Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

jmonroe1

Michaell said:

tjc78 said:

Makes sense. The leasing companies are taking all the fun out of this!

In all fairness, they are the owners of the vehicle, when you lease.

Owners usually pay for what they have but since it’s a bank they change the rules. You pay and they try to keep you from making a buck. Like I’ve said before it’s tough to out-bank a bank.

jmonroe

nyccarguy

@28firefighter said:
In other news, I went to buy a CL Subaru and got hustled good. Car was fine, as described. Owner had title that wasn't in his name and had no driver's license to verify his identity. Threw an absolute hissy fit when I walked away and threatened me. Probably would have done more if we weren't in public. Demanded money for his time spent showing me the car - started getting physically agitated. Ended up giving him $100 to go away. I stayed there for a while after he left to make sure I wasn't followed.

That's enough for me, I think.

How much money did he demand for “his time spent showing me the car?”

28firefighter

nyccarguy said:

@28firefighter said:

In other news, I went to buy a CL Subaru and got hustled good. Car was fine, as described. Owner had title that wasn't in his name and had no driver's license to verify his identity. Threw an absolute hissy fit when I walked away and threatened me. Probably would have done more if we weren't in public. Demanded money for his time spent showing me the car - started getting physically agitated. Ended up giving him $100 to go away. I stayed there for a while after he left to make sure I wasn't followed.

That's enough for me, I think.

How much money did he demand for “his time spent showing me the car?”

$500 - I'm an excellent negotiator.

explorerx4

@28firefighter,
Glad you are ok. Thanks for reminding us of the dangers of meeting strangers when money is involved.

corvette

Geez, @28firefighter , glad you made it out okay.

henryn

28firefighter said:

In other news, I went to buy a CL Subaru and got hustled good. Car was fine, as described. Owner had title that wasn't in his name and had no driver's license to verify his identity. Threw an absolute hissy fit when I walked away and threatened me. Probably would have done more if we weren't in public. Demanded money for his time spent showing me the car - started getting physically agitated. Ended up giving him $100 to go away. I stayed there for a while after he left to make sure I wasn't followed.

That's enough for me, I think.

Sometimes it's really nice to be the biggest guy in the room.

Of course, they could still pull a gun on you, but that's a lot less likely, at least in my experience. I'm glad to hear you're okay. The house next door to me is for rent, and the young lady who owns it is trying to handle the rental without the overhead of a real estate agent. Whenever she meets someone to show the house, she usually calls me in advance and asks me to keep an eye out. Which I'm happy to do.

The title “not in his name” did remind me of an incident from my youth. Back around 1973 or thereabouts, I was attempting to help my girl friend sell her car. It was an older VW Beetle, and as I recall the asking price was 3 or 4 hundred. I ran an ad in the local paper, and had the car in my possession so that I could show it to potential buyers. She, of course, was driving my car.

Some guy came along and was really hot to buy the car. He was trying to push the money on me, and I told him we had to wait for my girl friend to get off work in a couple of hours as the title was in her name. He came just about unglued when I tried to explain the situation, absolutely convinced that I was trying to rob him or con him or something. He eventually calmed down and left, and sure as h*ll, he called me back the next day still wanting the car. Which, of course, was already sold.

stickguy

I would have told the Sube guy that I needed to call my wife to bring the money. Then dialed 911 and explained it to them instead.

but yet 1 more reason I don't want to have to deal with private sales in the cesspool again. Ever.

28firefighter

I didn’t find out until I already had the money. He showed me clean title and said it was in his name. It’s my fault 100%.

stickguy

I did go to a car dealership today to participate in another purchase (of sorts). Went up to see my father and help him buy out the lease on his Sentra. Of course the first thing the manager at the desk asked when he told them what we were there to do was "don't you want to buy a new one?"

other than confusion on how to make out the bank check (and a return trip to the bank for a replacement) it was uneventful. Still weird that the finance guy said they actually buy it from nissan finance, then sell it to him, but the money seemed to work. basically bought a 2019 Sentra S with 14K on it for ~9,600 + TTL. Based on cars. com search, that same car from the dealer is over $16k now. So quite the good deal. Plus at his age, he is not driving much so doesn't need anything more.

28firefighter

@stickguy said:
I did go to a car dealership today to participate in another purchase (of sorts). Went up to see my father and help him buy out the lease on his Sentra. Of course the first thing the manager at the desk asked when he told them what we were there to do was "don't you want to buy a new one?"

other than confusion on how to make out the bank check (and a return trip to the bank for a replacement) it was uneventful. Still weird that the finance guy said they actually buy it from nissan finance, then sell it to him, but the money seemed to work. basically bought a 2019 Sentra S with 14K on it for ~9,600 + TTL. Based on cars. com search, that same car from the dealer is over $16k now. So quite the good deal. Plus at his age, he is not driving much so doesn't need anything more.

“Do you even have a new car to sell?”

stickguy

took the Maverick for it's first real trip. It is actually very impressive travel machine. Good ride, quiet, plenty of power and cruises along deceptively fast. Handles like a nice car. Just slightly bouncy in the back on a rough road but nothing objectionable. Great seats. Would have no problems taking it on a long roadtrip.

even better, I got gas where I was going (first fill up after owning it for over a month!). and on the trip back home (a cold start, a little local, and a couple of traffic jams mixed into a highway run) overall in 115 miles the TC (which on the first fillup turned out to be pretty accurate) was showing 31.7 mpg when I pulled into my garage. With a range estimate of 525 on a tank. Try getting that with an F150 or Frontier!

TJC, leases now might stink, but could be a fantastic 2nd car to run back and forth to the shore, and put all the wet, sandy stuff into the bed. Or carry kayaks, or whatever you tote.

stickguy

28firefighter said:

@stickguy said:

I did go to a car dealership today to participate in another purchase (of sorts). Went up to see my father and help him buy out the lease on his Sentra. Of course the first thing the manager at the desk asked when he told them what we were there to do was "don't you want to buy a new one?"

other than confusion on how to make out the bank check (and a return trip to the bank for a replacement) it was uneventful. Still weird that the finance guy said they actually buy it from nissan finance, then sell it to him, but the money seemed to work. basically bought a 2019 Sentra S with 14K on it for ~9,600 + TTL. Based on cars. com search, that same car from the dealer is over $16k now. So quite the good deal. Plus at his age, he is not driving much so doesn't need anything more.

“Do you even have a new car to sell?”

I was surprised, there seemed to be a lot of cars on the lot. Or at least in front of the building. A bunch of trucks. and the place was popping. Lots of employees running around, and seemed to be quite a few customers doing something at desks.

oldfarmer50

28firefighter said:

In other news, I went to buy a CL Subaru and got hustled good. Car was fine, as described. Owner had title that wasn't in his name and had no driver's license to verify his identity. Threw an absolute hissy fit when I walked away and threatened me. Probably would have done more if we weren't in public. Demanded money for his time spent showing me the car - started getting physically agitated. Ended up giving him $100 to go away. I stayed there for a while after he left to make sure I wasn't followed.

That's enough for me, I think.

Wow, that’s like an actual robbery. Maybe you should call the cops before this character actually does hurt somebody.

qbrozen

@28firefighter , that's crazy. I've never had a bad situation like that.

@kyfdx , as ff said, I've read from a couple of people that the extra paid up front would instead apply to the buyout. So if, for example, I paid $3k rent charge up front and the RV is $50k, my buyout would be $47k.

oldfarmer50

stickguy said:

I would have told the Sube guy that I needed to call my wife to bring the money. Then dialed 911 and explained it to them instead.

but yet 1 more reason I don't want to have to deal with private sales in the cesspool again. Ever.

I’ve purchased 3 cars from CL sellers and never had any problems like that. One of my questions when I first call is if the title is in the seller’s name and can they prove who they are. That usually stops the scammers/psychos right there. It’s easier to hang up on verbal abuse than get into a physical confrontation.

Sandman6472

Am pretty sure that the new Honda HR-V will be more to my liking. I do like power at the low end to be honest and think my turbo has spoiled me. Lately, I've been keeping it in the "S" mode while in Drive so I lose the slight turbo lag which suits me just fine. Sure, it holds the revs longer before downshifting but for the added power, seems to be a good trade off. And I'm probably wasting a bit of petrol doing this but, for the amount of miles I'm putting on each week, ain't really that bad. By mid February, I'll be hitting 70K which averages out to just under 10K/year.
Might have to get my mechanic to check on why the brake pedal is so low, I like a high pedal and feel more secure with one. My co-worker who drove it says it stops fine but did notice it does go a bit low. Since it looks like it'll be staying for the forseeable future, getting new brakes might just be something worthwhile. Right now, that's about the only issue except the strut holding up the front hood and replacing all the windshield wipers. Not due for an oil change quite yet.

oldfarmer50

I keep thinking about 28firefighter’s experience with that potentially criminal guy and it reminded me of an incident at the airport where I occasionally work. A deranged character stole a car at a local convenience store, drove to Macy’s where he tried to rob jewelry at knifepoint. This resulted in a high speed police chase where the suspect rammed through a fence of the above mentioned airport and drove down the runway before crashing through the fence again and disabling his car. When arrested he had three outstanding warrants from all across the state and was awaiting trial for bank robbery.

For all we know he was selling cars on CL in his spare time. $100 may have been a wise investment.

corvette

The maintenance light flashed when I started the Prius tonight. Probably time to invest in a set of ramps so I can DIY the oil change. I'd prefer a set of those Quickjacks, but that's a lot of $$$ for something I'd use a couple times a year.

explorerx4

@stickguy, Since you went there. My 2017 F150 Limited.
283 miles traveled, 596 to empty.

28firefighter

In the moment I know I did the right thing to de-escalate and get away. The mistake was going in the first place.

Sandman6472

NY, was that highway pic I-95 or the Merritt Pkwy? I remember I-95 well as our summer camp in Clinton was off of exit 63 and we'd get on right east of White Plains as I recall. It was 1.5 hours door to door from Briarcliff Manor to Clinton and a fun trip. There was always that anticipation as a kid of what the summer will be like. Do remember the trips home after 8 weeks to be sad as those summer days were such fun. My last summer there, 1970, we flew up from Ft. Lauderdale as we had moved the previous year. I was going to be a waiter and get paid so was no longer a real camper. After camp ended, we went back to our grandparents summer house in Shrub Oak, up by Lake Mohegan in northern Westchester. My folks had been there all summer as they had sold the summer place for a final move to their winter condo outside of Miami. That northern house was pretty cool, up in the hills overlooking Lake Mohegan with a wrap around porch. Wish we had kept it in the family as I'm sure it's worth over $1 million today.

breld

28firefighter said:

In the moment I know I did the right thing to de-escalate and get away. The mistake was going in the first place.

Yup. Wise move to make the quick decision to take a small hit to the pocketbook and avoid anything worse. Lesson learned.

Scary stuff. Glad you’re all good.

tjc78

@28firefighter
Wow. Just wow. Thank goodness you are ok

@stickguy
I bet it would be a good vehicle for that. I get a little crazy getting all the sand into the rear area of the XC.

28firefighter

Thanks, friends. Appreciate you not razzing me, at least not yet.

roadburner

I've sold 10 of my cars to individuals, but in every case I knew the buyer. My OCD maintenance regimen helps; I have standing offers from several people to buy either the Club Sport or the Wrangler.

cdnpinhead

explorerx4 said:

Thanks for reminding us of the dangers of meeting strangers when money is involved.

Or ever.

henryn

qbrozen said:

@28firefighter , that's crazy. I've never had a bad situation like that.

As I recall, you're about 6'6" ? People of your size are very seldom threatened. As I said above, there's always a chance they might pull a gun, but in most cases the perpetrators will just look for someone more vulnerable.

henryn

oldfarmer50 said:

I keep thinking about 28firefighter’s experience with that potentially criminal guy and it reminded me of an incident at the airport where I occasionally work. A deranged character stole a car at a local convenience store, drove to Macy’s where he tried to rob jewelry at knifepoint. This resulted in a high speed police chase where the suspect rammed through a fence of the above mentioned airport and drove down the runway before crashing through the fence again and disabling his car. When arrested he had three outstanding warrants from all across the state and was awaiting trial for bank robbery.

For all we know he was selling cars on CL in his spare time. $100 may have been a wise investment.

I remember a story in the local news here, maybe 4 or 5 years ago. Some guy driving an older truck went berserk and started running over people. He was involved in more than 20 separate incidents or collisions over a period of about 2 hours before the cops caught up with him. He would just ram into cars, pull away and drive off. Over and over. Insanity.

qbrozen

@28firefighter said:
Thanks, friends. Appreciate you not razzing me, at least not yet.

Oh, heck no. I may have mentioned I teach self defense, and “fighting is your absolute last resort” is the first and last lesson. For many many reasons.

xwesx

28firefighter said:

I didn’t find out until I already had the money. He showed me clean title and said it was in his name. It’s my fault 100%.

No, it's mostly his fault. Sounds like you handled it pretty well, other than not getting the police involved when he wouldn't back down.

Only you can know the best way to handle the situation in the heat of the moment, though.

xwesx

corvette said:

The maintenance light flashed when I started the Prius tonight. Probably time to invest in a set of ramps so I can DIY the oil change. I'd prefer a set of those Quickjacks, but that's a lot of $$$ for something I'd use a couple times a year.

I regularly think the same thing, and then I don't pull the trigger for the same reason. However, considering I've had my ramps (you know those classic metal yellow ones from years gone by?) since 1994 and use them "a couple times a year," maybe it would pay off over a similar time horizon.....

28firefighter

@xwesx said:
No, it's mostly his fault. Sounds like you handled it pretty well, other than not getting the police involved when he wouldn't back down.

Only you can know the best way to handle the situation in the heat of the moment, though.

Finally had some time to noodle on it with a quiet house. TL;DR is I got lucky it didn’t escalate to a physical confrontation or worse.

(1) My theory is this individual bought the car some time ago and never registered it. Could be because they don’t have a DL. The ad has been taken down so either he sold it or knows I might report it. Probably the former to someone who is less concerned about doing things properly or doesn’t understand curbstoning.

(2) I should have asked for ID and paperwork sooner. Rookie move, but I’ve never been burned by waiting until later.

(3) I should have done this at the DMV office. If I walked in there and asked about the legality of what he was doing, they would’ve shown him the door and I wouldn’t have had to be the bad guy.

(4) I should have excused myself back into the bank to call 911. In the moment, I thought about the police but was concerned that dragging it out another 3-5 minutes waiting for PD to arrive was not going to be conducive to my health. This was a stupid gamble because had he not taken the money, things would’ve gotten dicey and the wait for PD would’ve still been there. I can hold my own when absolutely necessary, but he had 150 lbs and who knows what else on me.

(5) What I think probably helped most is that I tend to get quieter, calmer, and firmer when folks get loud and escalate. It clearly threw him. He didn’t know what to do with me, so he cut and ran.

This was totally preventable on my part and leads me to the conclusion that this isn’t a sandbox I need to be playing in unless I’m 100% positive who I’m dealing with before I leave the house.

au1994

Sorry @28firefighter. I’ve never dipped my toe in the CL waters for that very reason. I had an employee a few years ago that sold his motorcycle on CL. He had the potential buyers meet him at the sheriffs office annex near his house. Smart move and the only way I’d do it.

explorerx4

Our town encourages having these types of transactions take place in the police station parking lot.

tjc78

Yes some towns even have online selling spots designated by the Police office. Of all places Sea Isle City, NJ (shore town) has one.

ab348

explorerx4 said:

If I were to see the word "Limited" in big letters like that in my instrument cluster I might think there is an engine or other mechanical fault of some sort and the vehicle put itself in limp mode.

ab348

stickguy said:

I was surprised, there seemed to be a lot of cars on the lot. Or at least in front of the building. A bunch of trucks. and the place was popping. Lots of employees running around, and seemed to be quite a few customers doing something at desks.

I'm reminded of the old saying "In the world of the bald, the one-haired man is king".

Nissans probably sell well only when nobody else has anything to sell.

stickguy

My local PD has a spot right out front reserved for meeting sellers. I think it’s signed to be under video surveillance too.

oldfarmer50

henryn said:

qbrozen said:

@28firefighter , that's crazy. I've never had a bad situation like that.

As I recall, you're about 6'6" ? People of your size are very seldom threatened. As I said above, there's always a chance they might pull a gun, but in most cases the perpetrators will just look for someone more vulnerable.

A call to the police might prevent someone else from getting hurt.

graphicguy

@28firefighter ….holy moly. Glad you’re OK. Not preaching here. Just glad it didn’t become even worse.

The last few vehicles I’ve flipped, I’ve encountered plenty of flakes. Don’t know if they were scammers, per se. Had one lady who looked at an older F150 I was flipping. She test drove it. Nit picked it (it had well over 100K miles) incessantly. Then, when I turned down her offer of 30% off asking price, she let go a bunch of invectives towards me and stormed off. A week later, she called me and said she’d raise her off to about 10% off my asking price (assuming she had seen what the market was). I took great delight in telling her it sold the same day she originally looked at it. Of course, she inquired about the selling price. Decided to mess with her a little and told her it sold for more than I was asking.

She said the buyer must have been crazy. I told her the buyer was just smarter than her and I hung up on her. That felt good!

qbrozen

henryn said:

As I recall, you're about 6'6" ? People of your size are very seldom threatened. As I said above, there's always a chance they might pull a gun, but in most cases the perpetrators will just look for someone more vulnerable.

Sorry, I missed this before. Yes, I am large. I am, however, also very friendly, and happen to be well trained. So, of those 3 attributes, something usually keeps me out of trouble.

And, you are absolutely correct. Perps (or predators, if you wish) go for the easier targets. One of the interesting stats that speaks to this is that men are more often mugged than women. Women typically make more noise and draw more attention.

breld

@28firefighter - I think everyone here will adamantly agree that it was not even remotely your fault. I understand you feel you could/should have avoided the situation to begin with, but you are certainly not responsible for creating that situation.

With that said, thanks for sharing…I know that serves as a valuable lesson for me. It’s been awhile, but I’ve completed a few CL transactions. 1) sold a 330ci to someone who counted out $11,000 in $100 bills at my underground parking garage at work; 2) bought a ZHP vert from someone where my wife and I happily walked into their house to talk about the car; 3) bought a 318ti where we once again met the seller at his house.

All those went just fine, and the other parties all gave off nothing but good vibes (the ZHP owner was an older couple in an affluent neighborhood), but your experience really opens my eyes to what could happen in these situations if you’re not mindful of the potential negative outcomes.

breld

On a completely unrelated note, shout out to our Cincinnati contingent here on the Bengals getting to the Super Bowl, and doing so in such dramatic fashion! Enjoy the next two weeks of being in the spotlight of the sports world!

As a Denver fan who is certainly feeling fatigue over the Chiefs, I appreciated the Bengals' unlikely win Sunday, and am excited to see new participants in the big game.

tjc78

My last CL transaction I drove the car to the new owner’s home and completed the transaction in the kitchen. Not sure I’d be doing that again for multiple reasons!

28firefighter

breld said:

@28firefighter - I think everyone here will adamantly agree that it was not even remotely your fault. I understand you feel you could/should have avoided the situation to begin with, but you are certainly not responsible for creating that situation.

With that said, thanks for sharing…I know that serves as a valuable lesson for me. It’s been awhile, but I’ve completed a few CL transactions. 1) sold a 330ci to someone who counted out $11,000 in $100 bills at my underground parking garage at work; 2) bought a ZHP vert from someone where my wife and I happily walked into their house to talk about the car; 3) bought a 318ti where we once again met the seller at his house.

All those went just fine, and the other parties all gave off nothing but good vibes (the ZHP owner was an older couple in an affluent neighborhood), but your experience really opens my eyes to what could happen in these situations if you’re not mindful of the potential negative outcomes.

This has largely been my experience as well - very eye opening.

kyfdx

@28firefighter

No way I would have given up $100.

That said, I might have ended up dead.

oldfarmer50

graphicguy said:

@28firefighter ….holy moly. Glad you’re OK. Not preaching here. Just glad it didn’t become even worse.

The last few vehicles I’ve flipped, I’ve encountered plenty of flakes. Don’t know if they were scammers, per se. Had one lady who looked at an older F150 I was flipping. She test drove it. Nit picked it (it had well over 100K miles) incessantly. Then, when I turned down her offer of 30% off asking price, she let go a bunch of invectives towards me and stormed off. A week later, she called me and said she’d raise her off to about 10% off my asking price (assuming she had seen what the market was). I took great delight in telling her it sold the same day she originally looked at it. Of course, she inquired about the selling price. Decided to mess with her a little and told her it sold for more than I was asking.

She said the buyer must have been crazy. I told her the buyer was just smarter than her and I hung up on her. That felt good!

In addition to buying 3 cars I’ve also sold 3 cars on CL. My Corvette sold in 45 minutes to a guy one town over who begged me to wait for him an hour until he could get cash out of the bank. True to his word he showed up and we drove it to his house.

Second one was my son’s old Mercury Sable with a burnt valve and CEL light. Sold it to an unsavory character for a few hundred bucks. The only hitch was after he paid me he left it at my house for several weeks before driving it off. His excuse was that he needed to “love up” his girlfriend enough to get the registration money from her. Ewwwwwww.

The third was my wife’s PT Cruiser which I sold cheap, too cheap as it turned out. Just after placing the ad it was sold to a guy driving past the house. Multiple other callers were clamoring to see it including one who pleaded to just come look at it even though she knew it was sold.

Even the unsavory guy was well mannered. I don’t know what I would have done with a mental case like 28firefighter encountered.

kyfdx

I think angry and aggressive means it was a scam. It's possible he was selling a car that he didn't have permission to do.

28firefighter

kyfdx said:

I think angry and aggressive means it was a scam. It's possible he was selling a car that he didn't have permission to do.

Yep - I think at minimum at curbstoner and possibly car was stolen.

graphicguy

breld said:

On a completely unrelated note, shout out to our Cincinnati contingent here on the Bengals getting to the Super Bowl, and doing so in such dramatic fashion! Enjoy the next two weeks of being in the spotlight of the sports world!

As a Denver fan who is certainly feeling fatigue over the Chiefs, I appreciated the Bengals' unlikely win Sunday, and am excited to see new participants in the big game.

Kind of kicking myself for not going to Kansas City. Had some friends who caravanned there and said they had a great time, even after the Bengals won against them for the 2nd time in a month. Same goes for the 1st playoff game in Vegas. Wished I would have gone to that one, too.

I did make the trip to Nashville and that was a blast, though.

Need our team to win one more……!!!!!!!!!!!