Yesterday, my brother and I went out to look at a 2001 coupe w/ 37,000 miles on it. The car was advertised with some nice basic mods and in PRISTINE condition. The car was advertised at nearly $2500 over retail book price. At this point our expectation was that the car was nearly mint as represented by the ad and the buyer over the phone.

This what we found after comparing notes after looking at the car for less than 10 minutes.

Deep scratches (through clear coat) in the drivers fender, front bumper, and rear bumper and around the hatch area.

One wheel deep scratch requiring repair.

Wheel weights mounted on the outside rim of the wheels.

Hood and light covers deeply pitted paint--needing strip and paint.

Several large scratches in clear roof panel.

Engine bay filthy dirty.

Black wing air clearer nearly as dirty as the engine bay.

Front drivers seat had a 3 inch tear in the leather with patch job done so poorly that it looked worse than if you would have left it alone.

I don't want it to sound like everything was bad, because the carpets were clean and the exhaust pipes were mounted straight.

The proud owner of this POS stated that he was sorry that the car was dirty as some other potential buyer had driven it w/in the last couple of days. I had all I could do to hold my tongue. How the he!! do you get dried bug guts up the hood, bumper and front fenders in Minnesota when we haven't seen any bugs since October. He must have some MFing fast flying bugs in his garage.

My old '87 with 85K, my wifes current '89 w/ 26K and my brothers old '90 with 77K and my 2000 with 50K look like show cars compared to this tired 2001 w/ 37K on the clock

WTF, do you say to these doush bags when they clearly misrepresent their cars for sale?

I'm sick of people lying about their cars, we have looked at several mint, pristine cars with low miles. We have explained that we have owned several of these cars over 20+ years and know what we are looking at and for. We want and expect near good to great paint, low miles, better than good interior. Our price point is at NADA/KBB high retail to owner pricing, so we are not looking on the cheap and we are cash buyers.

Sorry for the rant, yesterday this pushed me over the edge.

 

I completely understand. I've been there. I can usually tell 10 feet away whether the car is really pristine or not. As soon as I see that a so-called "pristine" car is filthy, I walk away. Someone who doesn't even take the time to give it a quick wash before the visit of a perspective buyer, definitely does not take care of it very well. Imagine all the preventive maintenance stuff. Chances are, none of it was done. This also tells me that he probably beat the crap out of it.

It's frustrating, I know. But, there are so many truly pristine C5's out there that you should never settle.

I remember one time, there was this Ford dealer advertising an absolutely mint-condition 2002 C5 that belonged to the boss's wife (yeah, I know). It was a little out of the way but I went and check it out. I knew as soon as I pulled up to the dealer that the car was a POS. The fenders had obviously been changed because they were badly aligned. The seats were messed with since all of the wires were hanging out the bottom. The engine was filthy and the front frame member was kinked. I basically told the salesman that he wasted my time and he could take the car and shove it. He still insisted that I should go for a test drive and he could knock off a couple of grand. I said; no thanks and walked away.

 

If it were me, I'd just say this car is not in the condition as advertised and I am not interested. Then walk away. It is unfortunate that some sellers do not accurately describe the condition their car is in but that is one of the many issues you have to deal with when buying a used car.

Good luck finding the right car for you.

 

I understand your feelings. I have been there too.

I went on a 750 mile round trip to look at one. There were so many things misrepresented that I immediately knew it was not the right car and the owner was scum. The most blatant was the "new" tires. When I looked at them they were under 1/2 tread and the rubber was dry and cracking from age. When I challenged him about them he said they were new (from the previous owner) when he bought the car 5 or 6 years ago (although they were older than that).

I went about a 100 mile round trip to look at another one (an LT4 C4) and although it was higher mileage, he stated it was pristine with no body work and could easily pass for a 30k mile car. When I got there it was trash. The interior looked like a flood car and the outside had a ton of really bad body work and paint.

Why do people do that?

 

They're hoping that the buyer doesn't know anything about cars and get emotional about the car.

 

Happened to me too. I drove a bit to buy a car that was described to be in great condition. It had a cracked fender and scratches consistent with being driven off of a road and was generally the worst corvette I've ever seen. Before making the drive I told the seller I was very picky and asked if there was anything on the car that would make me not want to buy it. He said "nope, great shape!" After expressing my disappointment to him he said "what do you expect, its an old car".

A month later I found my Z06 locally

 

You say "thanks for your time - - but I'm not interested" and walk away.

Not sure I understand the big deal. I get that people often don't represent their cars as others might and it feels like time wasted.

But life's too short - - move on.

 

To help weed out some of the bad ones, call the seller and ask them this question; If you were to keep the car, what 3 things would you do to it? You'd be amazed at the responses you get because they are not prepared for it. They tend to give you a more honest answer. It also gives you a clue where to look on the car.

I called on a car one time that stated "Drives and handles great" When I asked that question, her first item listed was a new transmission. My response; thank-you for your time. Another response was to have the scratch repaired on the passenger door. When I arrived, I purposely went to that side of the car. Turns out the door was scratched so deep that the red paint was showing through the black paint. This was on a car that was never wrecked. No need to look further.

It doesn't weed out all of the fools but does give you a good start.

 

Thanks for the post yaknow; I'm the brother looking for the C5. Starting to regret selling my 1990 C4 77,000 mile with a few mods. It was cleaner and nicer than anything we have looked at in the C5 category, not trying to offend anyone I know there are people who take care of their stuff.

When I state that I’m a corvette enthusiast and I’m very picky, so I don’t want to waste my time and yours and still get the descriptions like the ones listed below. Every one of these cars where 10 foot cars, or worse?

Awesome Vett, Cleanest Corvette in town, Cream of the Crop, Mint nothing wrong totally mint, Clean title nothing wrong super clean even have Car fax in hand(flood car).? And finally Pristine in and out! UUUUGGGHH.

I know I will find something, and make it mine.! Just didn’t think it would take 6 months. Summer has arrived!

 

Took me 4 months to find the right one. 18K mile garage queen and there are a lot of them out there, just keep looking. To bad that "Mint" is so loosely thrown around out there by folks that treat them like a tractor. Good luck

 

One word HONESTY. Just sayin

 

To short to drive xxx miles only to find out the guy was a blatant liar. OP has every right to be PO'ed IMO.

 

A used car for sale that wasn't 100% honest in the listing? Shocked.

 

Some of you guys sound like you've never bought a used car before. I'm surprised when all of the above bad crap DOESN'T happen.

 

Heck, for the right money my car would be for sale and I will tell you it is in excellent condition (inside, outside and in the engine compartment). The money would have to be very good for me to part with it though. (2003 A4 with 19.5K miles on it).

 

I was in the same situation this time last year. I drove a couple 200 plus round trip's looking for a C5.

Had same thing advertisment saying good condition only to get there and car no where close.

I feel it takes the enjoyment out of the search.

There are always good deals out. There but you really get what you pay for.

 

Must be time for a WTF thread

 

And even an abused Corvette will usually look 10X better than a used Minivan for condition.

The idea of a car in pristine condition says to me the car has not been driven correctly.

 

Sucks, but it happens a lot.

 

I searched 18 months for specific Vette. Had to be Lemans Blue and in excellent condition. Found a 2004 Commemorative Edition coupe loaded with 24,000 original mies owned by a senior gentleman. Everything as new. Paid 22K. The nice ones are out there, you just have to search. Good luck in your search.