After checking the VCA classifieds for a replacement 96 or 97 Blue/White GTS, I focused on a 96 GTS owned by Brian Kervick of San Clemente CA. The CARFAX was clean showing only a single owner. I had a friend in the area look at the car and the condition was clean. I told Brian that I was interested in the car and asked if he had the title. He told me that Chrysler still had it because he owed them some penalty fees from the financing, but that he could have it in a week.
We agreed on a price and Brian asked if I would send a deposit to hold the car because he had others interested. I agreed and sent him a $2500 deposit and began making arrangements with Gary Almond to haul the car back to Texas. Two weeks later, still no title and lots of excuses from Brian about why the delay from the original estimate. Trying to be patient I waited another week, still no title, more excuses. I’m now concerned because Gary Almond is at the point of making a decision on heading to San Clemente from Canada to pick up the car. I’m not inclined to take possession of the vehicle without a title. I mentioned the situation in a conversation with Chuck Tator and he offered to run a warranty history on the car. Turned out that the car had an Arrow rebuilt motor, the transmission replaced twice and a laundry list of other warranty issues too numerous to mention. None of this major component failure information was mentioned by Brian when I was questioning him about the history of the car.
I immediately contacted Brian and asked him about the engine and transmission issues. He said the engine wasn’t replaced it was rebuilt and that he didn’t feel that it was worth mentioning to a prospective buyer. He went on to deny that the transmission was ever out of the car. I asked him why the DC warranty history indicated that it was replaced twice and he said his dealer was using his VIN number to do warranty work on other cars and that I could call him to verify this. At this point, the whole deal smelled like a dead fish so I told Brian that I would like to kill the deal and look for another car. I even offered to let him keep $1100 of my deposit because that’s what he said he had to send to DC to get the title. Brian agreed and said he would send me a check for the balance of $1400.
Needless to say, it’s ten days later, I haven’t received the check and Brian will not return phone messages or answer his cell phone. Draw your own conclusions, but to this point, I believe I’ve been had.
We agreed on a price and Brian asked if I would send a deposit to hold the car because he had others interested. I agreed and sent him a $2500 deposit and began making arrangements with Gary Almond to haul the car back to Texas. Two weeks later, still no title and lots of excuses from Brian about why the delay from the original estimate. Trying to be patient I waited another week, still no title, more excuses. I’m now concerned because Gary Almond is at the point of making a decision on heading to San Clemente from Canada to pick up the car. I’m not inclined to take possession of the vehicle without a title. I mentioned the situation in a conversation with Chuck Tator and he offered to run a warranty history on the car. Turned out that the car had an Arrow rebuilt motor, the transmission replaced twice and a laundry list of other warranty issues too numerous to mention. None of this major component failure information was mentioned by Brian when I was questioning him about the history of the car.
I immediately contacted Brian and asked him about the engine and transmission issues. He said the engine wasn’t replaced it was rebuilt and that he didn’t feel that it was worth mentioning to a prospective buyer. He went on to deny that the transmission was ever out of the car. I asked him why the DC warranty history indicated that it was replaced twice and he said his dealer was using his VIN number to do warranty work on other cars and that I could call him to verify this. At this point, the whole deal smelled like a dead fish so I told Brian that I would like to kill the deal and look for another car. I even offered to let him keep $1100 of my deposit because that’s what he said he had to send to DC to get the title. Brian agreed and said he would send me a check for the balance of $1400.
Needless to say, it’s ten days later, I haven’t received the check and Brian will not return phone messages or answer his cell phone. Draw your own conclusions, but to this point, I believe I’ve been had.
