Question, etiquette more than anything else

[cactuss4]

I had a 3rd party inspection done on a vehicle in the classifieds and it didn't come out that pretty. I'm sure the owner is not hiding anything but certain things don't show up on his pictures, not on purpose just not that close.

He seems like a stand up guy, allowed the inspection to happen, worked with the inspector etc. However since i paid for the inspection and found things that others may want to see. Do I post the results, for the community sake and possible to the detriment of the seller, do I simply keep it to myself and any prospective buyer will have to do their own due diligence? The issues may not be that great to certain folks, but the asking price with these potentially deep issues, may cause someone a rude awakening? I really wanted the car, but had to decline based on the inspection and the price.

I'm still a newb here, and rather not piss off any one , and at the same time, I'm hoping that someone doesn't get caught off guard by the body issues if they don't have a 3rd party inspection done?

the seller is not a pro-touring active member, or at least the only thing under the UID is the ad thread, so maybe I worry less about the seller and do something for the community that will be a great resource in the future for me.

Some guidance, etiquette, not trying to step on any toes!

Thanks
Tory

[rustomatic]

I found a car on eBay a few years back, and went to take a look. The price on the thing was already a bit high, but I was bored, and driving 200-plus miles one-way seemed like a fine idea. Mind you, I was living in Arkansas at the time, and this car (Falcon) was somewhere near Tulsa, Oklahoma. Some elements on the car were okay, but for the most part, it was a raging pile of crap. The pictures on eBay did it great justice, and when I looked, the price was already over two grand (way too much). The price went considerably higher, for what was largely about 300 pounds of bondo and some Reynolds Wrap for a floor. It did have a cool glasspack exhaust, however...

I felt bad for whoever got stuck with the thing, but hey, caveat emptor... I've bought some real crap in my time...

[SSLance]

I don't know... I come from the buyer beware school of hard knocks, you did your due diligence and dodged a bullet. Other buyers need to learn to do the same for themselves.

I recently helped inspect a car for a friend. Car presented well, decent for it's age and condition, but a few things seemed off to me. I immediately crawled under the back and I'm not kidding...there were ratchet straps hooked to two pieces of angle iron welded to the body that were holding the shiny new gas tank in place. Just about all of the support structure on the back half of the car was completely gone.

I came out from under the car, looked at my friend and shook my head and proceeded to tell the seller what I found. I'm not sure if he knew about it before he bought the car, currently, or not at all...but he does now.

I did not however...get on craigslist and tell every other possible buyer of the car what I found.

I'm interested in what others on here think though. I know we'd all like to look out after each other, but really...it's none of our business to publicly critique a car for sell...is it? Just doesn't seem like good form to me.

[cmac06]

I agree with you. I've never bought a car sight unseen. It may help someone out, but if you're really interested, the cost of inspection is better than a flight in most cases. I recently bought a car from a guy in Ohio, and having that information made negotiations go a lot smoother. We did all the haggling over the phone, so when I got there it was basically sign and drive.

You putting your own critique of the car out there is not fair to the seller. He should represent the car in its best light possible without misrepresentation.

Furthermore, I don't think it is good seller's etiquette to put bad pictures of what you're selling out there. When you're trying to snag a mate you don't run around looking like a caveman, same with cars.

[cactuss4]

Kind of my thought and thus the reason I have not, but was also interested in the thoughts of members on here. I guess if it was a friend, I could say, just FYI, but a public forum, probably best to keep my mouth shut and hope the buyer knows what they are getting themselves into (as I said, may not be a bad thing for some and it could be disastrous for others.)

Thanks