Thread: Anyone ever have a bad experience selling a car

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I had a 72 caddy that used to vapor lock all the time changed the fuel pump and all kinds of stuff and it would still do it. I was about 21 at the time and didn't have much knowledge about the selling of cars. Anyway I put a for sale sign on it for $500.
A 40 year old guy cames up and asked why I was selling it so cheap, I told him it's vapor locking and I can't figure out why and I am tired of messing with it then I told him what I did to it to try to fix the problem which didn't work. So he said he would like to buy it but he only had $300 right now and if I would let him have it, he would come back in a couple weeks and pay me the rest. Of course he wanted the car now because he needed it to get back and forth to work. Anyway silly me signs the title over now, then guy wants me to leave my insurance on the car and my tags till he comes back with the other $200 in two weeks. Now you guys know what happens a month goes by and the guy never shows up with my money. So I call the guy and he says he ain't giving me any more money since it's vapor locking I said I told you that, he says I don't care.
One of my buddies came by and says he seen my old caddy near his house were he lives.
Needless to say I went right over with my buddy and removed my tags and cancelled my insurance on the car. Never went to the door just took my plates off and left.
A couple days later he rolls thru the station where I worked at the time.
He's says some one took the plates off the car and when the cops that pulled him over and ran a check, it had no insurance. He said the fines were over $500 bucks for a unregistered car with no insurance. I looked at him and said see it would have been cheaper to pay me my $200 and walked away. Live and learn you can't be a nice guy with some people. Kurt

W o W. . . . . . .

The old saying still holds water ..... a few bad apples .... spoil the whole bunch.

Looks like the shitbag got what he desirved.

I use the old Chinesse saying: "No tickey .... no shirty". Never had an issue with the buyer understanding it. I've yet had to go scoop a car up from a would be buyer/payer.

A valuable lesson has been learned by this I'm sure.

Best of luck on the next sale.

REGS

I've been pretty lucky and have dealt with some pretty nice folks over the years, buying and selling. The one thing that has never failed to amaze me is how some people don't read what you put in the ad. For example, if you ran this ad..........

For Sale, Project Car. 19XX Whatever, no motor no transmission, needs lots of work, but very little rust. Call.XXXXXXXXXXXX


Invariably you are going to get someone who calls and says "Do you think it will make it to Chicago without breaking down?" You explain, " It has NO MOTOR or TRANSMISSION........how do you think it runs?"

Gotta love people.

Don

HE! HE! HE! Ya it will make it, do you have a trailer and a tow car?
HE! HE! HE! Kurt

Originally Posted by vara4

I had a 72 caddy that used to vapor lock all the time changed the fuel pump and all kinds of stuff and it would still do it. I was about 21 at the time and didn't have much knowledge about the selling of cars. Anyway I put a for sale sign on it for $500.
A 40 year old guy cames up and asked why I was selling it so cheap, I told him it's vapor locking and I can't figure out why and I am tired of messing with it then I told him what I did to it to try to fix the problem which didn't work. So he said he would like to buy it but he only had $300 right now and if I would let him have it, he would come back in a couple weeks and pay me the rest. Of course he wanted the car now because he needed it to get back and forth to work. Anyway silly me signs the title over now, then guy wants me to leave my insurance on the car and my tags till he comes back with the other $200 in two weeks. Now you guys know what happens a month goes by and the guy never shows up with my money. So I call the guy and he says he ain't giving me any more money since it's vapor locking I said I told you that, he says I don't care.
One of my buddies came by and says he seen my old caddy near his house were he lives.
Needless to say I went right over with my buddy and removed my tags and cancelled my insurance on the car. Never went to the door just took my plates off and left.
A couple days later he rolls thru the station where I worked at the time.
He's says some one took the plates off the car and when the cops that pulled him over and ran a check, it had no insurance. He said the fines were over $500 bucks for a unregistered car with no insurance. I looked at him and said see it would have been cheaper to pay me my $200 and walked away. Live and learn you can't be a nice guy with some people. Kurt

Ya , I hate that. You are a straight up guy and this fool took your kindness for a sign of weakness and thought he was going to push you over. You did right though and took care of the issue...
I sold a truck ,72 chevy short bed,to a family member, well brother in law. I paid 4 grand for the truck rebuilt the engine and sold it to him for 3000. My sis and brother in law were crying that they needed a ride for him. He took it ran it into the ground complaining all the way. Well its making a funny noise and losing oil. WELL you cant stand on the gas at every stop and run it with out water and expect it not to. He ran it in to a pole BACKWARDS, tore up the engine and sold it for 500 dollars. What a big mistake I made.....

I had a brother in law do something like that with a 67 Ford mustang fastback.
I gave to him and only had one ding in the whole car and ran perfect with a brand new 289 in it. Some times you just can not be nice. The plus is that we are both older and wiser for our mistakes now. It's hard to deal with family sometimes but it's family so what can you do. I've got a friend that has a machine shop so I sent a neibor to him
and my buddy gave him a good deal on rebuilding a engine for him. A week after it's done this neibor is calling my buddy at the shop saying it's over heating and leaking water and all kinds of stuff. Anyway this guy calls me complain how my buddy messed up in engine, when he rebuilt it. So I go over to this guys house to see whats going on.
I have him start it and open the hood, I start looking and the water is comming from around the top of the radiator. The whole top of the radiator is almost completely rusted off. Yet this guy calls my buddy cussing him after he rebuilt his engine for 1200 bucks.
I called my buddy and told him what I found and said don't pay attention to this idoit, he almost burned up a brand new engine because of a bad radiator. I guess it didn't matter because two weeks later he drove it into a lake. What an idiot!!! Kurt

I love the one. will you take a check that's when I tell shure I'll take your check and YOU right down to the bank and cash it.......ted

A nice '68 Torino 390 HiPo GT sold to the kid down the street very cheap - they weren't worth much at 7-8 years old. Told him that it had a "bad" carb and shifter linkage and that needed rebuilding. He haunted me until I did the rebuilds as a freebie just to shut him up (plus his brother was "one of those kind of local cops" and had a 'little mans complex as well'").

A '76 F250/460ci "California" engine - advertised it and a local guy bought it. Came back a month or so later and said it had a rattle and when he took it apart he said it a rod installed with a bend plus backwards. This was an engine that had never been apart. He haunted me for a while, but finally gave up. He drove it up until 2 years ago and offered it back to me about 18mos ago as a freeie, but still running, but totally rotted.

Other then a couple of instances where I had to 'eat' some repairs, never a really bad deal

I like that Ted, I think I'll say just that, the next time a check comes up.
And IC2 I just had a cop trying to buy one of my pure breed Boxers.
I had them in the paper for $700 with a $250 to hold them till they were old enough to go home. This cop shows up with no money and ask's me to hold him till he's 10 weeks then he's gonna bring the $250 over. Well the pupies are ready to go at 8 weeks, but I do it for him. then he say's he won't be able to get the rest of the money for a month
after that. Ok I'll do it if you bring me the $250. At 10 weeks they show up with $80.
And thought that they were gonna take the dog.
I told my wife don't take the money that was not the agreement.
Sold the dog that same night for $700. Some people won't let you be nice.

Many moons ago my mother got her '67 2+2 Mustang T-boned. I bought the salvage and took the A code 289, C4, and a bunch of other stuff. Advertised the rolling shell. Some guy comes by and buys the deal, and since the Vin was on the apron I suppied the title. This was in Calif. so the plates go with the car too. About a month later some cops show up at my mother's door. Seems "her car" was involved in a C store armed robbery, and they were there to make their arrest. Didn't take them long to figure out the little ol' lady wasn't their perp. Apparently the guy switched the plates to his other car, for obvious reasons in hindsight. Anyway, that was my life's lesson in the importance of doing that notification paper work thing to the state when you sell a car.

That's a good lesson for all of us Bob. Kurt

I just had a bad experience two weeks ago, but I was buying a car not selling. I needed a daily driver that gets a little better gas milage then my 08 silverado. Found a good deal on ebay (of course) on an 08 Dodge charger. Only problem was, it was in Ft Lauderdale and Im in Memphis. I fly all the way down there with cash in hand only to find out that the car had been keyed down to bare metal on both sides, trunk and hood!! And the supposed new tires had the front two bald on the inside track......Needless to say, I didnt buy it. Glad I had the fore thought to buy a round trip ticket.

The good part was that I got to spend the day with my daughter who lives on Los Olas Blvd. So that made it all better!!.....

In 1976 I sold my younger brother my 55 2 door hard top silver and black, pontiac bucket seats, 4 speed, 411 posi, 327 365 hp block with mondello heads, american slot mags for $600.00. I spent 8 years putting this car together and he spent 6 months tearing it apart and selling the pieces. He had a big smile on his face when he told me he got $750.00 for the motor. When I told him I spent more then that on just the tires and rims, he had the nerve to tell me he paid a fair price for the car. After that I decided never give anyone a break and charge family members twice as much. Live and learn

Sadly (I really miss her) I traded my 71 Z28 (396 transplant) for an 81 Camaro with a sick cylinder when I was 17. At the time I barely new how to change the oil in a car. I needed a gas effecient vehicle (boy did I get one ) at the time....and the 81 had a new paint job and the A/C worked. Thought I was getting a great deal. I explained to the fella that the drain plug fell out a month before and that the local shop told me the motor wouldnt last long without a rebuild. We parted ways with our new found rides. Within a week the 6 cylinder started knocking. Every day he would pass me like I was tied to a tree....and honk....intimidate me he did. The 6 cylinder finally died.....low compression. A few weeks later I get a call from his dad....threating me with a law suit....explaining that the 396 spun a rod bearing and wanted me to pay for a full rebuild. Needless to say....I told him wear to put it. In a sense we both got what we deserved. Me for ignorance....him for intentionally lying to me about the new motor. The shop told me the motor had to have over a 100,000 miles on it.

My only regret....that my dad didnt steer me in the right direction. Of coarse....seems like I may have been stuborn back then and wouldnt have listened anyway. Sorry dad!