Nightmare Car Purchase

[TTA89]

I just spent 40 min typing out this post and I bumped the keyboard and hit the back button and lost the entire ****ing thing. Here we go again.

As some of you know I purchased a 2003 Cobra in March. I still don't have the car and now I'm not even sure what to do. Here is the saga.... I have all the notes at home so this might not be exact time/date but you'll get the idea.

Tuesday March 22nd I post a wanted Ad for a Low Mile 2003 White Cobra. I called my bank and applied for car loan at the same time. I had someone email me late at night and described pretty much what I was looking for. I emailed him back my number and asked him to call me.

Wed March 23rd - We chat on the phone for awhile about the car and other various things. He has been on and off the fence about selling the car, he just moved into a new house and its a 2nd car that sits in the garage. He would like to get rid of the payment but keeps changing his mind. When he saw my ad he figured if I was interested he would sell it and if not probably just keep it. He said he was in his late 40s I believe, and seemed like a nice down to earth guy. We talk a little about price and leave it at that. I ask for pictures and the VIN. He said he would email me a bunch of pictures that night. The car is located in Buloxi, Mississippi and I am in Boston, Mass. 1500 miles 1 way. Booo...

I saw the pics later that night and the car looks really nice, just what I want.

Thursday March 24th we talk in the AM and I make an offer on the car and we go back and forth a bit and decide on a price. I explain to him that Im expecting a brand new showroom clean car (7K) miles. He promises that the car is perfect in every way and will buy me a plane ticket home if Im disapointed. I told him that he needs to call his bank and have them fax over a 10 day Payoff letter to my bank and that I will need to fax him a bill of sale from my bank that he needs to send back with all the info filled out. Name, Address, Phone numbers, Vin, Bank Info, etc,etc. I mention to him that I will be going to Puerto Rico for Work April 8th-April 14th and would like to setup my airline ticket so I fly directly to Gulfport, MS on the 14th. He said its only 10 min from his house and he can pick me up. I explained that I need to get the title before I leave for PR as I can't get Insurance or Plates without it. I want to fly out with the Reg and Plates in my suitcase.

Friday March 25th - We get all the info together and my bank makes out two Treasury checks.

1. 18K and change for his payoff. Made out to Me, Him, and His Bank. We all need to sign.

2. ~5K and change for the rest of the balance made out to Him and I.

I call him and let him know I have the checks and I am going to overnight them to him and then ask him to overnight it to his bank as I need to get that title and his bank will probably have some delay. His Bank's Payoff Dept is located in Missouri.

Saturday March 26th - He called me about 11:30 am and says he has to go to work and the checks havent shown up yet. We figure they will show up 5 min after he leaves. Its ok, just get it out on Monday I tell him.

Monday March 28th - He calls me in the late morning and says he is on his way to work, he recieved the checks and he is going to the post office to mail off the payoff check. Awesome! TTYL

Wednesday March 30th - I call him and ask him if he called the Bank yet to make sure they overnight him the title to sign. He says that he called but they didn't recieve the check yet. I ask if he mailed it on Monday, he says Yes. So I ask him for the tracking number. He says that he went to the Post Office and asked how long it would take to get there, they told him two days. So he dropped the check in a reg envelope, put a stamp on it and put it into the outbound box. Uhhh... So you don't have a tracking number? No, they said it would only take 2 days. Now I'm thinking to myself, you sent 18k Dollars through the mail with no tracking number? Alright, we'll call tomorrow and see if its there. I remind him I need that Title ASAP!!
I confirm my flights from work, Puerto Rico to Orlando to Gulfport on April 14th.

Thursday March 31st - I called the Bank, No check. The bank says sometimes it can take 2 weeks for them to get mail. WHAT!!! Come on!

Friday April 1st - No Check. Ok well monday will be a week, as long as they overnight the title I'll still be ok. I can have him send me the title in Puerto Rico and then overnight it home and have someone go to the insurance and get plates for me and send them to him.

Monday April 4th - I call the Bank and get the same answer. I ask to speak with accounting, I have them do a check to see if they recieved any checks for that amount. Maybe it was credited to someone else by accident. Now I'm thinking he tried to save 10 bucks and totally screwed my plans over.

Tuesday April 5th - Calling the Bank at 9am and 5pm. Nothing... He says he would have sent it a diff way if he would have known this was going to happen. Yeah well... I told you to overnight it I'm thinking to myself.

Wednesday April 6th - Call Bank at 9am, No check. Call the travel agent, change flight back to Boston at the tune of $300+ out of my own pocket. Call bank in the afternoon and no check. I ask them if I should cancel it and get another since it was sent March 28th, how could they not have it? They tell me not to do that as it will delay the process even further. Fine...

Thursday April 7th - 9am/12pm/5pm I am now memorized in his banks phone directory and have his account number memorized. No check.. I leave for PR tomorrow.

Friday April 8th - Fly to PR figure when I land and call its gonna be there. Nope.

Monday April 11th - No Check, this is rediculous. Call them 3 times and he is calling as well. I have been talking to him almost everyday and he doesn't really say anything, although what is he gonna say? He screwed up.

Tuesday April 12th - No check... I call my bank and ask them to trace it and how do I cancel a Treasury check and get a new one? They call me back and say it hasn't been cashed, which I already figured and that because its a Treasury check they can't cancel it until 90 days from the date of issue and all partys need to sign sworn affidafits... WHAT!

So I paid him in full for the car, he loses the check and gets to keep doing whatever he wants with the car for 90 days? I can't back out because there is some 18K dollar check in Limbo and so I'm stuck in this deal?

I call and leave him a message with this info, he called me back and doesn't really know what to say although his Daughter is in Labor at the Hospital and he will call me tomorrow. ok bye.

Wednesday April 13th - Still calling his bank, no check. I talk to him in the evening and tell him that I'm flying back to boston and grabing my Lightning and a buddies trailer and coming to get the car. I paid for it in full and its not my fault the check is lost. If we have to wait 90 days, I want the car in my garage where I can watch it. He doesn't say no but I can tell he doesnt like this idea. I asked if he was going to be there Sunday night, I'll be at his house around 8pm. He says he is going to call the Post Office and Bank tomorrow and call me back. Alright, I'm flying home tomorrow.

Thursday April 14th - I fly home, he doesn't call me. I leave him a message around 7ish and ask him to call me tonight. No Call Back.

Friday April 15th - 1st Car Payment is pulled from my checking account for a car I don't technically own, have never seen and never driven nor have the title for. I leave him a message in the AM to call me and go to my bank to see if I can do anything. I go through a couple people and speak to the manager or accounting, I explain the situation and we call his bank again. No check.. Wow.. Didn't see that coming. He says that he will break the rules and let me cancel the check, I just need to fill out some paperwork and they cut me a new check on the spot! SWEET!

Around 1pm I leave the bank and call him and get his VM, I leave him a message letting him know I have a new check and for him to call me ASAP so we can work on the details. This time I want him to sign the check and send it to me and I'll send it to the bank.

8-9-pm I call him again and leave a message letting him know I'll be up till midnight. NO Callback. Now I'm really getting annoyed.

Saturday April 16th - I call and leave him a message in the AM. He works strange hours so whatever. A friend of mine calls me who is buying an 03 Cobra at the same time and we swap horror stories. He is now waiting for the title which takes 7-10 days. He wants to pickup the car and bring it home but can't legally drive it. He asks if I don't mind using the Lightning to tow the car back to his house. Sure.. I have nothing else to do, besides at least someone will get there 03 Cobra! I call the guy throughout the day now getting his VM. We get my Buddies Cobra back with no issues and I head home around 8pm.



Nice car, Sonic Blue 2003 with 9k miles bone stock. Ok back to my story.

I get home and now I'm worried and pissed off and the stress is getting to me. I email him and ask him to call me, telling him I left VMs etc etc and put my number in the email. I then do a reverse lookup on his address and find his home number which I didn't have on me, it was in the bank paperwork but I always just called his Cell. I call and it just rings and rings, I try from a restricted number but still nobody picks up.

Sunday - April 17th I am now calling every 90 min or so and leaving 2-3 messages a day. WTF! He has ~5100 bucks of my money and is not calling me back. I really HIGHLY doubt he would try to scam that and get away with it. I have all his info, bank #s, Car Reg and Vin numbers, Home address etc etc etc. But... I can't think of a good reason why he would be unable to call me back.

If someone from out of state is buying a car and sent you money, I would think you would keep in touch with them. But then, thats just me.

Monday - April 18th - I am still calling him with no answer and now I don't know what to do. Is the guy dead or what? After all this BS I don't want the car, I want my 5100 bucks back and I'll find something else. I just want this whole thing setteled one way or another so I can relax! For christ sake I got 1 hour of sleep last night because of this mess.

I posted a similar message on one of the Cobra forums asking if anyone is in the area. Before I call the Local Police I'd like to see if someone can go over and knock on his door and see if he is alive or something. I really doubt this guy is trying to take off with a whopping 5100 bucks seeing as I have all is info but what in the world would he be doing where he can't call me back to tell me he has an emergency?? Last time I talked to him was Wednesday night.

[forzfed]

That's a bummer! I don't think I've read anything that long in a long time! Sorry to hear about that, Mike! Keep us posted.

[TurboedV6]

I cant believe i just read that, that was very long, anyways, that really is a bummer Mike.

[jmidolo]

Damn Ford people...evil oval! They're not all like us Buick ppl!
Time to send the lynchmob that way!

[stealth908]

you have his address, go to his house... either confront him, or get YOUR car out of his garage. sorry to say, but it sounds like you got scammed.

i'm sorry you had this much trouble. i know exactly how i would feel. hope it works out.

[joenational]

I could be wrong but didn't he say is daughter was in labor, maybe something happened there and he is still in the hospital, as you know you cannot have yoru cell on in the hospital and maybe he is just running in and out of his house for things because he is still at the hospital, but hey i am probably wrong, that sucks buddy that is why i try not to do anything out of state where i cant just go and look myself.

[Welby]

Holy crap, hope it all works out

It's stressful when trying to buy a car based on pics alone. I bought TommyX's '87 Limited that way. Drove to New Jersey with an 8 month pregnant wife, and took a cashiers check with me. If I didn't like the car, I would have kept the check and drove back home. Would have sucked, but I would have done it.

[TTA89]

Well I guess I just needed to make that post and then try him for the 100th time today. He picked up the phone and said he noticed on Saturday that his phone was broken and just got it fixed. He did see my emails and said he was just getting ready to call me.

I asked him to send me back the other check as its been a terrible transaction so far and its just not right. He is going to Priority the check back to me tomorrow.

I'll go close the loan and start looking for another one, hopefully something closer.

What a nightmare!!! Glad its almost over!!!

[TTA89]

Originally Posted by Welby

Holy crap, hope it all works out

It's stressful when trying to buy a car based on pics alone. I bought TommyX's '87 Limited that way. Drove to New Jersey with an 8 month pregnant wife, and took a cashiers check with me. If I didn't like the car, I would have kept the check and drove back home. Would have sucked, but I would have done it.

Mass makes it impossible to do that. You can't get temp tags or put insurance on the car till you hand the state the title. Its so rediculous... So you wouldn't be able to drive the car home.

[jdodman]

Mike,
If this does not have a happy ending, send me a PM. I am the I.T. person at a collections agency. We have some tried and true methods for collecting money from people who do not like to pay..

It will cost you a small piece of the action, but will still be worth it..

[Just a Six??]

He didnt know his phone was broken for 4 days?? Wow! I think he just changed his mind about selling it & handled it Very Poorly!! Get you $$$ and buy a car in state that you can see in person!! Thats the only way I would do it! No long distance 20K purchases for me! Unless I know the person very well! Good Luck!!

[Grumpy]

After all the BS your not getting it now ??? Totally sucks Pic's sure did look nice

[TTA89]

Well I backed out, after all this I don't want to wait another however long to get the title and fly out there. Whatever..... If he didn't think to call me I just want to end it right here.

Im going to race the lightning and when a nice Cobra comes by I'll jump at it.

Grumpy, I fixed the TV today too... Any luck with issue #3?

[Gnat352]

Sorry to hear that Mike, hope it all works out, and ya find another car

[MaxVO2]

I HATE people like that.. Someone sends me their money for something I am selling, I WILL make sure they get their merchandise pronto, and communicate any delays whatsoever, even if it means that I lose money, due to the cat having asthma, or the neighbor keeps me up screaming about his painful, itchy hemorrhoids, or whatever... I can imagine you aged like 10 years this past week!!! I had something similar to that happen to me recently with a car I almost bought.. The guy was just irresponsible and could never seem to call me back within the same week, or answer any questions. He paid some $$$ for the ad, left contact info, pricing info, etc.. and here I come with CASH, ready to buy his car at his price no less, and the guy verbally agrees to the transaction - I go through all the moves, and he disappears for a few days, and e-mails me that he got busy at work, blah blah, and couldn't be bothered to return my call, e-mail, etc.. I told him to forget the whole thing, and I let the car go. That car is STILL for sale 6 weeks later. Some people are just like that.

Billy
Montgomery Village, MD