I bought my car 11 years ago from a used car lot. I found it on Craigslist. The previous owner didn't want to deal with tire kickers. Some recent receipts came with the car but the owner's name had been marked over with a sharpie. It wasn't easy but using a light table I was able to find the previous owner's name and phone number.
What's the worst he could do? Hang up on me. I gave Chuck a call. Thank goodness he was actually thrilled to talk to me. It turns out that Chuck wasn't just the previous owner, he was the original owner. We spoke for quite some time. Chuck asked for my address because he still had the original bill of sale and almost all of the receipts for the work he had done on the car. He sent me all that along with the original air compressor.
In his thirty two years of ownership, he put about 185,000 miles on the car. Repairs cost him about $32,000 over that time which is just about what he paid for the car.
Every so often Chuck gives me a call to talk about things but mostly about his Porsche. What a great guy to be so generous with me.
