I'm pretty embarrassed to say that I bought a car that turned out to be
a lemon. Saw it on Ebay and had my father check it out locally
( I didn't have the means of getting there in time ).

Long story short, the car I bought has been in an accident, the seller
swore that it was in great condition and never been in an accident.

I went to my local MB dealer to see if they could pull up the service
records for the car, but they told me they could not. I was under the
impression that they could based on win number, although it has not
been serviced at my local dealer ?

However they gave me the MB dealer code of the dealership that has
serviced this car and told me to call the MB 800 number to get the
name and location of the dealership. I called but they told me they can
not give me the information.

We had a certified mechanic take a look at the car today and he found
a bar from the front passenger side wheel into the frame to be bent out
of shape, also a pinch in the frame by the driver side motor mount.

I would be much grateful if anybody here has some pointers for me,
I'm mainly trying to gather information since it looks that I have to
take the seller to court.

I'm sorry if this is not the right forum to post in, but this is where I
usually hang out.

Thanks,

Sorry to hear that! Post the VIN number maybe someone can run a carfax report for you.

Yea, well I did the carfax report, the bigger one for about $10,
but that's clean.

Thanks,

just curious, which dealership wouldn't give you the service history.

who was the seller, location, name, e-bay name feedback


oral description by seller or anything in writting?

This is a very helpful group but I for one don't know what you need help with. You call the car a lemon which suggests to me mechanical problems rather than a checkered past.

If the problems have to do with collision damage, take it to a reputable body shop for an estimate so you know how deep in the hole you are.

I don't know your financial situation but the general sense is to spend ~$150 to have a pre-purchase (doh!) inspection done by a reputable independent MB specialist. The dealer jockeys who get stuck with PPIs are younger than your car.

I haven't been able to squeeze an ounce of information from an MB dealer about any used MB I owned at time of asking. The most I've gotten is a vehicle master inquiry (VMI) which gives you little more than a listing of unresolved recall items, engine and transmission serial numbers and a list of option codes. Outside of the recall history, I can tell you the rest based on the VIN.

Good luck.

Sixto
95 S420
87 300SDL

Good advice Sixto on getting the PPI done. However, I wonder what is the general advice when trying to buy a car on line like ebay? You don't know till the last moment if your bid is going to get the car. The seller wants to get paid a depsoit shortly after auction ending and not conditional on you getting a satisfactory inspection done. Have have others arranged for a PPI on an ebay purchase before cash changing hands?

If I won the bid I'd gladly pay the PPI to gain some independent feedback before I arranged transportation to pick it up or have it shipped. Would you go so far as to say if you couldn't get a PPI done then you wouldn't bid on a car site unseen?

__________________
JD

Picking it up in general the thread is -> Somebody got burned (moved thread)

First things first: Do you have the above statement in writing from the seller?

what is the saller ebay user id so I will avoid it. I am in a market for a MB an I am looking verry often on ebay. Do you have the auction #. I have called at least 50 seller on ebay in last couple of months and I did see alot of cars. Maybe I was comming across that seller and I coud help you. I know what are your feelings right now.

__________________
New Addition to the family
2013 Passat TDI 5Miles
2004 E500 4MATIC Wagon 95k
1996 E300 Diesel 173k Sold
1993 300E 2.8 230k Sold
1994 E320 White Wagon 373K Sold
Still dreaming about ....500E


Radu Negru

Hi Radunegru

The thread has been moved here, i will leave a link to the auction, there
the seller is a personal seller not a business.

http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/showthread.php?p=701937&posted=1#post701937

Bern,
---------
No I don't have it in writing, that it has never been in accident, but
his desciption on Ebay more or less says it, I think that is supposed
to be legally binding, at least according to other sellers I have seen.
I put a link to it on Ebay in the other thread.

Thanks,

I took a quick look at the EBAY ad. Here is the most helpfut part for you
so, the good news, imo, is that since this was his car and he was the original owner, he should not be able to deny knowledge of the accident with any credibility.

the bad news, imo, is that you d/n have his statement in writing, which would have made a very strong case. The other big problem, imo, is that you had your Dad check it out before your purchase. In order to determine damages, imo, you would need to find out what the true mkt value of the vehicle is v. what you paid for it.

It might be in your best interests (limit legal fees and your time) to see what, if anything, the seller may be willing to refund you. In any event, please let us know what happens.
good luck.

Question was asked earlier what one should do when purchasing a car on ebay to insure they're not getting duped. Well my suggestion would be to purchase the car via escrow services offered by Ebay. Basically the buyer sends the amount owed to the escrow service and the seller sends the title to the escrow service. The seller then has the car shipped to the buyer and the buyer has a chance to look the car over in person. If the car is not as represented the buyer at his/her own expense ships the car back to the seller and cancels the deal. If the car is as represented the escrow company releases funds/title to the appropriate person. Charge for this transaction is typically .89% of transaction amount. If a seller is not willing to do this caveat emptor. The buyer can also come to an agreement with the seller offline and purchase the car outside of Ebay after a proper PPI, again if the seller doesn't want to do this caveat emptor.

Sometimes the reason something looks like a good deal is an underlying problem not easily visible through digital pictures or description.

__________________
Afshin

Current:
02 C32 AMG

Previous:
92 500E
84 190E 2.3 5 Spd

Bern, that's what i thought too, but he only denied it verbally,
although i think his description rules out accidents. Then again
like somebody pointed out, that might just be my opinion but not
a judges opinion.

The laywer is on it and hopefully we will get a response soon,
might be some days since there is a new hurricane coming in FL.
But I can't let this go, the car is in such a bad condition, I don't
really care if I have to spend money to set it straight.

oh, forgot to mention when confronted the seller said something
along the lines of "I have no idea" or / and " I don't know anything about that"
It's pretty obvious to me that I need to take it to court, although
the laywer wants to touch base with him first.

placo1 - I think escrow is probably the way to go on Ebay, personally
I wouldn't buy anything long distance though. Although I did
I thought my dad would catch the bad apple.

I saw a case on TV exactly like yours.

Young kid buys a used car. She has her boyfriend's father (a mechanic) check out the car before buying (he test drives it and checks it out at the seller's house...doesn't take it to a shop for complete inspection). After she buys the car, her attempt to register the car fails. She is instructed to to fix all kinds of stuff just to get it registered and on the road.

I thought the kid would win the case.

Judge ruled in favor of the crook/selller
1. Someone came to view the car before buying (same as in your case)
2. Buyers beware...according to the judge when buying a used car from a private owner (vs a dealer) you're buying something AS-IS unless you get something in writing.

My advice is to sell the car if you're that unhappy. Better to take a small loss than to have a car you don't like.

__________________
JR
1986 Gold 300E 4Dr automatic