mjn76

we recently had someone on here trying to sell a zr-1 for what seemed like a great price until it was found out that the car was involved in an accident that was severe enough to brand the title. the post was by "a friend" of the owner who had no prior knowledge of the damage. now it seems that the actual owner is trying to sell the same car on auto trader barely mentioning the damage sustained "I did have to replace the rear bumper cover"(and for more money)
unfortunately there is no was to call out the seller on auto trader the way it was here.
seems to me to be trying to hide the truth and leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but I have no personal knowledge of the situation and could be wrong
https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...searchRadius=0

PatternDayTrader

Normal due diligence will uncover title problems. I wouldn't give this seller a second thought, because the name of game these days is "who can out crook who", so no big deal imo.

Cjunkie

We are talking about 20-30 year old cars here. Its a crap shoot not matter what you buy. You want ethics and no issues contact a forum dealer and buy a new one.

FASTAZU

Happens all the time, I don't think that the owner is required by law to disclose anything about the vehicle in a privet sale.

PatternDayTrader

When it comes to due diligence, the onus is always on the buyer; that's how you find exactly what your looking for.

biggiefl

I was at a Jeep dealer a few years ago looking at a Wrangler with like 9k miles on it. Great price etc. Went through the whole negotiation process of about 2 hours of BS and just before I signed the papers he mentions it was a lemon law car. I went medieval on him. That's unethical....not mentioning a salvage title in an ad.....not really.

mjn76

I understand the role of the buyer in such a situation, but if you are familiar with the original thread you will see how this seller or sellers agent was already redressed about disclosing the information about the branded title. if you were looking at the car, did your due diligence payed your $39.95 for the carfax to find out the car was rebuilt when the seller could have told you that it was such from the get-go you would be upset at least. if nothing more this serves as an important reminder on how important it is to beware as a buyer. the fact that this car was called out on this forum for this behavior already. ("odds of this Vette selling now on this forum is unlikely" quote from gunnerja on the original thread about this car). knowingly or not he tried to hide the past on this forum got caught was told as much and moved on to less informed buyers, unless the original poster never reported this info back to the seller, it would seem that he is now trying to purposely obfuscate its past.
and if you are familiar with the original thread you can see that the damage is significantly worse than just a bumper.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...5-000-obo.html

Kevova

The damage pix doesn't show enough. Cracked 1/4 , damaged cover and cushion, antenna, broken tail lamps. What you don't see is the rails and under body so no for sure way to know how bad it was. Insurance companies will total a zr1 if they can't find replacement rear body or doors. They won't look coast to coast for parts.

383vett

Nothing new. Used car. Buyer beware. As mentioned, a Carfax is all is needed. If the buyer skirts this simple step, it's on him. As for the seller and his friend, Karma will take care of them.

ChumpVette

I have a feeling if this was a L98 or LT1 car you wouldn't care.

biggiefl

Title would state if clear, salvage, or rebuilt if insurance paid out it will show. I bought a salvage title zrx1100. It was a salvage title. Was totaled due to insurance fraud. Had to have it inspected and they issued me a rebuilt title. There wasn't any damage but still said rebuilt.

pologreen1

These were being built, crashed and sold before the internet come along let alone car fax stuff.

OTOH I just witnessed a family member sell something with out putting much emphasis on a major issue with the item and this has changed how I respect this person and how I will deal with them in the future. (Of course very different than they claim to be or are known as)

I don't like being sold junk, and I don't want to sell junk to people as something it is not.

A person should research and or find ways to learn about their purchase, but as Humans I think we carry a responsibility to treat people fairly and not take advantage of weaker, less intelligent/ informed, or impaired people.

If a person has something they feel good about getting rid of and the person getting it would not want it for the same reasons, they should know the same reasons.

RWDsmoke

Carfax doesn't always have all the information. If it was not an insurance claim it won't be reported to them. I personally know of a Mustang that was severely damaged within a couple thousand of being totaled. It was repaired with insurance money and driven about a year. The owner then drove it to Carmax to see what it was worth and they gave him top dollar. Carfax showed nothing. And apparently the appraiser was too lazy to check it out. He didn't try to cover up anything. They didn't ask. In this situation would you tell?

mjn76

I have had 3 of my cars appraised at carman and know 1 person who sold to them and on the questionnaire they asked me if it had ever been in an accident, so while I wouldn't say I was coming out and telling I did not lie and say no. how did the mustang owner answer?

Matt Pegis

To me it is a question of personal integrity. I know everyone is different but I can’t sell something I KNOW has hidden issues and still sleep at night. I think it is the wrong thing to do and yes, I know it happens all the time.

belairbrian

I guess I'm really confused on the issue here. The add states the car has a salvage title.

If a buyer doesn't ask questions after being told the car has a salvage title, then that's on them.

mjn76

it didn't before

aklim

How does a forum dealer guarantee no issues and ethics?

aklim

Cops look for Motive, Means and Opportunity. Same thing. If you have all 3 present in sufficient quantities to motivate the individual, you will have him/her do something silly.

JrRifleCoach

And that karma will echo through these hallowed halls for a long time.