Bad car purchase - advice???
Hi,
I'm a long time ebayer with approx 300 feedback. So I bought a car two weeks ago. It was a private eBay listing from the next town over. I eBay-mailed the seller and asked if I could take a look. We then conversed through our personal email accounts and cell phones. Seller was asking $22,900 for this car a 2005 Audi S4 Cabriolet with 52,000 miles. *I test drove it for about 20 minutes. It needed some work, but all in all, I thought it drove pretty smoothly. I did think it was a little "high strung", and not that smooth to drive, but i figured it was because it had a 340 hp v8. * Price was on the low side because of the condition and it also had a not-so-great carfax report that said the car was involved in an accident with frame damage. *And it had 3 owners. *Seller told me that the previous owner was a friend and that he had driven the car under a tractor trailer. This actually caused relatively minor damage - a small dent in the hood and a small scrape on the aluminum a-pillar. Plus, there was a very small cosmetic rip in the convertible top *No airbags and no frame damage. The top needed a nudge with my hand to help it close. Seller made no mention of it in the listing.*
So I actually thought this guy was pretty trusting. He lived near me in a very expensive home. He grew up in my town and he went to school with several of my neighbors. So I made a deal with him for $20,000 outside of eBay (my idea), as I wanted to pay the lowest price possible. Wife was pissed and made me call him and tell him that the other issues - top, bad carfax, etc warranted a better price. He wouldn't budge and I wanted the car, so I made the deal. *
I picked up the car on a Monday 5/30 and right away, I realized that there was no NAV disc in the car. I drove it back and he couldn't find the disc in his garage but promised to get it for me(he ordered it from eBay, but I still haven't received it). Driving the car that day and the next, it was apparent that there was something wrong with the transmission (auto). Revs would fluctuate +/-50 rpm when I was trying to drive steady at 30 - 50 mph. I called the Audi dealer and explained the symptoms and was told it probably was a bad torque converter (expensive). *I emailed the seller the second day and told him about the problems. I am 100% certain that he knew about the Torque Converter issue, as it was IMPOSSIBLE to drive the car smoothly in it's current state. *He claims that he takes "great offense" to that accusation, as he fixed everything he knew about.*
I took it to my local shop and they said it needed a torque converter at about $2,500. *Once in the shop, they found another $900 of repairs that were needed - mainly 2 cv joints.*
The seller was very nice through all of this and hinted that he would help. I met him in the shop (we use the same one) He saw all of the defective pieces and car taken apart. We shook hands two days ago and I was expecting him to throw at least $500 my way. Tonight he told me to f**k off via email and I am royally pissed off.*
So... *First I am being respectful, because I am waiting for this guy to give me my NAV disc. Afterwards, I would like to tell him that I am reporting him to eBay for selling outside of eBay. Problem is, that may backfire and he could report me as a buyer too... *I would deny that I offered, * *
but eBay is just a machine, so I might get suspended too.*
My goal is to threaten him really. I just want him to kick back even $500. *Its the right thing to do, and i think he's just being a prick *I mean the guy just sold me a car that needed $3,500 in repairs the very next week!!!
Any thoughts, advice, etc. *Would be greatly appreciated.*
Thanks
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