Chronic Car Buyers Anonymous (Archived)

Michaell

+1 on jrgo. Watching him pull things apart is not nearly as satisfying as watching him save something for resale or giveaway.

Funny to hear him lament the loss of his bigger shop, when all he did was complain about the utility bills and the endless stream of trains that would interrupt his filming.

Still enjoying Sarah ‘n’ Tuned. Her attention to detail and understanding that her videos won’t pull in the best numbers because of it is one of the things l like best. But, she’s got too many projects going on at the same time.

Love her reviews as well.

corvette

@Michaell - agree completely. Hoovie didn't seem to complain so much about the noise issues inherent with filming at his dad's hangar home.

I haven't watched Sarah -n- Tuned, but it sounds good. It seems like a really difficult industry and genre for women to get into. My former neighbor and her husband are both gearheads and work in the performance/racing industry, but she would always have to deal with random guys wanting to photograph her with cars (despite having no modeling ambitions), etc.

Michaell

corvette said:

@Michaell - agree completely. Hoovie didn't seem to complain so much about the noise issues inherent with filming at his dad's hangar home.

I haven't watched Sarah -n- Tuned, but it sounds good. It seems like a really difficult industry and genre for women to get into. My former neighbor and her husband are both gearheads and work in the performance/racing industry, but she would always have to deal with random guys wanting to photograph her with cars (despite having no modeling ambitions), etc.

A few things to note about Sarah:

1. She's easy on the eyes. 5'10", and she often wears 4-6" heels on her car reviews.
2. Ex Air Force, and self admitted OCD - she comments repeatedly about her obsessive nature, and how a lot of cleaning and such finds its way into her videos
3. She tries to post every 3 days or so - most of the videos are about whatever her current project is, and she mixes it up with car/truck/SUV reviews. If it's a truck or SUV, she does take it off road (she lives in Tucson) and gives her honest feedback about it
4. She personally owns a new 2-door Bronco, a mid-00's Forester which she's slowly converting into an STi, a 2nd gen MR2 turbo, an '84 ur-Quattro coupe, and her grandmothers early 90's Ranger, which she drove from NH to AZ and performed a frame off restoration. V6 with a 5-speed manual; her grandmother bought it new.
5. Her current project is an early 70's Celica, which she is restoring to it's original condition, with the exception of a V8 swap from a Tundra

28firefighter

I stopped watching JRGo during the pandemic. Annoyed the you know what out of me.

Why did he lose his shop? Thing made no sense to me at all.

tjc78

I think my favorite YT mechanic right now is Vice Grip Garage. Dereck cracks me up.

ab348

I haven't found many YT mechanics I would want to watch regularly. I still subscribe to Sarah and Car Wizard, but don't watch much if at all from either. Sarah's schtick has worn thin, while Wizard is just too preachy and makes videos that are all pretty similar. I still sub to Hoovie also, but I always feel like nothing is what it seems with him and don't watch a whole lot either. Something just doesn't add up with him.

stickguy

Legit street cars is good and still shows a lot of actual wrenching. Rich rebuilds is funny.

nyccarguy

qbrozen said:

alto is now on facebook marketplace. I usually wait until I have everything done but just didn't want to hold off any longer. I still have to see if the AC even works and take driving video(s). Went ahead with cell phone pics this time just to get things moving (hopefully).

iZ iT aVaLAbUl?

corvette

28firefighter said:

Why did he lose his shop? Thing made no sense to me at all.

After the improvements he made, he was able to sell it for something like double what he paid for it, so it "made sense" to sell it. Also, the train noise and the heat bills. The new house is kind of a dump, but I'm sure he'll have it renovated soon. The new shop is a lot smaller and already looks full, even though I don't think all of his stuff has been moved in.

Michaell

@corvette said:
After the improvements he made, he was able to sell it for something like double what he paid for it, so it "made sense" to sell it. Also, the train noise and the heat bills. The new house is kind of a dump, but I'm sure he'll have it renovated soon. The new shop is a lot smaller and already looks full, even though I don't think all of his stuff has been moved in.

He’s talked about building something much bigger - I can’t remember if his property is large enough to accommodate it, though.

stickguy

The idea was to find a big place to be the recycle facility. Room to take the cars apart and store the parts. I guess that would free up a lot of room in his new place.

pensfan83

I don't know if I should be embarrassed or relieved I have no idea who any of those people are aside from hearing their names now and again.

qbrozen

@au1994 said:
I genuinely don’t understand the animosity around “is it still available?”. Its a logical question and I know I’ve got about 382 things going on at once so I could see forgetting to takedown a FB Marketplace post.

A couple of reasons.
1) Well what is the next question or statement? If it was as simple as “is it available? I’d like to come see it.” Anything at all as a follow-up.
2) almost always when you get just that question, it will be a ghost or a scammer. I have not once had a legit follow-up after I say “yes” to that question.

xwesx

Agreed about the "is it available?," q. If it wasn't listed as the default for the program (e.g., you don't have to actually type anything), then it might be more likely to be a legitimate question.

And, I have had follow up when replying, but it always works out to be something like "give me all your money." They should just set the default response to "I'm a scammer" and save us all the time! LOL

nyccarguy

qbrozen said:

@au1994 said:

I genuinely don’t understand the animosity around “is it still available?”. Its a logical question and I know I’ve got about 382 things going on at once so I could see forgetting to takedown a FB Marketplace post.

A couple of reasons.

1) Well what is the next question or statement? If it was as simple as “is it available? I’d like to come see it.” Anything at all as a follow-up.

2) almost always when you get just that question, it will be a ghost or a scammer. I have not once had a legit follow-up after I say “yes” to that question.

Can I give you a double endorsed, 3rd party check?

pensfan83

I've accumulated contact info from folks who have expressed interest in the Prelude and ZHP. No guarantee any would be a buyer when I'm ready to be a seller but I'll gladly make 20+ phone calls before I would reluctantly subject myself to the insanity that is CL or FB Marketplace.

oldfarmer50

xwesx said:

Agreed about the "is it available?," q. If it wasn't listed as the default for the program (e.g., you don't have to actually type anything), then it might be more likely to be a legitimate question.

And, I have had follow up when replying, but it always works out to be something like "give me all your money." They should just set the default response to "I'm a scammer" and save us all the time! LOL

I see sellers state “if the posting is still up the vehicle is still for sale. I’ll remove it as soon as sold.” If you still get “is it available” you know the person is a scammer or too dumb to read.

qbrozen

In my ad, I have written that I’d consider trades for a 4x4 with 2 rows of seats and capable of towing at least 4k lbs. A guy sent me a pic of his offering today: a suzuki samurai. I pointed out it doesn’t meet my towing requirement, to which he responded that he tows 4k with it all the time. Hey, you CAN use a loaded gun to hammer nails, but that don’t mean you SHOULD.

jmonroe1

qbrozen said:

In my ad, I have written that I’d consider trades for a 4x4 with 2 rows of seats and capable of towing at least 4k lbs. A guy sent me a pic of his offering today: a suzuki samurai. I pointed out it doesn’t meet my towing requirement, to which he responded that he tows 4k with it all the time. Hey, you CAN use a loaded gun to hammer nails, but that don’t mean you SHOULD.

______________________________________________________________________________
You should have replied, "thanks for telling me you beat the hell out of it. I don't want your truck"

jmonroe

qbrozen

@jmonroe1 said:

---

You should have replied, "thanks for telling me you beat the hell out of it. I don't want your truck"

jmonroe

I was actually going to say something like that. (“I’m not one to risk towing 4x a vehicle’s rated limit and I’m glad you told me how you’ve beat the snot out of that poor thing”) But he stopped responding to me.

ab348

You have the makings of a comical YouTube channel there with those kind of potential sellers.

nyccarguy

@qbrozen - Remember before the term SUV was coined, everything was a "Jeep" to some people? MB ML 350? The Mercedes Jeep. X5 4.4i? The BMW Jeep.

pensfan83

qbrozen said:

In my ad, I have written that I’d consider trades for a 4x4 with 2 rows of seats and capable of towing at least 4k lbs. A guy sent me a pic of his offering today: a suzuki samurai. I pointed out it doesn’t meet my towing requirement, to which he responded that he tows 4k with it all the time. Hey, you CAN use a loaded gun to hammer nails, but that don’t mean you SHOULD.

I'm going to call BS on him. I've towed a side-by-side to the mountains with the Tacoma, up a 9-12% grade for 3+ miles, and I felt every pound being pulled in a truck with a towing capacity of 6500 lbs.

oldfarmer50

ab348 said:

You have the makings of a comical YouTube channel there with those kind of potential sellers.

Yeah, that’s as funny as the guy who told me he needed to “love up” his girlfriend in order to get the $400 he needed to buy an old beater from me.

ab348

nyccarguy said:

@qbrozen - Remember before the term SUV was coined, everything was a "Jeep" to some people? MB ML 350? The Mercedes Jeep. X5 4.4i? The BMW Jeep.

It's similar to people owning a unibody CUV/SUV based upon a sedan platform as their "truck".

nyccarguy

ab348 said:

nyccarguy said:

@qbrozen - Remember before the term SUV was coined, everything was a "Jeep" to some people? MB ML 350? The Mercedes Jeep. X5 4.4i? The BMW Jeep.

It's similar to people owning a unibody CUV/SUV based upon a sedan platform as their "truck".

100%

qbrozen

@nyccarguy said:
@qbrozen - Remember before the term SUV was coined, everything was a "Jeep" to some people? MB ML 350? The Mercedes Jeep. X5 4.4i? The BMW Jeep.

Oh, I wasn’t trying to call him out on the use of the term. I was hoping he’d tell me which model it was so I could confirm towing capacity. But I don’t think any were more than 1500 lbs, so it really doesn’t matter.

andres3

qbrozen said:

I don't think many sellers understand facebook marketplace. On my most recent endeavor, I've gotten a 25% response rate on my inquiries. I'm not asking "is it available?" I always start with Hi and state my questions. Usually things like: which engine does it have? any rust underneath? any leaking fluids? are you a dealer? Maybe they don't like questions, but then they should give better details to start and probably NOT post in a marketplace that leaves no choice but to reach out through messenger.

Here's my rule of thumb for Craigslist or FB marketplace on cars:

1. If you have to ask how many miles it has, it's 150K+
2. If you have to ask if it's been in an accident, it has.
3. If you have to ask which motor is in it, it has the smaller/slower one.


I swear, I just read a post that said everything works perfectly, but the engine knocks.

nyccarguy

andres3 said:

qbrozen said:

I don't think many sellers understand facebook marketplace. On my most recent endeavor, I've gotten a 25% response rate on my inquiries. I'm not asking "is it available?" I always start with Hi and state my questions. Usually things like: which engine does it have? any rust underneath? any leaking fluids? are you a dealer? Maybe they don't like questions, but then they should give better details to start and probably NOT post in a marketplace that leaves no choice but to reach out through messenger.

Here's my rule of thumb for Craigslist or FB marketplace on cars:

1. If you have to ask how many miles it has, it's 150K+
2. If you have to ask if it's been in an accident, it has.
3. If you have to ask which motor is in it, it has the smaller/slower one.


I swear, I just read a post that said everything works perfectly, but the engine knocks.

Does it come with 2 keys?
Is it the original engine?
Has the car ever been tracked?

andres3

Have you ever gotten the "I can get you 50% over your asking price, just send me money" type auto selling scam? Of course, they might be subtler about the send me money part.

jmonroe1

andres3 said:

qbrozen said:

I don't think many sellers understand facebook marketplace. On my most recent endeavor, I've gotten a 25% response rate on my inquiries. I'm not asking "is it available?" I always start with Hi and state my questions. Usually things like: which engine does it have? any rust underneath? any leaking fluids? are you a dealer? Maybe they don't like questions, but then they should give better details to start and probably NOT post in a marketplace that leaves no choice but to reach out through messenger.

Here's my rule of thumb for Craigslist or FB marketplace on cars:

1. If you have to ask how many miles it has, it's 150K+
2. If you have to ask if it's been in an accident, it has.
3. If you have to ask which motor is in it, it has the smaller/slower one.


I swear, I just read a post that said everything works perfectly, but the engine knocks.

————————————————
Who cares about the details?

jmonroe

andres3

nyccarguy said:

andres3 said:

qbrozen said:

I don't think many sellers understand facebook marketplace. On my most recent endeavor, I've gotten a 25% response rate on my inquiries. I'm not asking "is it available?" I always start with Hi and state my questions. Usually things like: which engine does it have? any rust underneath? any leaking fluids? are you a dealer? Maybe they don't like questions, but then they should give better details to start and probably NOT post in a marketplace that leaves no choice but to reach out through messenger.

Here's my rule of thumb for Craigslist or FB marketplace on cars:

1. If you have to ask how many miles it has, it's 150K+
2. If you have to ask if it's been in an accident, it has.
3. If you have to ask which motor is in it, it has the smaller/slower one.


I swear, I just read a post that said everything works perfectly, but the engine knocks.

Does it come with 2 keys?
Is it the original engine?
Has the car ever been tracked?

1. 
   
2. 1st question is an always 1,000% yes.
   
3. 2nd question is S4 - No, TTS - Yes
   
4. 3rd question is S4 - No, TTS - Yes
   
5. 
   

andres3

My more important questions would be:
1) has it ever been serviced with Walmart motor oil?
2) has the DSG/DCT been serviced with a generic Multi-ATF fluid?
3) has the car been serviced at all?

cdnpinhead

This, BTW, is why I buy new cars outright and keep them for 15-20 years.

YMMV

explorerx4

Interesting Maverick accessory.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYEElgjSptE

xwesx

Kind of a weird oversight on several newer pickup models. Similar (but probably even worse) complaint about the Rivian pickup bed. There are big openings near the tailgate hinges that allow all sorts of loose material to just dump into the bottom of the truck... with no way of getting it out!

stickguy

I’ve seen that conversation on the maverick forum. I’ve never really looked inside mine but I suspect it is plenty clean. Anything that might fall in will probably fall out when you close the tailgate anyway.

corvette

@andres3 said:
1. If you have to ask how many miles it has, it's 150K+
2. If you have to ask if it's been in an accident, it has.
3. If you have to ask which motor is in it, it has the smaller/slower one.

For sale: 1999 Mustang
Never been wrecked
Numbers matching factory oil and tires and air in the tires
I know what I got, no lowballs!

corvette

Assuming my trip to the Chicago show goes well, I may try to do the New York one. I’m already tentatively planning on visiting the LA show in November (I think), because I also want to see the Petersen and it’s been over 20 years since I’ve been in LA. One of my friends is a travel nurse and takes an assignment inland from there about once a year, so I’ve gotten some great ideas of places to visit within a couple hours’ drive. I could probably spend a week in the area.

oldfarmer50

corvette said:

Assuming my trip to the Chicago show goes well, I may try to do the New York one. I’m already tentatively planning on visiting the LA show in November (I think), because I also want to see the Petersen and it’s been over 20 years since I’ve been in LA. One of my friends is a travel nurse and takes an assignment inland from there about once a year, so I’ve gotten some great ideas of places to visit within a couple hours’ drive. I could probably spend a week in the area.

In 2023 the NY show was all about EVs and hybrids. If you are a fan of gassers you might want to check.

Michaell

corvette said:

Assuming my trip to the Chicago show goes well, I may try to do the New York one. I’m already tentatively planning on visiting the LA show in November (I think), because I also want to see the Petersen and it’s been over 20 years since I’ve been in LA. One of my friends is a travel nurse and takes an assignment inland from there about once a year, so I’ve gotten some great ideas of places to visit within a couple hours’ drive. I could probably spend a week in the area.

You know that a “couple of hours drive” in LA means about 40-50 miles.

corvette

Michaell said:

You know that a “couple of hours drive” in LA means about 40-50 miles.

LOL... is three-ish hours to Joshua Tree fair?

Michaell

corvette said:

Michaell said:

You know that a “couple of hours drive” in LA means about 40-50 miles.

LOL... is three-ish hours to Joshua Tree fair?

Depends on where you’re starting from and the time of day.

28firefighter

Surely someone here wants this:
https://www.autotrader.com/marketplace/buy/bmw/3-series/2007/WBAVS13577FV95091?fbclid=IwAR07fsFxUh7acgbuNafuUVsOfUlkcM4YLkDaU-gFPRn_fluQPmO7qG1i-C0

stickguy

that one I love. exactly the spec, and even a great color combo. And if seller is legit, the important "they all need it" stuff has been addressed!

nyccarguy

@28firefighter said:
Surely someone here wants this:
https://www.autotrader.com/marketplace/buy/bmw/3-series/2007/WBAVS13577FV95091?fbclid=IwAR07fsFxUh7acgbuNafuUVsOfUlkcM4YLkDaU-gFPRn_fluQPmO7qG1i-C0

Wow! That’s sharp! Any issues to look out for once it crosses the magical 100K mark?

corvette

Great spec. The rear bumper looks roached. On a 2007, I think the lack of iDrive means you don't get the signature BMW "bling, bling" door chime.

stickguy

nyccarguy said:

@28firefighter said:

Surely someone here wants this:
https://www.autotrader.com/marketplace/buy/bmw/3-series/2007/WBAVS13577FV95091?fbclid=IwAR07fsFxUh7acgbuNafuUVsOfUlkcM4YLkDaU-gFPRn_fluQPmO7qG1i-C0

Wow! That’s sharp! Any issues to look out for once it crosses the magical 100K mark?

from watching various youtube videos on them, some stuff related to a lot of plastic parts and other pieces (VANOS related, etc.) that I assume is what he is referring to with the normal E91/N engine issues. I assume at this point you can call up FCPEuro and order a kit of all the refurb stuff you need!

qbrozen

Darn. No response. Really thought I hit the lottery.

qbrozen

This is a good one. Took the pics 6k miles ago. That could be years. Would be nearly 2 years at the rate I drive.

And another example of how not to be a seller. I think this is the first time I received the canned response instead of the canned inquiry.