Finding out who bought your old car ?

A place called Best of Show Auto in Cleveland recently sold my old Dodge Super Bee. My daughter and I went up to see it last winter and to talk to the owner of the place about all the false crud he put in about my old cars history. Really unbelievable stuff but a good story like he made up can really help sell a car. The car sold recently ( he was asking 100k ) but I don't know what he really got for it. Is there any way a person can find out who bought the car so he can talk to them and tell them the truth about it. This guy was really arrogant and I would love to cause him some grief if possible. I just don't like someone lieing about my old car. It really meant alot to me. I had it for many years.

If you have a cop or DMV friend, they could run a VIN check on it.

sooner or later it should also show up in carfax, but don't know how often they update that....

Hi Robert

I understand why you want to "spill the beans" on the guy who sold your old car, but doing so might hurt the buyer rather than the seller. He probably is happy with what he bought and with you telling him "stuff" is going to cause the buyer problems. Now he will have the knowledge of the secrets. It may hurt him financially, and I don't think you want to do that.

Think of another way.

Tom C.

Man, I'd leave that mess behind as water under the bridge. That stuff never ends well.

Another trick you can do is leave a business card hidden somewhere in the car that a detailer wouldn't find but the new owner would. Then let HIM call YOU.

btw I also agree with the above.

You sold the car and at that point it's not your responsibility anymore. I understand why you want to let the owner know the true history of the car. A better way might be to see it somewhere and then approach the guy and say that's my old car and see what he askes you.

Who knows he might be a bigger butthead than the guy who sold it to him....

Like everyone says,life has a funny way of ironing itself out. Personally,I would stay out of it.

I bought this 1984 truck for 10,sold it for the same.

37 thousand miles ,Origional,even the exhaust.

The buyer approached me,It wasn't for sale.He said he owned the exact one new,bla bla... had to have it.

He has listed it with a pile of made up crap for $25000. I got tons of phone calls from car friends telling me to say something,and I simply say it is his now. However,If anyone calls for the history I won't lie .

Thanks everyone. It just makes me so angry that my car has taken on a completely new indentity.

Robert 96 wrote:

Thanks everyone. It just makes me so angry that my car has taken on a completely new indentity.

you gave up all rights and claims to that car the day you sold it,..


nick

In my humble opinion, Nick is correct

Although we all understand how you feel about truthful representation... (and God bless you for that) your rights and claims legally ended when the vehicle passed ownership. Rather than create buyers remorse to the new owner.... because if he is a pig and happy while sitting in slopp, and covered by mud, why bother to tell them they are a pig, and ruin their day. Maybe they already know the are a pig.


How about blowing the seller into the Better Business Bureau or state DMV. Most states require a license to sell vehicles. Your story might help stack up with other stories to get his license pulled.

I'd been thinking about this yesterday and I'd like more information before I hop onto the LITFA bandwagon.

Here's how I understand the situation......

1. Bob96 sells the car for about what it's actually worth because he tells the truth about the car.

2. Later on, someone else INVENTS a history that causes that same car to have a falsly created higher value, and someone pays a LOT MORE for it - as a DIRECT result of that false information.

3. Bob feels obligated to notify the new owner the truth about the car that was falsely advertised.

I'd like to know more information about WHAT the lies were. If the guy wheeled out the paint and shined up a vinyl interior and listed them both as new, I really don't care - but if he's stating things like lower than actual mileage, celebrity ownership, rarity of production numbers, or anything like that - then I have a huge problem with it.

Here's why - If you tell me a car is uber rare and it isn't, that's just a lie. It makes you a liar and that's not really a big deal.

HOWEVER - if you tell me a car is uber rare (and it isn't), or has super low mileage (and it doesn't) and I pay you additional money for the car BECAUSE of that misinformation, then you're not just a liar, you're a thief and that extra amount of money is money that you've now STOLEN from me. Period.

Seriously, let's say you paid big bucks for a diamond ring, then learned later on that it was cubic zirconias and worth much LESS than what you paid - this is the same thing. You'd have paid more than it was worth because you were lied to, and the guy who sold it to you is a thief.

I'm sorry guys - I guess I'm not really seeing this as a case of "should I be a tattle tale". As men, our natural instinct is to tell other grown men "HELL NO" .... but when we reposition the situation and see it as "Should I report a theft?" - well then I'm still not ready to answer THAT question until I know:

1. What the lies were.
2. What was the actual value of the car.
3. What was the inflated value of the car because of the lies.

It could either be a huge deal, or nothing at all - and the difference, to me, is in the details that we don't have.

That's my .02,
John

I'm with Bewber on this one. If the lies were serious enough, yeah, he could and SHOULD inform the new owner so that appropriate legal action could be taken.

Bewber, your perspective makes sense.

I also agree with Bewber on this. If I was in this position I think I would make an effort to contact the new owner, not necessarily to "tattle" but to find out what the selling dealer actually told the new owner. If I was going to spend the kind of money that he probably did, I would thouroughly check out a cars history. If the seller went far enough to create documentation of something, he's committing fraud. he needs reported to Ohio's DMV or whoever regulates dealers there. If it happened here, NCDMV would not hesitate to shut the dealer down.

Jon

94X2 wrote:

If I was going to spend the kind of money that he probably did, I would thouroughly check out a cars history.

Who spends that kind of $$ without doing some homework? If that guy did...he obviously has money to burn. Dunno. I see both sides though.

If this is the place ( http://www.bestofshowautomotive.com/index.html ) seems like most cars have a full rotisserie restoration....

He did a full resto. on my Super Bee because of it's rareness and the already great shape of the car. Most of his cars are there on consignment. I will get in touch with you Bewber. Is there a phone # where I can reach you? This guys story is just mind blowing when you here all the details. Thanks Robert

I'm curious to hear the story, too.

Jon

I will try to get the story on the forum. It's very long and complicated and all I have to work with is a tiny laptop ( My Daughters ) and I'm finding it impossible to get anywhere with this tiny keyboard. It's not made for old arthritic fingers.