NEED TO VENT BECAUSE I JUST GOT SCREWED!!!!

Really sucks op! Sorry that happened to you...

I locked in my deal and had the car delisted before the PPI for this reason...hard to trust anyone these days.

 

Hey..........I'll beat this horse further into the ground.

If you read my earlier thread - I contracted for a 7 day inspection on a GTSI last year. In writing. Pretty normal for me.

SELLER..........was supposed to get all of the paperwork and work receipts to the Ferrari mechanic so the mechanic and I could go over the car - with the paper work.

After contracting, every day I get a different excuse as to why he cannot provide the paperwork. Good excuses BTW, he was rebuilding his Mom's house for her - and I saw the car there - and knew he was busy and the place was a mess with lots in storage.

Anyway, my 7 days are up - inspection NOT completed as we still didn't have the receipts and paperwork. He cited $20k in receipts. Gotta see those!!!

I call him to ask for a mutual extension until Monday. He says, "You can take all the time you want - I will no longer return your deposit should you fail to buy the car".

I said, "Huh?". And he said that was the way he saw it. Even though he made the inspection impossible by NOT providing what he had agreed to provide in our contract - he felt my "breech" was of greater fault.

Wanted the car and had looked it over pretty well. So rather than call him all the names I had thought of - I pressed on. Finally got the inspection completed. The Ferrari mechanic knew the car well - and was very knowledgeable.

Next, I asked him where all of the bits and pieces were. Owners manual, jack, tools. That kind of stuff.

He said they were in him Mom's basement - stored 8 boxes deep. I told him that was OK - but could we set up an "escrow" for some point in the future when he could deliver the parts and I would provide the final escrow payment?

"Nope". Take it or leave it.

Got the car for a great price - checked out well with some key new parts (transaxle - $9k as just one example - $20k in receipts last ten years). So I did the deal. He says "Call me in two weeks - I should have your stuff".

Two weeks later I email him...same story. Two weeks later another email......same story.

Finally, after two months of telling me "two more weeks" by email- he tells me "there is nothing else to give you".

I've never had a guy act in that manner. I should have built more into the contract. Like what to do if HE "breeches" and forces me to breech as well.

Looking back at it - I would have done the same thing. The 7 day thing turned out to be "no harm, no foul". Just ******.

The missing "stuff" - I have picked up one by one. Did a few swaps - so the cost of what I have gotten was not a big deal.

But.......it does speak to doing all you can do to protect yourself. I thought I had done enough. Apparently, I could have done more.

But "walking" was not an option for the price I got in.

So......BE CAREFUL.

Closing comment. One of my swaps - got me to meet the guy that SOLD my car in 1982. An import dealer in Carolina. He provided me a copy of the ORIGINAL INVOICE and threw in a lug wrench. So that was a nice perk. I guess it all worked out for a reason.

 

That really sucks!!
I had a similar situation a number of years back with an early 911S in San Diego (his name was George). Talked to the seller, agreed on a price, bought a ticket to fly down there and he had agreed to pick me up from the airport. Called him a few times to confirm date and time of pick up from airport. Finally got a hold of him and he said the car was sold. He told me his wife asked him why he didn't call me to let me know of the other offer, and he said he felt he had to close the deal right then and there. Bullsh*t!! Still remember it.

 

Without being judgemental, were you willing and prepared to purchase the car at his asking price or the price you negotiated prior to the PPI? It may be that he felt your hesitation and decided to take the offer in front of him. He must have been pretty desparate to sell since he didn't call you to give you the first right of refusal. Sorry to hear.

 

Letting you know about another offer before selling was both the moral and the logical thing to do. Not only did common courtesy require it, but the seller could have sparked a bid contest, thus generating a higher sales price. But God writes straight with curved lines: you will find a better car.

 

damn sorry man.

 

+++1
On top of that, the seller probably mentioned to the other buyer of the PPI facilitating the urgency for an immediate offer. In short, the seller may have used the PPI to sell the car to the other buyer.

 

THIS is the way to proceed, and I did this same thing 10 days ago. I refused to commission the PPI without the signed right of first refusal.

In your case, you were not in the wrong.....but neither was the seller. He took the first hard cash handed to him, you would do the same.

 

A lot of people bring up how a 'contract' could have avoided all of this and I think that is nonsense. Look if a guy is wired to screw you then a simple piece of paper won't stop them. Of course you 'could' sue them but realistically that is not the case. A contract, just like a patent is only worth the ability one has to enforce it. Lawsuits require time, money, and effort and unless you are talking about a vintage 250 GTO the cost to hassle equation just makes no sense. In the end it comes down to individuals acting with some consideration as to how they may want to be treated if the shoe was on the other foot.

 

"Trust. But verify"
R.R.

 

And in the flip side of that card: Karma is a b••••h


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Forget it.

Move on.

There's always another car.

Yes, that seller is a *****.

 

if you are worried about losing 350, you probably shouldn't buy an old ferrari that isnt worth much.

 

seen this one? Looks a little rough around the edges, but servicable

Ferrari 308 GTB Coupe | eBay

 

Ok guys I've read all the posts and know the OP has been screwed somewhat in this instance, however we must not lose all faith in humanity and decency.

I recently bought a car unseen over the internet in another country from a dealer. I had been familiar with this dealer, having seen his cars on the website for a number of years and that I had read he had a reasonable reputation in his subject matter and had been around a number of years. However I had never had any dealings with him personally.

I saw an car advertised on the web on one of the classic car portals which looked very interesting and so I got in contact with him.
Well after many emails back and forth over a couple of days, talking about the car and general things(after a few emails you establish a friendly rapport with someone and can wind up talking about all sorts of things) the dealer sent me an email agreeing a price to sell me the car-which was about 10% lower than his asking price. I wrote back saying ok and that I would be calling him the next day to finalise matters. Remember at this point I had never personally seen the car, not inspected it and there was no other commitment, deposit or anything else exchanged.The next morning I got an email from the dealer agian forwarding me an email from another customer which he received in the night(which I now definitively know was genuine) agreeing to pay him full asking price for the car. In this email he the wrote the words "What would you do in my position?"
Well as you can imagine, at this point I thought to myself, I've lost the car. I replied to him that obviously I could not decide for him and that I guess I could understand his thoughts about selling to the other guy but that ultimately he has to make that decision. He wrote back saying call me. I then called him and we had a long 30 minute conversation talking amongst other things, cars in general(he really was a genuine car guy who knew his cars and we had a common interest in another group of cars). At the end of this conversation, he said " you know what, I'm happy to sell the car to you as you seem to love cars as much as I do! The other guy he said to me "seemed like someone that just liked this particular car, but he didn't sense his love of cars in general!"
Obviously I was extremely happy and relieved with this guys decision at this point, and I said to him ok just give me your bank details and I'll sort out payment. He said no worries I'll email these on to you. Despite hounding him for days thereafter for his bank details- you see I wanted to secure the car!- he only sent me these 10 days after, at which point I sent him the money and the car was mine! Staggeringly enough when I emailed him later to finalise transport details, he emailed me back to say he got another email from another guy asking about the car and was wondering if I wanted to sell it to the other guy for 10% over the asking price!!!! I said of course not this is crazy, I don't want to flip the bloody car. Heck I haven't even seen it yet!!
So anyway the car finally arrived safely with me and was everything he said it would be. Bought completely unseen and extremely pleased with my purchase.

So please do not lose complete faith in humanity because thankfully there are still genuine stand up people in the world who do not put money and self interest above everything else!!

 

It's just as bad as a ppi and the car is a piece of crap. I had a ppi done on a 85 TR in Florida. The seller said the car was in tip top shape and I asked if he could bring it to the Ferrari dealer in Florida and he said, "oh, if I do that they will try and sell yo ua different Ferrari!" What the heck....PPI showed that this was a restore job. What really pissed my off is the PPI guy should have called me right away without going further into it and I would have paid less but he continued and did the whole exotic PPI which costs more.
So hey, I got screwed twice, once by the owner lying and then the PPI guy not stopping and advising me that this car is not what they said.

 

OK. A contract is no guarantee. But is NO CONTRACT a better deal? Heck no.

So a simple contract only makes sense - if you are really interested. Has to be 75% better than no contract. It certainly reinforces what both parties HAD agreed to - over the phone.

Best way to memorialize an oral agreement? Get it in writing. Duh, a simple contract. How can it hurt?

But............could it help?

 

Ahh, the elusive F Car...

Good thing you don't want a 355 or else you'd GLADLY throw away 5X what you spent on this PPI, weeding out problem cars.....

Sorry about what happened to you and yes, common courtesy was warranted in this case but..... Next!

 

...and BTW, if starting this thread leads you to a lost family member then it was definitely money well spent.

Chicken salad from chicken s*it...?

 

Yup been there... never again!

 

I would say that the owner did not want to answer your questions cause you probably would not have liked them.

You spent $350 to save whatever-the-car-was-going-to-cost PLUS the 'unknown' that the owner was probably trying to hide.

 

That's a nice car....MOVE on it...

Original unmolested interior, a few rust spots (that is the steel qulaity, it happens) and it just had a fresh service.

Dead guys can't quibble, and the family is arguing...SAVE this car and return it to happy times!

1977 is the last good year...NON CAT engine and drivetrain.

 

This is a great post, well written.

I too, have had a seller "decide I was right for the car" and put me into it.

Those things mean a lot.

I like to decide what type of person is selling the Ferrari.
The answer to that question is usually far more valuable than a PPI.

 

OH I got a story from the other side... I took my car in for a PPI from a person that wanted to buy my car. He paid for the PPI and I did and AC service while it was in. He got the PPI and said he would be in touch quickly. Then My Ferrari Broker buddy calls me and says. "Your never going to believe this. That **** that wants to buy your car is at Ferrari of Beverly Hills discussing the engine Compression numbers with the service tech" Then a few minutes later the potential buyer calls me and says that the numbers dont look good and he starts low balling me offering me 45 grand................... By the way it was a 7500 original mile 89GTS that was basically flawless.... True story I told the guy to pack sand and sold the car soon after that for 70,000.......

This happened in 07. I wonder of that guy is here on Fchat or if he ever purchased a car.