Toddler buys Austin Healey vintage car on eBay using dad's smartphone

Sorella Stoute's father didn't realise she had spent $225 on 1962 Sprite until he received an email from the auction site

Hannah Dewhirst
Thursday 11 July 2013 17:04 BST
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The US toddler purchased the 1962 Austin Healey Sprite using her father’s smartphone for $225 through the website’s app
The US toddler purchased the 1962 Austin Healey Sprite using her father’s smartphone for $225 through the website’s app (Rex Features)

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Sorella Stoute may be 14 months old and not be able to say the word 'car' yet but that didn’t stop her from buying one on eBay.

The US toddler purchased the 1962 Austin Healey Sprite using her father’s smartphone for $225 through the website’s app.

Her shopping spree wasn’t kept secret for long however after Paul Stoute received an email requesting payment for the vehicle; “I actually thought it was a phishing email — one of those where people try to steal your information, that kind of thing,” he told ABC News, “I actually looked it up on eBay just to make sure it was legit and sure enough the little one must’ve bought a car.”

While most devices can now be equipped with parental control options to allow children to play with their parent’s gadgets, the seller was sympathetic to Mr Stoute’s plight.

He continued: “I contacted the seller right away to make sure that, if there was any way to be able to get out of it… And he was okay with being able to get out of it.”

Ultimately though the family have decided to keep the old car and present it to Sorella for her sixteenth birthday. Her father said: “To say it’s a project is by far an understatement for sure [but] my dad builds like historic muscle cars… so sixteen years, or fifteen years I guess [from] now, and hopefully it will be ready by that point."

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