Question, has anybosy bought a car on ebay? (muscle car, gasket, brakes)

[Roaddog]

My brother in-law bought a 88 Mazda PU on ebay, the guy said it had a new motor, well the motor was new in 88, it smokes has a blown head gasket or a cracked head, the seller made the truck sound good but it's a total junk pile, the seller wont cooperate at all so my brother in-law filed a claim with ebay to get his money back.
Has anyone filed a claim on a deal like this? did it go fairly smooth? Did you get your money? I looked at ebay's policy and it seems straight forward and my brother in-law shouldn't have a problem proving the dispute.

On a deal like this does my brother in-law get his shipping back?

[sunsprit]

I've had a few good car purchases on ebay ...

and, as posted in another thread here, I got screwed pretty badly (over $4,000) by another seller on a car. He'd been rolling back odometers and misrepresenting the quality and condition of his cars. I'm not worried about cosmetic issues, the stuff he misrepresented was major mechanical problems ... blown head gaskets, ABS systems out, brakes out, suspension worn out, emissions/electronics systems out, etc.

ebay was of no assistance whatsoever in recovering my money. The seller was being investigated by the FED for odometer tampering, and was charged with 16 counts in FED court. I know of over 24 cars that he'd dealt with through ebay, and contacted the buyers of many of those cars; all had similar bad experiences with this seller. In almost every case, however, nobody posted bad feedback for fear of reprisals from the seller or they didn't find out the extent of the problems until shortly after they'd posted feedback. I'd even had a lot of emails between me and the seller about specific mechanical questions before I bid and he simply lied in his responses ... told me the motor was good when I'd asked specifically about the head gaskets (an known problem in the series of car).

I think the only way you can protect yourself with an ebay car purchase is to inspect the car before bidding, or to have a trusted resource check the car out for you in advance. Or, put no more money into a deal than a minimal deposit and have the balance on delivery/inspection of the car at the seller's location. It may held to deal only with a reputable car dealer, but that's almost an oxymoron these days, especially when you're dealing out of state as a buyer.

In my case, it cost over $1,000 to ship the car from New England to me and the car on arrival wasn't worth half that as a parts car. We simply couldn't justify the cost of shipping it back at my expense to a seller at my who wasn't able to refund my money due to his legal problems ....

unless you had some sort of buyer purchase protection in the deal, it's unlikely you'll get the money back unless the seller willingly comes forward with the money.

good luck on resolving your dispute.

[chick]

He will not get anything back from the seller and ebay's policies mean nothing in the real world.

He bought the car AS IS!! It's called 'Caveat Emptor', meaning without a warranty the buyer takes the risk, and he can ask any attorney who will tell him the same thing.

Hopefully he learned a lesson.

[Roaddog]

Thanks for the replies, he bought the truck in Tenn. and shipped it home to Ca., i guess he will learn a good lesson, I've bought a truck on ebay but I inspected it in person first, if he would have told me he was going to do it I would have talked him out of it.
Thanks.

[2goldens]

My son purchased a car on E-Bay "as is" condition $10,500. cash and no terms plus transporter from Washington state to Florida = $$ expensive.
The condition of the car is fair, the pictures were beautiful. It's hard to
determine if the car got damaged during the transporting across USA or what.
He loves the car but he's just not happy with it that it needs repairs and body work.

[Magnum Mike]

I'm the type of person who prefers to see, touch and feel everything before buying it, and that certainly applies to buying cars/trucks. That's why I wouldn't buy anything from E-Bay.

I'm sure there are good things you can find on there, but something as significant as an automobile, I'd prefer paying for it and driving out of the lot.

[Roaddog]

Originally Posted by Magnum Mike

I'm the type of person who prefers to see, touch and feel everything before buying it, and that certainly applies to buying cars/trucks. That's why I wouldn't buy anything from E-Bay.

I'm sure there are good things you can find on there, but something as significant as an automobile, I'd prefer paying for it and driving out of the lot.

I really couldn't agree more, you just don't know what your getting into unless you see it in person.

[saadrajabali]

put your zipcode in on ebay, dealers advertise, you can fix a "see the car" session over email or phone too, its not like youre gonna buy a car halfway across the country, and from personal experience ebay is GREAT for muscle cars, i got a fully restored 1964 Chevy Impala SS, carolina blue with gold trim car with brand new equipment for 60000. so classic car enthusiasts should try on ebay definitely but in any case ebay turns out to be greater than other car advertising websites

[Dd714]

I cannot tell you how many horror stories I hear from the car forums from ebay car purchases - classic cars, used cars, muscle cars, etc. Even car sellers, with the letters from Nigeria wanting to by the car, etc. Ebay policies, etc, on recovery are worthless.

You can buy a car on ebay but DO NOT buy a car site unseen.

[Smoker]

I understand if you buy something on eBay and use PayPal they (PayPal) always sides for the buyer when a complaint is filed "not as described." Buyer gets all money paid back. I'm not sure if that would apply to cars but for regular merchandise it's seller beware.