ok, here is the story. after 5 years of owning the evo, i finally decided its no longer a practical vehicle for what i need. i love the thing to death, and if i wasnt in the situation i'm in, i'd keep it in a heartbeat.
I put the thing on craigslist for what i thought was a fairly decent price. i wasnt looking to make a ton of money off it, but just to move it. i figured it would make someone else as happy as i was, if not happier. I knew when i listed the car, it had a few issures, as most 8 year old have. the sun roof opened, but didnt close (bad motor) and the car kind of pulled to the right at speeds greater than 40+mph. this was all described in the post. i just attributed it to a bad alignment, what do i know...
So a potential buyer contacts me from a location 2-2.5 hours away, very interested in the car. we met once on a sunday night so he could look over the car, drive it, ask any questions that he may have had. His whole family showed up from the 2.5 hour trip that night, real nice people. we all talked, told him/his dad the issues the car had to my knowledge. after the meeting i felt things went rather well, he loved it, and i was going to get rid of it. a win win for the both of us.
He ended up calling me back a few days later saying he set up an independent inspection at a major dealership 30 min. from my house. Fine, i said. what do i have to lose. as long as they dont open the sun roof, everything should be all set. we met at the dealership yesterday and waited about 2 hours while the car was inspected. At the end of the inspection, the mechanics met up with us.
They said they found oil leaking from under the car, it needs 4 new tires, the window tint will not pass inspection, needs a front right wheel bearing, and he questioned the heat wrap that was wrapped around the down pipe. now he didnt know what that was, he just told the potential buyer that it was extremely flammable and could catch fire at any time. Now there i am standing there, like a duck in a firing range. the mechanics are shooting the potential buyer all these red flags, the dad's disgusted with the whole situation, shaking his head the whole time. I know for a fact the thing has never leaked a drop of oil in its life, the tires are 2 years old, and the tint on the car is in fact legal, because i have to get a sticker just like everyone else. the dealership also insisted that i take the car to some underground shop where they print stickers out like candy, and that it would never pass a "real" Mass inspection.
So in the end, they paid for the inspection and said "we (the family) has some talking to do. Damn, is it their jobs to scare people like that? a mechanic that didnt know what heat wrap is, telling the kid the car is going to burst into flames? A pretty major oil leak that i know doesnt exist? who am i to argue.... what do i know. this inspection sent this kid running for the hills. it now looks like i was trying to sell this car to him with all these problems, just so i could get rid of it. aurghhhhh
thanks for listening to this rant, im beyond livid at this whole situation.

 

man that sucks. i think i would have asked the mechanic to show me where the leak was and anything else he felt was wrong. sometimes with our types of cars its easier to sell to someone who knows the platform.

good luck with the sale hopefully you'll find the right buyer

 

Oil soaked heat wrap is bad... If that is the case.

 

he quoted 2 different problems. "the wrap around the down pipe is a fire hazzard" and there is some sort of oil leak. pffff who is the kid going to believe? me or the mechanic. i know for a fact the thing never leaked oil, and i also know the car has never caught fire once with the exhaust wrap.

 

I've had the same issue every time I had an inspection done. 1 time I was late to the appointment and my car ended up being described as not likely to have a clean title, as well as 2 dozen other issues.

On another occasion I contacted a potential buyer after the inspection he paid for. He said he just couldn't buy a truck with a "loose" front suspension. But he told me not to worry, the inspector got him in touch with his brother, who just so happened to be selling a truck in "perfect" condition.

I dont think I'll be having cars inspected unless I am present along with the buyer.

 

I do agree about the heat wrap though, I won't put it on my car cause it always gets dry, crusty, and powdery and it soaks up oil from the air. The fact the mechanic has never seen it.......well I'm amazed everyday at how stupid people are.

 

Similar happened to a friend selling a nice supercharged M3 with an upgraded clutch. Naturally the clutch chattered a little. BAM clown told buyer it needed a new tranny.

 

yup, nothing you can really do about it.... but they said nothing about your alignment? strange.

 

Its all good bro. youll find another buyer...just keep posting. I kind of did that too before when i sold my integra. I had it on stand for 2 months cuz i cudnt put the oil drain plug back on the pan. Finally one day i decided to try again and it went back on. Few weeks later some kid bought it 3 hours away from my house. Brought his whole fam. Still to this day he never text me about oil pan problems...

 

Damn Man that not good news you want to hear when selling your car.But My (Opinion) is get the heat wrap removed and wipe off an oil from that you see or fix the oil leak and put on some good used tires on and sell it. Just think about it, you just got a free inspection . Hope you find an other buyer. Good Luck.

 

see, silver lining!

 

Wow man. I bought a car from MA with 30% tints and tints on the front windows. The seller told me it passed inspection everytime, along with running a test pipe. I know how it feels because I had to sell a car recently and it's not too much fun, until you actually sell it and have all the money.

 

What color is your evo? I got a friend that wants to pick one up. He's from southern NH. He's looking to trade a fully built supercharged mustang for one.

 

had a similar thing happen to me at a foreign car shop, they tore i mean absolutely tore apart a bmw e36 m3 i was selling, the potential buyer went running,

a year later i was still selling the car ( i wasnt in a huge rush to sell the thing, i was driving it while i was selling it type thing ),,, I had another potential buyer want another private party inspection and i just laughed said hey whatever, took it to the bmw dealership down next to my college at the time and the tech gave it a great review, with some obvious things a 14 year old car would have but a complete 180 from the ppi a year earlier and i didnt really fix anything the other place stated was wrong,,,, so sold the car customer was happy

first ppi pissed me off big time, second one was more realistic and I could appreciate what the mechanic thought of the car even with the things he found, some of which I ended up fixing for the buyer in order for him to purchase it

best way to look at it is that the guy just paid to have a professional eye look at the car, keep the copy the dealership gave you so you can show it to the next buyer and then show the buyer you fixed the "issues" IF he/she asks for a ppi or is hesitant and you can tell he/she wants more info

you ll sell it, just not meant to be this time
Good luck

 

Dosnt sound all that bad. Just get the wheel bearing replaced, 2nd hand tires and cheep alignment.

Cheek out for an oil leek and take the wrapping off the excaust. Or dont ( my stockcar's exhaust was being held together with the wrapping we didnt know, when we took it off it fell apart)

Dosnt sound that bad at all