I've bought two vehicles on Ebay; a 97 Lexus LX450 (80 Series Toyota Landcruiser) and an 83 300SD. The LX 450 came from the Lexus dealer in FL that sold it new and had performed every bit of work on it. When I thought I really wanted it, I talked to their service manager, off line from the salesman, and he put the VIN into his system and gave me the rundown on its excellent history - he was genuinely impressed and so was I, so I told him he had just made a sale for his dealership. It has been a fantastic vehicle and saved me at least $5-7K compared to what they sold for here in CA at the time. Yes, history counts. Confident in its basic soundness, I spent about $10K in mods, and now it is a very capable hunting vehicle - plus it's a real laugh when I pull up with a dead deer or wild hog in the back of a Lexus!

The 300SD is a very different story. I would never buy an old MB sight unseen again, and I bet the folks on this list got a good laugh watching the bidding on that car! I have been telling myself the difference between the car's actual and described conditions was only due to the PO's ignorance, but after all the work I have been doing on it for the last 4 months, I must finally conclude that he was a ****liar. Nobody can be so friggin blind that they don't see, hear and feel the problems this car had. I was seduced by low mileage and good photos, plain and simple. I will end up with a very nice car, but at about twice what it would sell for in a rational market. Again, history counts, and I impulsively bought a car with a huge gap in its history. But hey, in about 20 years, it will pay for itself in fuel savings over the LX 450 gas guzzler.