General Music Chat

My car died this weekend. It wasn't unexpected, but I was hoping to get another week out of it to give me enough ttime to gather funds and shop for it's replacement.

I spent all weekend scouring craigslist and driving (my car survives short trips, but overheats every mile, pull over, cool down, dive another mile, lol) to all the used lots...

Found nothing at the used lots, most cars in my price range were sold or had problems ($1000'ish)

So I really dove into craigslist, and for the life of me, I just don't understand people...

TONS of listings where people are "firm" on pricing, asking blue book, and higher, on cars that have major problems like bad tranny, blown head gaskets, etc... WTF?

Then I find listings where people seem to be offering a good running car for a fair price, so I email, or call, whichever is provided. NOBODY answers their phones, and I get nothing but ans. machines... leave message, and 90% of them still never got back to me. Some I responded to within minutes of when they posted.

The few people that I did actually succeed in contacting.. well.. I dunno WTF is up with them, but I tell them I have CASH in hand, and want to buy their car, obviously upon checking it out, and I will meet them right away and put cash in their hands... and EVERY ONE OF THEM got all wishy-washy, and started BS'ing their way out of it.

WHY is everyone listing cars they don't really want to sell???!?

WTF is wrong with PPL??

A guy said he would meet me last night at the lot where the car is, and take my money and give me the title and keys, and he never showed up. He won't answer his cell when I call, and changed his voicemail to not take messages.

What happened to the days where I say "buying", you say "selling", we strike an agreement, I give you money, and you give me a product, and we shake hands and part ways??

I actually had a couple of people weasel out of it by accusing me of trying to scam them!!

How the hell am I going to scam someone by giving them the price they asked for their vehicle in return???? The audacity of me to ask ... I guess I just want too much?

ARGHH!!

Ive run into similiar situations.

I bought my POD unit on Craigs List and had a very good experience the guy had an excellent unit and came down enough that I feel like I got a hell of a deal.

Now on the musician side of things. Weve thought we might lose our bass player and I put up a very detailed posting of everything we would expect and all I got back were a bunch of messages that just wanted to slander me and who did I think I was some sort of baddass.

Well yea I know im pretty good at what I do and detailed exactly what we would be looking for.

Musicians can be a bunch of buffoons.

And yea Im one of them I guess!

Ive run into similiar situations.

I bought my POD unit on Craigs List and had a very good experience the guy had an excellent unit and came down enough that I feel like I got a hell of a deal.

Now on the musician side of things. Weve thought we might lose our bass player and I put up a very detailed posting of everything we would expect and all I got back were a bunch of messages that just wanted to slander me and who did I think I was some sort of baddass.

Well yea I know im pretty good at what I do and detailed exactly what we would be looking for.

Musicians can be a bunch of buffoons.

And yea Im one of them I guess!

It's bizarre, in looking for musicians, I've seen good and bad, and bizarre on CL. But buying and selling music gear, I've actually had mostly good experiences. There's a few scammers out there, but when you do face to face in public, cash in hand, it's hard for people to con you, so it's pretty straight forward.

I did figure something out, after posting this rant, I was emailing a guy about a suv that was just too good to be true, the guy was being really vague and not giving me 'good' answers to my questions about the vehicle. I finally got annoyed at his stonewalling, and asked point blank to see the vehicle and that I expected to see the title in his name before I would pay him. He stopped responding.

I'm guessing it was a stolen suv, and that he was looking for a foreigner, or someone who doesn't understand how titles work, and was hoping to just get someone to hand him cash for the keys.

Here ya go, got you covered.

Click Here

OK seriously...sorry about your troubles, looks like musicians aren't the only ones that have a flaky category...I looked for a vehicle around here 2 years ago and all I could find were 4 wheel drive gas guzzlers, and knowing how the idiots around here drive them in the woods (serious deer hunter country and some really bad roads during the wet winters) I wouldn't touch the damn things. Don't want 4 wheel drive anyway...

Unfortunately right now they don't have anything, but that site does occasionally have a vehicle, I saw a pretty good looking Suburban about a month ago, also in the same location. You might also try ebay, my mother is driving a gangstermobile (PT Cruiser) she bought on ebay and it's nice. she loves it, hasn't had any trouble with it at all but had to go 3 or 4 states away to pick it up.

By the way, the site I linked also has lots of musical instruments listed, quite a few I'd love to have but don't have the bucks...right now a Buescher sax is listed but it's already too high for me ot even think about right now. Beuscher is a great sax, but usually pretty high dollar, I've seen them go for over $500 in beat up condition and needing repadding.

Well I found a few things out. Look up "curbstoner" sometime.

They estimate 40-90% of all non-dealership listings are by these guys. They operate without a license and tend to sell off cars with major problems that are covered up, and by the time you realize you've been had, they are long gone, you never find out their last names or where they live.

I was so desperate to find a car (was missing work because of not having a functioning car), that I made a few mistakes and fell victim to one of them guys. Too much detail to go into, but the end result is that the test drive seemed ok, but by the time I got home, problems became apparent.

Exhaust leaking, CC shot, drivers seat broken, heat doesnt work.

Missed all that, because I let the guy rush me... stupid stupid stupid... and I used to be a commission salesman.. I KNEW better... I just got sloppy because I was so desperate. GRR.

Oh well.. I called him, asked for refund, he said no. I emailed him with a few threats of legal action, as well as turning his shop into the state for slapping an illegal inspection sticker on it (there's no way that exhaust or drivers seat could pass a safety inspection). We will see, but I'm most likely screwed. Live and learn I guess, but man... I NEEDED a decent car, now I'm jsut ashamed that someone got me... I'm usually well guarded and don't fall prey to anyone

Hey Kramer, sounds like you have a bad thermostat. That is if it's and older car. I thought being a musician, you also had to be part Auto Mechanic? Those road trips are brutal sometimes. Anyway, good luck.....

Yeah, describe the problems, we (you) may be able to fix it! You good with a socket-set?

the original cars problems are too much..

The overheating problem is a combined blown head gasket with leaky radiator. $250 for the rad. $900-1200 for the head gasket

The transmission started whining at a pitch equal to the accelleration / speed of the car, high speeds it would be screaming... I know it's shot lol $350-500 to rebuild

Both front wheel bearings are shot, rattle around, only a matter of time before they would seize, $300+ per wheel to replace

So for a car that I originally paid $800 for (4 years ago), it's a total write-off lol. It served me well (1993 model too, with 200k mi on it) I got 50k miles out of it, can't ask for more.

The replacement was supposed to be in good condition, but the primary issues are:

The heat don't work (blower motor) Guy had put the vents on and it seemed to work while we were moving lol (yeah, slick) I was focused on driving it , not what buttons he pushed.

He told me the exhaust system needed a clamp, turns out the who middle of the system is leaking exhaust and runs loud as sh*t. He put some kind of bonding agent on it to cover up the fact, by the time I got home with it, it was 3x louder and you can visibly see exhaust escaping from the catalytic converter..

A front seat gear is ground to nubs, wont stay caught, so any pressure from putting your weight on it (leaning back) will cause the seat to jsut flop all the way back. The simple g-force from accellerating from a stop causes enough force to do this, so I have to drive sitting straight up with no pressure on the back of the seat. I have no idea how he covered up that fact, but it held til I was halfway home, then FHUMP ... right in the middle of driving on the highway, I almost lost control just because it was so unexpected. It did it about 4x more but at least I expected it after that.

Outisde of that, there are minor issues, but nothing terrible or unexpected of a 20 year old used car.

The kicker is that he covered the problems just well enough to get it through a test drive. But he screwed up royally. His shop slapped a fresh inspection sticker on it yesterday, when it clearly has major safety violations, so I'm turning his mangy butt in to the state and let them yank his inspection license.

I did send him an email saying I wouldn't turn him in if he gives me a full refund, in cash. I doubt he will.

I've talked to several friends and my mechanic.. they all agree that the blue book for the car in the shape it's in is what I paid, so I wouldn't say he totally ripped me off, but he did LIE his ass off about the condition and knew I wouldn't have purchased it if he had disclosed the real issues... so it is what it is...

He put some kind of bonding agent on it to cover up the fact, by the time I got home with it, it was 3x louder and you can visibly see exhaust escaping from the catalytic converter..

Muffler bandage, (also used on pipes) available at auto-parts stores.

The heat don't work (blower motor)

Yeah I had a couple of those go out. If it's visible, you can replace it from a junk-yard (or refurb. Just 2 wires to connect.

A front seat gear is ground to nubs, wont stay caught, so any pressure from putting your weight on it (leaning back) will cause the seat to jsut flop all the way back.

A 2X4 piece of wood (front and back) should keep it in place. Cut to the right lengths.

when it clearly has major safety violations, so I'm turning his mangy butt in to the state and let them yank his inspection license.

Yeahh!! Go for that!!

My new (used) stratus had a fuel leak (I fixed with a piece of antenna and 3M glue) and rear view mirror electrical problems (dremel-tool and re-soldering fixed) and O2 sensors (dealer-fixed) and disc brake rotors warped and pads (I ordered off the internet & fixed-after drinking-still work good-lol) and a few other problems. Good luck!!

Thanks for the tips bro

I'm really not much of a mechanical guy, even simple crap I seem to have a gift for messing up. I will take it to my mechanic and see what he can do, he's a good guy and always took care of me and never took me for a lot of $$.

I've been had like that too, Houston TX, 76 Caddy. Tried to get title transferred, DMV told me the registration sticker came from a truck with the same family name, I'd have to pay 2 years back fees which I couldn't afford, barely had enough to just get the title transferred. Took it back, salesman/owner tried to start a fight, threatened me, tried to slam the door on my leg, the tape recorder in my pocket had stuck and recorded none of it so I couldn't file charges, my word against his. His other "salesman" was watching from the door and of course would have lied too, so I had to bite the bullet. A couple of days earlier the front end had started to make threatening noises, front wheel bearing was shot. Ever try to replace the wheel bearing on a front wheel drive Caddy? It's not fun...not without a press anyway...

I ended up having to keep it, repairs cost me more than the car did, but once I got it fixed it was a great car. Cruise control was mandatory, if I didn't use it I would be doing 85-95 in no time and never know it. Only thing that didn't work was the load leveler, I never fixed that just put on some new air shocks with a fitting on the rear bumper, add or release air as needed by hand. Now that I think about it I still have a set of disc brake pads for it, bought a full set, only the front ones needed to be replaced, I still have the brand new rear pads (same as the front, didn't need them on my '78 either.)

Does your state have a "lemon law"? Texas passed one not long after I got screwed on the Caddy, you have 30 days to bring it back or report it and criminal charges will be filed. It stopped a lot of that, used car lots can now be fined if they sell one in that shape without telling you about it. I don't remember the details well, I've slept since then, but it basically gives consumers some recourse if sold a car with major problems the dealer hid or didn't say anything about. I don't know if it extends to individuals selling their own cars, but dealerships can't rip you off easily any more like that guy did me.

All my tape recorder caught was him telling me "Get off my lot before I hurt you". When he slammed me against the car and shoved me in then tried to slam the door on my leg, it bounced the recorder around and it started to record, that was the last thing he said as I caught the door and stopped it from hitting my leg, nothing I could do. I thought it had been recording the entire time while I told him the registration sticker was stolen and front end was bad, it was stuck and not recording a thing. The police told me it wasn't enough to even think about taking to court. If I had been a bit slower, the car door would have put me in the hospital. It still hit my leg, but didn't do any damage, he slammed it hard as he could, I barely stopped it at all. My left leg still wasn't inside yet...and he knew it. All I can do now is hope I run across the guy one night in a dark parking lot...I assure you I WILL remember that face.

Does your state have a "lemon law"? Texas passed one not long after I got screwed on the Caddy, you have 30 days to bring it back or report it and criminal charges will be filed. It stopped a lot of that, used car lots can now be fined if they sell one in that shape without telling you about it. I don't remember the details well, I've slept since then, but it basically gives consumers some recourse if sold a car with major problems the dealer hid or didn't say anything about. I don't know if it extends to individuals selling their own cars, but dealerships can't rip you off easily any more like that guy did me.

Unfortunately, I realized as I was driving away the critical mistakes I made.. and the fact that I knew better really bothered me. I allowed myself to get taken, simply because I was desperate to get new wheels as fast as possible.

I met the guy at the title and tag place. The title was original, but not in his name, he just basically passed it off as if the prior owner sold it directly to me, which I found out after the fact, is illegal, but the damage is done. I don't know his last name, or his address. HUGE mistake on my part... All I have is his cellphone, and I know he operates a garage/towing service, but there's about 50 of them in that area...

BUT... I do have one silver bullet, which I mentioned, and that is that his shop slapped a state inspection sticker on the car, also illegally. I'm waiting for a call back from the county rep of the DOT to turn him in for that. Even if his garage wrote a false inspection id on the sticker, the sticker itself has a ser# and the state knows exactly what inspection stations got which stickers.. so he can kiss his inspection license goodbye.

I called him and told him he needs to man-up and accept that I will turn his ass in if he wont give me a full cash refund, and the fool chose to blow me off. He was by no means a slick guy, or even good at ripping ppl off (which is why I'm so pissed at myself for allowing it to happen... ALL the red flags were there and I ignored them)..


Other than that, much like your caddy, this is a BMW, and the engine and trans are both clean and well maintained, so outside of the problems, I'm thinking that it will be a really nice car after the fix-up needed, although, much like you, I think the repairs (done right, by a professional) will equal the amount of the purchase price.