eBay.com - Who purchsed there car?

[Dv8tor]

Well... I'm planning on getting a used 01' or 02' Viper early next year. It seems that eBay has a lot of Viper listings and I wanted to find out how your buying experience was. What did you like/dislike and what would you do different?

 

[VIPER52USA]

From what I have learned, always get the Viper checked out by a viper tech.

 

[jeffdai]

Bought my 94 on there about 3 years ago when i was on a cruise actually, it had 4500 miles on it, have been extremely happy with it, no problems except a bent fork in the transmission a few months ago, but that was my fault. Was in perfect shape when i picked it up, would buy my next one on ebay if a good enough deal came across again.

 

[tim721]

i didn't win the auction, but contacted the seller outside of ebay & we made a deal on my 94. I bought it sight unseen, but agreed to pay COD for it. Owner was positive I'd be happy with the car after checking it out. He said if I was not happy for any reason to send it back to him at his cost. (NJ back to TX). He owned a handful of other exotics at the time, so I was pretty sure he wasnt gonna BS me. Other than the COD, I'd have a tough time paying for a car sight unseen.

For piece of mind I took it to Chuck Tator a few days after I got it & had him comb thru the entire thing.

Being in FL you got a bunch of great tuners nearby: Sean Roe, Doug Levin, just to name a few...have them check it over first. They know right what to look for. Good Luck.

 

[MIKE-HKS]

ebay has very good deals on viper i say the best , but make sure a VCA member or your self looks at it first, cause i have gone and seen a couple of local ones,listed on ebay , and they where garbage, and on the listing they where advertise in excellent condition.
they had been crashed and fixed
repainted poorly,
torn up seats and they said nothing in the ebay discripsion about it , 315's tires insted of 335's in the rear,
allot of stuff
all originall vipers no mods what so ever, that had nitrous installed at one point or another you could still see the fogger holes on the hose clamps
allot of little things you need to look for

 

[2kviper]

check here first... mostly if not all are vca members..

http://www.viperclub.org/menus/index_classifieds.htm

 

[Detlef]

Bought my first Viper on eBay last year. Scary at first (first eBay purchase ever), but ended up as a positive experience. Bought it from a wholesaler, had it checked out by VCA member and technician as a contingency on the deal, and had it shipped sight unseen back to me.

 

[Doug]

I found mine on ebay, contacted the seller, five days later had mine in the driveway. i was lucky the seller was here in houston.

 

[joe117]

Three years ago,
I was high bidder on a 93. The guy refused to sell even though the price was over his asking. He thought he'd get more.

Then,
I was bidding on another when I realized that one guy was topping by bid every time.
I looked and saw that he had never bought anything bigger than a music CD.
I told Ebay and he was gone.
I didn't bid any more on that one.

 

[jeffdai]

Dad ran into the same problem as Joe on his 2004 Z06, he was the high bidder and Ourisman chevrolet the seller, refused to sell it to him for the price even though he was high bidder with no reserve, after fighting with them for about a week and contacting a lot of people, he finally ended up getting it for like 2k more than he bid, worst part is my mom accidentally gave them positive feedback a few months later!!!

 

[X vetter]

I found mine on ebay but it was from a Jaguar dealer close to me...sent me good pics and I drove up and bought it after I looked it over very close

 

[GraphiteGTS]

I have bought about a dozen cars on the bay, most recently last month. I bid on one or two per week and sometimes luck into a good price. I've bought several mid to high dollar units.
I am cautious about cars from certain states.

 

[Bad_Byte]

I was bidding on another when I realized that one guy was topping by bid every time.
I looked and saw that he had never bought anything bigger than a music CD.
I told Ebay and he was gone.
I didn't bid any more on that one.

Here is another one for you Joe. > E-Bay Viper

Notice 3 bids (37k, 38k and 47k) last bid was by a new E-Bay'er, notice not one transaction for the high bidder. I've contacted the seller (hcresales) and initially got a reply (before the high bid) I tried to contact them (via e-mail) twice since then but then nothing.

Smells like fish to me.

 

[MIKE-HKS]

that same guy is biding on a few other vipers and has met the reserve he is not going to pay , he is just clowning around
messing up the auctions.

 

[MIKE-HKS]

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=6209&item=2495117487&rd=1

same guy

 

[Achilles99]

I like how they say "painted black 96... one of a kind."

 

[Dv8tor]

ebay has very good deals on viper i say the best , but make sure a VCA member or your self looks at it first, cause i have gone and seen a couple of local ones,listed on ebay , and they where garbage, and on the listing they where advertise in excellent condition.
they had been crashed and fixed
repainted poorly,
torn up seats and they said nothing in the ebay discripsion about it , 315's tires insted of 335's in the rear,
allot of stuff
all originall vipers no mods what so ever, that had nitrous installed at one point or another you could still see the fogger holes on the hose clamps
allot of little things you need to look for

Thanks for the info. It's good to know there are a few good tuners in the FL area.

 

[Dv8tor]

Bought my first Viper on eBay last year. Scary at first (first eBay purchase ever), but ended up as a positive experience. Bought it from a wholesaler, had it checked out by VCA member and technician as a contingency on the deal, and had it shipped sight unseen back to me.

So you had the seller take it to a VCA member or did the member go to the sellers place? Who paid for the inspection? Thanks.

 

[Dv8tor]

I have bought about a dozen cars on the bay, most recently last month. I bid on one or two per week and sometimes luck into a good price. I've bought several mid to high dollar units.
I am cautious about cars from certain states.

Is this a business for you, or do you just buy cars - drive them for a little while and seller them again? I know someone that does this. Has a different car every month. He just resells it on eBay a few weeks later.

 

[Bad_Byte]

I like how they say "painted black 96... one of a kind."

Yeah this whole deal sounds funny, right down to the # of miles on it.

Here is how my e-mail to the seller went:

I asked:
"Since this vehicle has not had the 998 recall or the oxygen sensor rewiring done how do you propose to accomplish them? Would that be at the purchasers expense? Both are extremely important since one is safety related and the other is federal emissions related? Also, why exactly was this vehicle repainted?"

They Replied:
Hello, The vehicle was owed buy a very wealthy man he had it painted with zero miles on it.he wanted a black one and this guy gets what he wants. as far as the recall. We can take car of any recalls. Thanks, Eric

Then I sent a more pointed question:

Thanks very much for the reply Eric.
My question about the recall was more towards whose responsibility would it is to pay for them, since I’m not a “VERY WEALTHY MAN”.
The factory would have picked up the recalls but since its long out of warranty then I assume someone will have to pay for them.
I guess I am looking for a more direct reply that “we can take care of them”. I can take care of them but it would cost me. If you take care of them is it going to cost me?
Also, what is that thing on the side of the hood under the red Viper logo and can it be taken off? Is it vinyl or painted on?

I have not received a reply even after I sent a second e-mail.

The old epression "Buyer beware" is always appropriate when dealing with E-Bay.

 

[Snakester]

I have bought and sold cars on E-Bay including my Viper.
The key is doing some research, both on the car and on the seller.

I drove a couple hundred miles and picked mine up after inspecting it, and the seller was very straightforward and accurate describing the car.
But before I bought a Corvette on E-Bay from a "dealer" and he omitted mentioning several flaws that cost a couple thousand to replace/repair. But even with that it was a good price overall.

I also sold 3 of my cars on E-bay (for the price that I asked)and had 3 happy new owners.

So I do have good experiences with cars and E-Bay, but there are many scams there all of the time, and you have to be VERY careful.

-Dean.

 

[chickenwarrior]

My question about the recall was more towards whose responsibility would it is to pay for them, since I’m not a “VERY WEALTHY MAN”.
The factory would have picked up the recalls but since its long out of warranty then I assume someone will have to pay for them.
I guess I am looking for a more direct reply that “we can take care of them”. I can take care of them but it would cost me. If you take care of them is it going to cost me?

Recalls are always done at OEM expense I believe. Warranty or no warranty. Unless there is some statute of limitations....

 

[iispms]

Bought my 98 GTS on Ebay, I was high bidder. Tried to make a deal off ebay for a few thousand more, he refused, so I just won the auction instead.

I just sold it a few months ago on ebay as well.

Just make sure you talk to the seller and everything checks out.

Chip

 

[8bagawef]

Earlier this year I bought my 00 GTS on E-Bay. I live in W.V. and the car was in Florida. My father inlaw lived about 2 hours from the car and was kind enough to go look at it for me.
The car was beautiful so I bought it sight unseen. I never would have bought it unless someone could have looked at it for me, unless it was cod, but I'm not that rich.
I completed the transaction over the phone and the seller closed the auction for me.
As long as you're careful I think it's a great place to buy.

Colin

 

[BigCarrot]

I contacted the seller on mine. Ended up great! The guy brought it to me from Colorado in an enclosed trailer for free!

 

[Bad_Byte]

that same guy is biding on a few other vipers and has met the reserve he is not going to pay , he is just clowning around
messing up the auctions.

I thought so too, now the 47K bid has been cancelled. Still not sure about the dealer being up & up.

I said:
"I never got a reply to my last question, perhaps you never got it or my e-mail screened it out as spam, either way. I see you have the bid run up to 46,000 seems like a scam job to me since it jumped right over all reasonable bids. I think the VCA needs to know my thoughts on this."


He replied:
Hello, No scam a guy in Toronto wants it bad ran it up to the reserve.Let
anyone know that needs to know. Thanks, Eric PS we dont scam here



If there wasn't a scam then why was the bid administratively removed, and why is he saying that "a guy in Toronto" wants it bad. Some one is BS'ing.

Bottom line, it pays to do some homework. Too much money to risk on the click of a mouse.

 

[Don Hiltz]

I always note when Naples Motor Sports has bid on a Viper. Their reputation is so good that I figure they're too savvy to bid a piece of garbage.

Don

 

[NY VIPER]

I found my '95 RT10 on Ebay and watched it for some time. When it did not sell because the reserve was not met I contacted the owner and negotiated a deal on the phone.
C.O.D. personal check accepted, free delivery from mid-west to east and they gave me a 6 month factory warranty on the car since they were a dealer. Could not go wrong. They told me that if the car didn't look good when it arrived at my home to put it right back on the flatbed. Car was everything that they represented it was. A great experience!

 

[Dv8tor]

I've read some good comments. Thanks guys. Keep them coming.

 

[GraphiteGTS]

This summer I bought a car in Pennsacola and before I could pay for it I got two calls from other bidders offering to buy it. Both said that they weren't paying attention because they didn't think the car would go so cheap. A guy from New England sent me my "profit" by PayPal after I asked the seller if I could back out of the deal with a replacement buyer. He didn't care who wrote the check.
EBay allows me to drive several different cars per year when I otherwise wouldn't have the opportunity because I can buy at or near wholesale. I have bought cars that I never even paid taxes on.
Also it is fun to fly out and pick them up. I drove my XK8 from Dallas.
However, I am glad that more people don't buy from the bay because it would drive up the prices. Perhaps scams work to my advantage because they drive away competitors for the cars I want and because I am pretty good at spotting the bad apples. Right now I'm watching Hummer H1's, Mustang convertibles, Toyota MR2's, and cheap mid-mile C5s.
Graph