If only I had a place to park this!

The are certain categories on Ebay that I would not touch with a ten foot pole. Car & Trucks are the first such category that comes to mind. Since it *is* on Ebay, I would be my guess that it has (pick one or more):

1. bent frame
2. blown engine
3. blown tranny
4. blown real end
5. been stolen
6. flood, fire or wreck damaged - then rebuilt (or maybe not rebuilt)

If you really want to look at mostly decent stuff, try autotrader.

I've had a slightly different experience with both.

Bought my current truck on eBay, no problems at all (2+ years ago).

Bought a 68 Firebird on autotrader. New paint, nice interior, motor looked and sounded good with no smoke, etc. Drove it 66 miles and the motor blew up.

Ron W.

Good for you.

I've bought 2 trucks and two cars on ebay. Two of them did not come even close to the description so they were not picked up. The other two were not as described and ended up costing me in repairs.

I'd really like to see an investigative national news story on other peoples's experiences.

I'd like to know why you weren't more careful in the purchases you made.

eBay, like everywhere else you would purchase a vehicle, is "Buyer Beware".

Ultimately, you are blaming the auction service for the problems caused by the seller. Maybe its time for you to figure out who has responsibility in this situation, and blame them.

Hint: That would be you and the seller.

I hear things like this from time to time. It seems, some people prefer the wild west market rather than full-disclosure, integrity and honesty. Granted, as an auction junkie, I had hopes of finding a good deal - but - in my case I found it was all an illusion.

I paid 5 mechanic-check-it-services at $100 a pop to look over vehicles. When the mechanic reports that the car/truck is not as advertised, you've just thrown your money away due to a dishonest seller. When the mechanic tells you the vehicle is decent, then you have to contend with shill bidders, fruitcakes that will pay more than new for a used item and verious other games.

Momma always said I like to swin upstream and I guess she was right. I took a few knocks but I no longer play the auction game. :-)

YMMV. If you roll the dice, I hope you have better luck.

just this past saturday i drove to dallas to pick up my latest ebay purchase.

book at nearly $15,000 for $7995. so far ive had GREAT luck buying vehicles on both ebay and autotrader.com

er, i mis-spoke (mis-typed?).....i flew to dallas on a plane, and drove the truck back.

It looks interesting I would be wondering what kind of frame it has ??? As van is unibody no frame

ive NEVER seen a 1 ton unibody van.

Um, no.. a van has a frame. And this isn't some custom rig out of the blue, there were a bunch of these out there.

Justin, I've never bought a vehicle from ebay. Just out of curiousity, were these bad experiences from Florida? I am asking this because, I have shopped for vehicles on ebay, and there have seemed to be many deals from various sellers out of Florida that seemed to good to be true.

I used to have a '79 Dodge like that. Not a sleeper cab though, and a wide flat bed without boxed in sides.

"Imagine what it might cost to make one like this today!" the seller says. I imagine it won't cost much. Find an old Class C motorhome like

Dilapidated ones are sometimes free, they thank you for hauling them away. Tear the coachwork off the frame, and build a flat bed on it.

One of the completely misrepresented cars (old Mercedes) was in central Florida. A completely misrepresented truck (Ford diesel) was in Houston.

The Florida car was represented to be in pristine condition, dealer serviced all it's life and having zero defects. The car had transmission problems, front end problems and paint problems.

The Houston truck had wreck damage so poorly repaired that it was visible from ten feet away. The carfax had no damage showing and the seller represented that there was no previous wreck damage. Odd thing, the seller in Houston had perfect feedback over several hundred sales. He reimbursed all my travel expenses to keep me from posting negative feedback. When he relisted the truck on ebay, he continued misrepresenting the truck. Sheesh.

It's my belief, right or wrong, that most vehicles listed on ebay are there because of difficulties selling in the local market. I talked to a transport hauler -- he told me numerous stories of people being sold a good serviceable car and then slapping their forehead when he pulled up to deliver their new junker.

Congrats!

I'd say your belief is right on the money. Unless it is a rare or some sort of specialty item.

Roy

although ive had good luck with my ebay vehicle purchases, its because i always research the seller above and beyond just checking his ebay rating.

members on one of my forums are taking active efforts to put a stop to many of these fraudulent auctions, as they find them. see

Sounds reasonable.....but I disagree that ebay is just an avenue.

They could build a safe place to trade by requiring all non-salvage vehicles have a complete inspection report by ASE mechanics before listing.

Like I said earlier, I'd like to see a national news organization do an undercover test and buy 20 cars and trucks over a month or two and report what they found. I bet most of us don't have a clue about the level of fraud occuring. Jeez, I've turned into a motor-mouth. Sorry folks.....

Thats true of any car being sold at any auction.... which means ANY car sold at ANY dealer as used has this stigma attached to it.

Again, Buyer Beware.