- Feb 24, 2000
- 79,006
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I purchased a salvage titled 1994 Toyota Corolla DX for $4,000 back in September 2001. Two months ago I bought a brand new 2002 Honda Accord SE and had no further use for my 94 Corolla. So last Thursday I listed the 94 Corolla in the classifieds ads and much to my surprise it sold the next day for $3,300.
When I first received a call inquiring about the car for sale the woman said it was her daughter who's buying her first car. She asked if it was ever in a wreck and I honestly answered yes the front end was damaged and 100% repaired (which it was). We setup a test drive appointment Friday afternoon so they can test drive the car, kick the tires and see what kind of shape it's in. They were impressed that it's so clean inside and smelled nice (I had it detailed and cleaned the previous week), everything looked great. I opened the front hood showed them where it was in a wreck and where it was damaged. The frame of the car is as straight as it was the first day it rolled off the Toyota assembly line, that was never bent or damaged. Susan and I went into their house to talk with the mother while the father drove his daughter to her work in my Corolla, he returned saying it looks good and they were going to buy it. They wrote me a personal check drawn off a Vancouver, Washington credit union for $3,300 (I was willing to let them low ball me down to $2,500). Yesterday I deposited their personal check into my local Portland, Oregon credit union where they said there will be a 3 day hold on the funds until it clears the Vancouver CU. I also received a call from the buyers that they need a BILL OF SALE so they can register the car in the state of Washington (I live in Oregon and the car is currently titled in Oregon). So I went to the Oregon DMV website and printed a BILL OF SALE .pdf and was about to mail the spare key and BILL OF SALE to them today until I received the following e-mail from the buyer's which has me sh!tting bricks:
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Date: Tue, 6 Aug 2002 09:42:13 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Lisa"
To: "Ross"
Ross,
Upon further examination of the car, we noticed some body damage which makes it appear that the car was in a rather serious acciden, instead of a minor one as stated. Today we will be taking it to a Toyota dealer to have it checked out for safety and reliability. I will contact you by either e-mail or phone as soon as we know the results.
Thanks,
Lisa
--
Why oh why did I buy a salvage title?
Yesterday I called the newspaper telling them the car has been sold and to stop running the ad (which cost me $75 to run for 6 weeks when it sold the first day, they do not give partial refunds). So if I do get the car returned (which I am going to fight) I will need to pay more money to run the car in the classifieds again. I also called my insuranec company asking them to cancel my 94 Corolla's policy which I would need to extend another month.
I'm hoping what Lisa and her parents are concerned about is a CD sized scratch on the drivers side rear bumper which the detailer fixed with red paint and it's barely noticeable. That happened when I slowly backed into a fence, I didn't ask the detailer to fix it but was pleased that he did. So if that's what they're concerned about then I have a perfectly reasonable answer for them. I hope they bring it into a Toyota dealership TODAY because I'm dying to know what they think is wrong with the car. I even had my mechanic check it out inside and out all it needed was a new battery, he rebuilt the starter a few months ago. With proper care the car should easily last another 100,000 miles it currently has 101,100 miles on it.
In looking back here's where I screwed up:
1) I should have told them about the rear bumper scratch and explained what happened and that the car detailer fixed it. It's only cosmetic damage the bumper is still in tact.
2) I should have requested guaranteed funds, a cashier's check and NOT a personal check.
3) I should have given them the spare key and bill of sale when they took possesion of the car.
4) Most importantly I should have had a AS IS - NO WARRANTY disclaimer on the bill of sale and even gone as far as having it notarized and paying the $15 notary fee.
I'm tempted to call or e-mail them but I'm worried that they might stop payment on the check (if they haven't already), so I want to wait until at least tomorrow to see if the check has cleared by calling their CU in the morning.
If I do talk to them, what should I say/do? If they don't demand a refund but bitch enough I'm thinking of giving them a $300 refund lowering the selling price to $3,000 but I'm not sure if that's a good idea or not.
8/7 UPDATE: Just heard from the mother who left me a voicemail stating she heard from the Toyota dealership that it's going to cost $715 to fix some oil leaks and some other crap she offered to fax the quote to me but I said no thanks because I'm annoyed, pissed off and relieved that they don't want their money back. Oh yeah and she said in her voice mail she thinks it's only fair that we split the repair costs, LOL. So I called back sounding annoyed, irritated and slightly pissed off. I told her I would refund $300 via cashier's check ONLY if she agrees to the following:
1) We wait until her $3,300 personal check clears which she stated has already cleared and she's probably right but I'll confirm this Friday morning before we meet.
2) I am going to type up about 20 lines of legal mumbo jumbo basically an AS IS - NO WARRANTY disclaimer and a bunch of other BS I'll whip up. So if anything goes wrong with the car either indirectly or directly I am released from all responsibility and it's her problem, not mine.
3) She will agree to sign this bill of sale and have it notarized at my CU at a time which is convenient for me which is this Friday at 5:00 PM.
Oh well it could have been a lot worse. I'm tempted to call her again and piss her off but I'll refrain, for now.
When I first received a call inquiring about the car for sale the woman said it was her daughter who's buying her first car. She asked if it was ever in a wreck and I honestly answered yes the front end was damaged and 100% repaired (which it was). We setup a test drive appointment Friday afternoon so they can test drive the car, kick the tires and see what kind of shape it's in. They were impressed that it's so clean inside and smelled nice (I had it detailed and cleaned the previous week), everything looked great. I opened the front hood showed them where it was in a wreck and where it was damaged. The frame of the car is as straight as it was the first day it rolled off the Toyota assembly line, that was never bent or damaged. Susan and I went into their house to talk with the mother while the father drove his daughter to her work in my Corolla, he returned saying it looks good and they were going to buy it. They wrote me a personal check drawn off a Vancouver, Washington credit union for $3,300 (I was willing to let them low ball me down to $2,500). Yesterday I deposited their personal check into my local Portland, Oregon credit union where they said there will be a 3 day hold on the funds until it clears the Vancouver CU. I also received a call from the buyers that they need a BILL OF SALE so they can register the car in the state of Washington (I live in Oregon and the car is currently titled in Oregon). So I went to the Oregon DMV website and printed a BILL OF SALE .pdf and was about to mail the spare key and BILL OF SALE to them today until I received the following e-mail from the buyer's which has me sh!tting bricks:
-
Date: Tue, 6 Aug 2002 09:42:13 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Lisa"
To: "Ross"
Ross,
Upon further examination of the car, we noticed some body damage which makes it appear that the car was in a rather serious acciden, instead of a minor one as stated. Today we will be taking it to a Toyota dealer to have it checked out for safety and reliability. I will contact you by either e-mail or phone as soon as we know the results.
Thanks,
Lisa
--
Why oh why did I buy a salvage title?
Yesterday I called the newspaper telling them the car has been sold and to stop running the ad (which cost me $75 to run for 6 weeks when it sold the first day, they do not give partial refunds). So if I do get the car returned (which I am going to fight) I will need to pay more money to run the car in the classifieds again. I also called my insuranec company asking them to cancel my 94 Corolla's policy which I would need to extend another month.
I'm hoping what Lisa and her parents are concerned about is a CD sized scratch on the drivers side rear bumper which the detailer fixed with red paint and it's barely noticeable. That happened when I slowly backed into a fence, I didn't ask the detailer to fix it but was pleased that he did. So if that's what they're concerned about then I have a perfectly reasonable answer for them. I hope they bring it into a Toyota dealership TODAY because I'm dying to know what they think is wrong with the car. I even had my mechanic check it out inside and out all it needed was a new battery, he rebuilt the starter a few months ago. With proper care the car should easily last another 100,000 miles it currently has 101,100 miles on it.
In looking back here's where I screwed up:
1) I should have told them about the rear bumper scratch and explained what happened and that the car detailer fixed it. It's only cosmetic damage the bumper is still in tact.
2) I should have requested guaranteed funds, a cashier's check and NOT a personal check.
3) I should have given them the spare key and bill of sale when they took possesion of the car.
4) Most importantly I should have had a AS IS - NO WARRANTY disclaimer on the bill of sale and even gone as far as having it notarized and paying the $15 notary fee.
I'm tempted to call or e-mail them but I'm worried that they might stop payment on the check (if they haven't already), so I want to wait until at least tomorrow to see if the check has cleared by calling their CU in the morning.
If I do talk to them, what should I say/do? If they don't demand a refund but bitch enough I'm thinking of giving them a $300 refund lowering the selling price to $3,000 but I'm not sure if that's a good idea or not.
8/7 UPDATE: Just heard from the mother who left me a voicemail stating she heard from the Toyota dealership that it's going to cost $715 to fix some oil leaks and some other crap she offered to fax the quote to me but I said no thanks because I'm annoyed, pissed off and relieved that they don't want their money back. Oh yeah and she said in her voice mail she thinks it's only fair that we split the repair costs, LOL. So I called back sounding annoyed, irritated and slightly pissed off. I told her I would refund $300 via cashier's check ONLY if she agrees to the following:
1) We wait until her $3,300 personal check clears which she stated has already cleared and she's probably right but I'll confirm this Friday morning before we meet.
2) I am going to type up about 20 lines of legal mumbo jumbo basically an AS IS - NO WARRANTY disclaimer and a bunch of other BS I'll whip up. So if anything goes wrong with the car either indirectly or directly I am released from all responsibility and it's her problem, not mine.
3) She will agree to sign this bill of sale and have it notarized at my CU at a time which is convenient for me which is this Friday at 5:00 PM.
Oh well it could have been a lot worse. I'm tempted to call her again and piss her off but I'll refrain, for now.
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