Hey all, I purchased my evo about a month and a half ago. I found it on ebay and it was a fixed auction, so no haggling was done. The description taken right from the auction was:

Vehicle Description



2003 MITSUBISHI LANCER EVOLUTION ALL WHEEL DRIVE. ONE OWNER PURCHASED NEW 4/24/2004. ONLY 16K ORIGIANL MILES. NO MODIFICATIONS. PERFECT CONDITION. FIVE SPEED, AIR CONDITIONING, XENON HEADLIGHTS, POWER WINDOWS, POWER LOCKS, CD, REAR SPOILER, RECARO SEATS, BREMBO BRAKES, SPRITZ SHOT, KEYLESS REMOTE ENTRY AND MUCH MUCH MORE. PERFECT CONDITION. NEVER ABUSED. REMAINING FACTORY WARRANTY UNTIL APRIL OF 2009. ALL BOOKS AND KEYS INCLUDED.

After I talked to the owner of this small dealership, he verified the auction description and that the car was pristine and he told me he had many people wanting the car. He said if I placed a $200 non-refundable deposit that he would hold the car for me since I couldnt get to Milwaukee for about 5 days. So I gave him the $200 deposit over the phone and got my financing in order. I asked him if I should go ahead and hit the "buy it now" button, and he said no, in case I backed out on buying the car.

So since my wife wasnt going with me to pickup the car, we had to have her signature on the paperwork since its in both of our names. He sent me all the paperwork to fill out and bring with me when I come to get the car. I look at the purchase agreement and its more than $2000 higher than the price he sold it at.......cause remember, I didnt haggle with him!! It then shows that same amount discounted for some reason......not sure why, but I am sure it was to his benefit! I was starting to wonder if he was shady at this point, but I didnt worry about it since the price was the same in the end.

So the following week, I get an afternoon schedule off, and the guy agrees to meet me in Chicago (saved me 2 hours driving time!) which was nice, so I grab a friend and we go up. Keep in mind, the day before I went to get the car, the guy cancels the auction.......whether to avoid final value fees or what, I dont know??

By the time we leave its pouring down rain! We get up there and due to the rain I couldnt give the car my normal inspection of every inch of the car! I verifired all the VIN stickers were on all panels and matching and looked it over the best I could while being rained on and we went inside the restaurant we were at to finish the deal. So we go inside and do our paperwork, shake hands and I am on my way home with my "perfect" evo.

About 2 weeks goes by before the weather gets better and that weekend, I decided to go get some nice washing products and wash/wax the car. After washing it I noticed what appeared to be small rock chips all over the car. They are hard to notice from more than a foot away, but if your on the car, they are all over the place. When I say all over the place, I mean on top of the car, sides, hood, doors, trunk......even the BACK of the trunk!!! EVERY panel has these little chips that look like a woodpecker attacked the car!!

So at this point I am pretty upset. I go ahead and wax the car with high hopes, but nothing changes. I called the owner of the dealership (which is 5 hours north of me), and he tells me "next time your in Wisconsin, bring the car by and I will have my detail guys take care of it"!!! OK, like I am making trips to Wisconsin for something to do on the weekend ! So I bring the car to 3 different body shops and all of them say they cant tell for sure what caused it, but its NOT any kind of factory flaw and the whole car would need to be painted. One shop even tried to wet sand and buff a section for curiousity sake and it did nothing.

So here I sit and the dealer is now saying "you bought a used car" though he clearly represented the car as "perfect" more than once in the auction. Yes, I feel like it was my fault for not looking the car over, but I trusted his description since he never mentioned any issues with the car and it was still under warranty. The dealer is still telling me I can bring it to him for a wetsand and buff even though I told him we already tried that and it doesnt work! He also asked me what kind of resolution I am looking for? I told him a paint job was in order!

One other issue I ran into.......
When I got the title back from wisconsin in my name and went to title it in Illinois and pay my taxes, Illinois was trying to tax me on price he inflated and discounted, cause illinois still taxes on the original price! I was furious and called him while at the DMV and asked him what he was trying to pull cause It was going to cost me another $150+ in tax fees! He argued with the DMV on my cell phone for a few minutes and ended up faxing down another purchase agreement with the proper price on it showing NO discounts. Back to the paint story......

So basically, what are my options now? I know I can contact ebay about him dodging ebay fees for one. I can contact the better buisness bureau about misrepresentation of a product, since he is a member in good standing. And I can contact the wisconsin DMV about the number fudging on the purchase agreement. Is there anything else I can do short of getting a lawyer involved??

Thanks!
Frank

 

Sounds like lesson's learned.

 

sorry to hear

 

Sux. Sorry to hear as well.

 

The problem is going to be that you had the opportunity to inspect the car which means it passed your inspection. The fact that mother nature wasn't on your side isn't going to be very helpful, You could have gone to a well lit gas station under their awning thing and then looked at it. As far as Ebay, he has to pay the fee reguardless. Being it was a buy it now auction, noone bid on the car so he could cancel at any time. I canceled an auction 1 time and that was because someone locally bought the item. I do hope there is something you can do but ultimately it was your signature that shows you accepted the deal.

 

QFT.

You are out of luck buddy, next time find a place that you can view it, whether or not its raining outside.

 

So the fact that the car was listed as "perfect" has no bearing on the situation? I am trying to be realistic about it and I know I am to blame for the inspection. But what if I would have been buying the car and having it shipped all based on his description?

BTW, we were at a gas station/restaurant and the wind was blowing rain on us and the car was covered with water......didnt bring my chamois with me!

 

The dealership is in Milwaukee? Is it a Mitsubishi dealership or some place else?

 

You would have had a better chance if you had it shipped to you, that would be mis-representation. But.........Since you and the car were together, and you paid for it after you saw it, that is going to be construed that you accepted it "as is" and you agreed to it's condition. Dealers tend to "stretch the truth" anyway. Sorry about your loss, but save the atty money, and get it fixed. I bet an atty. would take your case (Knowing he would not win it) because he gets money regardless.

Look at our replies to you. That would be like your "jury" you would see at a trial, should you take this the ball-out legal route.

 

You still had the opportunity to view the vehicle before signing it over. I can understand mechanical issues that may happen afterwards because you didnt get a chance to drive it really, but cosmetic stuff like this I really wouldnt think could be covered.

Of course im not a laywer and its just my opinion in the matter. I feel for you, but I really do think you are out of luck.

 

Is this "hail dammage?" there was quite a few hailstorms in the midwest recently. have you run the vin# thru carfax? Maybe this has been reported already, and not repaired. How much did you pay for the car? Was the price/mileage indicative of a Pristine car?

 

Similiar situation happened to me when I flew to Chicago to buy my car. I asked multiple times to be upfront about blemishes, scratches, knicks etc. He sent me over 20 jpegs of what he saw as damage: a scratch on the bumper that is hard to see unless you know where it is, a door ding, and minor curb rash on two rims. I till said okay for 25K for a 05' this was in 11/05.

I flew their etc etc etc looked the car over and there was a cig. burn in the front seat, a blemish on the plastic around the shifter, a smudge on the headliner. He asked what was wrong and I told him " I flew here to pick up a car that you said had a little road rash, a scratch, and a door ding. You didn't see the cig. burn, smudges, or that mottled spot right there?" This was a fully detailed car too I drove it anyway and it felt pretty good. Then I drove a 06' and it felt a little tighter, but pretty much the same.

At that point I said "I hate being confrontational, but you misrepresented the car you need to come off the price to fix those defects or I'm flying back to New Orleans." He apologized and dropped 500$ off the price that was good enough for me. 17K later no mechanical issues or anything.

The biggest problem you will have is you saw the car and bought it seeing the defects first hand. Good luck though.

 

Nice job holding your own and getting the guy to drop the price.

 

Well, I paid $22000 for a bone stock 03 with 16K miles. It is still under the bumper-to-bumper warranty and has the 5yr/60K powertrain warranty, which I why I paid extra for it rather than buying a 50-60K evo for $18-$20K!

This was a small dealer in milwauker called autosource motors. He told me he deals with a lot of porsches, although he still has a lof full of your average cars.

I am still really angry with him and myself for not looking the car over better, but you have to understand the situation! It was blowing and raining and I wasnt familiar with the area so I didnt know where I could go to dry off the car and look at it better! I know its no excuse, but I am still angry about it. The way I look at it, if the describe a car as "said" condition, you should theoretically be able to buy it without an inspection, but as someone already said........they like to forget things hoping you wont notice!!

I am still trying to work with the owner to come up with some sort of resolution, but we will see what happens. I guess I am SOL otherwise and forking out the $$ for a new paint job! I guess next time I will buy new or not buy at all!

 

I feel for you, and that sucks. The price would be one I would consider in "Excellent" shape also. Hope things work out for you. Keep us posted. Do you have any photos?