getting BURNED on the HAMB on an outa state deal !

I bought a car long distance and it was way over priced for what I got. Had a buddy look at it and bought it on what his eyes saw. I guess I didn't realize he has cataracts.

 

I bought a car sight unseen a few years ago after having my brother look at it and describe it on the phone and answer my questions. The only problem is he doesn't mess with old cars like I do so he didn't see the same things I would see. Got it cheap but probably wouldn't have bought it if I had looked at it in person. I got fooled on another car a few months ago after driving the thing and looking it over pretty good so it's always a crapshoot in my opinion.

 

I found mine posted on evil-bay luckily it didn't sell. I had been looking for one for years and had been asking the seller questions. I was a little on the fence with the whole sight unseen thing so I didn't buy it. Later I decided to go see it but it wound up costing me double as a result. In the end I was glad I did.
I saw the truck before I bought it, took a 3 day road trip with my dad, met some really nice people that I am still in contact with and I have a story to tell.
...It cost more but it was worth every penny.

 

I recently started a similar thread and it got deleted within an hour.

 

I have bought and sold many cars over the internet and have never had, what I would consider, a really bad deal. That is not to say that there haven't been issue's, of course. I have never been out & out lied to about something after I have asked a specific question. I have, however, found thing's that were less than expected, but I didn't ask about that specific item or area. So, with that being said... was it misrepresented? No, I failed to ask!

Now I'm wondering, did you fail to ask? Or did he actually out & out lie to you? The fact that your not willing to name this hamber, also leads me to have some doubts. So, while I was considering whether or not to respond to this thread I used our little friend the "search button" and found a blue 1964 Chevrolet SS listed in the classifieds. It was sold to someone in California for around $12,000.00, so I'm thinking that this is the one that you bought.

Any time that you purchase a "used" car, you are getting exactly that, a "used" car. You have to do your homework and ask questions. Did you decide to purchase this car based on the three pictures that are posted? Were there more picture's that he removed after you purchased it? Was there anything posted other than those three pictures? I see where he has "edited" his post's of the car and that makes me wonder if he is trying to hide something. Did you make copies of or save the PM's/emails of the correspondence between you two? How about any other picture's?

If you have proof that he misrepresented/lied to you about the condition of the vehicle, than you need to contact Ryan and the police. Don't let him get away with screwing you or allow him to do this to someone else. If on the other hand...

Move on and hopefully learn from your mistakes! My 2 cents...

 

So far, I don't think the OP has "outed" anyone.

 

I believe he said "This auction site"

 

Shame that hasn't happened to this one.

 

I bought a few sight unseen but never spent over a couple grand and had decent luck,if I was to spend what you spent I would be on a plane and check it out my self. Is the car you bought a 53 Olds 2 door sedan?,my old 53 was on here for sale and it had a bunch of bondo which when I sold it I priced it accordingly but everyone who had it since thought it was gold and tried to get way more then it was worth or never looked at it closely.

 

Times 2..
However, before posting names, I would get a second independent opinion..
Cheers......

 

He said that it was a blue/blue '64 Chevy SS

 

I have bought some parts on here, and so far, I have to say everybody has been honest, and great to deal with. now, as far as that other site, that E... site, I've been screwed, blued, and tatooed by people on it. but thats another story i guess. I love to get on here and read the threads, its better than going to the zoo. sorry I got off the subject.

 

Mine also I was trying to warn people about a shady seller on here BUT I used his name.

 

It might work both ways.Several years ago I advertised a 50 Chevy project truck .I thought it was an honest description,a reasonable price, and sent good photos to several interested parties.One guy talked on the phone,he drove about 350 miles to my place with a trailer.
He checked out the truck,I got the impression he thought it was a little less than expected.I could tell he was an upper end builder,me more of a minimalist build,not a rat rod however.I asked him if he was disappointed,he said he's driven away empty before,usual money negotiations ,we loaded the truck and off he went.

 

I have purchased off of EBay before but I always call or communicate with the seller before and after. I had checked out their histories on the boards that they were on, asked other people who had dealt with them before and any other info I could gather. So far, so good.

A good friend is a classic car appraiser and he helps me out. I will spend the money to have a car checked out if I can't go myself.

A few months ago I was looking for an L79 67 Vette. I found a nice one on EBay with all of the right paperwork and from a dealer with a 99% feedback rating. The car was in Florida so I sent an appraiser from the area. He called from the guy's driveway and said " I don't even have to take a close look at it, this guy is known as an expert in selling L-79's in this area". He went on to tell me that he sells good quality "driver" cars but not very collectible L79's. As he was leaving, he said "save your appraisal fee, even the motor appears to be a re-stamp". Was I ever glad I contacted a local expert. My .02.

 

hey man the body on my apache is beat to hell and the more i dig its worse than i ever imagined. but at the same time ive had a blast huntin for new body panels, found KILLER deals and have a ton of new friends and contacts that can help me with my truck. plus its more bodywork experience im racking up. you live and learn. and yeah buying sight unseen is very risky indeed

 

I sell 5-6 cars a yr. mostly in the fifteen-twenty five hundred range along with a "bunch" of pics. On drivers five grand and up I always insist that anyone buying a car from us get an inspection ($150) first. There are no surprises when the buyer gets his new ride home. He's happy & I'm happy. In the last 20 yrs we have sold cars/pu from East Coast to West Coast to Australia and no, NONE, complaints yet. We have also bought a couple F350 duallies & a half dozen cars/pu out of state. Same results.

 

Never buy a car over the phone.

If you can't inspect it in person,
pay someone local to do a complete inspection and documentation.

 

I hate to be devil's advocate, but why are you crying about your mistake in public? YOU bought it YOUR way. I have to believe it's not a completely lost cause and that the whole story is flavored with a light seasoning of buyer's remorse. It's a 64 Chevy, so how hard can it be to make it better? Do any of us think we're going to see a 64 ANYTHING that looks as good as an 04 anything? I don't. Not to mention the fact that YOU DID NOT GO SEE IT 1st. I've "bought" sight unseen before, but usually with a deposit and an agreed upon condition based on inspection. How hard is that? I bought a car from here a few years ago. I sent a deposit, but still checked it out before I paid in full. I had no expectations of anything better than described, actually expected worse. All in all, a happy deal and someone else I got to know with similar interests. If you know those cars at all, you should also know what to ask about 1st as well. You already know where they all rot? Which parts are known or common problems? Homework. It's not just for school...

 

i've only bought once from a long ways away, the way i felt comfortable was to talk a LOT to the seller and got comfortable with him, looked at pics 10,000 times and had him start it up over the phone to listen to it. (i know it coulda been some other car) but basically you have to build up a trust with the seller so he wont "miss" tellin you something, i got a 65 lemans conv from 1500 miles away and it was better than he said, real pleased.
goat

 

At least show us some pics of what you bought so we can see how bad the deal really was!

 

this has nothing to do with HAMB i have allways had good standings with every deal i have done with all members local and a far FNG to members that have been on hamb for years and every one of the HAMBERS have been very straight up !

this deal went south real quick !

no complaint what i was looking for from the post really was to see what other had to say maybe the guy would chime in ?

it is what it is !

 

I totally disagree. I own a car that is exactly what you decribed. It was listed locally for sale for weeks, but I just didn't happen to see the seller's ad, and I guess others didn't also. I spotted it when it went on Ebay and was suprised when I saw it was less than 50 miles from me.
I contacted the seller and asked if I could come look at it prior to either bidding or doing the "buy it now" price. I ended up sitting down at his computer and buying a rust free, 98% complete and original 1946 Austin sedan for $1950.
So good deals do get missed locally and end up on a national venue. And some people just don't even try to sell locally first; they go straight to Ebay with all their sales.

 

I'm not in a real habit of looking at the classifieds on the Hamb but when I do find something interesting I always check who the seller is and the number of posts they have and then check the posts. More often than not the seller is someone who isn't a regular on the board and over 90% of their posts are either adds or bump to the top on an add. Those I rather shy away from.
There also seems to be a number of guys who buy and flip (or try to) cars in the classifieds on a regular basis and the car that is the original cause of the thread could be one of those flipped cars that was misrepresented to the guy who sold it in the classifieds.

I'm still for having one of the regulars on the board go check out a car that is up for sale in his/her area. Send them some gas and lunch money when they are done and it should be a good investment if you do or don't buy the vehicle.

 

I've bought several old cars from HAMB classifieds and from other web sites (not Ebay) and never had a problem. It really depends how careful you are when buying. In most cases I've had friends and other HAMBers check out the cars for me in advance of handing over any money. All of these cars were in good running condition and I got lots of pictures and the car's history. I didn't buy any from dealers or guys that just buy just to resell. I don't trust either. You can't be too careful but if you do your homework you probably won't get burned.

 

The power of the HAMB saved me from buying a pig of a 56 Lincoln. The seller swore it was rust free.... It was a Premiere coupe, $12500 in Wisconsin now, i knew it needed some work but if it was solid we had a deal So I posted on the boards and Skoh73 went to look at it for me.

Undercarriage was ROTTEN.

I passed, wisely IMO.

Now, I work in the car business and am damn near an expert at spotting paintwork and previous damage on late model OT stuff and I sometimes miss something on 1-4 year old low mile stuff. On 48+ year old stuff? Oh boy...... It's real easy to get burned, even Arizona cars can be rotten.

 

Bought the T in my avatar maybe four years ago from a stand up guy in Pittsburgh, sight unseen. We negotiated a little over the phone, and I picked it up, did a few mods, and we have had fun every summer since. Would do it again in a heartbeat, but not on a full bodied car where major faults can hide easier. That being said, just got burned locally for $800 by a customer I actually thought I had a good relationship with....So go figure.

 

Kind of did considering he noted the kind of car he bought. A two minute search popped up the car.

Sorry for your troubles.

 

I find it hard to believe that the seller hasn't posted. I'm sure he has friends and one of them would have read this and told him? Pics of the car you bought and it's problems?

 

BigVic,
This is a little after the fact so take it with a grain of salt, but I would think that if I was spending 12K on a car and it wasn't from someone that I knew well I may have looked for someone to take a look at it for me.

I do have to say that I have sold things in the past that the buyer wasn't pleased with, some of them were things that i didn';t take a close look at prior to the sale so it was my fault and others were things that i knew were good when they left the house and was told that they were not in good shape when they arrived. I usually mam good to compensate the buyer. But I do expect the buyer to offer some sort of proof that the pieces were not as represented like maybe a pic or two? It does go both ways I suppose.

I don't eant this to sound like an out for the seller in this instance but some folks just don't have a clue when it comes to actual condition of a vehicle, like how to gauge how much mud was used in it or??? In that case one could do both parties a favor by having someone take a look at it, the seller and the buyer.