Tennessee Turbo

At 247k miles, my beloved '06 CTTS made some horrible noises at startup. Was diagnosed as bent valves. I decided to just dump the car (cosmetically gorgeous and every conceivable problem has been remedied, except whatever caused this one...but I digress). I put it on Craigslist for $2500 and was inundated with interest (half of them asked if I'd take $1000 since the engine had probs). Anyway I sold it to the first guys who showed up with $2500 in cash and they hauled it away on a flatbed. Now the rest of the story... 55 days later, as my '12 CTT is in for work, the dealer calls and says my old CTTS was towed in. Of course, it has basically the same mileage as it did when it left my house (it would run and drive, but...). Every panel had been keyed and the owner told the dealer and the insurance company that someone had vandalized it and put dirt in the gas tank, which killed the engine. Hmmm. The insurance company ended up calling me and I told them the car was towed off because the engine was all but dead. It seems the new owner was trying to scam the insurance company into paying full retail for a car he bought, knowing it didn't run. I sure hope they nail the buyer for insurance fraud.

People can be such scum. Thx, I just had to let this out...

Brainz

Wow. Crazy

TomF

Yes, there are tons of unscrupulous people out there trying to scam anyone they can. Thanks for sharing. 247k is a great run, BTW!

My 2008 CTT developed cylinder scoring at 94k and as I was trying to determine which route to go relative to repair, replace the engine or just sell the whole car, I was hit head on by a crazy uninsured driver coming back from a Porsche Indy. (It was just starting to make noise at that time.) I guess good for me, bad for the driver and fortunately, everyone was okay.

Fast forward about six weeks and I see that my car has been repaired and is listed for sale. Lo and behold, it was bought by a tech at the body shop where the car was sent. He had previously asked me whether it was a good candidate for purchasing from the insurance company to rebuild and I stated emphatically that it had scoring and needed to be scrapped out. I guess he bought it anyway, repaired the collision damage and some poor unsuspecting buyer picked it up. A couple of months later it was listed on CL for parting out... someone took $20k bath....

Needless to say, I won't ever do business with that shop again as I couldn't trust their employees.

Cheers,
Tom

Tennessee Turbo

Your story is all too similar to mine. With a shop like that, I'd always be nervous about what shortcuts they took that I'd suffer for at a later date.

DWPC

Be careful out there. They're everywhere. 20 years ago, I had a '84 MB 300D that I gave to my son when it hit 300K miles. When he changed the oil, he didn't seat the oil filter cover properly. The oil poured out as he drove it to work, and the engine seized a mile from home. I had it towed to Dieter, my "dependable" German MB indie for several years,who checked it and said the engine was finished but offered my son $500 as a parts car. Three months later I saw the car being parked at Home Depot and asked the driver about it; said he bought it from Good Old Dieter for $3500 and it ran great.

wkearney99

Way back when I was shopping for a used car, and one looked nice enough for the price but the suspension (control arm bearings) felt entirely too loose for the mileage on the odometer. A quick check of the VIN at the MVA and a listed phone number had me in touch with the previous owner. Similar story... "THAT wreck is back of the road?" The investigator from the MVA was very thorough with his questions when I called back to report potential odometer fraud. Suffice to say I was glad to have dodged that bullet. Good for you heading off potential fraud.

Dan87951

No wonder auto insurance is so much! Nice job on turning that loser in.

garrett376

Wow - commit fraud for what, a $6-8K payout?!?!