BioBryan
Member
Wow, where do I begin. I've been waiting for this car, the one I recently sold to Leonard, show up for sale. I've been dying to see how much he would ask considering how badly he low balled me on the price he paid me for it. Let me first give you all a little history. By the way I'm really hoping this thread doesn't magically disappear or become locked. This is a public forum for individuals to learn or benefit from previous experiences isn't it? I think we all have a right to comment. Back to the history. I bought this car roughly back in September 06'. A woman in San Jose sold it to me for $7,000. I spent months looking for this car as you all can guess. I thought I got a decent deal. However, two weeks after bringing it home it stopped running. I tried to figure it out myself using this very informative and helpful website. To no avail. I took it to several mechanics including 2 dealerships. No one could figure it out. I was told by one dealership that it needed a new engine. This is all after spending another $3,000. I was understandably hesitant to spend any more. Yes, now I was $10,000 into this thing that wouldn't run, not to mention being without a car for about 6 months. I got desperate and contacted Wild Rose. I had seen "Harv's" posts/responses in the past and had sensed the animosity that other members felt towards him. I didn't want to make any judgments without personal experience. When I talked to Leonard I explained the whole story. He seemed like an honest guy. He told me I could tow the vehicle down to him from Santa Barbara and he'd take a look at it. I told him that I really wanted to get out from under it. He said he'd look it over and fix it if he could. Because I was a couple of hundred miles away he mentioned that we could possibly work out a deal where he'd fix it and then sell it and give me a fair cut, otherwise it was there to be fixed so that I could sell it. I dropped the vehicle off as agreed. A few days later I got the bad news... "It's going to need a new engine". He then offered me $2,500 to get rid of it and the headache it was giving me. He told me that a new engine would cost roughly $4,000 and that he might be able to get $7,500 for it if he was lucky, justifying the low offer of $2,500. That's when my BS alarm went off. I told him that I really thought it was worth more. I had shopped for months for this vehicle and knew what they were worth, especially a white wagon with only 134,000 miles. Unfortunately he had me by the huevos at that point. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Capitalism... I own a business and I know we all need to make a buck. I've just been taught not to take advantage of people. Sure I had a vehicle that didn't run and what's that worth, but he had told me that it was going to need a new engine. Harv's "teaser" post made no mention of an engine replacement. And then to ask, and probably get, $12,000 for a car that I was told would be lucky to get $7,500 for. I don't know... this experience was crappy from start to finish and I just thought others should know about it. I'm still curious as to what the fix was and I hope it doesn't return to haunt the new buyer... because I care.
