Thanks for the posts guys.
I'm going to see the car in the morning. Wish me luck!
I'll report back here what happens. I will be putting a lot of weight in the stack of recepts that he claims to have. (A lot of weight on what they show.)
If I'm still on the fence about the car, I'll show him the cash (his full asking price) and then tell him bluntly: "You originally said that I could pull the shroud. Many of your other buyers are going to want to have a mechanic check this car out. The FIRST thing that dude is going to do is pull that cover. I have to see under that cover or I'm walking". And then I'll ask him: "How much is your time worth? You can be DONE with this here and now. Most of your other buyers are going to want to see under that cover too. The people who are into to these cars are a small community and we all know all about these cars and their issues. And that deployed airbag in the back seat area is a red flag for a lot of people. It's going to scare a lot of them away. You are going to have to fix that at a cost of $750."
Geez, after reading all of that I'm really wondering if I should bother. If I don't get the car I'll post the ad here so all of you can go see the car and demand to see under the cover.
I'm sorry I can't post the ad yet. I can't let a lurker scoop this out from under me.
Does anybody else here have a more concrete number on what this black death costs to have fixed at an indy shop? Or the stealership? All we have so far is Roller's guess of $1,500.