Am wondering what experience people here have had bidding for Ferraris on Ebay (ebaymotors). Any and all advice would be most appreciated. I'm on the lookout for a 2006 F430 with F1. - aLV
Alv, I have 2 ebay motors experiences to relate. Several years ago, I was thinking about buying a Mercedes E55 AMG. At that time, they were selling for about 10-20k above MSRP. I found one on Ebay being offered by a local dealership with no reserve; and the current high bid was under MSRP. With about 1 day left in the auction, I put my max bid at MSRP. And, as the auction drew to a close, it looked as if I was going to become the buyer at under MSRP!!! A great deal, right??? Not quite, with about an hour left (and with me being the high bidder), the auction was canceled by the seller. I was abit miffed to say the least. My second experience occurred a few weeks ago. I saw a 2005 F430 on ebay motors with a buy-it-now price that was very competitive. Well, I wasn't going to mess around with any auction this time. I immediately called the seller (a local dealer) got the information I needed about the car and negotiated a price (which was under the buy-it-now price) and gave him a 1k refundable deposit on my Amex. I now own that car. My basic thought about ebay is that their auction mechanism kinda sucks. When sellers are able to unilaterally end auctions while there are live bids above the reserve, then the buyers (whose bids -on the other hand- are legally binding contracts) are being placed in an unfair position. I basically view ebay as an alternative to cars.com, autotrader.com, and the dupont registry for finding previously owned cars. My advice is simple: if you find a car on ebay that you like and believe is competitively priced, call the owner and negotiate a direct price. If the seller refuses to negotiate offline, then you may want to go ahead and bid, but I would always prefer negotiating directly. Beyond this, I'll state the obvious: - I always prefer local sellers for obvious reasons - get a carfax - get a PPI - request copies of the service history, or simply call the dealer that serviced the car and verify that all service and campaigns were performed properly. - if purchasing long distance, utilize an escrow account to hold funds until the car is shipped - find a reputable transport company that handles cars of similar value to what you are buying, and always get their license & insurance information - check with the local BBB on everyone involved in the transaction!! Finally, I'll add that I generally don't like winning auctions, as I think it often means you paid too much. But that's just my 2cents.
Lots of good advice from Tyler. On his last point, I'd say that "Winning an auction" means everyone else thinks it's worth less than you do.
Alv, I bought my 360 spider on or shall I say from e bay. But the seller is a reputable Ferrari dealer on the east coast. I would strongly recommend to buy yours from a Ferrari dealer. In that way you can eatablish a relationship with your seller and get into their list for MSRP purchase in future. Adil.
It's best just to use it as a source to find a car. As stated earlier work with the guy or wait until the auction is over. Most auctions just get relisted anyway. Buying any car is risky without eyeballing it. This is especially true with older cars. Of course all the other due diligence procedures apply.
I haven't bought a Ferrari of ebay yet, but I am looking also. I have bought a bunch of cars from ebay over the years, a couple of Hummers, Benz, BMW, ZO6 and a few other cars. With that being said make sure the seller is reputable. Make sure they have a good history. And even then never buy a car sight unseen. Because no matter what, alot of times you don't get the whole picture. There can be something the seller "forgets" to tell you. You have to see the car in person before you close the deal. I think this is even more important with an exotic.
