Greetings everyone. I posted this to the Roadfly 928 forum recently, so to save time, the details are here.

http://forums.roadfly.com/forums/por...8094481-1.html

What do you think?

 

As a quick follow-up. The seller now apparently thinks I am contacting the bidders for his current auction. That isn't true. If someone has taken it upon themselves to forward anything, it wasn't me, regardless of how much I may have wanted to given the circumstances.

I've tried contacting the seller to try to get my deposit and travel expenses refunded due to the misleading auction description in the auction I won, but the seller has made no effort to contact me personally to get this resolved. I'm currently proceeding through ebay to try to reach a resolution.

 

I feel for you.
I recently bought a 88 928s4 from another Rennlister, but his information and car were what he said it was. I probably paid above book, but considering that the mechanicals were done, low mileage and excellent condition, I think i got a fair deal.
As respects buying cars on ebay, I have always made the decision to never buy on an auction, but would consider a car advertised there, but only if the auction does not work out (reserve not met). I'm not sure what the deposit was, but consider this, you locate a car, the seller provides what you think are all the right answers, you get it inspected, then go through the expense to travel there to complete a deal...what if it isn't what you thought, you would be out your travel and inspection expenses and would have to rely on the sellers integrity to return your deposit. I think you risk the travel and inspection, but was the deposit by credit card, maybe you can challenge the charge, if not, not sure what you can do.
I think Rennlisters appreciate the "warning".
Keep in mind pictures really don't show you details, and a quality previous owners (Porsche person/ Rennlister, etc) will know details, have some history and will have made a good selection when they bought the car, improving the chances you are getting a "good" one.
I hope things work out and you find the right car.
Good Luck.

P. S. Can you give a negative rating on ebay if you don't complete the deal?

 

Live and learn. Do not purchase cars from E Bay. If you insist on doing vehicle transactions through e bay do not give the seller a deposit before you and your designated mechanic have inspected the car. Do travel to see the vehicle and consider the cost of travel, the cost of doing business.

Is your deposit worth taking the seller to small claims court? That may be your only recourse.

 

The deposit was $500. He wanted $5k, because of an apparent problem he had with a winning bidder who backed out of his previous auction, but agreed to $500 this time because he said I sounded like a level headed guy.

Unfortunately, the deposit was made via bank-to-bank wire transfer. The travel expenses.....

I don't think feedback can be entered in that situation, but I could be wrong. So far, the seller has decided that entering a "Non-paying bidder" claim against my account is the correct way to proceed.

Thanks for the encouragement. I hope that this eventually works out too, and that I'm able to track down a shark that meets with my way-too-picky-for-my-own-good-sometimes standards.

 

PPI. You need to have someone in the area check it out.

Also, check into eBay's policy under eBay motors, there's something in there about a guarantee for cars purchased through there that are misrepresented and the amount is under $10k.

 

Well now you are in the right place...

Any future 928's that catch your eye, run by this list, ask for the advice from members here, there are some real sharp eyed guys and gals here that will give you the straight skinny on any for sale. The registry is also a good place to investigate cars... www.928registry.org

Further more a PPI, or a local rennlister to get close and personal with the suspected buy, to give green light to proceed further or to run and run fast...

 

Sorry to say, but 500.00 is cheap. Hope you find your dream car.

 

If you want to get what you expect, inspect.

I'm sorry the transaction didn't work out for you, but nobody here knows you, the seller, or the car, so I don't think we should be taking any special position on what happened.

For $99 ebay offers an inspection that I think guarantees the accuracy of the auction description, and for about $250 you should be able to get a very thorough inspection by an independent Porsche mechanic.

 

I saw your post on the other forum and went on ebay and asked him two questions without any other comment at all. I asked him if there was any sign of fluids leaking and if there was any sign of body work.period.
He replied by cut and pasting the text of my comments in your thread that I was going to ask those questions. He didn't deny or confirm the bodywork or the fluid leaking. He merely emailed me a copy of my comments that I was going to ask him those questions.

My guess is he thinks that was exposing some ulterior motive on my part or some vast rightwing conspiracy....
Actually I just wondered if he would answer the specific question since you had raised the issue with him.

He seems like a real flake from the way he's handled things so far, I hope you get your deposit back and if my contacting him is the basis of his charge that you are contacting bidders I'll be glad to sign an affidavit to the contrary since I took it upon myself, unsolicited, to test his honesty after I anonymously read about your plight.
I sure didn't intend to mess things up for you!

 

"On Nov-10-06 at 16:02:06 PST, seller added the following information:
I JUST FOUND OUT THE GUY THAT CAME TO BUY MY CAR AND TURNED IT DOWN IS SENDING NEGITIVE LETTERS TO ALL BIDDERS. LET ME SAY THIS I HAVE NOTHING TO HIDE THE CAR IS 20 YEARS OLD IF HE WANTED SOMETHING NEW HE NEEDED TO SPEND 80,000 HE WAS NOT AT THE PORSHCE DEALER!!!!! THE CAR HAS A VERY AND I STRONGLY STATE VERY SMALL AMOUNT OF FLUID ON THE BOTTOM OF ONE SPOT, IT'S IN A CARPETED GARAGE AND I HAVE NOT SEEN ANY ON THE FLOOR, MY TEC TIGHTENED THE PAN BOLTS WHEN HE DID THE SERVICE THAT COST $2000,00. AS FOR THE BODY DAMAGE IF THERE IS ANY [BECAUSE THIS GUY IS VERY FAR FROM A PORSCHE TEC] ITS VERY MINNER THIS CAR HAS NEVER BEEN APART ALL THE BOLTS IN THE WHEEL WELLS WILL SHOW THAT. THE MAN I USE HAS BEEN WORKING ON THEM FOR 30 YEARS AND I WILL BE GLAD TO GIVE ANYONE THAT WANTS IT HIS PHONE NUMBER JUST CALL AND ASK ME !!!!!!! IF I SOUND PISSED I AM THIS IS AN AWSOME AND EXTREAMLY CLEAN CAR THAT GETS EYES EVERYWHERE IT GOES"


his tec charging $2k to retight bolts and his man working on 928s for 30 years, this seller is ebay's finest.

 

I believe he is saying it was part of the TB/WP service with a total cost of $2k.

All caps generally are not a sign of anything good, and the ad itself is mostly subjective opinion. A recipe for buyer dissatisfaction.

 

I bought mine from a similar person. Sadly, the guy honestly believed his/my car was one of those great-like new-well preserved-everything new or like new etc,etc,etc cars. $37000 in reciepts and the whole nine yards. Bottom line.. people are either cons, or they are being conned by their inpectors/mechanics. I heard the exact same story "mechanics says best of the best i've seen".

The best I can figure is there are not too many of these cars being serviced by high paid mechanics. So when they do see one, it is probably the best they've seen in a while.

 

I've submitted a dispute claim to eBays' Vehicle Purchase Protection service and am just trying to decide how I want to proceed from here.

 

I'm not sure what was necessary for the "Inspected" logo to be included in the eBay auction by this seller, but I can't say that it will mean much to me if I see it in any other auctions from this point on.

Yes, my fault for not opting for a pre-bid, third-party inspection. And no, just as the seller stated, I am not a Porsche tech. But, I know bondo when I see it, and luckily, I saw it.