Rough week...craigslist adventures

This week was brutal.

I go to school then straight to work (9am-7pm) and in my "free time" i found a 1993 Miata on Craigslist on monday. I called and emailed and got some info on the car. Had Bilsteins, Eibach coilovers and sway bars, new tires, newer top. It needed a clutch---$1800. He would take $1500.

So i make plans to go see the car after work that day. So i drive 90miles after work to go check it out. Its dark and cold. Guy was upfront about the car, told me all he knew about it. Gave me a jack and lights to look it over and generally a cool guy. Was there 2 hours but in the end the car was not what i was lookin for. Needed some work and woulda nickle and dimed me to death. Thanked him, passed on the car and went home. Got home around just before 1 AM. Lovely.

• Was bummed about the car/ time invested but guy was nice so it was a wash.

So tuesday morning i check my mail and CL and see up top just listed a 1981 Toyota Corolla Wagon. Nice blue repaint, just under 100K miles, NO RUST, nice 4 spoke roosevelt wheels (real or replica i dunno) it was $900obo. I was thrilled. Figured luck had come my way and i called the guy and said car had NO RUST and we made plans to meet that night after work. I had pulled cash from ATM to buy it. was so excited about it....it really looked nice in pics and by the guys severely broken english/spanish (barely spoke much english) it sounded good.

I leave work at 7pm and get there around 8:30pm. Guy shows the car. WHAT A HEAP. cheap paint job that i can still smell. NO RUST?! LIAR!!! its visible through the crap paint job. body so loaded with bondo in some places its cracked and i can see rot under it. Look under it and see all sorts or riveted patch panels. I say i dont want it and leave. Wasted time. I was upset. What a stinkin' liar about everything.

By wednesday i have found a saturn wagon. Its a DOHC, 95k miles, nice red paint---its 330 miles away. ugh i am slightly turned off by that but figure its super low miles and i can have it for years. So i call. Twice. Both times i hear its got newer tires and brakes just done. Said the lower underbody plastic tray thingy broke (no biggie) said muffler was rotted and needed new one, interior just needed a quick cleaning. Cool. we talk some more details and i decide based on info that this is so totally worth it and ill pull the trigger. $1500 was a steal.

So Saturday (oct 1 '11) my best friend and i head out to pick it up. Take his Cummins Ram and car trailer and drive 4 hours to it. Rained the whole time. We get to the ratty trailer park and get to his trailer and the car from the street looked good. My heart is filled with joy.

We get out and talk to the guy and i make my way to the car..... The bumper is cracked in a handful of places that he never mentioned nor did pictures show. all 4 tires are different. the passenger side door lock looks like a screwdriver was pounded into it. the muffler was rotted out alright and the replacement exhaust from engine looks like it was cobbled together from muffler shop throw aways. ugh. i can deal with it so far i guess. I open the door. the smell of decay and mold and landfill seriously makes me gag a bit. The interior is covered in dust and mud and crap and horrid filth and the nastiest of nasties. WTH?! I took it for a drive....the coolant light is on and the new brakes are grinding. now im pissed. Talk to the guy. Said he did not wanna mix coolant in the system so he did not put any in!! seriously?! smelled of burning coolant. So angry. tell the guy no way and we leave. Wasted almost $200 in gas and 12 hours of traveling and all that. 660+ miles.

Still super pissed about todays situation and the corolla situation. Seriously why would you lie so much about what your selling. Just bold face lies. I am upset with the sellers of cars (who knows what else) and just general shadyness of people. After we talked about the saturn and its condition and mechanical issues (which he said it had none) i find out its a heap of junk. The miata guy was at least honest of the good and bad points of the car and was very upfront. even if the car did not work out he was nice and honest.

Pissed. Upset. Furious. etc

Rant off.

that really sucks to hear about that. i myself would not travel that far to look at something but then again you never know these days. i know i have to start looking for something new to buy since my subby wagon just tossed out its clutch and with the hole in the gas tank and the bad sturts on the rear its not worth my time to deal with. i have not had that much bad times lookng at things, then again its dealing with weridness selling things on online. good luck finding something....if you where near IL you could look at the add i just posted on the 2011 section for sale...

That sucks. Small bit of advice - get a local GRMer to check out a car before running 300 miles for it - I would have given it a quick once over for you, and if it had been worth coming to Rochester for I'd have bought you a killer BBQ dinner at Dinosaur. Anyway, good luck finding something worthy.

I have had much of the same experiences. When you loil at an add, if it's a good enough price that you are willing to gamble the time and money incase it's crap, just set up a time and go look. Otherwise, don't even bother if the owner doesn't seem honest. I only looked at 2 the last car I bought, the first one was cheap, but among other things it was undriveable due to the drivers seat being reclined all the way and the switch broken, so I left after a few minutes. I wasn't mad because the guy told me the car wasn't that nice, and he was honestly surprised that the switch didn't work, so whatever. The one I bought still had a lot of problems the seller didn't mention, but all the important maintenance had been done and he could tell me the approximate mileage from memory, so I went to go look at it and it seemed ok so I bought it. It's hard to find anything under $2k that's not a pos, try searching up to $2500, you may find something nicer than a $1200 car that needs $2k in work.

This is why i won't travel for craigslist ads, and only forum ads.

92CelicaHalfTrac wrote: This is why i won't travel for craigslist ads, and only forum ads.

I've traveled for craigslist adds for my last several cars. 1997 $700 escort wagon, went 200 miles for it, drove it for three years. 1994 $900 escort wagon, went 100 miles for it, very rust free, still driving it three years later. 1999 $4900 jeep wrangler, 60 miles for it, drove it a year and sold it for $7000. 1999 $2100 ford ranger, 50 miles and still driving that.

I've also gone a way for some crap and turned around and came home, it's all part of the gamble. By and large I've had very good luck.

Joey

Would you believe some sellers wouldn't think the things you found "wrong" on the Corolla and Saturn were "lies"? Some folks, like the guy who was probably too cheap to buy coolant for the Saturn, (apparently?)think if it's no really big deal to them, it's no really big deal to a desperate buyer.

And another way to look at things? In the last month I've e-mailed 5 or 6 different sellers about cars. In the case of 3 of them, CL's e-mail was the only contact available. In EVERY case, never heard back. Tho, in the seller's "defense", it looks like 2 or 3 of the cars sold, as the ads are gone.

660 miles for a Saturn wagon? At what point are we talking about diminishing returns?

Though I do know about Craigslist deals falling apart. Sucks.

I bought a 1992 Cherokee Loredo for rust free, 4x4, 4L at, power everything, ac didn't work. Drove it all week no problems, 20 miles away.....Oh wait, I'm in Atlanta!