MaxwellDreaver
Member
To all TDIClub members interested -
This is from Forrest Barlow, owner of Nice Cars in Bellingham, Washington. This is a report on how my dealership was the victim of fraud in the purchase of a 1996 White B4S-TDI we bought in Florida. Because we specialize in B4-TDIs we are always on the look for low miles southern cars. On March 2011 I saw a White 1996 Passat TDI Sedan advertised on Craigslist with 51k miles in Hialeah, Florida. I actually found it on a search engine that specializes in TDIs for sale throughout the US. The listings are 24 hours old so we figured it might be gone since a car with such low miles would be in demand. I called the Florida Company that had it for sale and asked a bunch of questions including the serial number. We looked up the serial number on AutoCheck and saw that there were no odometer reports higher that what was reported to be on the car at the time it was being offered for sale there in Florida.
Enacting due diligence we conducted an NCIC search and found it was not stolen and was registered in Florida. The Florida Department of Motor Vehicles confirmed that it had a current Florida title in the name of the company that had it for sale. That title showed no liens, no rebuilt or salvage status and no odometer problems, in essence a "clean" title. I then located a bodyshop in the Florida neighborhood where the car was for sale. I hired a local bodyman for $100 to go look at the car to get his professional opinion if this looked like a car that had those miles and asked him to check the VIN. His report to us was that it did have the correct VIN and that he believed it looked like a car that had those miles and that he believed that it had the original white paint. This opinion was from the owner of a body shop. I then bought the car, paid several thousand dollars as I believed my research showed it was all legit. I sent a cashier's check to the owner and arranged shipping. I paid almost $1000 to get the car shipped here from Florida. When it got here I was pleased to see that it was in the super clean condition described by the previous owner and the bodyman I hired to check it out.
We transferred the clean Florida title to a Washington title and our Washington title arrived with no brands, a clean title. Since white is my favorite car color and because it was such a clean original car I began driving it as my personal car. I also upgraded it with numerous mechanical and suspension parts, added some GLX driving lights and numerous other improvements. I personally drove this car around for over a year until it registered 66K miles. I finally decided to sell it as I had found another low mile B4-TDI for my personal driver.
The first person who looked at the white Passat Sedan was allowed to examine the car as thoroughly as he wished which included allowing him to dismantle the cowling fairing to get access to a body serial number. That serial number was different that the number on the dash and on the title we received with the car.
When we became aware of the number discrepancy we immediately took the car off the market, canceled the advertisements and put the car in storage. The same day we determined the car had different serial numbers we contacted the Washington Department of Motor Vehicles, Dealer Services division. We filed a report and asked for a DMV inspector to come and inspect the car. I then filed a complaint with the Washington Attorney General's Office. I contacted the company in Florida we bought the car from and was told they bought it from an auto auction. I called the auction company and they confirmed the car had the same serial number on it at the time it was sold to the company we bought it from. We asked how they check serial numbers and were told they check the dash number only. We asked who consigned the car and were told they were going to turn our request over to their Manager. We then filed a complaint with the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles, the Florida Attorney General's office, the Florida State Police and the Florida Better business Bureau. We sent an email to the Florida Auction company confirming our conversation and asked for information about the consignor who brought the car to the auction and we told them we filed a complaint with all the numerous Florida legal authorities.
Since the car had the same dash serial # when it was sold by the company in Florida and because it had the same serial dash serial number when sold by the auction company and the same number when it was transported from Florida to Washington, the culprit here is somebody either who brought it to the auction or somebody who had the car prior to the the person who consigned the car to the auction.
We have confidence that whoever that is will be found by the State Police and/or the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles. I am anxiously awaiting their report as I am out several thousand dollars in the purchase, transportation and thousands dollars of improvements.
The serial number discrepancy was first discovered by a potential buyer who came here from California who is known on the TDI forum as Peterdaniel. We're not sure of his real name as he represented himself to us as Peter Mainwald. He was allowed to roam around for 3 hours most of that time unassisted and look at several of our B4-TDIs. He drove and examined my white Passat in great detail including the removal of the cowl fairing to get at the firewall serial number. Instead of telling us the number was different he quickly went to the TDI forum and reported what an elaborate "scam and fraud" we were conducting. I do appreciate that Peter said my "white Sedan was a beauty, the interior and dash was spotless, and not a rattle" Peter said he was "looking like mad to see if the car has been repainted". Everybody that has looked at this car has confirmed it is a factory white car including Peter Daniel/Mainwald. Peter has made a lot of personal acquisitions against Bob here, called him a "broken clock" (whatever that means), called him a "SOB", "comical liar", etc. The reality is that Bob here does not own this white car and was showing it because I was gone that day. I bought the car, I conducted the pre-purchase research, I paid for that bodyman to go look at it, I paid for the shipping, I personally did all he upgrades and I drove it about 15K miles since I bought it. Peter has taken great delight in accusing me of altering this car when in fact I bought this car with these numbers which can be confirmed through the Florida title, the company who sold it to me, the auction that sold it to the guy I got it from and the transport company that brought it here. Fortunately for me there is a definite paper trail with a consistent serial number through past owners including me. We certainly did not have anything to hide as we let Peter (or whoever he is) dig around in the car to his heart's content.
You will note that I have not disclosed the name of the owner or the name of the company in Florida I bought the car from as only the authorities investigation will prove if he is the guilty party. I don't wish to degrade his reputation if its proven he was not involved in this alteration. If its proven that he is in fact the one responsible I will, absolutely WILL report his name and the name of his company to this forum. To state his identity now based on suspension would be inappropriate and subject me to civil liability, something Peter apparently cares little about or is ignorant of. We will wait and give the guy we bought it from the benefit of doubt until its proven who is at fault. The self-appointed TDI Club detective has set himself up as judge and jury and has commended me for a felonious crime based on suspension and his urgent need for approval from other Club member even inviting them to email him as he states he is up up at night waiting for club member to email him
Most car dealers have some vehicles in their possession that are not currently for sale. This would be cars that need repair, cars that are sold, customer's repair jobs, trade-ins etc. The Washington Dept of Motor Vehicles has strict requirements how and where each Dealer store these cars. They need to be segregated somehow away from the cars that are for sale or have notations on the car that it is not for sale. The cars that I have that are not for sale are behind a 7' wood fence and they have a sign on them stating that they are not for sale. It is in fact illegal for us to take a retail customer into such a storage area. Peter (or whoever he is) asked to be able to go in that area. He was told there was nothing in there for sale. He made comments to our office manager how "strange" it was that was that we would have cars here that "were not for sale". It’s not strange its normal. Peter said there was a "blue TDI Sedan there with a missing tan interior" I assume by this he believes I replaced the interior in the white Sedan. The white sedan has the same interior it had when it arrived and NO I do not have a blue sedan here that Peter is telling you I got in North Carolina and switched numbers on. We do not have a closed shop here. Any visitors are able to take a tour through our shop and see the high quality work we do. I am in fact proud and anxious to show off what we do. Peter has attempted to poke ridicule at us for our belief that white B4-TDIs are a popular color. That is based on the requests we get for white B4s, especially in the south where we are told they are cooler. We have in fact now re-painted 8 or 9 B4V-TDIs white because the white B4Vs are rare. We have a black B4V here now going to Texas that is being repainted white.
There has also been comments made that we have totaled cars for sale and are hiding that. It’s legal for anybody to sell a "branded title" car, that is one that is salvage, rebuilt, flood damage, etc. IF they disclose that info to the seller. That disclosure is not necessary for us because we have no - I repeat NO, B4-TDIs for sale with any branded titles. Any and all of you TDI club members are invited to come here and look over our cars, examine the serial numbers and the titles. You can look at how we upgrade these unique TDIs. We'll show you original OEM B4-TDI parts that regular VW dealers don't have and can't get.
I will say that that no customer has ever sued Nice Cars and no governmental entity ever imposed any sanctions, fines or penalties against Nice Cars on behalf of any customer on any of the thousands of cars we have sold over the years.
Thanks,
Forrest Barlow
NICECARS
This is from Forrest Barlow, owner of Nice Cars in Bellingham, Washington. This is a report on how my dealership was the victim of fraud in the purchase of a 1996 White B4S-TDI we bought in Florida. Because we specialize in B4-TDIs we are always on the look for low miles southern cars. On March 2011 I saw a White 1996 Passat TDI Sedan advertised on Craigslist with 51k miles in Hialeah, Florida. I actually found it on a search engine that specializes in TDIs for sale throughout the US. The listings are 24 hours old so we figured it might be gone since a car with such low miles would be in demand. I called the Florida Company that had it for sale and asked a bunch of questions including the serial number. We looked up the serial number on AutoCheck and saw that there were no odometer reports higher that what was reported to be on the car at the time it was being offered for sale there in Florida.
Enacting due diligence we conducted an NCIC search and found it was not stolen and was registered in Florida. The Florida Department of Motor Vehicles confirmed that it had a current Florida title in the name of the company that had it for sale. That title showed no liens, no rebuilt or salvage status and no odometer problems, in essence a "clean" title. I then located a bodyshop in the Florida neighborhood where the car was for sale. I hired a local bodyman for $100 to go look at the car to get his professional opinion if this looked like a car that had those miles and asked him to check the VIN. His report to us was that it did have the correct VIN and that he believed it looked like a car that had those miles and that he believed that it had the original white paint. This opinion was from the owner of a body shop. I then bought the car, paid several thousand dollars as I believed my research showed it was all legit. I sent a cashier's check to the owner and arranged shipping. I paid almost $1000 to get the car shipped here from Florida. When it got here I was pleased to see that it was in the super clean condition described by the previous owner and the bodyman I hired to check it out.
We transferred the clean Florida title to a Washington title and our Washington title arrived with no brands, a clean title. Since white is my favorite car color and because it was such a clean original car I began driving it as my personal car. I also upgraded it with numerous mechanical and suspension parts, added some GLX driving lights and numerous other improvements. I personally drove this car around for over a year until it registered 66K miles. I finally decided to sell it as I had found another low mile B4-TDI for my personal driver.
The first person who looked at the white Passat Sedan was allowed to examine the car as thoroughly as he wished which included allowing him to dismantle the cowling fairing to get access to a body serial number. That serial number was different that the number on the dash and on the title we received with the car.
When we became aware of the number discrepancy we immediately took the car off the market, canceled the advertisements and put the car in storage. The same day we determined the car had different serial numbers we contacted the Washington Department of Motor Vehicles, Dealer Services division. We filed a report and asked for a DMV inspector to come and inspect the car. I then filed a complaint with the Washington Attorney General's Office. I contacted the company in Florida we bought the car from and was told they bought it from an auto auction. I called the auction company and they confirmed the car had the same serial number on it at the time it was sold to the company we bought it from. We asked how they check serial numbers and were told they check the dash number only. We asked who consigned the car and were told they were going to turn our request over to their Manager. We then filed a complaint with the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles, the Florida Attorney General's office, the Florida State Police and the Florida Better business Bureau. We sent an email to the Florida Auction company confirming our conversation and asked for information about the consignor who brought the car to the auction and we told them we filed a complaint with all the numerous Florida legal authorities.
Since the car had the same dash serial # when it was sold by the company in Florida and because it had the same serial dash serial number when sold by the auction company and the same number when it was transported from Florida to Washington, the culprit here is somebody either who brought it to the auction or somebody who had the car prior to the the person who consigned the car to the auction.
We have confidence that whoever that is will be found by the State Police and/or the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles. I am anxiously awaiting their report as I am out several thousand dollars in the purchase, transportation and thousands dollars of improvements.
The serial number discrepancy was first discovered by a potential buyer who came here from California who is known on the TDI forum as Peterdaniel. We're not sure of his real name as he represented himself to us as Peter Mainwald. He was allowed to roam around for 3 hours most of that time unassisted and look at several of our B4-TDIs. He drove and examined my white Passat in great detail including the removal of the cowl fairing to get at the firewall serial number. Instead of telling us the number was different he quickly went to the TDI forum and reported what an elaborate "scam and fraud" we were conducting. I do appreciate that Peter said my "white Sedan was a beauty, the interior and dash was spotless, and not a rattle" Peter said he was "looking like mad to see if the car has been repainted". Everybody that has looked at this car has confirmed it is a factory white car including Peter Daniel/Mainwald. Peter has made a lot of personal acquisitions against Bob here, called him a "broken clock" (whatever that means), called him a "SOB", "comical liar", etc. The reality is that Bob here does not own this white car and was showing it because I was gone that day. I bought the car, I conducted the pre-purchase research, I paid for that bodyman to go look at it, I paid for the shipping, I personally did all he upgrades and I drove it about 15K miles since I bought it. Peter has taken great delight in accusing me of altering this car when in fact I bought this car with these numbers which can be confirmed through the Florida title, the company who sold it to me, the auction that sold it to the guy I got it from and the transport company that brought it here. Fortunately for me there is a definite paper trail with a consistent serial number through past owners including me. We certainly did not have anything to hide as we let Peter (or whoever he is) dig around in the car to his heart's content.
You will note that I have not disclosed the name of the owner or the name of the company in Florida I bought the car from as only the authorities investigation will prove if he is the guilty party. I don't wish to degrade his reputation if its proven he was not involved in this alteration. If its proven that he is in fact the one responsible I will, absolutely WILL report his name and the name of his company to this forum. To state his identity now based on suspension would be inappropriate and subject me to civil liability, something Peter apparently cares little about or is ignorant of. We will wait and give the guy we bought it from the benefit of doubt until its proven who is at fault. The self-appointed TDI Club detective has set himself up as judge and jury and has commended me for a felonious crime based on suspension and his urgent need for approval from other Club member even inviting them to email him as he states he is up up at night waiting for club member to email him
Most car dealers have some vehicles in their possession that are not currently for sale. This would be cars that need repair, cars that are sold, customer's repair jobs, trade-ins etc. The Washington Dept of Motor Vehicles has strict requirements how and where each Dealer store these cars. They need to be segregated somehow away from the cars that are for sale or have notations on the car that it is not for sale. The cars that I have that are not for sale are behind a 7' wood fence and they have a sign on them stating that they are not for sale. It is in fact illegal for us to take a retail customer into such a storage area. Peter (or whoever he is) asked to be able to go in that area. He was told there was nothing in there for sale. He made comments to our office manager how "strange" it was that was that we would have cars here that "were not for sale". It’s not strange its normal. Peter said there was a "blue TDI Sedan there with a missing tan interior" I assume by this he believes I replaced the interior in the white Sedan. The white sedan has the same interior it had when it arrived and NO I do not have a blue sedan here that Peter is telling you I got in North Carolina and switched numbers on. We do not have a closed shop here. Any visitors are able to take a tour through our shop and see the high quality work we do. I am in fact proud and anxious to show off what we do. Peter has attempted to poke ridicule at us for our belief that white B4-TDIs are a popular color. That is based on the requests we get for white B4s, especially in the south where we are told they are cooler. We have in fact now re-painted 8 or 9 B4V-TDIs white because the white B4Vs are rare. We have a black B4V here now going to Texas that is being repainted white.
There has also been comments made that we have totaled cars for sale and are hiding that. It’s legal for anybody to sell a "branded title" car, that is one that is salvage, rebuilt, flood damage, etc. IF they disclose that info to the seller. That disclosure is not necessary for us because we have no - I repeat NO, B4-TDIs for sale with any branded titles. Any and all of you TDI club members are invited to come here and look over our cars, examine the serial numbers and the titles. You can look at how we upgrade these unique TDIs. We'll show you original OEM B4-TDI parts that regular VW dealers don't have and can't get.
I will say that that no customer has ever sued Nice Cars and no governmental entity ever imposed any sanctions, fines or penalties against Nice Cars on behalf of any customer on any of the thousands of cars we have sold over the years.
Thanks,
Forrest Barlow
NICECARS