Craigslist, Bait and switch

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Valiant63

Valiant63

Early A-body Valiants
Joined
Dec 29, 2007
Messages
1,515
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547
Location
eastern, PA and central Florida
So I've been eyeing up this 65 Valiant 4 door in the Miami Florida Craigslist ad for over 2 months and thinking I really don't need the car but wouldn't it be nice to have such a clean body because the pictures of it were beautiful. I had called and talked to the guy that on several occasions and each time the price lowered a little bit. Well, two months go by and the add drops from Craigslist and he gives me a call asking me if I still want the car. I tell him only if it's for such and such a price and he agrees, so I drive 4 hours down to Miami to go pick it up. What I find is not the car in the pictures, but a similar car that is all rusted underneath the door line, is hit in the rear end, and the paint is faded thin and rusting out in many areas from being under a tarp for too many years. No wonder he couldnt sell the car. The first picture below is one of the ones he used to advertise the car on Craigslist, and the other two or what I found when I got there.
Perhaps it was good of me to experience that because now I'm not so interested in increasing my herd, and instead I am interested in working on or selling the ones that I have. Not that I needed to waste 8 hours of driving time plus the gas to get there and back, but it was a wake-up call that I really don't need to hoard the early A bodies. Has anybody else had an experience like this and what did you learn from it?

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First red flag for me would have been the Oregon plates on the first picture.

Oregon plates in Miami???

I would have asked about that.
 
The green for tree in the middle of the plate plus the blue font of the numbers/letters and the dark blue mountains at the bottom. No other state but Oregon has that. The plate is DXM 236 or OXM 236.

Please don't take this the wrong way but please do consider getting your eyes checked.
 
To my knowledge I've never seen anything plate like that but this is Florida. Do you know how many out-of-state plates there are here? I guess I assume people are honest out there and I never looked at the plate to see where it was from. I was more interested in the body of the car. Anyway, I was more interested in hearing from other people with experiences like that.
 
I would have sternly asked for gas money. I've done it before and been successful.
 
Valiant63 said:
To my knowledge I've never seen anything plate like that but this is Florida. Do you know how many out-of-state plates there are here? I guess I assume people are honest out there and I never looked at the plate to see where it was from. I was more interested in the body of the car. Anyway, I was more interested in hearing from other people with experiences like that.
Click to expand...

Any car from any state can certainly be driven to any other state. A neighboring state would be normal, but one from the opposite corner of the country would generate a hell of a story.

A seasoned car buyer would be concerned with a current registration of a car. I live in Colorado and they require a paper title, well, some states do not issue titles for vehicles this old and a registration card is enough evidence of ownership. So a car from New York state for an example will not transfer to Colorado unless the CURRENT owner requests a new York title to be printed for transfer. Is the seller the same person on the last title?? are you willing to track down the person whose name is on the title even if he or she is in another state across the country?

So asking details about the origin of the car and the whereabouts of all involved parties is an absolute legit concern when buying an old car.
 
Alaska , Oregon, Alabama it doesn't matter , the guy is a fkn douchebag for trying to pass off that rusty 4 door POS for something it isn't. not every stupid license plate is some kind of red flag. although I would have asked him if that was the actual car before driving that far , regardless of what plate , if any , was on it
 
Attention all campers, this just in: PEOPLE SUCK.

Its so hard to know who to trust anymore.

What did the azzhat say when you found it it wasnt the same car he advertised? I hope you let him have it verbally at least.

I woulda been po'd.

make sure you report the seller on CL.....
 
I had a similar experience on a new car. Called and verified the car was on the lot, drove 3 hours to find out it wasn,t, but look at these more expensive cars. Drove 3 hours home in a pissed off state of mind. Oh, I made a big scene in the dealership before going though. I hate liars!
 
Well.. That Sucks.... I'd have been VERY Pissed.... What a LOSER !!!
 
The trend nowadays is to have a picture or better yet a video of the car with today's newspaper, it's hard to scam on that one.
I wish i had a buck a mile for every car i looked at or parts that weren't even close to what the seller said it was.......
Been on literally hundreds of wild goose chases over the years, but some turned out really good though.
Don't lose hope.
There is some crappy people out there, but then again, there's some good ones as well......
 
I found my silver Barracuda on Craigslist about 800 miles from home and paid an inspection company $250 to go out and inspect the car. They took 70 photos and did a review of their test drive. Worth the money for sure. As you see in my avatar I bought it!

If we can find a FABO member near the car, we can always ask them to check it out first. Like others have said, the guy is real loser for posting that first pic.
 
I actually had the opposite happen to me.

72 dodge dart advertised on cl for 600 bucks.

I contact the seller and he is like " it's a parts car and no good, but the front sheet metal is Good and all it's worth."

Drove a couple hours to find a decent car with a little rust behind the rear wheels that looked worse than it is. Car even had an 8 3/4 and started and ran after a couple hours of work. Ended up driving that one for a couple of years.
 
I've worked in the car business for 26 years.
When it comes to cars, people are just assholes sometimes. Just how it is.
I've seen salesmen lie, not follow up, and straight forget.
Then I've seen buyers lie, not follow up and straight forget.
 
Photo of ad car was taken at Wildcat Auto in Sandy, Oregon.
 
Pa to Fl in 4 hours .....................
 
Had that happen to me. 800 for a complete but non running 68 dart 2dr. Didn't work overtime that day, rented a car dolly and insurance. Arrive at the address and see a 4 door. Rusted to hell, motor is torn apart. Guy kept telling me how it could be made to look as cool as a 2 door. Told him in front of his wife and kids, it cost me 400 to come here today, and i'm leaving before I punch him in the mouth.
 
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