Dealing with Idiots from Craigslist

[Grease]

Disclosure: This is a rant

Back Story:

So I find a great condition 2000 Limited with 163k miles for $5500 on the C-List. Figured it was worth the look, no rust and the body and interior were in excellent condition.

I hit the guy with the basic questions like; Have you had any issues with the vehicle? What recent maintenance/mods were done? Ect... He claimed that the truck was in excellent condition mechanically and no major modifications or work had been done "to my knowledge"... Guess he's got a bad memory

Unfortunately after looking under the truck for less than 60 seconds we found that the front drive shaft had been removed, both front axle seals had been recently sealed (grease EVERYWHERE) & replaced and that's where we stopped!

After being confronted the gentlemen changed his attitude completely and got hostile towards us, stating that the drive shaft was removed before his son bought the truck (4 years ago) and the tranny/axle seals were in great condition.... Despite listing the truck as 4X4 on Craigslist!

The fact of the matter is you cannot cover up wrench marks on the tranny housing or the excess grease from the axle seals... I was really looking forward to seeing this truck and had it mentally engraved in my mind that this would be the "one". I've been desperately wanting a 4Runner for a while now but it's ***holes like this that can ruin a persons day. Don't ask BlueBook value for a truck that needs major work, don't lie about it's issues and most importantly, don't try covering up the lies and get an attitude when you get called out about them!

Thanks for bearing with me guys, probably not the worst horror story out there by any means but at the bold age of 22 this one takes the cake. Time to keep looking! Feel free to vent/share your horror stories as well

 

[soupkitchen]

I look on CL daily and I am amazed at how rude most of the forsale or trade listings are...they usually end with "testing the waters.."

Old school manors and honesty have gone out the window, even if you are a great seller you have to deal with shakedown buyers...they are almost as bad as the "******* sellers".

I always give full disclosure and plenty of pics so there is no questions what you are coming to see....oh yeah and being polite helps too!!

 

[Unner]

I look on CL daily and I am amazed at how rude most of the forsale or trade listings are...they usually end with "testing the waters.."

Old school manors and honesty have gone out the window, even if you are a great seller you have to deal with shakedown buyers...they are almost as bad as the "******* sellers".

I always give full disclosure and plenty of pics so there is no questions what you are coming to see....oh yeah and being polite helps too!!

If I'm seriously looking for a vehicle I'm looking more on cars.com and autotrader than craigslist for these reasons...

 

[PWD4R]

Or when you hear a small clank and they lie about what it is lol.

I went to see a 1999 highlander edition (if I had realized it was a shit lot that sold cash cars I wouldn't have even looked at it) and I viewed it a while then drove it. Wasn't too impressed. It was only $4,500 or something like that but it had a lot of crap that annoyed me about it. I asked the dude in text if there are any issues I should know about. He said everything works as it should--haha no. Got there and tested lights and stuff and hardly any of them worked, rear window didn't roll down, had two big dents on the back (not in photos), alignment was way off but yet he told me he spend over a grand fixing things in it (which is a huge red flag) so I told him if he put all that money in things like the heater (which is barely needed in Texas and I have YET to ever experience a heater going out in Texas) why couldn't he do an $80 alignment? I told him I'd pay $2k for it lol.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[LittleCaesar]

Nothing beats the morons who post concerning cars that are a mechanic's special yet somehow are priced as much as they are worth in KBB. Or those "easy" fixes that for some odd reason the seller finds too hard to get fixed for themselves.

 

[nissanh]

I called a guy selling 03 4runner
Seller (S): Hello
I: Are you the owner?
S: No, my mom's friend
I: Can I have her number? I want to check the history with her
S: She cannot speak English
I: Well.. I can speak Spnish (I lied, now trying to make fun with seller)
S: She speaks Vietnamese!
I: I can speak it too... I am a language teacher for a school
S: Ok, I'll ask her to call you, as she is busy at work (time 11:58 AM CDT)
I: Well.. it is almost lunch time, I should be able to call her, so please give me her number
S: hangup!
I then sent him about 40 text messages to annoy him. Just one word per text!

Avoid buying from these sellers. or offer about 1500 less!

 

[StreetCreeper]

Disclosure: This is a rant

Back Story:

So I find a great condition 2000 Limited with 163k miles for $5500 on the C-List. Figured it was worth the look, no rust and the body and interior were in excellent condition.

I hit the guy with the basic questions like; Have you had any issues with the vehicle? What recent maintenance/mods were done? Ect... He claimed that the truck was in excellent condition mechanically and no major modifications or work had been done "to my knowledge"... Guess he's got a bad memory

Unfortunately after looking under the truck for less than 60 seconds we found that the front drive shaft had been removed, both front axle seals had been recently sealed (grease EVERYWHERE) & replaced and that's where we stopped!

After being confronted the gentlemen changed his attitude completely and got hostile towards us, stating that the drive shaft was removed before his son bought the truck (4 years ago) and the tranny/axle seals were in great condition.... Despite listing the truck as 4X4 on Craigslist!

The fact of the matter is you cannot cover up wrench marks on the tranny housing or the excess grease from the axle seals... I was really looking forward to seeing this truck and had it mentally engraved in my mind that this would be the "one". I've been desperately wanting a 4Runner for a while now but it's ***holes like this that can ruin a persons day. Don't ask BlueBook value for a truck that needs major work, don't lie about it's issues and most importantly, don't try covering up the lies and get an attitude when you get called out about them!

Thanks for bearing with me guys, probably not the worst horror story out there by any means but at the bold age of 22 this one takes the cake. Time to keep looking! Feel free to vent/share your horror stories as well

If it makes you feel any better, I drove up to this guys house right after you left. He was still standing there in the driveway actually.

I totally acted as if I was going to buy his truck and the guy got all excited. He also had the smuggest smile I'd ever seen as he glanced down the road at your quickly fading taillights.

So just as I was handing him $5,500 cash — I kicked him right in the nuts and said "that's for being a craigslist dick-bag and wasting Grease's time with your POS 4Runner!"

As I was backing out of his driveway, I wasn't looking behind me since I was too busy laughing and watching this idiot flop around on the ground while screaming in agony.

Anyways, unsurprisingly I backed over his vintage canary yellow Vespa scooter with my meaty MT 285s and 'don't give-a-shit bad attitude'.

Unfortunately, the Vespa's handlebar caught the edge of my armored bumper and I wound up dragging it forward about 15 feet as I turned to leave.

That ol' Vespa dug some serious deep-ass gouges across his beautifully manicured lawn before finally getting peeled off my bumper when it hit the massive 9 foot tall concrete mailbox that he had custom made to look like a Saguaro cactus.

A mailbox that I must say was not properly installed since it quickly toppled over and struck that stupid looking water-fountain with the fruity-ass gnomes on it; fracturing it into zillion pieces of course.

The real tragedy however, is when it broke — some of the wiring for the lights was exposed and made contact with the water, which instantly electrocuted his prized giant goldfish that lived in the fountain. Ironically the fish's name was Tesla...

Dude I'm really surprised you didn't see any of this in your rear-view mirror! Wtf!?

Anyways, if this makes you feel better — great, but if not, we can also pretend I just made all this up.

 

[mtbtim]

I think you have you beat on ass@*le vehicle sellers. I found a 3rd Gen for sale in the Los Angeles area on Auto Trader that was listed for $1000 under high KBB. It had low miles and looked in great shape. I call the guy and he says it's still for sale. I tell him I'll jump in my car with my girlfriend right now if he promises me he'll give me the first chance to purchase it. I told him I'm driving from San Jose and it will take me around 6 hours to get to his place and there's no way I'm going to drive that distance and find out he sold it to someone else while I'm on the road. So, he promises me he'll give me the first chance to buy it.

My girlfriend and I get all the way to LA, around a half hour from his house and I get a text from him. He says he's sorry, but his son sold the vehicle without him knowing. I tried to text him back and called him several times but no response. I guessed he was lying about the son selling it and the real story is he got a much higher offer than what he was asking for and screwed us over. I texted him and said at the very least he could have offered us compensation for our time and gas money we spent on the trip but I got no response. I can only hope there's a special place in hell for ass@*les like this. I killed an entire day for my girlfriend and I, 11 hours on the road, and I was out the gas money for the trip. Who does that kind of shit to people and are ok with it?

 

[GrassFed]

If it makes you feel any better, I drove up to this guys house right after you left. He was still standing there in the driveway actually.

I totally acted as if I was going to buy his truck and the guy got all excited. He also had the smuggest smile I'd ever seen as he glanced down the road at your quickly fading taillights.

So just as I was handing him $5,500 cash — I kicked him right in the nuts and said "that's for being a craigslist dick-bag and wasting Grease's time with your POS 4Runner!"

As I was backing out of his driveway, I wasn't looking behind me since I was too busy laughing and watching this idiot flop around on the ground while screaming in agony.

Anyways, unsurprisingly I backed over his vintage canary yellow Vespa scooter with my meaty MT 285s and 'don't give-a-shit bad attitude'.


Unfortunately, the Vespa's handlebar caught the edge of my armored bumper and I wound up dragging it forward about 15 feet as I turned to leave.

That ol' Vespa dug some serious deep-ass gouges across his beautifully manicured lawn before finally getting peeled off my bumper when it hit the massive 9 foot tall concrete mailbox that he had custom made to look like a Saguaro cactus.

A mailbox that I must say was not properly installed since it quickly toppled over and struck that stupid looking water-fountain with the fruity-ass gnomes on it; fracturing it into zillion pieces of course.

The real tragedy however, is when it broke — some of the wiring for the lights was exposed and made contact with the water, which instantly electrocuted his prized giant goldfish that lived in the fountain. Ironically the fish's name was Tesla...

Dude I'm really surprised you didn't see any of this in your review! Wtf!?!?

Anyways, if this makes you feel better — great, but if not, we can also pretend I didn't do any of that too.

I'll have what he's having.

I definitely know what y'all mean about the sellers.

If you've had to go private seller to buy yours I'm sure just about everyone got the rigamarole from the not so stand up type sellers.


Tim I had an experience along the same path as yours but much less severe. Had to drive to come see it and along the way the seller was getting offers from other people who were closer. The price was pretty low for what he was selling so it was understandable. Had to tell him that I was already on the road and that we agreed on a price so I won't be able to match every Joe Shmoe that says he'll give you more. I lucked out and the seller ended up being a really neat guy. Had some special circumstances with the deal and he ended up doing a lot more than he needed to for me. Made a friend out of the deal.

Long story short, buying private party for cars that have held their value well over time and often sell for above calculated values is a real pain in the ass with the lack of integrity that seems to plague the C-list type of places.

 

[Magmotor]

Cl

I looked on Cl for about 4 months:crybaby: before i got lucky with my 2001 SR5 2whl on CL. One owner, little old lady just drove to work and back,did all the maintenance and upkeep. Absolutely no rust anywhere. Gave it too her daughter for a wedding gift, she didn't like it..!! was too big, wanted more of a girly car, told her finance "just sell it". He put new alternator, water pump, belts, valve cover gaskets and brand new tires...! He listed it in 'fair' condition just because the 'backlight' on the radio didn't work and 'check engine' light was on. (easy fix O2 sensor). Long story short, I got this gorgeous machine for $3000.....:tongue: !!

 

[SAYWHAT]

A guy had a chevy truck listed, over $1500 of new parts recently installed. Did not run right, only needs a fuel filter. I replied, $1500 of new parts and you can not afford a new fuel filter, LMAO. He comes back, trying to keep the price down you dick beat.

 

[92Pony]

My favorite part of any CL ad;


"A/C just needs a recharge."

Yeah, sure that's all that's wrong with the A/C........ :nono:

 

[gamefreakgc]

Nothing beats the morons who post concerning cars that are a mechanic's special yet somehow are priced as much as they are worth in KBB. Or those "easy" fixes that for some odd reason the seller finds too hard to get fixed for themselves.

I saw one a few months ago, almost in perfect condition on the outside and in. Said it had a bad transmission, about 200k miles on it and was selling it for $1000. Even said in the ad you could buy a used tranny and have it installed for $1000 or less and sell it for a $2,000 to $3,000 profit!

Man, how dumb do they think we are.

 

[Ironman707]

The worst ones are the buyers who never even look at the car and try to make an offer or just don't show up.

When I sold my 98 I had tons of guys try to schedule test drives that wouldn't show up or just wasted my time with kicking the tires. But the ones that really pissed me off were the guys who would make stupid offers. They would offer half of the price and say they had cash in hand and ready as if I was in some huge hurry to sell my truck. They would make excuses to lower the price half way. Like "your truck has high mileage", it's a 98 and had 160k, no that's not high mileage. "Your truck is white, I'm looking for a black one"... Ok well keep looking lol

Luckily mine sold quick, but it was a pain in the ass. Specially with the younger kids.

 

[Ausumm]

When I was shopping for my 4Runner, I looked on CL a lot!
Can't believe that anyone seriously trying to sell a vehicle,
would put up an ad with a one sentence description and NO PICTURES!!

 

[Ghost4R]

Finally got my Runner this past weekend. Spent a month and a half looking on CL and dealing with several scammers, people asking way too much for a car in its condition, and people who listed their trucks completely inaccurately. Drove an hour (half way to where I was meeting the guy) when I called him up to ask a few more questions and when I asked last time the 4x4 was used he tells me it was a 2wd despite being listed as 4wd!

Getting my hands on this one was truly an exhausting battle, the knowledge of how great these cars can be has spread far and wide and people are trying to capitalize on them more and more.

Good luck man, the right one is out there!

 

[AZBub]

Nothing worse than being a seller and having some schmucky potential buyer tell you/demand that you lower the price because THEY had to drive to come look at it, omg such an inconvenience when you want to buy something. Then when they get there ***** about the stuff you were going to throw in free that wasn't mentioned in the ad because its older parts and then demand yet another discount. THEN he asks me what kind of warranty i'm going to give him.

I later went to Frys grocery store and pulled the same thing with the produce guy over a tomato.

 

[amalik]

what's funny is i have pretty good CL experiences. Haven't tried to buy a T4R on there, but I just got home from a CL deal on 2 Dewalt drills (1 hammer, 1 normal) for $70 w/ 2 batteries and a charger, All Ni-CAD.

 

[Grease]

The real tragedy however, is when it broke — some of the wiring for the lights was exposed and made contact with the water, which instantly electrocuted his prized giant goldfish that lived in the fountain. Ironically the fish's name was Tesla...

He actually spoke of his "trophy" goldfish... Said it was a "one of a kind specimen" that he had traveled to Southern Japan for. He then mentioned that when he arrived, he had to fight a part time samurai and his monkey to earn the fish. After a grueling 5 hour sword fight, the samurai and his minion monkey eventually gave up and allowed the man to take the goldfish in a trade for a limited edition Pokemon card and 7 golden bananas.


I'm glad you got him where it hurts

 

[StreetCreeper]

what's funny is i have pretty good CL experiences. Haven't tried to buy a T4R on there, but I just got home from a CL deal on 2 Dewalt drills (1 hammer, 1 normal) for $70 w/ 2 batteries and a charger, All Ni-CAD.

Same here, usually have good luck with CL as a buyer. I hate selling because of the idiots. My favorite was some dork asking for a $200 refrigerator — for free ... because he was broke and could really use a second ( yes second ) fridge! Oh and he was wondering if I would deliver it too since he only had a car.

My last score was in this post: http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/219247-craigslist-win.html