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What would be right? Or ethical?


jimoshel
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A couple months ago I answered a ad for a 1988 Comanche, 2.5, 5spd. no clutch, $400 OBO. I checked it out. The owner, a young fella, said his dad and uncle had replaced the flywheel,pressure plate, clutch disk, bearing, master and slave cylinders and no matter what they did it wouldn't work. I offered him $150. He took it. After getting it home I bled the system. Been using it as a DD since, put about 1500 miles on it so far. Question. If I ever see him again should I tell him what the problem had been and have him, as well as his dad and uncle, go thru the rest of their lives feeling like DS? Or shud I lie about it and tell him a real complicated, difficult to analize, replace component broke and let him retain a little self esteem? :popcorn: :dunno:

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If they ask, tell the truth, but don't bring it up yourself.

i agree. although if you want to sell it to me for the same $150, i'll come take it off your hands and you could just tell them you messed around with it for awhile, then sold it for the same amount you bought it for :D

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When I bought my Willys locally off ebay, I got a phenomenal deal on it because the seller horrifically misspelled Willys and no one else bid on it. I told him after we signed the title and I had it on the trailer, and he was a little upset, but he was a moron so I didnt care.

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yea tell him truth like me i supposed bought my mj for 1600 but bought it for 1300 by replace oilpan gasket and retight lower radiator hose than replace and wield the draglink steering system. so i save 300 bucks and only spend 15 dollars to fix it all ;)

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Me, If I knew it probably just needed bled, I'd of probably told them that before I bought it. Of course many, many years ago I went to an auction where they were selling off old telephone company army green econoline vans and swapped a couple of spark plug wires around so I got it real cheap at auction. I was the only bidder when it sputtered up to be sold. Think I should call them up and tell them? LOL.

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I suspected it just needed bled, but I didn't know for sure. Just a hunch. The motor ran good and the truck was in in VG shape so I didn't think I would lose anything on it. Besides, I was prepared to go the $400 if he didn't take my offer.

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You did nothing wrong. You offered and they accepted. You could have had to replace everything they already put in cause it was junk parts.

 

I picked up a mint 71 Torino a ways back cause the PCV hose was broken at the base of the carb and it wouldn't idle for poop. I saw it when I checked it out but kept my mouth shut. After I sealed the deal, in front of the used car manager who sold it to me, I broke off the split end of the hose and reattached it. That Cleveland purred like a lion. The guy laughed, lit a smoke and told me I owed him a beer. :D

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I picked up a mint 71 Torino a ways back cause the PCV hose was broken at the base of the carb and it wouldn't idle for poop. I saw it when I checked it out but kept my mouth shut. After I sealed the deal, in front of the used car manager who sold it to me, I broke off the split end of the hose and reattached it. That Cleveland purred like a lion. The guy laughed, lit a smoke and told me I owed him a beer. :D

 

My approach is when selling, be totally honest about what you know are the problems, if any, with the car.

If buying from a dealer, they should have the ability to check such simple things out. Probably got that Torino running bad anyway and paid very little for it. If they failed to diagnose and fix the problem and wanted to sell it "as is", and you knew the problem, that's the dealers problem.

But, if its someone, say a person facing financial struggles but wants to honestly handle them and has a car like that Torino, I would point out the problem, fix it if I could, and let her know if she wants to sell it, here is what its now worth. I may not buy it, but its worth this. Or, it might mean she could keep it and and have the reliable transportation she desperately needs.

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If you had to pull the trans and replace the clutch, would you be mad? NO because you knew what you were getting into, you took a gamble and it payed off. Like it was said already, tell him if he asks, but don't bring it up.

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Only tell if they ask...

 

I bought my '01XJ w/154K miles on it, but the engine had rod knock. The PO didn't think it was worth much more than scrap value since he was quoted $3000 for a new engine installed. We settled on $300 and it cost me another $100 to get it back home. I bought a used engine for $500 and have been driving it for 11 months and I just passed 175K miles. The PO e-mailed me a couple months ago and asked how I was doing and what I did with the Jeep. Told him I put an engine in it and have been using it for my daily driver - never mentioned price until he asked me how much it set me back. Told him I was roughly $1000 into it and he couldn't believe it, but was happy it was back on the road and doing well.

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  • 3 months later...

A couple of times I've e-mailed Craigslist sellers that they spelled 'COMMANCHE' or 'COMANCHEE' or 'CAMANCHE' wrong and that they would likely get a lot more traffic on their ads if they spelled it the right way. This is, of course, after I've decided I don't want the truck for myself :D

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old topic bump, i buy tons of stuff cheap because retarded people can't spell

 

it literally accounts for 50% of the money i make.

 

case in point - shud

 

really? shud?

Merely correcting a misspelling that has been going on far too long. If should was pronounced the way it's spelled it wud (would) be show uld. :smart:

Besides, I'm not a typist. Anything that will shorten the words used I'm going to do.

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Just don't bring it up... My camaro had a exploded clutch and loose shifter... The guy said it needed a new slave cylinder and new tranny and I'm in the middle of putting it back together now... Oh I picked it up for 1k with most of the expensive mods already done :brows: I had ran into the previous owner about a month ago and said it was running great and I replaced everything that needed attention and drive it once a week to keep it from sitting

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I was supposed to buy my MJ for $700. The belt kept breaking and he did not know why.

 

Well, he had replaced the alternator and not put the stock pulley on it, so it was set back about a half inch from the rest of the pulleys.

 

Did I feel guilty when I offered him $500 for it even though I could easily see what was wrong? No, all is fair in love and sales.

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arguing phonetics, grammar, diction, and the like, on a forum dedicated to vintage trucks is about as futile a fight as one can undertake, so you win, ire rongs.

 

Especially when you have someone on the forum that has a minor in German, French, and Linguistics. I just ignore it all; especially since the internet has spawned its own kind of grammar and syntax. It's really the English majors that become upset, in my experience. I have a huge vocabulary since I speak several languages, but it took an English professor to call me 'obstreperous' before I realized I was no English master. I am fairly certain that in my entire life before, I had never heard that word.

 

What I find funny is when folks on English/UK forums that are from the US correct the English on their spelling! 'Spelt', 'lernt', etc, are English words. 'Learned' in Queen's English is not the past tense of 'learn'. It means you have an education or experience; you are learn-ed. Webster made some serious changes to our version of English. On the foreign job sites I see posts for English, and then I see posts for American English(usually business jobs in Germany, France and Japan).

 

As for the previous posts and OP, I would have told the guys the truth. It looks like it needs to be bled, or what have you. I then tell them what it is worth to me. If they still want to sell to me, fine. I've spent a lot of my life being selfish and greedy. I figure why not try and be honest for the rest of it?

 

Can has a manche?

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