked on 5/02/12, 10:19 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Duffy Duffy Law, LLC

Hi there,

You wouldn't be able to force him to buy the bike, but if you subsequently sold it for less money you might be able to recover the difference between the sale price and the previously agreed upon price. You would have to file a suit and get a judgment, which if he disputes it would involve proving the oral agreement somehow. Then you would have to take that judgment to a court in his home state and enforce it. This would likely involve locating his assets (if there are any), such as bank accounts or real property (generally involves extensive investigative work), and attaching a lien. You could then seize the property (often involves a sheriff), publicly auction it and take the proceeds against the claim. This would all be extremely uncertain, time-consuming, laborious and expensive for such a small dollar amount.

Alternatively, you could take this as a valuable lesson as to why sellers often require deposits to hold an item for sale.

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Answered on 5/03/12, 8:07 am


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