scammed?

juanbenae · juanbenae's Garage

long story short, selling a 97 civic w/ 120K miles for $3k on craigs list. about 300 below blue book on craigs list so its a hot ticket. ive had this car for 4+ years and its run like a top, never a problem except a cracked exhaust manifold that was welded for less than 50.

so dude comes by to look at it in a nicer car than i am selling and asks to drive it, and if i would answer his wifes questions while he's away. i screwed up and trusted...

dude returns a few minutes later and asks to drive it up the street a bit more. he proceeds to drive it a couple hundred yards up and back, i am like wtf? he gets out and says he likes the car alot and wants to see the engine and we do. i pull the dip stick i had pulled an hour earlier and now found water in oil froth!

i start shatting myself thinking now i have a car with a blown head gasket and there goes my guard LSD for the 911. i am moaning the blues as dude offers me $1K of the 3K i was asking, says he can fix it and wants to make a fair offer.. he proceeds to up the offer to 1500, 1700, and then finally $2K over the next ten minutes. at this time i start to smell a rat as he is so eager to offer me cash money for it. so i pull the radiator cap off expecting to see the quart high in oil/water on the dip stick missing from the radiator & its full to the top as green as prestone recommends. now i suspect he poured water in the oil around the corner and needed that last 200 yards to get it the last bit mixed up and i tell him so. he kinda mumbles, studders with a dumb ace look i had yet to see from him. at that point he continues with the offer of two geezels and i ask him to pack his kids and wife up and get off my property.

so heres how i see it--

i caught the guy red handed and did not fall for his BS, and should have throttled him, or at a minimum released the hound on him and the family. i also learn no more unescorted test drives.

i sent dude & his 2 grand away for a honda WITH a blown head gasket and i will never sniff that much for again. i am dumb.

i will have to change the oil and see if i can recreate the water/oil intrusion, do a compression check and maybe drain the radiator. maybe out smarted myself?

have you heard of this tactic in devaluing a car? dude came with his wife and kids to disarm me to some extend. and oh yeah, i had pulled the dip stick out after the test drive before him an hour earlier and no froth.

what do you guys think?

T$

Bill Douglas · 07-31-2007, 08:53 PM

I'll have to try it sometime myself.

group911@aol.co · 07-31-2007, 09:21 PM

Brilliant!

jhc · 08-01-2007, 01:53 AM

A guy I know who bought used municipal trucks for his business at auction would pull a plug wire or two during the inspection period.

David · David's Garage

Thanks for the heads up! I'd have asked for the money for an oil change as I was dialing the police on my cell phone.

masraum · 08-01-2007, 04:06 AM

Yeah, he scammed you. There are plenty of folks more than happy to do that with the family around. Fuched up world, ain't it.

widgeon13 · 08-01-2007, 04:08 AM

realize you were trying to be a nice guy but why did you let him drive it w/o you with him? Answer the wife's questions later.

If he did what you say and you have no proof, change the oil and get on with your life and selling the car. If it was just driven for a short distance then the car didn't have enough time and heat to drive off any condensation in the oil, happens on other cars as well.

I would take it for an hour drive and see what it's looks like when you return.

john70t · 08-01-2007, 04:52 AM

Good thing he didn't drive it into a line of cars, jump out, and take off running.

-Get all drivers licence info before handing over the car key(singular).
-Take a spare along, and don't get out to "get him something from the store".

Tobra · Tobra's Garage

Quote:

Originally Posted by 125shifter

Thanks for the heads up! I'd have asked for the money for an oil change as I was dialing the police on my cell phone.

yeah brother

NEVER let someone drive your car unattended, do cash transactions at your own bank. Above all, be careful out there people

competentone · 08-01-2007, 06:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jhc

A guy I know who bought used municipal trucks for his business at auction would pull a plug wire or two during the inspection period.

My brother was at an auction once where someone pulled the rotor out a of 911 before the bidding started -- they just stopped the bidding on that one!

On the topic: I would have called the police on the guy, not that they could have done anything, but it might make him think twice before trying that on the next seller.

trekkor · 08-01-2007, 08:54 AM

I'd be grumpy...

Yeah, I guess unsupervised test drives and inspections cannot be done between strangers.

Too bad we have to alter our behavior so often to protect ourselves from criminals.

KT

Rick Lee · Rick Lee's Garage

I think every time I have test driven a car, the owner or even dealer has just thrown me the keys and said come back in a half hour. Usually, when I go to a dealer, they ask to photocopy my license AFTER I return the car. Guess I've been lucky.

Jays72T · 08-01-2007, 11:34 AM

Being local, thanks for the heads up. Sucks to have this ***** going on but sounds like you handled it well and didn't get burned.

Zeke · 08-01-2007, 01:43 PM

I don't sell cars to people I don't know. This is the first I've heard of this potential scam, but thanks for the heads up.

BTW, dealers here get your license before the drive and they don't go out alone.

Dantilla · 08-01-2007, 02:17 PM

I looked at a Jeep at an insurance auction. A couple of guys nearby said "Too bad it doesn't have a drop of oil in it".

Sure enough, dip stick is dry. Wait a minute.......

A 4.0 litre six uses a very long dipstick. This one was several inches shorter. I grabbed a dipstick from another Jeep, and sure enough, the oil looked clean, and right up to the top.

The lousy idiots swapped dipsticks to scare other bidders away.

futuresoptions · 08-01-2007, 02:39 PM

Thanks for the heads up man, I would have never seen that one coming..... Sorry it happened to you but thanks for sharing your misfortune. It will help some of us be a little wiser when it comes to dealing in these situations.

juanbenae · juanbenae's Garage

have a few minutes while i let it drain real good like. milkshake anyone?

BeerBurner · 08-01-2007, 05:18 PM

I was about to make a joke about someone trying that scam on your 911, but then I saw that picture.

D'oh!

BB.

Jays72T · 08-01-2007, 05:23 PM

How much water would it take to do that?

dbrisson · 06:19 PM

That much milk would have shown a significant decrease in coolant and the would have been a green tinge to the foam. I vote for the idiot scamming and thin a good 2 oil changes will relieve the issue.