MX-3.com

Jeff had his car for sale. I'm a student whos policy with his parents expires at the end of December. I was looking for a relatively inexpensive way to get myself started. Jeff's car was posted for $1500.

In conversations with Jeff, I asked whether the car was in running condition and if it was e-test/safety ready...

"The car is definately in running condition, and it actually runs very well. The only reason I am not driving it and selling it is because since we had a second child, we needed a bigger vehicle. My wife drove a 2 dr Civic."

"I don't forsee any issues with having it certified"

Emptying my bank account on good faith that a car that was not allowed to be taken for a test drive because its plates were off, was working as well as Jeff led me to believe it was, I paid the $1500 and an extra $100 to get it taken away to get the safety inspection done on it.

The car requires just over $1000 of work to get it to pass safety alone, plus underlying problems with the tranny/belt that aren't related to the safety inspection.

Jeff will not take the car back. I'm out $1600 on something that "runs very well" and now have to make a decision between my tuition, or getting this thing on the road by adding enough money into the car to make my overall expenses more than what the car's retail value is.

In short, the car is worth scrap. Jeff sold me a lemon and misled the condition of the car, and is now screwing a student saying there's nothing he can do, less than 24hrs after the transaction happened.

Since I'm locked out of posting in the B&S forum, I'll quickly state that onlookers who are willing to invest the money into this thing can take it off my hands for $1000. Otherwise, there's currently a small-claims order in the process.

I have no intention here to take sides but some times a car that seems perfectly fine can need work. I also know that one garage may have one standard and another garge have another. I sold a car to someone and told them where to take it for a safety. They took it to a garage I warned them not to. Weeks later it was still at that "fussy" garage when it should of only cost them a few hundred. They said "I ripped them off" and I said "no you went to a guy that holds a safety over someones head to extort repairs out of them". Anyway just my 5c worth.

During talks about known places to get the car certified, Jeff suggested this perticular place that we ended up taking it to, and mentionned them being honest and upfront. I live about a 5min walk from that place and knew about it as well. There's no gouging going on from their side, both Jeff and I know that.

I also understand and appreciate that there would probably be SOME work to be done on the car, but not a list, and not for over $1000. We had discussed the rear brakes, and a small crack in the left headlight, that's all Jeff figured would need to be fixed. Instead, I was presented a fair list of things this morning, not a good way to wake up.

Not to be a jerk, but if you couldn't test drive it, why wouldn't you have spent the 100 to take it to a safety inspection shop FIRST, before you gave such a huge chunk of change away?

It's true that every car can seem to be in perfect order but thats why it's important to test drive the vehicle or have it inspected prior to buying it. Cars are an investment no matter how you look at it, and proper research needs to be done to ensure you're making the right choice. I hope it all works out. I'm sure being that Jeff will work something out.

In heindsight, you're correct, that's exactly what I should've done. This is my first venture into buying a car. When I saw Jeff's up for sale on an enthusiast forum, I figured it'd be safer than going through some unknown on kijiji or something since he's the forum admin and all. So I trusted him and didn't get the test done first.

Jeff is adamant that there is "nothing he can do", which I don't quite understand. What he could do is take the car back so that I can at least have my tuition in my hands and look at a car some other time.

Nevertheless once newyears is over, there'll be a court order going through. I have a witness to everything that was said during the transaction process, including that the car would have no problems passing safety. Jeff was made aware of my financial situation being a student, and assured me of something that never happened. Now I'm stuck and "there's nothing he can do".

heres the kicker...... was it posted OR did he say it's "AS IS" If he did not then you may have a case.
I ran into a problem like this b4 when I bought a car from a friend and I drove it 2 hours home and the next day the tranny went! I told them and they wanted to give me all the money back!! I said no since it was AS IS so we agreed that I get half my money back.

But just take it and get a fake safety and do the work yourself... thats what I do! That was you know your not getting raped by parts that don't need replacing!

EDIT: Looking at his post in the FS section... it WAS in fact posted as "AS IS" which means buyer beware you get what you pay for! Regardless of what was said of mouth. Posting will hold up in court, words have a hard time.

My witness and the pms we shared over the running condition of the car will circumvent the "as is" thing. "as is" is fine and all, but the way "is" was advertised is not the way it ended up being, so I was mislead.

"as is" has no legal grounds if you're not answering questions around the "is" part in truth. I've got my lawyer uncle hovering over my shoulder right now, lol.

An easy example would be:

"This car is as is"
"do the brakes work?"
"oh yeah, for sure"

and the brakes don't end up working.

The car you purchased was sold as is.
It's almost 14 years old! Is NOT going to be like new.

mazdags94 wrote:Cars are an investment no matter how you look at it, and proper research needs to be done to ensure you're making the right choice.

Cars are never an investment, unless you got a classic your restoring. That's probably not what you mean. Car's are a money pit, they're not cheap, require maintenance and upkeep to keep it reliable. Than once the mod-bug bites, you start to spend way more than the value of the car itself, lol.

We went though a similar deal with my dad's TL, we got screwed about huge, they just reset the battery/code rather than fix stuff. We were actually going to take him to court, he had some good stuff against him, even kept the receipts for the labor. In the end, my dad just lost interest in taking it to court. We got the TL all fixed, even after fighting with the local Acura dealership wanting to fix stuff other than what we wanted to get done, and we were paying for it too. Now it working great, gets even better milleage, and my dad is no longer upset and doesn't want anthing to do the guy. My Xterra, I found evidence that it got repainted in the rear passenger quarter, and the rear passenger door doesn't sit right with the roof (the door seals great) but what can I do? The dealership probably didn't know, and any records don't show anything about it. But it's mechanically sound, drives fine, it's been a great truck, i plan on keeping it for a long time, just have to keep it maintained.


I wasn't there, I don't know what to say. I can't take sides not knowing the whole story, and I would have the same mentality to get a car from Jeff rather than an unknown person, but I hope you guys can get it resolved.

In the end, getting a used car, even if it was safetied and certified, still may need and will need work. What do you really expect for $1500? Most $1500 cars are real POS's. You want something cost-free, you can get brand new Kia with a warranty for cheap, but you cant forget there are the maintenance intervals that you have to pay for too.....or you can lease.

Welcome to the world of cars...have fun.

Custommx3 wrote:The car you purchased was sold as is.
It's almost 14 years old! Is NOT going to be like new.

Who said I was expecting a 14yr old car to be like new?

When I, a student on a budget, ask about safety, which hasn't been done, and am told that the rear brakes and possibly the left headlight would be my only barriers to getting the thing certified, I take that person's word for it, especially someone like Jeff.

the rear brakes, which Jeff was so kind as to give me a new pair of before leaving his house, and a crack in the headlight turned into....and I'm just copying this off the invoice:

Rear Brakes (discussed)
Shoes (same)
E-Brake is seized
RS Inner Tie Rod
Licence Plate Lights
Exhaust Manifold crack
Res Pipe
Weld Muffler

Even if I got a partial refund for like, half the safety invoice, that'd be fine. I don't see what's not fair in that. Jeff gets 1k for the car, and I put 1k in to it to get it on the road.

Just so you know, all of those things can be fixed by you for cheap (except the muffler. If it just needs welded, a muffler shop shouldn't charge you more than $15), and you can probably find the parts here for cheap.
If someone charged me $1000 for that work, I WOULD sue!

OK the fact that you keep saying "STUDENT" is getting really anoyying.... It's like saying.... Hi I'm poor... can I have a discount because I choose this way of life?? Maybe you need to save up some more money and buy a better car that is well.... brand new in your eyes that COMES cert and E-tested. Buying a car is hit or miss, my winter beater costed $400 and I replaced the tierod ends and ball joints and it is an awsome car!!
This will honestly go know where.

Rear Brakes (discussed)
Shoes (same)
E-Brake is seized (they're always seized if the cars been sitting)
RS Inner Tie Rod ( buy one and do it yourself, no biggy. 15 minute job)
Licence Plate Lights (You should of noticed that if you bothered to do even a minimal inspection prior to buying)
Exhaust Manifold crack (didn't you hear it? Just get it brazed or buy one off of one of us)
Res Pipe (Just get it welded, I just did that on the MX6 I just bought)
Weld Muffler (enough said there)

I don't see a big deal here. Every car I've bought in the last 5 years has had most of these issues. Somethings are common and with experience you'll learn to expect this of a used 5+ year old vehicle. Drop the court thing and just get to fixing the car with our help. Cheers.

I bought 01 Ram, its much newer than Jeff's mx-3 or any mx-3 for that matter. It was sold as-is condition but I got warranty for it, in case anything does break. When you buy car so old is it automatically in "as-is" condition, unless seller offers some kind of warranty.

mitmaks wrote:I bought 01 Ram, its much newer than Jeff's mx-3 or any mx-3 for that matter. It was sold as-is condition but I got warranty for it, in case anything does break. When you buy car so old is it automatically in "as-is" condition, unless seller offers some kind of warranty.

I got a 91 323 cert and e-tested with warranty from a used dealer 4 yrs ago, breakline broke the 3rd day I had it, I brought it back they changed them all no charge!

Used car comes in 3 ways.

AS IS: Buy it and fix it your self. Money is given tow it or temp permit it home.

Cert/E-tested: Drive away with it, If any problems in the 31 days fall on the mechanic who did the safety!

Cert/Etested with warranty from a used car dealer if they offer it.