Or someone that has been screwed, or reads the almost daily scams, vin swaps, etc....

Years ago I went to buy a really clean 914. I took it for a test drive then the seller said he needed $3000 right away to go to a racehorse deal and he said he was working on getting the pink slip. I left as fast as I could!

No, it really doesn't. A bad deal is a bad deal, regardless of your emotions. If this were a one-of-a-kind car (it isn't), then there could be an argument made. But it isn't. There are plenty more of them out there.

"He who looks under the bed has hidden there".
My Vegas quip was because that is a service you pay for before receiving.
B

How rude and uncivilized.

B

It's an SC. Tens of thousands were made, and many of them are still out there. This is not a collector car where you can count the examples on two hands. So, yeah, I *know* it isn't.

Addressed in post 15.

I did decline to proceed further and I'm now awaiting the deposit back.

Wouldn't be hard if you really want the car to do a bit of due diligence about the Seller's Attorney and talk to him on the phone. Have your Attorney work up the contractual parameters of the transaction that you would be comfortable with and have it signed and with your Attorney before wiring any funds.
Meantime inform the seller of your intentions to do so and insist on the $500 deposit being returned to be put toward your Attorney's retainer. This is more than fair as you will investing even more time and money into the development of this transaction. Do this before paying your Attorney a retainer.
If seller hedges on the return of the deposit. Then walk. You lost $500 tops and not the retainer.

Not uncommon for Attorney's to hold money in Escrow for all kinds of transactions no matter what the dollar amount.

B

Good luck, and even if you lose the $500, I think you dodged a bullet here. If it were my $500, I'd consider myself lucky not to have bought the car.

Yeah I guess I could have handled it that way, but sounds like quite a hassle and I don't even have an attorney for this kind of stuff, would have had to look for one, plus the seller was putting pressure saying he had another buyer lined up, sight unseen, no ppi needed. I liked the car a lot but I guess it wasn't meant to happen.

Good lesson though, next time before I make the trip I'll make sure there aren't strings like these attached.

You are correct, the solution that dumbassboats suggests is just plain stupid. Not to mention unnecessarily expensive and complicated. This isn't a multi-million dollar one-of-a-kind collector car. This is a high-production-number car of which there are many examples. If the deal looks screwed up, move on.

Wow.. that's insane. I would of told him to punt the biggest rock he could find outside

Why give this seller a free pass ?

If this car was advertised publicly, he should be skewered publicly if he doesn't return the deposit promptly. Even if this was a private deal, the seller could be a flipper type or conman preying on buyers. Do everyone a favor by revealing the details, if not about the seller, show us the car.

Exactly who is giving the seller a free pass? If you mean to reply to the guy doing the deal, then you screwed up your quoting.

I'll keep it private for now. The seller seemed like a decent guy, aside from these last minute hardball tactics, and I'm confident he'll send the deposit back shortly.
Not a flipper either, he's had the car for several years, and the car hasn't been advertised much at all. I came across it fortuitously.

And knowing myself, I'll probably end up buying it from the next owner at some point in the future for another 25% on top!

"his" is the operative word in the phrase "his attorney"

I agree that lawyer escrows are usually safe but only when there is a very well-defined set of criteria re: who gets the money back and when. If both parties wanted to take the time to document an agreement as to what precisely constitutes a successful PPI (good luck with that!) AND the lawyer was not already representing either of them, then it might work.

But in this case, at the first sign of conflict/disagreement (e.g. "nothing to worry about, these cars all have that signature puff of smoke on start up" etc.) then his lawyer would explain that due to conflict of interest rules, he can't offer the buyer any help - "go get your own attorney". I speak from experience on a house purchase easement escrow where the payout milestone was very clear.

Good decision to move on.