Never buy a car from a friend

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TXCrash

Gunshy
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So...


Bought a car from a friend (87 subaru gl wagon). I wanted a wagon, they had a wagon, represented it as a well running, good condition car which needed some work. I didn't scruitinize the car as much as I should have. Instincts told me no, but I trusted the f*ckers. Wife wanted a wagon for a beach trip, so I jumped on it. Car damn near stranded me a whole 4 blocks from my house. Maybe the timing's screwed up (I need to borrow a timing gun from my parental unit) but still... Once I really got to looking at the car I saw issues that should have been disclosed by a friend. If I'd bought the car from anyone else - I would have seen same issues, but a friend should disclose same.

Either he's a piss poor mechanic or a cheat. Neither is good - especially since I KNOW he replaced the timing belt. I also recieved the bill of sale they recieved from the previous owner. They bought the car for 1/3 of what I paid - not a huge issue if the car was as represented.

I should know better by now to NEVER ignore my instincts. They're always right. From the big fight with my father (long story) to this, every time I've ignored by instincts I've gotten F*ked.

Original friend is the wife of the guy that sold me the car. She's a mechanical dipsh*t, he seems like a good guy but there's always been something about him I don't like.

I owe another payment - but I'm starting to think what they've recieved already is more than the POS car is worth. Bastard.


I really don't wanna loose a friend over this. She's a friend of my wife as well as mine (she's a former coworker - she shares a hobby interest with my wife - there's NO sexual tension because she's so far from my type and I'm apparently the same). This F*n sucks. If I'd bought the car from a stranger, well - shame on me. I bought the car from a freind. SHame on us both.



NEVER BUY A CAR FROM A FRIEND



P.S. - EVery time I see the "yes we've seen it" thread I think "Gosh - I don't think I've posted a picture of "it" (the big one - or is that little one?)online"


Whooooo - lots of rum followed by pbr followed by warm mirror pond pale.. tomorro will be fun!


Wife is now gone for a week... I'm outta money and outta homebrew.. damnit
 
Since this is my thread.


I'm watching "Tank Girl" (would be aweful sober)

"Just think of the first time you got laid" "Daddy - are you sure this is right?"

That's all kinds of farked up
 
Passed out before I finished the movie. Looks like I'll have to on demand or something it - guess that means I'll have to drink heavily again tomorrow - darn!

I get to "really" be up at 5.30 - not sure why I woke up.

In other news I have 200# of blackberries and 24# of blueberries int he spare freezer that's taking it's sweet farking time cooling down.
 
Park it through his window/garage door/ on his porch and tell him he can keep your money AND have the car back.
 
Never SELL a car to a friend.

See original post.

Yup. Meant to say that too but obviously I was feeling pretty good when I wrote that. I've refused to sell cars to friends because of this - wish I'd went with my gut on this one.
 
I'm confused. You say you bought it form a friend. Wouldn't you now the condition of the car? I'm in my friends cars all the time, and I know how they treat them. I know I would buy any car one friend sells and would steer clear of my other friends cars.
 
What kind of friend sells their friend a car for 3 x what they paid? That is all kind of wrong right there, never mind the condition.
 
Yeah, regardless of friend or not, you're spending your money, you should have looked it over sorry. It's 20 years old, that should be a sign to make sure you look at it closely. Unfortunately some people don't do anything with a car besides run it till it dies and replace it.
AS far as owing another payment but you thinking you already paid more than its' worth, You would be a piece of sh*t person to follow through with this mentality. YOU agreed to pay that amount for THAT car, Pay that amount.
The bill of sale is not an accurate representation of what they paid f they bough it from a private seller. I "bought a camper for $200 bucks" this summer. Yes I paid more than that, but we put that on the BOS to save me taxes on the title. I've done with with everything I've bought/sold from a private seller. It's just nice to do for the other person.
 
What kind of friend sells their friend a car for 3 x what they paid? That is all kind of wrong right there, never mind the condition.

really ? So if I got a real good deal on a car keep it a while I should sell it to friend and take less than its worth ? BS You want to borrow my car use it few days sure but when I go to sell it I expect to get what the car is worth.

1987 Subaru ? 22 years old, friend or not I would have checked the car out or had a mechanic look it over . The owner may have not known there was anything wrong with the car and he didn't make you buy it you agreed to buy it ,pay the money owed.
 
really ? So if I got a real good deal on a car keep it a while I should sell it to friend and take less than its worth ? BS You want to borrow my car use it few days sure but when I go to sell it I expect to get what the car is worth.
If you want what it is worth, don't sell it to a friend. If you make a profit like from a friend, well, you are not their friend. Pretty simple as I see it.
 
I'm hoping that this was a lesson that didn't cost you more than a couple hundred bucks. Closest I could quickly ballpark on the Kelly Blue Book site was $500 for an '89 Subie GL 4WD wagon with a couple hundred thousand miles, in fair condition. If you paid much more than that, the issue isn't buying the car from a friend, it's paying ANY good money for a car that you have to assume is a POS at this point.
 
If you want what it is worth, don't sell it to a friend. If you make a profit like from a friend, well, you are not their friend. Pretty simple as I see it.

How do you know the seller made a profit? There's not enough info.

The guy replaced the timing chain . . plus who knows what else. He may have had more $$$ into it than what he sold it for.

Moral of the story is that you should always spend $100 to get a mechanic to look over a potential purchase, no exceptions.
 
Friend has agreed to take car back and refund what was paid. Money has already been spent but I have no doubt I'll be reimbursed reasonably quickly.

BOS's are accurate around here. We pay a flat rate for registration in Oregon, negating need to falsify BOS's.

He would have made a a profit - there is no problem with that had the car been as represented. It was definitely my bad to not thoroughly look the car over - and to buy the car in the dark...

No hard feelings on my part (I waited to contact said friend until I was calm about the situation). He's a piss poor mechanic that thinks he's a lot better mechanic than he is. Car has potential... but is barely worth what HE paid for it...
 
Well congrats on him taking the car back.

Figured he would, and had he not we would have worked something out. The amount of money in question wasn't enough to loose a friend over - had they insisted I pay the remaining amount I would have.

They had just recently bought the car and due to schedules and living in different towns I don't see them all that often. Before last Saturday I'd never seen the car and heard it run the first time on Sunday. My bad was trusting his mechanical abilities and assessment of the car. As my wife said "Maybe our definition of a decent car is far different than theirs" and looking back at some of the car the original friend (the wife - a mechanical tard) has had, I think she's right. I just thought that the husband's mechanical abilities and assessment were better than they were. Lesson learned, it'll cost me some money due to registration fees and some parts, but life goes on.
 
If you want what it is worth, don't sell it to a friend. If you make a profit like from a friend, well, you are not their friend. Pretty simple as I see it.

Dude the guy gave him a price that was most likely fair for the vehicle or he wouldn't have bought it ,only after the fact did he find out that he may have bought the car for less. Bill of sale on used cars in private sales are fudged all the time for tax purposes. And we have no idea if he made a profit the car he may have had more tied up in the car than the purchase price.


When I buy something from a friend I don't expect him to take a loss on it just because I am his friend ... Wouldn't that be me taking advantage of my friend?
 
Friend has agreed to take car back and refund what was paid. Money has already been spent but I have no doubt I'll be reimbursed reasonably quickly.

BOS's are accurate around here. We pay a flat rate for registration in Oregon, negating need to falsify BOS's.

He would have made a a profit - there is no problem with that had the car been as represented. It was definitely my bad to not thoroughly look the car over - and to buy the car in the dark...

No hard feelings on my part (I waited to contact said friend until I was calm about the situation). He's a piss poor mechanic that thinks he's a lot better mechanic than he is. Car has potential... but is barely worth what HE paid for it...

Now this is a friend . glad you worked it out
 
I have owned 5 subarus in my life, the worst was an 87. The best was an 84GL10. Newest was 97, oldest was 81. 87s had the overhead cam motors, which were much more prone to blown head gaskets and timing issues. Pre 85, they were single internal cam, driven by a cam GEAR, not a belt (ala Volkswagon) . Aside from that they were ALL rust buckets. One literally broke almost in half, the undercarrige rotted out so badly. Pre 85s were subject to recall from Subaru to replace the entire rear suspension assembly as the rear trailing arms were prone to rusting out. I had one break on me, the car spun out on an exit ramp at 40 mph. Subaru replaced the rear suspension, and repaired the body damage from the ensuing colision with the guardrail. Overall, after 85 they had a couple of rough patches, were pretty tinny, plastic switchgear was flimsy. The "hill helper" clutch feature was not reliable in corrosive enviroments, as the valve would stick causing the breaks to be stuck on. The motor mounts were crap, my GL10 (Turbo) literally ripped the motor mount bolts out of the block, threads and all. Granted I was hard on the car, but seriously. The Y-pipes for the exhaust were crap to, I learned to weld on my 81 because the Y-pipe would split at the point the two pipes from each cylinder bank came to a junction.

On the plus side, for their time, they were remarkably well handling cars, especially for compact family cars. Low center of gravity thanks to the flat 4, and an overall low slung body helped with this. Subarus had independant rear suspension, not common in those days, that also helped in the handling department. I used to take mine to the beach, mudding, dune hopping at quarries, you name it. Turbo Subarus were lots of fun with a few mods. The turbos were very reliable, and with a turbo Subarus would move pretty good for those days.

Sorry for the rambling...Subarus, the old ones , bring back memories...Like doing donuts with my 81 on my high school front lawn on graduation day...
 
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