UPDATE:
Made the drive... car was a mess. front bumper had imprints where it was repeatedly run into something, likely wherever he parked. bumper was cracked and grill broke. rear quarter and trunk lid, peppered with dings and dents, some bigger than a silver dollar (a dozen or more). I would say 1000-1500 just to repair the quarter and trunk when he said he had a quote for $150 in PDR work to fix them up. $150 wouldn't even clear up drivers side door's worth of dings on that car... short story; car was no good and I didn't have a good vibe once I met the owner in person, I didn't even drive it based on the exterior.
so I made a 30 minute drive further west to look at a car I found a week ago.....2000 model yr, Red (my preference) 44,800 miles...
I buy the damn thing for a relatively cheap price. I knew it was far from perfect. car has had a few owners 4 different owners, but current owner personally knew 2 of the other 3....(I come to find out this doesn't mean jack). It needed tires, steering wheel was off 2 degrees, but car tracked and braked straight and had even tire wear; so I figured $600-800 for tires and an alignment. looking under the car, the suspension bolts, actually any of the undercarriage hadn't been touched and with it driving fine I wasn't afraid of the steering wheel being off. Cosmetically it was maybe a 6.5/10 on the exterior, 300 or so worth of PDR work would make it maybe an 8/10. The car looked like it had been loved (at least by current owner), the wheels were 9.5/10 in condition, the undercarriage was as mint as I have seen, engine bay was perfect, interior was a 9/10, with just a little bolster wear and a small amount of wear on the console near the shifter, and original top was in good condition. The paint is only a base coat clear, so I could easily panel paint the car if I came across further issue. I factored in the $1000 for the stuff mentioned and built in another $1000 worth of unknowns into my offer and hit him at $2000 below asking. We settled on $1500 below his asking. I was feeling good about the deal. I was never in love with the car, but I did like it and with money I paid, I figured if I get it home and didn't like it, I could easily get my money out of it.
so I get home, car is a really nice 5-10 footer and was thousands less than any car I had been looking at. My brother is a autobody tech and we go over everything. He completely picks it apart, but says, it's still a good car. I'm just sitting there like WTF...... I keep telling myself it was cheap-ish and it's 16 yrs old. so last night we rip into it to address a few issues and find a not good unexpected issue that is going to cost me $400 to make right. I knew I gambled on the car a bit, figured I'd have at least a grand into it to get it to where I wanted it, and while I wouldn't say I have lost on that gamble, I definitely didn't do as well as I had first expected. I won't have more into it than it's worth, but more than maybe I wanted to. I have talked to the seller since, and feel confident he was unaware of the issue when selling me the car, if proven by nothing more than him answering my calls to talk about it. This just serves as caution when buying multiple owner cars. heck I looked at a two owner car where the current owner was unaware it had a trailer hitch and paint work done.... or maybe he was just a liar?
I did my due diligence on the car, ran the vin, spent two hours looking it over, test drive, but still was hit with an unexpected issue with it. I'll post up more details on what the issue is when i get it resolved. Let's just say it's significant enough that if I had known this going into the deal I would have walked. knowing now after the fact though, it doesn't completely sour the deal. I think for the money, and now some time and headache, that I'll still have a car I like for fair money. I thought about just doing some PDR work and punting it down the road, but now that I know the issue I feel like I should make it right. car is too nice otherwise and with 400 or so to fix it right, I know what I got, and I know it'll be right.... this is versus the time and effort to resell, then the time, potential travel finding another, likely for more money, and gambling that I don't get something even worse.
just to put it into perspective, short of 1.5 hrs of dissembling the car prior buying it, there was no way for me to have known it was as severe as it is. I have to consider myself lucky that have the resources to resolve for relatively little money.
I'll post up pics at a later time...... it is a buyer beware market
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I find a car out of state -> one state away. Not too far away, but still will be 11-12 hrs worth of driving.
Been looking since October and this car checks all the right boxes, including price. Car is a 2003 S2000. while I 'could' find another, it's becoming increasingly difficult to find one owner low mileage cars. If this were say an F150, I'd just move along to another.
I've talked, texted, and emailed with the seller. Scheduled to leave this AM to go look at it/get it. We have agreed upon a price if it physically is as described when I get myself in front of it. Last night he calls me and said he misplaced/lost the title during the day. He had brought it to his office, where we scheduled to meet, and now he cannot find it.
Guy is the original owner and has the documentation when he bought the car.
Car clears NICB
I have an AutoCheck. It states the car is as represented to me.
He plans on applying for a duplicate, which will take at least a week. It's up to me if I want to go down now or wait. He offers up a notarized bill of sale and mailing me the title.
I have my trailer hooked up and have scheduled the time to go today.
Sellers seems like a decent person. His name checks out to the business where we plan to meet (real estate company). My gut says he is trustworthy, but my brain says don't be so naive.
When we talked last night, I told him I wanted to talk to the DMV before I came down.
Any thoughts?
Made the drive... car was a mess. front bumper had imprints where it was repeatedly run into something, likely wherever he parked. bumper was cracked and grill broke. rear quarter and trunk lid, peppered with dings and dents, some bigger than a silver dollar (a dozen or more). I would say 1000-1500 just to repair the quarter and trunk when he said he had a quote for $150 in PDR work to fix them up. $150 wouldn't even clear up drivers side door's worth of dings on that car... short story; car was no good and I didn't have a good vibe once I met the owner in person, I didn't even drive it based on the exterior.
so I made a 30 minute drive further west to look at a car I found a week ago.....2000 model yr, Red (my preference) 44,800 miles...
I buy the damn thing for a relatively cheap price. I knew it was far from perfect. car has had a few owners 4 different owners, but current owner personally knew 2 of the other 3....(I come to find out this doesn't mean jack). It needed tires, steering wheel was off 2 degrees, but car tracked and braked straight and had even tire wear; so I figured $600-800 for tires and an alignment. looking under the car, the suspension bolts, actually any of the undercarriage hadn't been touched and with it driving fine I wasn't afraid of the steering wheel being off. Cosmetically it was maybe a 6.5/10 on the exterior, 300 or so worth of PDR work would make it maybe an 8/10. The car looked like it had been loved (at least by current owner), the wheels were 9.5/10 in condition, the undercarriage was as mint as I have seen, engine bay was perfect, interior was a 9/10, with just a little bolster wear and a small amount of wear on the console near the shifter, and original top was in good condition. The paint is only a base coat clear, so I could easily panel paint the car if I came across further issue. I factored in the $1000 for the stuff mentioned and built in another $1000 worth of unknowns into my offer and hit him at $2000 below asking. We settled on $1500 below his asking. I was feeling good about the deal. I was never in love with the car, but I did like it and with money I paid, I figured if I get it home and didn't like it, I could easily get my money out of it.
so I get home, car is a really nice 5-10 footer and was thousands less than any car I had been looking at. My brother is a autobody tech and we go over everything. He completely picks it apart, but says, it's still a good car. I'm just sitting there like WTF...... I keep telling myself it was cheap-ish and it's 16 yrs old. so last night we rip into it to address a few issues and find a not good unexpected issue that is going to cost me $400 to make right. I knew I gambled on the car a bit, figured I'd have at least a grand into it to get it to where I wanted it, and while I wouldn't say I have lost on that gamble, I definitely didn't do as well as I had first expected. I won't have more into it than it's worth, but more than maybe I wanted to. I have talked to the seller since, and feel confident he was unaware of the issue when selling me the car, if proven by nothing more than him answering my calls to talk about it. This just serves as caution when buying multiple owner cars. heck I looked at a two owner car where the current owner was unaware it had a trailer hitch and paint work done.... or maybe he was just a liar?
I did my due diligence on the car, ran the vin, spent two hours looking it over, test drive, but still was hit with an unexpected issue with it. I'll post up more details on what the issue is when i get it resolved. Let's just say it's significant enough that if I had known this going into the deal I would have walked. knowing now after the fact though, it doesn't completely sour the deal. I think for the money, and now some time and headache, that I'll still have a car I like for fair money. I thought about just doing some PDR work and punting it down the road, but now that I know the issue I feel like I should make it right. car is too nice otherwise and with 400 or so to fix it right, I know what I got, and I know it'll be right.... this is versus the time and effort to resell, then the time, potential travel finding another, likely for more money, and gambling that I don't get something even worse.
just to put it into perspective, short of 1.5 hrs of dissembling the car prior buying it, there was no way for me to have known it was as severe as it is. I have to consider myself lucky that have the resources to resolve for relatively little money.
I'll post up pics at a later time...... it is a buyer beware market
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I find a car out of state -> one state away. Not too far away, but still will be 11-12 hrs worth of driving.
Been looking since October and this car checks all the right boxes, including price. Car is a 2003 S2000. while I 'could' find another, it's becoming increasingly difficult to find one owner low mileage cars. If this were say an F150, I'd just move along to another.
I've talked, texted, and emailed with the seller. Scheduled to leave this AM to go look at it/get it. We have agreed upon a price if it physically is as described when I get myself in front of it. Last night he calls me and said he misplaced/lost the title during the day. He had brought it to his office, where we scheduled to meet, and now he cannot find it.
Guy is the original owner and has the documentation when he bought the car.
Car clears NICB
I have an AutoCheck. It states the car is as represented to me.
He plans on applying for a duplicate, which will take at least a week. It's up to me if I want to go down now or wait. He offers up a notarized bill of sale and mailing me the title.
I have my trailer hooked up and have scheduled the time to go today.
Sellers seems like a decent person. His name checks out to the business where we plan to meet (real estate company). My gut says he is trustworthy, but my brain says don't be so naive.
When we talked last night, I told him I wanted to talk to the DMV before I came down.
Any thoughts?
Last edited:
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