Where have all the gentlemen gone?
 

Hey ya'll.....

Well, my buddy was totally stoked on the 88 Carrera he purchased (or so he thought) at the German Autofest.

The seller seemed cool and honest (ahem) and refused to take a deposit on the car, so the deal was made on a handshake. My buddy offered to write a check on the spot, but again, the seller refused indicating the funds could not be verified late Sunday afternoon. Arrangements were made for the seller to bring the car up today after my buddy had his bank call and verify a cashiers check had been made out to the guy.

Well, the seller just called my buddy and has sold the car to another party!! Seems he got a better offer, or one of the previous buyers decided they wanted the car afterall. I guess there is nothing preventing this from happening, but damn, what happened to people keeping their word and being honest? Silver lining? There *may* have been some hidden issues with the car, hence, the *ahem* after my mention of honest above cuz I asked specific questions and it appears the answers were lies. Indeed, where have all the gentlemen gone?

Buddy is still looking for a nice SC or Carrera, but he knows he probably won't get another deal like this one. Maybe it was too good to be true. Let me know if you have a car for sale in the SoCal area, prefer North LA, Santa Barbara area.

-B

I don't know about in your country, but here in NZ, that is a contract.

Thats totally wrong! I looked at the original post and agreed that your neighboor was going to get a great deal. But if the seller is not honest, better find it out now than a couple of weeks later. Good luck on your search.

I've never understood this, but then I may live in a different world. My field is labor relations, and in my profession, if your handshake ever once fails in its promises, you'll be looking for an entire new carreer. For example, it is widely known that my boss' handshake is substantially more reliable than a written contract. Mine's not bad either.

You do what ya say yer gonna do. That's the Code of the West.

bb80sc, that's rough. I can imagine your friend's excitement and frustration.

Similar thing happened to us recently with a private party X5 we were to buy. We agreed on a price and set up a time to come get the car. The seller called minutes before we were to pick it up, and said he needed the car for an 800 mile trip, and that it would still be a good deal when he got back in a couple weeks. He acted like we owed him something, and never even apologized for backing out of the deal.

Some people just have no courtesy.

The right 911 will come along for him, I hope.

There's an old saying about not just buying the car, but buying the previous owner.

Based on his lack of integrity, I'd be pretty sure the car itself was less than honest.

We buy & sell a lot of cars here and the seller's character tells you a lot.

It's so much EASIER being honest.

When I was in college, I made an admittedly low offer on a cheap car. It was all I could afford. The seller was a nice old man. He told me he would sell me the car at my price if I came up with the cash by the next weekend, but he would sell to a higher bidder if another offer came up. I was not offended at all when he called me to tell me the car was sold. Had I arrived with money in hand and found the car gone, I would have been pissed.

Two months ago when I first started looking for a 911 I came across a really nice pearl white '84 coupe. It had 84 k and was really nice. The guy was a Porsche fanatic and knew alot about these cars. He was also a PCA member. Well we negotiated and settled on a price.

He was 3 hours from me so I let him set up the details on the PPi. The day before the inspection I asked for the vin # so I could run a carfax, you know just due diligence. He said no problem and gave it to me. Later I got home and pulled the carfax. This thing had 129k on it three years ago according to DMV records!

I called the jerk up and told him what I just found out and he goes 'oh yeah I changed the odometer a couple of years ago it does have a lot more miles'. I was stunned.

He even had run the car on EBay with that mileage. After I caught him his add on PCA suddenly changed from 84k to 129k and the price dropped. Of course I reported all of this to carfax.

When buying a used car trust no one.

There aren't many gentlemen left. Something similar happened to me about three years ago; I test drove an '84 that ran out real nice but had a couple small body and interior issues. We agreed on a price on a Sunday afternoon, I called (as agreed) Monday evening to arrange payment and delivery. He told me the car had been sold, I said "yes, I know, I bought it yesterday" which kind of stopped him for a moment, then he said "I mean I sold it to someone else". When I asked him "why?". He didn't really have an answer, just said it's been sold. Two weeks later I found and bought an SC, a MUCH nicer condition car, less miles, equipped the way I wanted, in a color I liked better, with NO issues. Some clouds do have a silver lining.

Jerry M
'78 SC

There are plenty of nice cars out there for your friend to choose from Brad. Don't worry, this one just wasn't THE ONE.....know what I'm saying? THE ONE will be the car he will bring home, and put in his garage.

Things happen for a reason. Maybe your friend got lucky.

'

I wish that were true for all. At least many people perceive the effort of being honest harder than just telling lies. But I know what you mean, lies have a way of catching up. In the long run, it is easier to be honest.

Uh...if it's not on paper, it didn't happen. Honesty schmonesty. Paper, with signature, guarantees you the sale.

There is plenty of room for honesty elsewhere - but if someone else offered him $1,000 over what your friend did, well, guess what.

Probably for the best, I agree with Mark. If your friend didn't insist on a deposit and get a deposit reciept on a bill of sale, it's all up to how honest the seller is after that.....my.02

Well, that may be fine and dandy in your world, but in my world honesty and trust count for a lot.

Anyway, it appears that my buddy may be better off....the Internet makes the world a smaller place, and it's amazing how quickly news travels and who knows who....if you catch my drift.

-B

Brad, Sorry to hear this, it sounded like a killer deal. But then again, maybe not. When I bought my SC, I negotiated a price with the seller over the phone, offered a $1000 deposit until the next week when I'd have the cash, but he told me that deposit wasn't necessary as long as I was sure that I wanted it. He held the car for me, and I bought it as agreed. He was a stand-up guy.

As it turns out, I might be selling my SC, message me off the board if interested. :cool:

That sucks but the right one will come along for him, sounds like it might be around the corner now.

A verbal agreement is a law binding contract, you’d just have to try and prove it, good luck. I’ve had to go through w/ deals that I didn’t really want to b/c I gave someone my word. It never bothers me, I like to think that my word is worth something. If I’m not sure about something I try to tell people up front and communicate w/ them during the decision making process, and always give them the final decision so their not left hanging. It’s just about doing the right thing.

Thanks for the kind words guys. Karma can be a b*tch!

I'll bet he will be surprised when he opens the email I sent him....especially since he didn't give out his email address :)

Denis, send me some details on your ride.

-B

if Denis is selling his car (which would be a bummer for Denis), your friend would be getting a sweet ride. That thing was fast and tight even before the rebuild. I can only imagine now...