Frustration with sellers
Safety Car
Joined: Sep 2007
Posts: 4,458
Likes: 331
From: Indy Indiana
Bottom line is.. you have spent way too much time looking and are getting too much negative experience from it. if you have not found your car by now then you have to drop your condition requirement or increase your dollar value. sellers have equal horror stories from buyers wasting their time..
it is all in the initial conversation.. with every car you have looked at you should have added several questions to your list to ask the seller.
If I was selling I would ask several questions to a potential buyer in order to find out his requirements and to see if my car would possibly meet those requirements.
just face it that you are not going to find a car in the condition you require at the price you require.. if you do, then someone else will have found it and already bought it.
it is all in the initial conversation.. with every car you have looked at you should have added several questions to your list to ask the seller.
If I was selling I would ask several questions to a potential buyer in order to find out his requirements and to see if my car would possibly meet those requirements.
just face it that you are not going to find a car in the condition you require at the price you require.. if you do, then someone else will have found it and already bought it.
Racer
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 468
Likes: 20
From: Warrenton VA
Bottom line is.. you have spent way too much time looking and are getting too much negative experience from it. if you have not found your car by now then you have to drop your condition requirement or increase your dollar value. sellers have equal horror stories from buyers wasting their time..
it is all in the initial conversation.. with every car you have looked at you should have added several questions to your list to ask the seller.
If I was selling I would ask several questions to a potential buyer in order to find out his requirements and to see if my car would possibly meet those requirements.
just face it that you are not going to find a car in the condition you require at the price you require.. if you do, then someone else will have found it and already bought it.
it is all in the initial conversation.. with every car you have looked at you should have added several questions to your list to ask the seller.
If I was selling I would ask several questions to a potential buyer in order to find out his requirements and to see if my car would possibly meet those requirements.
just face it that you are not going to find a car in the condition you require at the price you require.. if you do, then someone else will have found it and already bought it.
In the process now of helping my father find/purchase a C2 and we've set a reasonable budget for the type of car he's looking for in a reasonable condition and lots of patience is required. Have talked with several sellers and at our realistic price range for the conditions we expected to see things have been reasonable on both sides of the phone. The real problem is managing the funds and timing of the purchase before someone else comes in and makes the purchase before us.Sometimes your price range and expectations can get in the way of what you think the "right buy" is. I would look for a later C3 at the range you were originally at or raise your budget for a car that you won't need to do as much work to.
Have fun with the hunt! Once the chase is gone and the honeymoon phase has passed, we all go back online to look at what's out there.
Safety Car
Joined: Dec 2007
Posts: 4,229
Likes: 39
From: Beautiful East Texas
I got tired of looking and just bought one that I though was good enough... I've been working on it for the past 18 months trying to make it into what I wanted and I'm still not there.
Paid premium money for it too... and it's likely not worth a penny over what I paid even though I've spent hundreds of dollars and many, many hours of my own labor.
Patience grasshopper, a good car will be your reward.
mardyn
Paid premium money for it too... and it's likely not worth a penny over what I paid even though I've spent hundreds of dollars and many, many hours of my own labor.
Patience grasshopper, a good car will be your reward.
mardyn
Cruising
Joined: Aug 2015
Posts: 11
Likes: 5
From: Minnesota
Twelve months of looking, and nothing to show for it. Admittedly, I've changed focus and adjusted budget a couple times now, and in the early days was only casually looking, but I'm starting to hit my frustration point. I've already looked at a number of cars, and just can't find anything I would feel comfortable spending my money on. The worst part of the whole process is the sellers completely misrepresenting the cars. (I know big surprise) The last two cars I looked at were complete Franken-vettes, no VIN tag, missing or mismatched parts, just such a mess I didn't really know where to start, and they weren't even priced that well. I looked a 68 vert, with a good frame, but a CE engine, no trim tag, no VIN tag, with a Colorado reassigned VIN, 20K. The most recent one was a 72 vert, with a good frame, that looked to be a 72 body on a 78 chassis, NOM from a 78, no VIN tag, wrong color paint and interior, hardly anything left of the vacuum system, rusted and bondo-ed over doors, no weatherstripping, no softtop, and as an extra bonus, both power window switches and window cranks,15K OBO. I didn't even bother to make an offer, because I wouldn't pay anything near that.
I'm trying to stay around 15K, and I'm not looking for perfection, just running, non-rusted, and non-Bubba-ized. It seems that Bubba has set up permanent shop in the mid-west, because he has touched everything for sale around here. Maybe I should look to spend more, and I could be pushed up to 19K, but then that would have to be a pretty solid car, because I wouldn't have much left over.(for major work at least)
Forgive me, I don't even really have a question here, I just needed to vent. The car yesterday upset me quite a bit because I thought I had finally found "the one", and it turned out to be nowhere close. At least it confirms one thing everyone here says, NEVER buy one of these sight unseen. Both of the above cars looked great in the pictures, and looked like a hot mess in person.
I already know the answer here though, suck it up, put on your big boy pants, and wait until the right one comes along. I'm sure I'll be right back at it again tomorrow, I have the fever!
Thanks for listening to me whine!
--Mike
I'm trying to stay around 15K, and I'm not looking for perfection, just running, non-rusted, and non-Bubba-ized. It seems that Bubba has set up permanent shop in the mid-west, because he has touched everything for sale around here. Maybe I should look to spend more, and I could be pushed up to 19K, but then that would have to be a pretty solid car, because I wouldn't have much left over.(for major work at least)
Forgive me, I don't even really have a question here, I just needed to vent. The car yesterday upset me quite a bit because I thought I had finally found "the one", and it turned out to be nowhere close. At least it confirms one thing everyone here says, NEVER buy one of these sight unseen. Both of the above cars looked great in the pictures, and looked like a hot mess in person.
I already know the answer here though, suck it up, put on your big boy pants, and wait until the right one comes along. I'm sure I'll be right back at it again tomorrow, I have the fever!
Thanks for listening to me whine!
--Mike
Keep looking Mike they are out there. Took me 2 years to find one close to what I wanted. It needs a bunch of work but a 1970 for 7K what do you expect?
Scott
Thread Starter
Advanced
Joined: Oct 2015
Posts: 89
Likes: 9
From: Fenton Missouri
SC45-70: Man, that looks like a nice car for 7K. Good luck with it.
Thanks for the constructive advice everyone, I'm still looking, I'll just be more informed the next time a car pops up. Every one I look at teaches me a little bit more.
joewill: In a 15k-19k budget, is it really unrealistic to expect the car to have a VIN and a trim tag? I don't have high expectations, but I do expect that as a minimum. Is selling a car like that even legal? (other than as parts) I guess that's one more question to add to my list.
--Mike
Thanks for the constructive advice everyone, I'm still looking, I'll just be more informed the next time a car pops up. Every one I look at teaches me a little bit more.
joewill: In a 15k-19k budget, is it really unrealistic to expect the car to have a VIN and a trim tag? I don't have high expectations, but I do expect that as a minimum. Is selling a car like that even legal? (other than as parts) I guess that's one more question to add to my list.
--Mike
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2015
Posts: 9,433
Likes: 124
SC45-70: Man, that looks like a nice car for 7K. Good luck with it.
Thanks for the constructive advice everyone, I'm still looking, I'll just be more informed the next time a car pops up. Every one I look at teaches me a little bit more.
joewill: In a 15k-19k budget, is it really unrealistic to expect the car to have a VIN and a trim tag? I don't have high expectations, but I do expect that as a minimum. Is selling a car like that even legal? (other than as parts) I guess that's one more question to add to my list.
--Mike
Thanks for the constructive advice everyone, I'm still looking, I'll just be more informed the next time a car pops up. Every one I look at teaches me a little bit more.
joewill: In a 15k-19k budget, is it really unrealistic to expect the car to have a VIN and a trim tag? I don't have high expectations, but I do expect that as a minimum. Is selling a car like that even legal? (other than as parts) I guess that's one more question to add to my list.
--Mike
I showed up to look at the car with a car trailer, and cash, and when I started to walk away he said OK.
Cruising
Joined: Aug 2015
Posts: 11
Likes: 5
From: Minnesota
SC45-70: Man, that looks like a nice car for 7K. Good luck with it.
Thanks for the constructive advice everyone, I'm still looking, I'll just be more informed the next time a car pops up. Every one I look at teaches me a little bit more.
joewill: In a 15k-19k budget, is it really unrealistic to expect the car to have a VIN and a trim tag? I don't have high expectations, but I do expect that as a minimum. Is selling a car like that even legal? (other than as parts) I guess that's one more question to add to my list.
--Mike
Thanks for the constructive advice everyone, I'm still looking, I'll just be more informed the next time a car pops up. Every one I look at teaches me a little bit more.
joewill: In a 15k-19k budget, is it really unrealistic to expect the car to have a VIN and a trim tag? I don't have high expectations, but I do expect that as a minimum. Is selling a car like that even legal? (other than as parts) I guess that's one more question to add to my list.
--Mike
Thanks Mike
Not a good idea to buy one without a vin and trim tag and clear title.
If at all possible put the car you are looking at up on a hoist and check the frame. I lucked out and was able to put my car up on a hoist and power wash the entire under side as a condition of the sale. Also if possible take a C1, C2,or C3 owner with you when look at the car and when you inspect the frame.
Be prepared to fix your bargain C3 every time you drive it.
It don't hurt to find a person that owns 2 C3 Corvettes that just had his son wreck one either!
Good luck!
Scott
Last edited by SC45-70; Nov 22, 2015 at 09:07 PM.
