I HATE buying cars - Page 2

[surrogate]

Originally Posted by heymama1+1

As the seller of a used car (and we've sold a lot), if I wasn't aware of a problem with a car I sold and the buyer didn't get it inspected, if it turned out there was a problem I wouldn't refund the $$ and I'd be livid if someone took me to court. Of course, different story if I was being dishonest. But we're always very upfront and tell all we know and have our maintenance records (which no one wants to see either... amazing!).

The only reason I said that, is with THAT many problems....it would seem like the seller would have at least had a clue that something MIGHT be wrong...and they should have disclosed that...

[gabbyraja]

We got ripped similarly last year. We'd been in an accident and been 3 days without our now-totaled van. We have too many kids to fit us all in anything but a van. We finally lined up 3 test drives in a day, with a babysitter for the kids, and no one here wants to let you get an inspection either. When the price tag is under $3000, though, we expect some problems. The van seemed wonderful, drove well, seemed to have no problems at all. The ad on CL had said "NEEDS NOTHING!" and that was exactly what we needed. My father was a mechanic, so I know the basics to look/feel/listen for. The guy we met was a "friend of the seller". He worked at a dealership and reiterated "to my knowledge it needs absolutely nothing."

The guy took a little less than asking, and offered to write in $100 on the title so we could get a break on the taxes. He seemed great, and we gladly took the offer. Next day the check engine light came on. Turned out the transmission was shot, and the guy had turned off the light. What it looks like is the guy was a salesman at the dealership, the dealership had taken the thing on trade and pawned it off on us. Luckily, a $1700 rebuilt tranny later we have a great van still kicking on 160,000+ miles. Were betting on having to buy another van next year, and will do so before we need it so that we can afford to turn down someone who won't allow an inspection.