Got Burnt on a Car

[SSPGARY]

Well after some 25 years dabbling in cars I'm finally got stiffed. Bought a 1989 coupe that was supposedly in mint condition as a daily driver but ends up it was a POS. I figure I'll lose about $1500.00 on the deal but figure I was due for a " crash and burn ". I'm parting the car out to recoupe some money. Good news is I'm keeping the 86 UHP car because its in way better shape plus all the parts I need are on my POS coupe. Anyone else here willing to admit that the were on the receiving end of a stiffie?

[ImEvil1]

I guess it's bound to happen...sooner or later...but it's still sad. I've been pretty lucky. In fact, I think pretty lucky really doesn't describe it appropriately. With that said, though, it only takes one deal to go the other route. Carfax is a great help, but doesn't help much with the early cars and certianly isn't perfect, either.

[predator20]

Getting screwed is never fun. I've only been screwed on a car one time. I paid $700 for it, got it running. Then had to part it out, because of title reasons. My rule now is get the paperwork in my name first, before I ever lift a wrench on the car.

[Andy]

In about 1990 I was taken in by a scam artist for 800+ dollars on a set of 10 inch
wheels for a de tomaso Pantera the stock US configuration on these cars is 7 front 8
rear but the really cool set up (at the time) was 8's and 10's and now the story!!!.
before the internet was common place to look for and shop for
collector cars and parts people were looking in Hemmings Motor News ... I had a
guy contact me because i had a Pantera related ad and said he had a set of 10 inch
rear wheels for a Pantera as it turns out he was Pishing (as they call it) for suckers in
big brown book...these wheels were rare and available only on euro cars and were
not available (not DOT) stateside....1200 dollars was the going rate so he was
offering me a deal at 800.+ ship
said he had sold the car before he had time to put on the 10's but......as it turned out
he never had the wheels! (insert laughter here) lucky for me i had a friend that knew
a SFPD Officer (where he lived) that knew he had a jacket and knew where he lived
and went by his house one night while on a task force serving warrants and was nice
enough to drop by and drop my name and the fact that i had not received my
wheels (insert fear on face of con idiot here) now technically this is a civil matter
but..... the presence of officers in tactical gear in the neighbor hood just knocking to
remind someone of something they forgot to do (sarcasm here) was enough to get
my money sent back in full! .......do you think he had any wheels hahaha! sure! what
goes around comes around......sorry to hear about you being mis led...I know it
happens
I was lucky....who knows? you may end up parting out the car and making all your
money back! good luck!

[svopaul]

I got taken on my 2nd car ever bought which was a '68 Coupe....but not since then. I was 17 and learned a lot from that experience. I never believe what the seller tells me unless I see it first hand and I've only every been proven wrong once when a guy told me a '65 Coupe I bought had a brand new engine in it....the car was covered in tree droppings and I thought "Yeah right" but it was cheap so I didn't car....sure enough I pulled a valve cover and that engine was SPOTLESS inside....but that's the only time someone told me that and it was true.

I think $1500 for a loss is not that bad considering it could be far worse and I've seen people get taken for much more. Nobody wants to take a loss at any point so the smaller the better. I would never take someone for their word that an '89 model was "mint"....that word is open to too many different interpretations depending on each person's definition of "mint".

[SSPGARY]

Funny thing is I bought cars from, NM, CA, FL,MA, etc. without any problems but the one time I got screwed was from a fellow Canadian!!

[jarhed123]

Well if it makes all of you feel better. I was had for over $7k on a car. Year ago prior to Carfax I bought a 1980 Porsche for $13k. The guy I bought it from had it apraised and all the papers for it. He told me it had been stolen once and the interrior had been taken.

The car was beautiful and ran strong. I enjoyed it for a while and took care of it like it was a bar of gold. When I sold it, Carfax was in the picture, and the person who bought it did his homework. The car had a salvaged title that I did not catch, mostly due to ignorance at the time. I tried to get top money for the car and all places would only give me $5k for it. I eventually sold it the first guy for $5.5k and almost cried. Of course the wife never let that down till the day we got divorced.

I hope no one here can beat that because it will only make me feel better but you worse.

[SSPGARY]

You win and I feel better!

[86NeSSP]

I feel bad for everyone that is or has dealt with that stuff. Some sort of ordeal like this has heppend to us all at one time or another. Sometimes you just have to shrug it off and move on.

I know I have dealt with this but cannot remember what it was.

M

[svopaul]

People hold Carfax in too high a regard....the system is seriously flawed but they promote it like it is the end all/be all and it is not. Also Salvage titles are not always bad.....today if a Mustang SVO takes a front end poke just light enough to break the lights, header panel and bend the hood but not touch the core support...it gets totalled and branded salvage simply because the parts are either expensive or not available at all.

We fixed a car 2 years ago that had $14K worth of damage which was very close to totalling but not quite...it was a 2003 GT. This car had a clean carfax and today still does despite me personally reporting it to them...they just ignored it. The ONLY time something ends up on carfax is if the state and/or insurance company reports it to them and that doesn't always happen as it is not required so when looking for a car....although Carfax CAN be helpful...DO NOT accept it as the final word on a car because I promise you it will bite you in the arse rather quickly .