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Long story/rant/? about a 240 I bought...

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TSIAWDTalon

20+ Year Contributor
384
15
Jun 21, 2002
Greensburg, Kentucky
OK so I picked up a 240 to play with, maybe sr20 or stick with the ka since its a single slammer. Drove 1.5 hours to get the car, looked it over, test drove, and took it home.

The kid is going to the military so he needed to move it quickly. Had it listed as a 93 with coilovers, full 3" exhaust. Was a fresh rebuild but ran rough. Turns out the timing was off, no biggie.

He needed to get the title right, he had signed in the wrong place, so I got a bill of sale, and a reciept with his name, address, and drivers license number (I have done this numerous times).

I get the car to my shop, change the fuel lines (there were carb lines on a f.i.) changed the plugs, wires, dist cap & button, and reset timing and the car runs like a champ now.

So in the process of cleaning it out, I noticed the door tag on the vehicle states it was built in 10/89 which obviously makes it a 90 not a 93. It also has Tokico shocks & struts and what looks to be Eibach springs not coilovers. I immediatly print out a copy of the c-list ad and text the guy.

He says in the text that he didnt know what kind of suspension it had, that was just what he was told was on it. He also said he didnt know the year as well, just what he was told. I told him I would bring the car back and get my money, plus the $80 I spent in plugs/wires/etc. He says he will text me back in a few.

Fast forward to Monday (I bought the car on Tuesday of last week, and noticed the discrepancies on Thursday and contacted him Thursday night). Kid is ignoring my text untill I threaten to file a police report. He states he will have his dad call me, they used the money to pay off a few bills.

Now I got the car reasonably cheap thinking it was a 93. I paid about $500 more than a 90 books at. My question is do I have a leg to stand on? Isn't this considered selling a car under false pretense? The kids dad called me once while I was picking my kids up from daycare (it was super noisy so I told him I would call back in 5 mins). I have called the dad 4 times, 2 he hung up and 2 went straight to voice mail.

I am driving back down there tonight to go to the police station and file a report. I guess we will have to let a judge decide, but I tried to be civil. All I was looking for was either him to take the car back, or give me a portion of the money paid back for the difference in years between the ad and what the car actually is.

Any thoughts or opinions are welcome. If I have to chalk it up to lesson learned so be it, but it seems that lying on an ad isnt something I should have to pay for.
 
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You have every right to want your money back. I would be pissed as well in that situation. You tried to be civil, but they refuse to do so. Do what you have to do, and what you feel is right.
 
Craigslist ad huh? There's a surprise. People do this all the time on there, describe things better than they really are to make some extra cash on it. He knew what he was doing.
 
You shoulda inspected it better. If he made you a bill of sale for a 93 then yeah you might have a leg to stand on. But if the bill of sale just has the vin and doesnt mention a year/make/model then your sol.

And a lot of less car literate people would think any vehicle with the coil over the shock has coilover suspension vs leaf spring or coil beside shock style suspension. So he was probably just an idiot.
 
Was "as is" written ANYWHERE on the bill of sale?
 
Was "as is" written ANYWHERE on the bill of sale?

No as is anywhere. I have three documents, the bill of sale with the vin and the year stated as a 93/ his driver license number (which he signed), a reciept with the year stated as a 93 (which he signed) and the original ad before he took it down as a 93.

I have spoke with the county attorney today, and have an appointment to go down there on Monday. Turns out a police report will do nothing as its a civil matter. I really don't want to take it this far, but he is unwilling to even speak to me about it.

I forgot the title states it has 170,000 even and the odo says 150,xxx. I guess at some point the cluster was changed, but it doesn't say mileage exempt on the title or true mileage unknown, so there is another issue.
 
*UPDATE*

Went to small claims yesterday. The kid responded to the judge that he had never listed the car as a 93, he didn't know where I got that from, and this was all news to him. I pulled the original ad from craigslist and had printed it off, gave it to the judge and she looked at the kid like WTF? I also had the kbb difference in price already printed out, and the judge looked over it and awarded me a settlement of $500. The kid has a month and a half before he goes to basic, so I hope he pays it before then.

I really hate that it had to come down to this, I tried to be as reasonable as possibly but it seemed like the kid just hoped I would go away long enough for him to leave. I wished him the best of luck as we were walking out of the courtroom, and his mom looked at me like she wanted to slap me, LOL.
 
Carfax.

Nuff said
 
First of all you should have done more research.. 89 and 90 ONLY HAVE the ka24e. 91-94 s13's have tthe ka24de . Thats all your fault for not noticing that.... You can probably get away with it as far as the state goes but if he ever gets legal you'll go down quick. Both of you will for that matter .

1. Yes I know this, the car has the ka24de, it clearly says twin cam on top of the cam cover.

2. Wait, what are you talking about?
 
You got pictures of this 240?

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Let me take some, and I will add them to my photobucket account and link the pics, may take a day or so been kinda busy at the shop. You interested in buying it?
 
You should have done the right thing and admitted your screw-up in examining the car. Why didn't you check the door tag when you went to look at it? Instead you did what every litigious American would do and abused the court for not being an educated buyer.
 
You should have done the right thing and admitted your screw-up in examining the car. Why didn't you check the door tag when you went to look at it? Instead you did what every litigious American would do and abused the court for not being an educated buyer.

Yes he could have been more careful, but the seller LIED. There is no sympathy for the seller at all and the buyer had every right to take him to court, especially since he wasn't willing to resolve it in a civil matter in the first place.

Let's say you have a daughter and she bought an iPhone for $300 from someone who clearly described it as such.. well she gets it home and it's an e-Phone "WTF is an e-Phone?!" oh it's a cheap knockoff. Your daughter tells you about this and you say "tough sh** sweety, you should have been more observant"?... NO I don't think that's what you'd say, you'd be getting your money back one way or another (court).
 
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I would buy it but I'm on an island.
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You should have done the right thing and admitted your screw-up in examining the car. Why didn't you check the door tag when you went to look at it? Instead you did what every litigious American would do and abused the court for not being an educated buyer.

So if i sold you my RS, told you it was a GSX with a built motor, built tranny, etc etc and charged you way too much, and you got home and found out it was just a beat to crap RS with a 420A, you would bend over and take it?

Get real, you would do exactly what the OP did, and so would i. The seller straight up LIED about the year and completely misrepresented the car.

The right thing would have been the seller being a man and working out a deal that worked for both parties, or giving the OP his money back and representing the car correctly so the next buyer didnt buy something they werent looking for.
 
I agree people should be more careful, but someone has got to take action against these scammers when you get a chance. Just admitting your screw up and not doing shit is just going to encourage people to keep scamming if there will be no action taken. I don't know how the hell this is abuse of court LOL.
 
Yes he could have been more careful, but the seller LIED. There is no sympathy for the seller at all and the buyer had every right to take him to court, especially since he wasn't willing to resolve it in a civil matter in the first place.

Let's say you have a daughter and she bought an iPhone for $300 from someone who clearly described it as such.. well she gets it home and it's an e-Phone "WTF is an e-Phone?!" oh it's a cheap knockoff. Your daughter tells you about this and you say "tough sh** sweety, you should have been more observant"?... NO I don't think that's what you'd say, you'd be getting your money back one way or another (court).

So if i sold you my RS, told you it was a GSX with a built motor, built tranny, etc etc and charged you way too much, and you got home and found out it was just a beat to crap RS with a 420A, you would bend over and take it?

Get real, you would do exactly what the OP did, and so would i. The seller straight up LIED about the year and completely misrepresented the car.

The right thing would have been the seller being a man and working out a deal that worked for both parties, or giving the OP his money back and representing the car correctly so the next buyer didnt buy something they werent looking for.

I never would have done what the OP did, because I would have done my homework when checking the phone or car out.
 
Some of you are forgetting that the best way to confirm anycar is by the VIN. With the VIN you can get a vehicle history report. As well as comfirmation of what the vehicle is. That's apart of what the VIN is used for.

When I buy used cars which I do often I get a carfax. Its simple and easy. Doing your homework on purchases should be the first thing you do. Know what your buying.

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