Ebay 911 purchase update... or I guess non-purchase would be more accurate :-(

Well, it didn't happen. I flew to Houston on Tuesday to pick up the '86 911 I won on ebay for $14,500. Unfortunately I flew back instead of driving.

Several things were wrong that were not mentioned in the auction and the overall condition simply fell way short of the description. The shop (The Swiss Garage) recommended by a Lonestar region PCA member found well over $2000 worth of needed repairs, and that's without looking very hard or including a lot of the small stuff.

Fortunately the dealer was fair and refunded my money in full without a lot of fuss. He asked me how much money it would take for me to take the car. I told him $2000. In the end they offered $1500, but I stood firm on my price.

Oh well. The search continues. Would I buy another car on ebay? I'd consider it, but would press the seller for greater detail about the condition before placing a bid. Plus I'd make sure the car had been inspected by the shop BEFORE I got on the plane. That was my original intention, but the guy "got too busy" to run it by there. That may have been the red flag that I didn't see.

Hey I'm really sorry to hear that. What kinda stuff was wrong with the car? Am I right that basically they lost the sell over $500? Just remember nothing ventured nothing gained!

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The company selling the car implied it was "obviously well maintained." It was not. In fact I find the found it hard to believe that the car had 109K miles.

What the mechanic and I found:
1st gear synchro shot, bent wheel, front tires dry rotted, two stripped studs on rear wheel, tan interior very dirty (may or may not have cleaned up), rear sway bar mount broken, front a/c condenser motor inop, drivers seat switch broken, drivers door stop broken, drivers side door lock inop, rubber door sills off & damaged, hit very lightly in rear, engine cover wouldn't close properly, sheet metal under rear bumper bent, headliner torn, no tools or jack, needed oil pressure sensor.

I knew it needed a windshield and that there was a tear in the driver's seat. The dealer described the interior as "beautiful" with a small tear as the only flaw. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

Sounds like that car was a real dog, you did the right thing by walking away. If it was in that shape it was obviously not cared for, and you would have had nothing but headaches. You can do much better than that for $14500!

As I have said before, the whole problem with Ebay is the distance and transportation when buying something as important as a car. This reminds me of when I was looking locally for a used 740il over the winter. The salesman would tell me over the phone that the car is near mint and I would drive to wherever, take one look at numerous door dings and bumper scrapes and ask "do these look like mint scratches?" Then I would get "Hey buddy, you know it's used don't you". Best luck is always from a private sale if possible. I guess when 10 to 20 year old 911's are sold they eventually fall into the unscrupulous hand of dealers. Best of luck and keep looking.

I actually initiated the sale of my 911 over the Internet. Just not using EBAY.

I used Autotrader, which basically found the car for me locally. There's enough 911s to go around. I just specified the make, model, and zip code, and they sorted by price. I got about six selections. I looked at two. The first one was a winner, and I love it.

Good luck, man.

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Mark Szabo
1986 911 Targa 3.2

Lee, I don't see anything wrong with posting the dealer's name, or at least his EBAY name here on the digest. You have made statements of fact and the fact that the dealer returned your money indicates that he did not dispute your findings. On the other hand, it would be nice to know who this dealer is in order for readers/bidders to be EXTRA cautious of his pre-sale hype.
Chuck

The dealer was "Joecar.com". I honestly don't think that he's out to swindle anybody. He had some really nice cars. Joecar.com currently has a convertible Ferrari that I got to look at in person. I didn't go over it in great detail, but I thought it looked great. There's no way this guy would have >100 positive feedback notes on ebay if he was crooked. If I recall, he had five negatives and four of those had notes from the buyers saying that the problems had been resolved and they were happy. Joe claimed that I am the only person who's ever refused to take a car.

I'm am SOOOOO glad I did not have that car shipped to me. Then I would have a serious problem. As it stands now, I spent a couple of hundred dollars to NOT buy this car. But hey... the Houston NASA tour was GREAT!

Lee,

One thing you touched upon that I would always do is get a PCA member to go and just take a look at the car. If anyone ever asked me I would be happy to do so... and it might save an airline trip.

We all have to hang together... and improve the breed!

Yeah, the plan was to have the car inspected before the trip. The dealer messed up and says he forgot. Fortunately, my wife is an airline pilot and we only pay $50 for me to fly round-trip to anywhere. Besides I got to spend the day at Johnson Space Center which was really cool!