The Reason for: "A few tips when buying used"
06-29-2006, 05:50 PM
#1
The Reason for: "A few tips when buying used"
Yes thanks Skylaw.
The reason I put this post up was due to the following true story:
I was browsing the local (Tucson) ads in the paper a few months ago looking for a car for my g/f and saw an ad, for a 2000 S430, 70,000 miles, exellent condition, must sell asap, bla bla, so I called and spoke to the owner.
He was a local dentist that bought the car for his wife just 1 month prior, she had a mid 80,s S and he thought he would treat her, anyways he saw the car in the Phoenix paper as a private sale and called, the guy said he would drive the car to Tucson, let him look it over and be flexible on the deal, he ended up buying the car for $18,000 (the asking was $27,000) a great deal huh, or so he thought.
Well his wife hated the car,didnt like all the gizmos, command ect ect, so he decided to sell the car less than 2 weeks later,this is where I get in the picture.
When I called he said he was going out of town for 4 days and didnt need/use the car so he would stop by on the way home, i would drive him home and I could try the car for 4 days, nice, trusting guy hey.
So he did, and the next morning I started looking the car over( I am 52, am a Mech Eng, phd, served my initial apprenticeship in the car industry in the UK, have owned god knows how many cars, have worked as a car salesman and sales manager for a Vovo dealer in PA, bla bla,plus I own a 2001 S500, so i,m not totally green when buying a car).
First thing was that the car had been re-painted,the whole car I mean, popped the hood and there were a few split spot welds on the inner seam of the hood, plus crawling under the car silver over-spray all over the damn thing, then i got in the car and the speedo is in KMH with the MPH on the smaller ring, I thought oh there must be a way to switch it as you can do that with the odometer thru "Command", nope you cant , I called the local MB dealer, they thought it was Canadian ,ran the VIN, and yes it was from Ontario.
So now I run a "Carfax", big red warning flashes;Non Accurate Mileage Title issued in 2004 , evidently the car had close to 100,000 miles on it in 2003 when sold in Canada(and yes we know they record in kilometeres up there, but carfax shows both for up there to avoid confusion).
Then , when it shows up in AZ the car has 50,000 miles on it.
So, 3 days later I return the dentist his car and show and tell him what I have found, he got very pale, then very upset, and said no its a good title, well he brought it out and on an Arizona title you have to look really close but there , next to the mileage is a tiny little "c", and when you read the micro print it tells you that yes its a rolled back odometer title.I also pointed out the body work,and the other thing that was evidence was that the front bumper showed no sign of the front tag /holes which it had to have in Canada,as it had been replaced.
I then told him that according to a couple of dealers I had spoken to, his car was worth around $5000 to $7000, if a buyer could be found for it.The break down being say book was 20 to 25 grand for a private sale clean car, take off 10 to 20% as its a Canadian car being sold in the USA, take off 10 to 15% for the accident repair, take off , wait for it...... a whopping 50% because of the odometer roll back , (the dealers said that in the trade it is just about the worst thing the car can have, worse than a Salvage title even, when it came to value).
Anyways, i asked him what he knew about the car, he said he just looked at the car, liked it, haggled over the price, thought he had got a great deal , went to the bank,gave the moneym got the title(nope he didnt see the littlec) shook hands and drove home.
Anyway, he callled the Phoenix guy that night, the man said he knew nothing about it,my man says hey just take the car back, give me my money, we will call it quits,Phx man says he needs to think it over.
A few days later my man gets a letter from the Phx mans lawyer saying he is not at fault but will buy the car back for $9000 ,or re-imburse him 15% of any loss from the purchase price if the dentist sells the car himself,eg he paid 18000 for the car, if he sells if for 10000 this guy will pay him $1200.00.
Now they both have lawyers battling, plus now involved the AZ MVD(zero help by the way) the NHSTA odometer fraud dept, the Ontario Ministry MVD,ect ect.
Buyer beware inded huh.
I think the saddest thing is that the buyer trusted the seller, (and yes you can rip his common sense to pieces, but he is just a trusting guy)
plus, he knew that dealers were sharks, just thought that a nice private deal was the way to go.
I have noticed myself that high line cars attract some very sleazy salespeople ,both trade and private, anyway I will let you guys know how this saga ends.
By the way I do normally have a life apart from this board, i am recovering from illness and home alone during the day so I tend to ramble on a bit, sorry.
The reason I put this post up was due to the following true story:
I was browsing the local (Tucson) ads in the paper a few months ago looking for a car for my g/f and saw an ad, for a 2000 S430, 70,000 miles, exellent condition, must sell asap, bla bla, so I called and spoke to the owner.
He was a local dentist that bought the car for his wife just 1 month prior, she had a mid 80,s S and he thought he would treat her, anyways he saw the car in the Phoenix paper as a private sale and called, the guy said he would drive the car to Tucson, let him look it over and be flexible on the deal, he ended up buying the car for $18,000 (the asking was $27,000) a great deal huh, or so he thought.
Well his wife hated the car,didnt like all the gizmos, command ect ect, so he decided to sell the car less than 2 weeks later,this is where I get in the picture.
When I called he said he was going out of town for 4 days and didnt need/use the car so he would stop by on the way home, i would drive him home and I could try the car for 4 days, nice, trusting guy hey.
So he did, and the next morning I started looking the car over( I am 52, am a Mech Eng, phd, served my initial apprenticeship in the car industry in the UK, have owned god knows how many cars, have worked as a car salesman and sales manager for a Vovo dealer in PA, bla bla,plus I own a 2001 S500, so i,m not totally green when buying a car).
First thing was that the car had been re-painted,the whole car I mean, popped the hood and there were a few split spot welds on the inner seam of the hood, plus crawling under the car silver over-spray all over the damn thing, then i got in the car and the speedo is in KMH with the MPH on the smaller ring, I thought oh there must be a way to switch it as you can do that with the odometer thru "Command", nope you cant , I called the local MB dealer, they thought it was Canadian ,ran the VIN, and yes it was from Ontario.
So now I run a "Carfax", big red warning flashes;Non Accurate Mileage Title issued in 2004 , evidently the car had close to 100,000 miles on it in 2003 when sold in Canada(and yes we know they record in kilometeres up there, but carfax shows both for up there to avoid confusion).
Then , when it shows up in AZ the car has 50,000 miles on it.
So, 3 days later I return the dentist his car and show and tell him what I have found, he got very pale, then very upset, and said no its a good title, well he brought it out and on an Arizona title you have to look really close but there , next to the mileage is a tiny little "c", and when you read the micro print it tells you that yes its a rolled back odometer title.I also pointed out the body work,and the other thing that was evidence was that the front bumper showed no sign of the front tag /holes which it had to have in Canada,as it had been replaced.
I then told him that according to a couple of dealers I had spoken to, his car was worth around $5000 to $7000, if a buyer could be found for it.The break down being say book was 20 to 25 grand for a private sale clean car, take off 10 to 20% as its a Canadian car being sold in the USA, take off 10 to 15% for the accident repair, take off , wait for it...... a whopping 50% because of the odometer roll back , (the dealers said that in the trade it is just about the worst thing the car can have, worse than a Salvage title even, when it came to value).
Anyways, i asked him what he knew about the car, he said he just looked at the car, liked it, haggled over the price, thought he had got a great deal , went to the bank,gave the moneym got the title(nope he didnt see the littlec) shook hands and drove home.
Anyway, he callled the Phoenix guy that night, the man said he knew nothing about it,my man says hey just take the car back, give me my money, we will call it quits,Phx man says he needs to think it over.
A few days later my man gets a letter from the Phx mans lawyer saying he is not at fault but will buy the car back for $9000 ,or re-imburse him 15% of any loss from the purchase price if the dentist sells the car himself,eg he paid 18000 for the car, if he sells if for 10000 this guy will pay him $1200.00.
Now they both have lawyers battling, plus now involved the AZ MVD(zero help by the way) the NHSTA odometer fraud dept, the Ontario Ministry MVD,ect ect.
Buyer beware inded huh.
I think the saddest thing is that the buyer trusted the seller, (and yes you can rip his common sense to pieces, but he is just a trusting guy)
plus, he knew that dealers were sharks, just thought that a nice private deal was the way to go.
I have noticed myself that high line cars attract some very sleazy salespeople ,both trade and private, anyway I will let you guys know how this saga ends.
By the way I do normally have a life apart from this board, i am recovering from illness and home alone during the day so I tend to ramble on a bit, sorry.
Last edited by justbecause; 06-29-2006 at 06:25 PM. Reason: typo
06-30-2006, 12:01 PM
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so sad
yes, thats terrible.
I had a friend in a similar situation,once lawyers are involved look out, it took nearly 3 years till she had any money in her hand.
Good points about the private deals too, I know you pay through the nose at the dealers but they are often held up to higher standards than the individual selling from home, I think there are a lot of ppl who try to appear to be private that are in effect traders( is it called curbsiding in the trade)partic with the many internet sites to bid on cars now.
Buyer beware indeed.
Keep us posted justbecause.
I had a friend in a similar situation,once lawyers are involved look out, it took nearly 3 years till she had any money in her hand.
Good points about the private deals too, I know you pay through the nose at the dealers but they are often held up to higher standards than the individual selling from home, I think there are a lot of ppl who try to appear to be private that are in effect traders( is it called curbsiding in the trade)partic with the many internet sites to bid on cars now.
Buyer beware indeed.
Keep us posted justbecause.
