Jan. 27, 2010, 07:30 PM
I'm wondering what you folks think about this. I've already made up my mind, but read this first before you go to my opinion:
A friend recently bought a car (2004 Ford Taurus) on Ebay Motors, sight unseen, just a picture and a glowing report on its attributes. The car was in great condition as far as the body went, but the engine blew on the way home. Guess who had to go get him 8 hours away. Yep, you got it. I saw the service records and apparently it had been maintained very well, but the odometer read over 300,000 miles and it was a fleet vehicle.
Now I don't know about you, but plunking down a few grand on a car without test-driving it or even seeing it personally is nuts! I warned him about this folly, but he's one of those eccentric geniuses with absolutely NO common sense (he bought a used Yugo once -- need I say more?) and he didn't listen. And this Taurus was supposed to be for his daughter to drive at college over 600 miles away!! Yaaaagggghhh!
Now, was this smart? I wouldn't even think about buying a car unless I had test-driven it, had it looked over thoroughly by our mechanic (engine compression check, too), checked the Carfax and service records, made sure it hadn't been in any flood-prone areas (eastern NC, Gulf coast, etc.), and checked the going price for that type car in that condition. Would you?
Now he has to fork over $2100 for a rebuilt engine, and since it's been in the shop, the mechanic looked it over and found it needs CV joints and boots (front-wheel-drive curse), the transmission leaks fluid, it needs a new master cylinder and vacuum booster, and the trunk and sunroof both leak. Geez! The sunroof was added when the car was a year old and not even centered correctly.
His wife is ready to kill him. He's due to pick the rolling wreck up in about two weeks, and I told him to go ahead and fix the engine and sell the damn thing. This just sounds like an ongoing disaster to me. What do you guys think?
Is it a good idea to buy a car like that, or am I missing something here? Seems people do buy cars they haven't even touched and it is not all that uncommon anymore, especially with the Internet now. Maybe I'm just too old-school about things now?
Gaaaahhhh.
Looking forward to your input on this, friends.
Purrs,
Pookie
A friend recently bought a car (2004 Ford Taurus) on Ebay Motors, sight unseen, just a picture and a glowing report on its attributes. The car was in great condition as far as the body went, but the engine blew on the way home. Guess who had to go get him 8 hours away. Yep, you got it. I saw the service records and apparently it had been maintained very well, but the odometer read over 300,000 miles and it was a fleet vehicle.
Now I don't know about you, but plunking down a few grand on a car without test-driving it or even seeing it personally is nuts! I warned him about this folly, but he's one of those eccentric geniuses with absolutely NO common sense (he bought a used Yugo once -- need I say more?) and he didn't listen. And this Taurus was supposed to be for his daughter to drive at college over 600 miles away!! Yaaaagggghhh!
Now, was this smart? I wouldn't even think about buying a car unless I had test-driven it, had it looked over thoroughly by our mechanic (engine compression check, too), checked the Carfax and service records, made sure it hadn't been in any flood-prone areas (eastern NC, Gulf coast, etc.), and checked the going price for that type car in that condition. Would you?
Now he has to fork over $2100 for a rebuilt engine, and since it's been in the shop, the mechanic looked it over and found it needs CV joints and boots (front-wheel-drive curse), the transmission leaks fluid, it needs a new master cylinder and vacuum booster, and the trunk and sunroof both leak. Geez! The sunroof was added when the car was a year old and not even centered correctly.
His wife is ready to kill him. He's due to pick the rolling wreck up in about two weeks, and I told him to go ahead and fix the engine and sell the damn thing. This just sounds like an ongoing disaster to me. What do you guys think?
Is it a good idea to buy a car like that, or am I missing something here? Seems people do buy cars they haven't even touched and it is not all that uncommon anymore, especially with the Internet now. Maybe I'm just too old-school about things now?
Gaaaahhhh.
Looking forward to your input on this, friends.
Purrs,
Pookie