Some of you might have seen me trolling around the fourms since febuary- asking questions here and there, in hopes of buying a camaro.
*Note*- this is kind of long- I have made it easy to read as I can.

I finally thought that the day had come to get my car - I had my grandfather look at it before I decided to travel and purchase it- he gave me the ok. So I get to the place to purchase the car- look at it, drive it around. I was so excited it was a 1994 z28, manual, it had a new paint job- very nice. The owner made a bill of sale put his name on it and handed me the title- I handed him the cash and proceeded to leave.

Do you ever have a "feeling" when you get in a car- like good or bad? Well, I did as we left this guys house and it was a bad feeling- however I was just so happy that I was able to get my camaro that I kinda overlooked it. As we are driving to go to the DMV- my mom calls me and says that the title looks fraudulent. My heart sunk. The person who the Bill of sale was named to was different than the name on the title- I knew that was bad.

I begin to notice some things as we are driving- I notice that the odometer is not working- now he said that the speedometer wasnt working so I was expecting that- however not even the trip is working on this car. This doesnt look good- the AC is not blowing cold air; the check engine light turned on, and the dash- had carpet- basically the exterior was awesome- interior (tan) kinda scary. We were in such a rush to get to the DMV that I over looked so many things about the car.

It really hit me once we got to the DMV that I had been swindled. I am a sales person myself- my fatal flaw was that I expressed my eagerness of how bad I wanted the car- he just played off of that and told me what I wanted to hear. Anyways, the lady at the DMV then told us that she couldn't transfer the title with out the bill of sale being in the persons name. I called the guy and surprisingly he picked up the phone and talked to the lady at the DMV. Meanwhile my mom told me that when I talk to him act like I still want the car and that we can work everything out on monday when the DMV reopens(hoping we could get my money back and jet). Being a salesmen I tried my best to put on a front. It went something like this:

Me: Hey man so if its cool were gonna head back to your place and get this worked out on monday

Him: Well, we can work this out today, you still want the car right? theres nothing wrong with it(notice how people give them selfs away)

Me: yeah dude its straight, yeah I love the car man. But my mom isnt going to let me have it until we have a tag for it and get the DMV stuff worked out.

Him: Well, I cant give you your money- I put it in the bank already.(that shook me up but I knew he was lying)

Me: Yeah, I mean its straight, but yeah were on our way.

Acually that is two conversations put together basically- he called me back to tell me he didnt have the money.

So mean while(and I have to give credit where it is due) my mom calls her friends and tells them to pray for us. Shes also praying too that everything gets worked out.

So we get to his house- I'm like yeah man I dont know whats going on at the DMV- there just retarded(playing dumb) He's like well I can make a new bill of sale in that guys name- me and my mom said that we'd rather get everything done on monday to make sure everything works out. He then says again that he cant give us our money back he put it in the bank- he even offered to tow the car to where we were staying . It was 7/3 so the banks stay open an hour later so where like- "well who do you bank with" he said the federal credit -and "there not open later"

Brilliantly, my mom says well- then write us a check.(I didnt know this at the time- but if he had wrote us a hot check for that amount- it would be a felony). He could of still said no, but he looked at us for 2 seconds and then went and got all the cash- and gave it back to us saying, "I have a neighbor who is going to buy the car so lets consider it even."

I still am in awe that I got all my money back- You have to understand this man did not and was not going to give me my money back. But I think I was def blessed.

Being that I am 17 and have never gone through the car buying experience I learned a couple things about purchasing a car in general:

1. Dont be too eager when talking to the person who is selling the car. If anything act like you might be interested- not like a 13 year old school girl giggly.

2. Check the car very thoroughly and have a mechanic look at it as well.

3. Do all money exchanges at the DMV after the title has been cleared.(I did a carfax too- it was clean)

4. If they dont address a major problem that the car has when you talk to them about issues(ie; odometer) and you find it- jump ship.

5. Don't trust anyone.

Now I am looking into purchasing a firebird formula that I have seen- 96k miles- the same as the other car(although the other one probably had 196k lol) - I'm going to have to muster up 1k more-but for the odometer to work and the car to be legit it will be well worth it.

 

at least you didnt get burnt man.

 

I agree, I am definatly thankful that I didnt- I would have been in very bad shape- the car probably wouldnt of made it back home.

 

i dont know about the laws in your state, but it may have been a crime for him to sell to a minor anyways.

 

Good thing you got all your money back so you could buy a legit F-body.

 

Ya, that sounds pretty shady. Good thing you got out of it while you still could! Keep shopping and cool your head a little this time, a good deal will come along eventually!

 

Just want to throw this in. I am glad your experience worked out that in the end, you didn't get swindled but you did one other thing wrong.

Get a indepenent third party to fully inspect any car before you buy. A shop, a tech, a dealer. Ask them what a "pre-purchase" inspection costs and then ask what they look for. A good shop will bring you right out there and point stuff out. Then you know what your getting into.

Anyone who won't allow a pre-purchase isn't getting a sale, period, end of story. I had one dealer who would not allow a potential buyer to bring a car to my shop because we "always found something wrong" which was total BS since I bought a vehicle from him myself. And even if I do find something wrong with every car (every car has something wrong, something that keeps it from show room perfection) that is a benefit for the buyer to know going in. Even if that something wrong is a tail light out. Then they know it's out before they buy it.

Again, glad your story ended positive.

 

Thanks guys, I appricate the advice

Funny you should say that, I mentioned to him that I wanted to take it to a dealership to get it looked at- he said no- along those lines they will find every little thing wrong about the vechile(duh I want that lol) and that there wasnt any where close(which was proably a lie)

But yeah- I think I might just wait until I am 18 or something- one of my good friends dad is a owner of a dealership- and I'm sure the way the market is now- me walking in with 4k or 5k in cash there not going to turn me down for a loan. So maybe I can get a newer ls1 00 01 02 camaro who knows...

 

I might be selling my camaro to get a new camaro if your interested. Not %100 yet because I love my car but I want a new one too. Just like a kid! Do I want the toy truck or the toy plane I saw at the store?!!?