Warning ! Long, possibly boring read ! Take warning
Well, my BIG news crashed and burned. I had 2 vehicles on the hook for a possible purchase.
Both were criminally misrepresented in their advertisements.
The first one, which I never got to actually get eyes on…thank goodness, wound up having more and more issues. I give the seller a modicum of credit though, he was honest. If he had put some of that in his advertisement, it would have save us a lot of time. Title issue, motor problems, etc surfaced over the days. The only good thing ? It was over an hour away. Thankfully I got the full story before making the drive.
The second, same thing but worse. Seller had put poor pictures in the ad (taken at night, with poor visibility), and a price. That was it. I contacted him to see if he could provide better pictures. He agreed, but stated that it would be easier to just come and see it. Being that it was only about 7 miles away, I thought that a good idea. He then proceeded to give me some information about the vehicle. Great condition, southern vehicle, 150k, new motor & tranmission, etc. when I arrived, which due to his schedule, was at twilight. I saw almost bald tires, a missing side window ( with a Masonite replacement), plates on it but no windshield stickers (NYS registration and inspection). The exterior was typical of a southern vehicle, no rust anywhere above or underneath. The paint was intact but badly stained,plus it had 12 inches of snow on it. The seller came out and we got it unburdened of its snow load. I got the key and it started right up. No ticking or any apparent issues. I did notice the check engine light was on. He said he knew about it and check the code with his scanner, which he couldn’t find to show me. I also noticed the odometer shows 444, *** miles ! I asked for an explanation, by now I am getting a bit irked. He tells that is the actual mileage but the engine was rebuilt about 150k ago. He can’t find his paperwork for the job. I tell him that regardless of the rebuild, his stated mileage figure is wrong. Everything doesn’t reset with an engine rebuild.
Then we come to the weird part. He told me it had a clear title in his father’s name that was signed and had the bill of sale. Seemed a tad forward since I wasn’t done looking it over, nor had we discussed a price. He never did produce either of those two items. The NYS registration was current, in his father’s name. The windshield sticker and 10 day inspection stickers were in the glove box. The 10 day inspection sticker had run out in February 2025. So, this is “ my daily driver” claim was false. His insurance had lapsed in September, so no test drive. As it turned out, he admitted that all that information was the former owner, not his father. I decided I had seen more than enough by this time. Too many issues, all undisclosed was too much for my blood.
So, I will be suspending my search for a while.
