[masraum]

Originally Posted by Gus Berges

The exterior pics of the vehicle are in fact of the same vehicle I'd be purchasing, but the paint looked nice and glossy. Now the paint is so bad, it looks like cracked eggshell, thus requiring a $5K-$8K paint job. As I now can confirm, the interior pics are in fact not from my vehicle, but instead from some unknown source. The interior was repainted from gray to black and now it's peeling all over the place, thus requiring about $2K to repaint it black once again. The truck was painted matte gray from it's original silver color by the previous owner to my friend.

Truck has been in the shop for nearly two years as when he got the new truck, he "abandoned/could care less" about this one. I did try and buy it from him before, but he always said "no, I don't want to ruing a friendship because of a problematic vehicle that I'd sell you". It was not after months that he said, "OK, if you really want it, I'd sell it to you". Again, he is very well off financially speaking, so it does not surprise me that he could care less about this truck. That said, he is an extremely savvy businessman and is very direct, no BS with him...

G Wagons are not an easy sell down here due to their known fuel consumption and pricey maintenance costs. A 2008 model with 36K miles in mint original shape is $58K. A 2016 G63 (different model, I know) with 30K miles is $110K, and a 2014 G63 with 26K miles is $90K. Muy friend and I verbally agreed to do the transaction for $30K....

My other choice would be to get something like a Cayenne Turbo (2012-2014) or a Range Rover (2013-2016) and lose $30K in depreciation alone in the next 4-5 years (equal amount to the purchase price of this G Wagon) plus perhaps higher maintenance costs than the G Wagon (which mechanically will be in nearly perfect shape). I work from home, so it's not a "daily driver". Max 3-5K miles a year.

I'd take the same route with him. Tell him something like, "I saw pics, and now that I've seen the vehicle, the interior and paint are not what I saw/agreed to. I would pay the agreed price for a vehicle that matches the pics that I saw, but I won't pay the agreed prices for the reality of this vehicle."

If you would be open to getting it at a discount based on reality/actual worth, and then having the required repairs done, then you can approach that as well.

If he's a no BS kind of guy, then I'd give him a no BS presentation of your thoughts. If he's already mentally written this vehicle off and doesn't care about it any more, and is a no BS kind of guy, then I wouldn't expect this to bother him or impact your relationship. If it does impact your relationship, then he's unreasonable, and, IMHO, not worth worrying about.