Have you had a member look at a car on your behalf?

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69CudaFan

69CudaFan

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I have a question. How many members have had a fellow member initially examine a potential purchase on their behalf? There is a car I may be interested in (though I would never buy a car without seeing it with my own eyes first), but I was thinking of asking around on this site to see if there was a knowledgeable guy in the area with some extra time on his hands to possibly give the car an initial look.

I can see upsides and potential downsides to this (upside - no 10 hour ride to MAYBE see if a car is worth it, downside - potentially having a car bought out from under you that you led someone else to), and I know that there are evaluation services offered on a commercial basis, but wanted to gather opinions from others on this site and figure out if this is something I may want to do down the road.

My thought process is that I am kind of figuring that most people that would agree to look at a car for someone else would not pull some underhanded hijinx, but I wanted to check.

Just some random thoughts:

Are there good and bad experiences with this course of action out there? Is there potential for FABO to create a section for those types of services and take a cut for linking up people for this type of thing? Just wondering and trying to think of other ways to boost $$ for the site to keep the greatest car site on the web fiscally healthy. :cheers:
 
i wouls be more worried about my idea of a clean car and the member going to check it out for me idea of a clean car being the same more then them buying it out from under me. i would really have to trust the member could pick out bad things under good looking paint.

too many times i see people say how clean a car is or how nice a car is only to be able to pick out bad paint or crappy body work from crappy pictures. god knows how bad the cars are in person..lol
 
From another forum I frequent I volunteered to look at a car. It had been represented to him as "rust-free", "good shape", ya-da, ya-da. He was preparing to rent a trailer and drive about 750 mi. to pick it up.

When I looked at it, I couldn't believe it was the same car. Rusted out trunk pan, 1/4" thick bondo in places where it was breaking off, just a total pos. I took lots of close up pics and saved the guy the time, expense and frustration of making a trip for nothing.

Now, if I had been interested in the car - most likely I would have also seen it advertised.
C
 
abodyjoe,

I agree with your statement. I would never buy a car based upon someone else's assessment sight unseen. I am talking about using that 3rd party to basically certify the claims of the selling owner without having to fly or drive to see it initially. I also concur that sometimes it takes a trained eye and other descrepancies you can see from a mile away even in blurry bad pics some sellers post with.

clhyer,

You make a valid point that if the person inspected was interested in buying that chances are they would have seen the ad as well. I actually never really gave that much thought.
 
I had another FABO member look at a car on my behalf before deciding

to purchase it.

it would have been a 3100 km drive for me to go and view the car.

I discussed with the seller and the person who viewed the car prior to

making these arrangements. I requested specific things to be viewed and

an accurate description with documentation and photos provided to me.

I am happy to say that there were no disappointments and I have very

high standards. would I do it again? if it was the same FABO member...

no doubt! with his extensive Mopar knowledge he provided me with more

info and insight than I requested. I felt comfortable talking to him on the

phone and that is why I decided to go that route. If my gut told me that

something did not feel right, I would not of gone this route.

I have the had the car for almost 3 years now and there have been no

issues. it gets driven on nice weather days and has even won a few car

show awards. bottom line is that I trusted the person who acted on my

behalf and it all turned out good.
 
I would pay the reviewer in some form. Most of us have spare parts that another would enjoy. I would mainly have them inspect for rust and hidden damage, and rely mostly on close-up photos they take. It appears that most personal ebay sellers are quite honest and show close-ups of any problem areas. Not so true of companies like junkyards and tow companies, or many on craigslist. The worst are sellers who inherited a car, especially if they watched a TV show like Mecum's or went to a few car shows. The less they know of cars, the more of a bad attitude they have and think they can claim "4 barrel carb", thinking we wouldn't notice.
 
I've gone and looked at a few cars for members here, one was for a member from Canada who also didn't want to drive all the way to see the car. I also took pics, called him when I was there looking at the car, took the car for a test drive and tried to be a thorough as I could be to help him make his decision. I know he bought it and was very pleased when he received it, I can't remember if he drove down to get it or not, but he did shoot me $50.00 for my trouble. I never ask for $$ from anybody who I look at cars for, just because I love to look at them myself. I would also NEVER scoop somebody out from underneath a car, that just isn't right!!

I also looked at a few other cars for people but never heard whether they bought them or not. I have also been requested to keep mum until they had the chance to buy a car, which I always do anyway!!

I think it's a good idea to have someone you trust do a little recon before coming in from out of town, and it helps to have your trusted cohort take the pics and not rely on the seller!! JMO, Geof
 
I've never had a member do it, but I have had a relative do it for me. I knew him all of my life and I trusted his opinion.

Also, I usually bring another knowledgeable friend or relative with me when buying a used vehicle. Just to be sure that I'm not wearing rose colored glasses while looking at the potential purchase. I usually tell them to be fairly critical of the vehicle, and to point out anything that they see wrong, even if they think I noticed it.
 
I have looked at cars and trucks and gave my opinion for other people.Don't think that if you pay someone they are immediately yours.They are either trustworthy or they are not.No amount of money will change that.As you can see-on here the lions share of members are not shysters.Just remember that if you have someone to look at a vehicle then decide you don't want it,it is fair game to anyone.
 
I have looked at a car for a fellow member from here on FABO. He was going to drive from Tenn. to Indiana to look/buy a Dart that was less than 10 miles from me. After looking at it he decided it wasn't what he was looking for.

Also on another site I looked at a car that was about an 1 1/2 hour drive for me. I called him and talked at lenght of the condition and even when I was on a test drive in it was talking to him. It was a nice day and I got my Prowler out for a drive. It had many things he was wanting, but had been wrecked and had a salvaged title, blown air bags and repaired frame. It drove nive, was very quick so the repairs other than air bags were done well.

His plan was to repaint it from the factory red to Pearl white. It had some rock chips but I figured that didn't matter, told him about them, but that is what he complained about. What the Hell, rock chips and he was going to repaint the whole car.

Long story short, I would do it again, the car is BEAUTIFUL and he seems very happy with it.

My long distance story

Seen a 69 Coronet 500 convertible in NY for sale. Mom thought it would be a good car for dad and I made arrangements for my brother who lived 90 miles from it to go look at it. It was to be a rust free California car. My brother used to help my uncle at his body shop so figured he would be a good person to look at it for me.

He told me that it was in good shape, so I made the deal over the phone then made a 10 hour drive to go get it.

My 1st thought was what the hell did my brother see. It had cheap seat covers on top of the original seats (could see the seams and ribs) all the body work that had been done could be seen (yes rust free, but had dings and dents repaired)

Mom had given me a certified check for the amount (big mistake). I would not have given him as much had I known the real condition. It was a good car, just not what I expected. Then the title issue, old enough that it didn't need a title, but was registered in his EX wifes name only. He thought he would have his girlfriend sign it and I would be gone. NOPE, made him call his ex and drive about an hour to get her to sign it.

Long story with even a worse ending, but a happy ending afterall

Got it home and was dad surprised, not really, didn't care much for it, so sold it to a good friend who's dad wanted a 69 Coronet 500 convertible in 69, but with 3 young boys didn't think it was a good choice so he bought a 69 Coronet 500 Station wagon with woodgrain sides.

Brians dad still has the car and drives it every once in a while.

If anyone wanted me to look at a car for them I would if I had time and it was close by. I have worked on cars most all my life, had 2 years auto mech schooling and owned over 100 cars & trucks over the past 38 years. I might be too picky, but anyone that I would look at a car for would know what it looks like before ever seeing it, dings dents rust, engine condition and how it drives.

If I were to look at a car and the person that didn't want it and I had some interest, yes I might buy it, but only after the interested party said they were not interested any more

So there are several GOOD PEOPLE out there that will go out of there way to help a total stranger with only the common bond of the Internet and love of cars.

Take a chance, you might be pleasently surprised
 
I would have to say on the person looking at the car for you, first if they had seen the ad for it but werent interested no issues, and also remember that not everyone is in the market to buy a car, go look at one for you- most likely as that takes little to no effort and good people will enjoy helping a fellow enthusiest out.
 
I had someone from another site look at a car for me about 3 years ago. He took about 100 pictures and we spent over an hour on the phone going over the pictures and just talking about the car. I bought the car without seeing it in person based on the detail that he provided me. The car was just as he described it, and I was not disappointed with the purchase. I would definitely have someone look at a car for me again, but doubt I would ever buy a car again without seeing it firsthand unless it was inspected by the guy that helped me before.

Good luck,
Craig
 
I've been on both sides of that coin....

To have another member look at a vehicle for you, you have to have confidence in that member. If you do not know him/her, examine some of their posts on the forum. do they seem knowledgeable. I for one, wouldn't volunteer at this stage, on this forum, as I haven't developed much in the way of knowledge yet on the Mopars. Heck - I don't even have one.

On another forum I frequent, I did recently enlist a fellow member to assist me in looking at a vehicle in another state. The dealer was being very slow in responding to my request for pics (NONE in the ad...) Finally got 3 (wow....) cell phone pics, and a few minutes later got 10+ large images from my forum buddy, and a complete description of everything on the vehicle (this wasn't a 'complete, thorough' inspection - I just wanted him to give me a quick 'scope out' and some pics....) The guy that did this for me owns his own restoration shop.

So...I would say the process works quite well, if you understand who you have assisting you.
 
Totally depends on what you expect from the member. I would gladly help another member out. Up to this point, I have not jumped a plane to look at any car.
 
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