Quote:
Originally Posted by SpawnyWhippet
Thanks for the feedback everyone. Can anyone confirm that those VIN's look authentic or not? I couldn't start scraping off the thick coverage of paint around the smugglers box VIN number to check that it hasn't just been welded in. It does look very irregular for a factory VIN though.
I paid the deposit in cash, so ebay is unlikely to help. Do I have a legal or police recourse to get my deposit back if the car is misrepresented? Although from what I have read here, it seems he would just keep my deposit and ignore any legal action I take.
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From what I can see, the VIN look o.k.
With regard to your query about recourse, remember you are dealing with a long time con-artist. He has very clearly stated not to buy or put a deposit down
until the car has been inspected. That will be his defense as you had the opportunity to challenge anything at all about the car before putting down any money. No, the police will not get involved because there has been no crime. Your recourse will be in court, and from what I can see at this point, you have a very weak case. Very little documentation of his claims? It was your choice to put money down anyway. Numbers matching? The only way to prove that is to
have the COA from Porsche. You should have demanded he have one.
I have read his description in the ad and there is very little there that is not
open to interpretation. Even his description of the work done leaves open the question of
when it was done. Very sneaky. He never says
he actually performed any of the service or upgrades, and those that are able to be traced--like the FI rebuild--are not enough to warrant a misrepresentation if it wasn't done, he'll simply claim
he was defrauded. Most everything else in the ad is subjective as well and not subject to charges of fraud ("did a leak down, it was fine." He never posted the numbers for inspection. Did you ask for them?)
In short, you got caught in a professional con man's scheme. He has not said nor written anything that constitutes legal fraud. He knew what he was doing and saying. All things he "represented" about the car are subjective or generalized. He never mentions the
quality of any work done, only that it was done.
As I said in my previous post, you do have a choice. You can purchase the car and roll the dice, knowing the reputation of the seller, and risk putting the same amount of money into it,
again, to make it right. You can cut your losses and give up your deposit. You can then sue, if you wish, but IMO your chances for any recovery are very slim. At least if the deposit was under $10K, you can try in Small Claims to recover and it will cost you only filing fees. On the slim chance you get a judgement, you still have to collect.