Buyer Beware! Scam Alert: New Castle, IN

Just wanted to let everyone know in the Indianapolis area and surrounding areas that we have a business that is selling "classic cars" that are more closely resembled to pottery than actual steel. I am always looking for a better deal and when shopping around to see my options I drove to at East Side Auto in New Castle, IN (1.5 hour drive for me). These folks, being a classic car dealership, were a little overpriced than usual for being a car dealer, but given that they were "classics" I was willing to see what they had. Literally every car on the lot that they said was "complete or close to complete" has about a gallon of bondo on it BUT they should be commended on their pottery skills because it would fool the naked eye until you reached under the fender to feel if there was bondo on it or not. It also miserably failed the magnet test as well. About 1/2 way down on each vehicle I looked at is where the bondo started and by the time we got to the bottom it was inches thick. Did I mention they were a little overpriced???

Talked to the owner, who runs it with two sons I believe, asked how much he wanted for the two 55 ford fairlanes and his reply was "6000 a piece" but wouldnt move off of that price. I asked what was wrong with them and why he wouldnt let me test drive them... well his response was one frame is rotten and snapped in half, the other has a blown engine. I would also like to note that half the trim was missing, damaged beyond repair, and both interiors were trashed, not to mention a fine rattle can job. I proceeded to look at a couple others that he had on the lot... a 56 or so olds, same problem... looked at a couple others... same thing, overpriced and too much pottery and didnt run or barely ran. They listed all the ones that I looked at as complete, but were far from... their verson of restoration is bondo and a rattle can job and taking advantage of people. I am a little younger than your classic car guy (22 years old) and was treated pretty poorly and I am 100% certain that it was age discrimination, but that comes with the territory. Over all it was a bad experience, the people were rude, it was a waste of a drive and BUYER BEWARE!!!!

 

I fully back this post 1959Apache. They have a very shady operation going on. They have alot of ads on craigslist where they never show a full picture of the car, and are shitty cell phone looking pictures. most of the time its one picture taken up close at a horrible angle. Steer clear.

 

X3...They used to put stuff on e*ay but I guess they ran outta saveable parts. Pretty sure they run one of those "we buy junk cars 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s" ads also. Apparently they also sell them.

 

Wow. Last week I was planning to go look at the '52 Chevy they had. I was stopped by the guy who had my '51 deciding that he liked my offer.

 

http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/ctd/1655404407.html

What do you know?!?! its the same car I originally posted about lol

 

Thanks for the info on the 55 olds. I was going over to look at it.

 

The only things that are worthy of going over to look at are the basket cases... but then again he has done the same thing as far as body work.... and/or they are hideously overpriced and not worthy of the drive.

 

On the positive side, he came off the price.

 

haha...that he did

 

So where is the "scam" part of all this? Sounds like, when asked, he told you what was wrong with the cars. What's the issue, other than he's asking too much for his cars? Like who doesn't?! LOL.

 

X2

 

This sounds more like typical used car lot bullshit than an actual scam. Still, it's a good heads up for fellow hambers who might have traveled some distance to look at his garbage.

 

the scam is the fact that he lures you to his business from Indianapolis or farther with lousy pictures and false promises. He doesnt tell you that they arent running or driveable when you ask over the phone.. his response "yeah and they are complete"... so no, he doesnt tell you information when you ask... you have to coerce it out of him when you are in person. To top it off when you get to his place his lot is nothing but junk and cars that are chalked full of bondo, so much in fact that bondo stock has gone through the roof... the scam is when he sells someone a car that didnt think of bringing a magnet and as soon as it rains your car melts into a big puddle of goo. he runs a shady business, end of story

 

I want to get this straight..you were "treated pretty poorly", felt you were descriminated because of your age, "people were rude", "bad experience"..why would you even try to "coerce it out of him when you are in person", or continue to "look at a couple of others"? They didn't deserve your time, plain and simple. Chalk it up to a bad experience, learn from it, and move on. Good of you to post though, hopefully it will save someone else from making the trip there.

 

Why are you guys giving 1959Apache a lecture for posting this and givin him the definition of scam?? 1959Apache posted this to try to help people out.

 

I agree. He might have saved somebody a lot of time and fuel checking these jokers out...sometimes the scam is just in the bait...

 

From the sound of it the only people who get scammed are the ones dumb enough to either buy sight unseen or who don't know enough to know what they're buying, anyone with half a clue sees the bondo and finds they can't be test driven and walks on.

I get people telling me I'm trying to rip people off on stuff and it kills me because #1 you can see everything that's wrong with them, I don't bondo up rot holes and only rarely even paint something, and #2 don't force anyone to buy anything, or pay the asking price when they do buy.

 

any heads up info is welcome in my book! if i'm going more than a hour drive and spending a sizable amount these days pictures and a few phone calls can save lots of headaches. people peddling this junk size you up within the first few minutes. using caution and taking somebody with you to go over the potential purchase is always worth the cost of a meal vs getting burned on a vehicle transaction. i can say in 30 years and hundreds of purchases i never regretted not buying a vehicle when i saw a red flag about something i observed or the seller stated about the vehicle.

 

Thanks for posting.

 

I've always found that when going to a car lot, any car lot, wear your old work clothes and climb under and check it all out. Used to do that at a car lot that came across reasonable cars once in awhile and the look on there faces was priceless when they seen me lay on the parking lot and crawl under for a look.

 

I didnt mean for this to blow up like it did, it was just meant for others as a warning and trying to help others from wasting their time. Thank you for the thank you's.. (I guess that sounds right) I am the guy that people usually call to go with them on their car purchases and would like to see people to kind of pay it forward on here. I just hope other HAMBers return the favor of reporting shady businesses in the area or in other areas

Just happy that I can contribute something around here lol

 

You did the right thing, and that's what counts.

Besides, as my ol pappy used to say; "Bit dog always hollers." That might explain some of the yelps you've been getting.

SAFU

 

I remember the man who most likely posted this thread. He came to our lot scraping magnets down the side of a '55 Fairlane to check for "Bondo"; and all the time telling his really cute girlfriend(compared to Rosanne) all about how 60 year old cars should be completely metal.
What we didn't tell him, and he obviously didn't know, was that the car they pulled up in is made almost entirely of the same fiberglass we use---which isn't magnetic---gee, maybe cutting the rust out of cars and welding clean, new sheet metal in it's place, covering the area with glass, then a thin coat of Bondo followed by a polyester glaze isn't something 1959apache is familiar with as a quite legitimate, if not perfect way to fix cancer on a vehicle. He is entitled to his opinion, so he can whine because he didn't see what he wanted when he got here, but he is slandering our business by writing lies he and I both know aren't truthful. You always have your bad customers--it's why people can't deal with the public--because of losers like this who want to basically whine about his gas money for a trip he made to see 2 cars which were not misrepresented in any way. If you want your gas money back just visit our website at youmadethechoicetodriveheresoquitcrying.com.
This guy disgraces this site by posting threads which are untrue just so he can vent because we laughed at him because he thought there should be no Bondo on a 60 year old car--sorry we laughed--probably hit a soft spot in that Pillbury gullet of yours

 

Well, it's not that unreasonable to expect an old car to not have any filler in it, I have several that don't, or where they do it's very minor and obvious. A metal repair done properly needs little to no filler, not six inches of glass, bondo and glaze - more than 1/8" of an inch is too much.

It's not that unreasonable to expect to be able to test drive a vehicle before buying it, either. Or that a car not have a rotted, broken frame under it.

IMHO it may have been going a little out of the way to say this dealer is a scammer, he can't scam you if you're smart enough to check the car out first, but at the same time coming here weeks later and attempting to defend shitty work as anything more than shitty work, is like trying to use a shovel to dig your way out of a hole. That level of work may have been fine when these were 5-10 year old used cars people were going to just run the rest of the life out of and junk, but it's not acceptable on a collectible or fun car people intend to keep and enjoy for a long time.

I should add, I understand why the shitty work gets done - too many assholes think stuff is junk if it's not pretty and shiny because they have no clue how to really build a car - I've even done a little of it myself, although I limit it usually to cleaning up and painting and not try to hide big problems. I get so I hate dealing with the public too. But there has to be a limit to what level you'll go to to make a sale, I spend a lot of time telling people basically to screw off rather than try to make a sale and then deal with the hassle when they come back whining three days later. It's not worth the trouble - and I like sleeping at night.

 

Hey at least he came on here and represented his business in a professional and mature manner... Please note the heavy sarcasm.

A well written and buisness like response explaining the situation and the methods you use to repar the vehicles you are selling would go a long way towards establishing your credibility. Instead you took the low road and decided to insult the individual and generally come across like a jack-ass.

 

Hmm, I have to say, I'm not familar with those kind of repair techniques either. Would you mind doing a tech thread for us so we can all learn how to do good body work like that?

 

I'm not covering for shitty work. I just found out about this thread and had something to say to 1959Apache--and if I don't sound mature enough for all of you, saxxon--maybe i'm just not cool enough to sit and post threads on HAMB which I had never even heard of. Turns out, it's a place for old guys to vent their anger and look for parts. Good for you guys. Try goin' to a swap meet for parts- - Have fun.

 

Not really trying to choose sides but that (quoted above) is what you did with your very first post...and that's not what we're about!!

 

Thank you for the posts RustyNewYorker, I think we are all in agreement that it should have just been Buyer Beware, not scam alert, but once its posted its posted. (no sarcasm that was a sincere thank you)

As for the tool that decided to respond to this post and just make a profile just to harass me through the email system on here, here's a couple words for you: I have several years of experience with body work, using minimal duraglass and minimal bondo for a perfect end-result. That mockery that your business calls body work is why this thread was posted. I am frankly quite surprised that you went through the effort to come on here and threaten to harass me until the end of my days... If only you put that effort into your work then this post would have never needed to be posted. Perhaps you need to go back to school and learn how to do things the right way. I have no reason to lie to thousands here on the HAMB, they have never done me wrong and I would have no reason to. I am 5'8 and 160, I hardly call that Pillsbury... so keep up the lies because they are helping you champ.

Lesson learned.. do not post this saying scam alert, just buyer beware..

Moderators close this thread.

 

Well Jsn, you might want to educate yourself about the hamb before you make any more posts and perhaps go back and edit your responses and try to make a better frst impression. The hamb has over 100k registered users from all over the world and all walks of life. You don't mind blowing us off as potential customers? Or would you rather show us a better side of how you do business and the stuff you sell? People are welcome to sell whatever they want, just should be open and honest about it. You might be, I have no idea, but the trash talk isn't going to help your case much here.

Your avatar looks nice. Let's see more about that and let's hear constructive talk about yourself if can.