I sold my last NA Miata to a total non-enthusiast. He is a Delta flight attendant. I fly a lot and sure enough, yesterday I get to the gate and there he is waiting to board our incoming flight. Do you engage in this situation? Do you fear that the car went to crap as soon as you sold it? I was really torn about going up to him.
What's done is done. If you were honest about the car when you sold it, you have nothing to worry about and your conscience should be clear.
Plus, if it went to crap before he got home and it exploded, he probably would have come up to you. :)
Seems appropriate that a male flight attendant should be driving a Miata (though admittedly, one of my friends is a male flight attendant for Delta also, and he drives a beat-up old Land Cruiser 60).
Anyhow, I wouldn't see a problem with it. Assuming you sold it in good faith and didn't hide any issues, it's fair to assume that buyers of used cars know it is "as is."
So since this happened in the past, did you go talk to him?
I have found cars I sold to people in the local P&P a couple years later. LOL
I did, and much to my relief it was still running and he was still thrilled with it. I struggled because there is really no upside. It's not like he was an enthusiast and we could talk much, and if it went bad then I was setting myself up to hear about it. It was just an interesting situation. I've seen my old cars in traffic and on used car lots, but I've never run into a past-buyer before.
glueguy wrote: I struggled because there is really no upside.
seems to me the upside would be at very least an extra pack of peanuts or a free mini-booze.. 
Just be thankful he didn't kill it. The doofus I sold my old Nissan to had his mommy call me to try to fix the ticket he got when he planted an oak tree in the radiator during unskilled hooning. If I ever run into him, I'll probably recreate the Top Gear "In the plums!" scene.
I ran into a guy I sold an old pick-up to. It was about a week after he had totaled it playing king of the road with a cement mixer.
What a doofus!
In reply to kazoospec: What on earth did she expect you to do about her son being an idiot?
I sold a RX-7 with 350 Chevy engine, roll bar, coil overs, etc. about two years ago and now my buddy Greg and I take turns finding it on CL. Nobody seems to keep it longer than six months. Is there a precedent for buying back failed projects at some point?
Shoot. I run into the owners of 2 of my old cars daily. They are my neighbors. No harm in saying hello if the transaction went smooth
I see the buyer of my BMW 633CSi frequently, he used to live just down the street & still lives nearby. We're friends. I used to see the buyer of my '78 F-150 occasionally & would ask how the truck was doing. It was always OK until the a/c went out but that was years after he bought it.
sanman wrote: In reply to kazoospec: What on earth did she expect you to do about her son being an idiot?
I'm a county prosecutor. I think she thought I could take care of the ticket or at least reduce it. Not only can't I do something like that, I would have loved to stick the reckless driving charge on him myself just for being so stupid.
The thing that pisses me off about the whole thing is I offered to take him out autocrossing and show him how the handle the car. I even offered to pay his first entry fee. I told him to be careful and not put the summer tires on while it was still below freezing. I told him the car had a ton of grip but would swap ends with little warning if pushed too hard. I suggested he remove the Nismo rear sway bar until he got used to the car. In short, I told him not to be stupid. He didn't listen.
A buddy here has bought 3 of my cars. I see him often (and, every time I do, regret selling him whichever old car of mine he is driving at the time). To echo other comments, be upfront with buyers and there should be no reason to shy away.
Its a Miata driven by a fight attendant. What could go wrong with it?
Two key words stock out in my mind in any private sale: "As is."
I would say "hi".
When the wife was pregnant with our oldest I thought it was time to ditch the two door so I traded my Impreza in on an '05 Focus ZX4 and we went on our merry way. One day we spotted the old Scoob in a parking lot in Peoria so we swooped in and chatted with the new owners.
Apparently a few months after running into them the engine locked up and the Scoob was towed to a local used car stealership and was on it's way to the crusher. I traded some cash and an FB RX-7 project for it and got the old Scoob back. The owners that we had run into in Peoria had left their registration and insurance cards in the glove box.
Here's where it gets weird. I had a '94 F150 that I was using as a DD, 300 six, 5-speed, short bed... great truck! Anyway I decided it was time to sell it to fund the Scoob's resurrection so I put it on craigslist, yada, yada, I get a few calls, eventually I find a serious buyer. I drive the truck to Peoria to meet the buyer and he tells me his name. It sounds familiar for some reason.
I look at him and ask, "Did you recently own a green Impreza?".
He and my wife both give me shocked looks.
He says "Yeah, I did. It was a great little car but the engine quit. Why do you ask?"
"I owned it before you bought it and I bought it back with the engine locked up."
My wife interjected, "We won't be buying the truck back!"
We all had a good chuckle. If I run into someone who owns a car I've put my mitts on I always ask how things are going with it. I like to think I've explained everything thoroughly enough to someone who buys a car from me so they don't get any surprises.
I wonder if he wants a Lincoln...
I recently sold my z28 and I had completely gone through the car. the new owner texts me every few days about my mods, which parts to use and just general questions. I respond because after all the work I'd like to see the old girl keep going. Not many would have saved her from the condition she was in.
I sold a car, and 2 days later saw it sitting in a local gas station, having had a catastrophic front end collision. I doubt the driver survived.
I passed it every day. I kept wanting to stop at the gas station and ask, but never did.
It haunted me. I couldn't help but wonder if I had done something wrong with the recent brake job I had done, or anything else.
That was 28 years ago. I still don't know.
I had the opposite experience. I bought a car from a friend who was a total car slob. I scrubbed the whole thing with a bristle brush, changed the oil and brakes, and put a new set of cheap shocks on it. Suddenly, it was worth a whole lot more than the $500 I gave him for it. Every time he saw the car (for years) you could tell that he was kind of ticked off about it.
years ago I traded my 88 Accord 5 speed coupe with a crap ton of miles in on a 70 Chevy Impala with very low miles at a tiny car lot in north GA. The Accord was a good runner, fun to drive - had exhaust work and some other minor stuff done. It sat on the lot for about 8 months and then It was gone. I asked about it the next time I was dropping off a payment and was told some guy from Chattanooga had bought it and totaled it running from the cops before he made the first payment. I asked "well, was he at least ahead of them when he lost it?" He was. 
Still makes me a little sad, that car deserved better.
i sold my 89 automatic 240sx to a 17 yo girl in the next town over for $700. the automatic only had 1st and 3rd left in it (i was young...) which i made very clear to her and her mother about 7 times and that i wasnt sure how long it would last.
i had friends that lived in that town and they use to see the car all the time... for about 2 months, no one had seen it since. i tried to avoid said town for a while just incase by the off chance that i ran into them.
Sold my P71 to a guy who paid me in 20's. I'm pretty sure he was dealing drugs in my wife's old hood when I drove past, so I just kept going.
Also sold my old Ranger STX to a neighbor for $500. He tried selling it back to me for $800. shiny happy person.
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