Car shopping on craigslist(someone confirm my suspicion)

[iwannadie]

I've been looking for a car for the ole lady and she saw a lexus SC400 for a pretty good deal. I call the guy and it's not some out of the country wire transfer deal and sounded legit. I'm still very hesitant to even go look at it however.

I googled his phone number and he's had 3 pages worth of cars for sale all with the tags, must sell now and stuff and all deleted off CS. He sounded like a young guy maybe in his early 20's, why would he be selling so many cars. It's a full gambit of cars too from dually trucks to sedans nothing exotic or crazy.

Is that enough of a warning to stay away or just a guy flipping cars? He wants to meet somewhere of my choosing in the day time and I will be packing and with a buddy who also will be packing, but it doesn't feel right already. I haven't found any posting warning of the phone number and he clearly uses the same phone number.

Opinions?

 

[wiseco7mgt]

Wow, your packing to go buy a car? I think you just answered the question yourself. If you are so suspicious about this character my advice is let it go and find something else, I've never seen a sc400 worth getting shot over. If you go through with the deal i hope it all works out for you and you don't wind up shot or in jail.

 

[iwannadie]

Wow, your packing to go buy a car? I think you just answered the question yourself. If you are so suspicious about this character my advice is let it go and find something else, I've never seen a sc400 worth getting shot over. If you go through with the deal i hope it all works out for you and you don't wind up shot or in jail.

Well, I live in Arizona. I pack to go grocery shopping as I have the right to open and as of recently conceal carry. I wasn't pointing out I am afraid and need a gun, just that I will be open carrying when I go meet him, legally.

 

[wiseco7mgt]

I don't really understand.. sorry.

 

[te72]

Is this guy you're talking to about this car named John or Johnny? If so it might be the guy I bought my Mk3 from man, he's sold a shitload of cars over the years. Not very active in the Supra community anymore though. Last I knew he lived kinda in the Tempe/Chandler area, might have technically been Gilbert, depends on the cross streets really.

If that's not who you're dealing with, then disregard my ramblings haha...

 

[iwannadie]

Is this guy you're talking to about this car named John or Johnny? If so it might be the guy I bought my Mk3 from man, he's sold a shitload of cars over the years. Not very active in the Supra community anymore though. Last I knew he lived kinda in the Tempe/Chandler area, might have technically been Gilbert, depends on the cross streets really.

If that's not who you're dealing with, then disregard my ramblings haha...

No, his name is mario supposedly. He was supposed to txt me back with a VIN but haven't gotten anything. I am just going to step away from the whole thing and not bother contacting him back. It just smells to odd to me.

 

[GrimJack]

Probably a dealer that uses CL to advertise - not uncommon at all. Just like the salesmen that take a lot car home every day, park it at home with a For Sale sign in it. They're called curbsiders up here. Nothing shady about it, just keep in mind that you'll end up paying dealership prices without the dealership warranty to fall back on.

 

[iwannadie]

Probably a dealer that uses CL to advertise - not uncommon at all. Just like the salesmen that take a lot car home every day, park it at home with a For Sale sign in it. They're called curbsiders up here. Nothing shady about it, just keep in mind that you'll end up paying dealership prices without the dealership warranty to fall back on.

That could make sense, when I talked to him he said he just got off work I wish I had asked oh where do you work or something. I keep thinking back to the phone call and trying to dissect it.

I asked some basic questions about the car and everything was perfect. I asked if it ever had any type of work done and he said no. What car hasn't ever had a starter or water pump or Something fail. If he is just flipping it through a dealer he wouldn't know that information I guess and just say no work has been done. The sticking point was when I asked for the VIN though, he paused for a long time then said well he's driving the car right now and can't give it to me until later. He said he would txt it to me as soon as he got home in 20 minutes, never herd back from him. He was also reluctant to email any type of pictures making excuses of being tired from work.

I think at this point I am trying to talk myself out of it for good reasons...

 

[Kangae]

What car hasn't ever had a starter or water pump or Something fail.

A car with a 1uz comes to mind...oh wait.

 

[subjug4tor]

A car with a 1uz comes to mind...oh wait.

+1
My SC400 has about 200,000 miles on it, and all that's been replaced is the alternator and power steering lines... So, not uncommon lol

 

[91Supra313]

Sounds like a scam to me. Ask him to meet up with you even if it is at his work. If he says it is not possible to meet him at his work ( like on lunch ) then don't do it. Alot of people get screwed over on that site and it just isn't worth the hassle. If he gets back to you with the VIN in a reasonable amount of time.....like a few minutes later when he gets where he is going, then it is looking better. Tell him that you want a pic of the title and verify the vin and title match. if he doesn't have the title in hand and refuses to get a title for the car from the DMV, then move on. I would hate to see someone get scammed on here over some junk on CL.

 

[iwannadie]

Sounds like a scam to me. Ask him to meet up with you even if it is at his work. If he says it is not possible to meet him at his work ( like on lunch ) then don't do it. Alot of people get screwed over on that site and it just isn't worth the hassle. If he gets back to you with the VIN in a reasonable amount of time.....like a few minutes later when he gets where he is going, then it is looking better. Tell him that you want a pic of the title and verify the vin and title match. if he doesn't have the title in hand and refuses to get a title for the car from the DMV, then move on. I would hate to see someone get scammed on here over some junk on CL.

In the past when I bought used cars(ebay) I always asked the seller to meet me at the DMV and transfer the title right there. I never trusted just being handed a title I'm always worried I would go to the DMV and suddenly there's a problem with it. Like I said he was fine with me setting up a place to look at the car and it sounded like he may had been ok with me going to his work to see it.

So far he hasn't contacted me though, maybe just busy or maybe he saw I wasn't going to be pushed over and moved on.

 

[ret]

Sounds like a scam to me. Ask him to meet up with you even if it is at his work. If he says it is not possible to meet him at his work ( like on lunch ) then don't do it. Alot of people get screwed over on that site and it just isn't worth the hassle. If he gets back to you with the VIN in a reasonable amount of time.....like a few minutes later when he gets where he is going, then it is looking better. Tell him that you want a pic of the title and verify the vin and title match. if he doesn't have the title in hand and refuses to get a title for the car from the DMV, then move on. I would hate to see someone get scammed on here over some junk on CL.

I doubt this is the case, but there are cases where you can't invite people to your place of employment so you can sell a car, have lunch, etc. The local Babcock & Wilcox comes to mind.

Still, if it feels sketch to you, I say don't do it. There's a chance that even if everything went smoothly, you may end up talking yourself into not being satisfied with the car, which just isn't worth it.

 

[iwannadie]

Well, never herd back from him and now the ad has been deleted. I'm wondering what the scam was though. Maybe he gets a bunch of calls then picks the easiest mark to try and scam that 1 person?

 

[91Supra313]

Sounds like it. Or he asks for a deposit and once he gets it he never contacts the person ever again.

 

[Keros]

Curbsiding, IIRC, is illegal, atleast in Canada. There's a restriction on how many cars you can buy/sell per amount of time before you can be charged with curbsiding. I saw a big fuss about it on CBC a while ago, seems it's a big problem further west.

The problem with it criminally is that people buy up wrecks, patchwork them back together, and sell them for discount prices on the side of the road to anyone with cash. Anyway, if the guy has a dealership lot and a license to sell cars then it's probably legit. But, if he has three pages of adds and no license, tell him to get bent.

Obviously, you'll know what to look for if the car has been wrecked... but either way, be suspicious... and to be safe, just keep looking.

 

[KevinM]

Sounds like a guy making a little money selling cars on craigslist. As long as you know what you're looking for and how to inspect, then no big deal. If you're worried about that, then I'd stick with certified pre-owned cars which stilll aren't going to be perfect.

 

[OneJArpus]

sounds like a business guy to me... just check out the car if you like buy if not keep it moving i'm sure he will have others to purchase it. Especially if he's using the same # on so many add's... he just knows how to flip cars or has a Dl license n sells em like that... my boss here does that, i post all his stuff on CL for him

 

[gtsfirefighter]

Sounds to me like he sold the car. I really don't understand what the big deal was.

 

[iwannadie]

Sounds to me like he sold the car. I really don't understand what the big deal was.

I haven't looked back much but the problem after he failed to contact me and deleted that ads were the Same cars were showing back up for sale. He would delete the ads and pictures removing any trace and the put then same car back up for sale. I doubt he has 5 sc400s all identical looking that he "MUST SELL TODAY".

I didn't know that was going on when I first contacted him but now I do. Also, if sellers backed out he must not really want to sell because he never contacted me back about it.

Again, I still don't know what the scam is that he's pulling. People keep suggesting that he takes in the mass calls and weeds it down to a few people he feels he can get over. Then likely asks for some type of deposit or something along those lines.

---------- Post added at 05:26 PM ---------- Previous post was at 05:22 PM ----------

Oh and for closure, we ended up finding and buying an sc300 off ebay. Great seller and great car. We ended up hanging out with the seller for a few hours just chatting when we went to pick it up.