BigBlueRam
All American
16852 Posts
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warning, LOTS of words...
you might for a little while... that shit always catches up with you though. even if the person is clueless, the first time they take it to a mechanic they'll find out. which btw is a very smart thing to demand when you're buying something used. have it looked over by a mechanic of your choice.
knock on wood, i've sold about 35 or so vehicles in the past 10 years and have only had issue with 2 over condition after sale. one was just a misunderstanding over the description. i had listed it as a parts truck, but it did run. needed a lot of attention to be a reliable driver. i think they just weren't expecting what they were getting into. after talking, they seemed to feel better about it. i offered some compensation and to let me know if i could help in the future. they declined, so i can only assume they're happy. last i heard the truck had been fixed up and was running great.
botton line is, you might be able to get away with it once or twice as a "normal" person. if you do any kind of volume, like a used car lot, you'll get equally screwed. it's just a matter of when or how. i only buy/sell just enough to stay under the dealer license limit for nc, and besides the moral issue still wouldn't take a chance on ripping someone off. just like selling drugs. you can make a killing, and i personally have no objection to people doing it. you're pretty likely to get caught eventually though. or at least have some altercation with another dealer, customer, whatever.
on the flipside, you still have to keep in mind it's a USED vehicle. some people don't get this, and i now try to turn those people away even if they've got cash in their pocket. these are the same people that will get something fixed on their car, and then bitch, complain, and accuse when something totally unrelated breaks the next day. they also don't understand that for a lot of my stuff, while i'm still making a little profit they're still getting a hell of a deal. any number of components that appear to be working properly could crap out at any moment. there's no rhyme or reason when you're talking about something that could be high mileage, 10+ years old, etc. it could eat the transmission out 3 days later. tough luck. if the transmission was shifting fine and fluid looked good before, it's not my problem. if you're not an asshole, i MIGHT even consider going above and beyond and tossing you a little bit of money back. attack me and you won't get a damn thing.
which brings me to my other story, which is by far the funniest. i guess it was maybe 6 years ago i had a little 2wd ford courier. just a rebadged mazda basically. it had been sitting for about 5 years since the old man that owned it had died. the family finally got around to settling the estate, and i got the truck and another car for free if i would remove them from the property. cleaned the fuel systems on them, a few other misc. things, and got them running. the car went to be a derby car, but i decided to get the little truck road worthy. used tires, used battery, and i was in it for $100 or so plus dmv fees. i put a good 3-5k miles on it before i decided to sell it, even back and forth to the beach a few times to use as a yard truck hauling off debris my dad was cutting at their place.
so, i list it for $600 and this goon from sandford or somewhere comes to buy it. he and his buddy look it over with a fine tooth comb for nearly an hour, picking at every little thing. it's a 20yr. old $600 truck you idiots! while they're doing this, i make it VERY clear that the truck sat for 5 years and hadn't had any sort of tuneup other than a carb cleaning in who knows how many years. that meant hoses, belts, tie rods, wheel bearings, plug wires, gaskets, interior parts, etc. were all ready to break at any time due to dry rot, lack of use, etc. it had also clearly been abused off road, with fresh dents and a layer of mud everywhere. they say fine, it's just going to be a farm truck and they don't mind a little project. then, he wants to test drive it. we go ALL over raleigh. a good 40-50 miles. truck does great, he's happy, wants to buy it. we settle on $400 since he's got cash and i'm in college on a friday.
i get a call the next day, upper radiator hose blew on their way home. guess you shoulda saved some of those test drive miles. they decided to change both. broke the lower neck off the radiator trying to get the lower hose off. get a call a week later telling me they got the radiator fixed and new hoses/belts on. they also thought it would be a good idea to change the oil with some 5w-30 synthetic he had sitting around. brilliant. this is in addition to having to tap a new oversized pan bolt in also. get a call the next morning. yep, you guessed it... engine is now spewing forth mobil 1 from nearly every gasketed surface. rear main (which already had a slight drip, but was the only leak) is so unhappy it decides to throw oil all over the clutch, rendering the truck basically undriveable.
at this point, he's pretty pissed off and is demanding his money back. before he was just annoyed, and hinting at me paying for the parts that had broken. i calmly and politely tell him things like "no way in hell" and "over my dead body". all those things definitely could have used replacement, but he helped them right along to complete failure. he loses it, so i just hang up on him and ignore his other calls and don't plan to talk to him ever again. i get home from class the next day, and the damn truck is sitting in my driveway! there's a note on the winshield saying here's the truck back, title is on the seat, and that he'll be back later to collect his $400. right, dude. you payed me cash, the truck is already in your name, but it's on my property. not smart. so, i called rpd and reported that an abandoned/unauthorized vehicle was in my driveway. an officer came out, i gave him the story, and he wrote a report. about that time, the brilliant one shows back up. tries to talk to the cop, cop tells him it doesn't matter what happened, the only relevant facts are that he owns the truck and it's on my property. tells him to have it gone within a couple of hours or it will be impounded. just when i thought it couldn't get any better, his tow truck buddy that brought it up for him was busy. so, he had to call east coast to come get it. i'll bet it cost at least $100 or more to get it back to where he lived, ahaha. haven't heard from him since.
[Edited on May 9, 2008 at 7:55 AM. Reason : wow, i think that's my longest tww post evAr ]  5/9/2008 7:54:23 AM
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