Have You Been Cheated? Post Your Experience Here!

[kaushama]

I think we should start a thread to share our experiences of being cheated when buying or selling cars. For that matter any thing related to automobile business including survices. I am sure it will be a good database for members, who do not know these dirty tactics simply because they are honest people. I will post few experiences which I wrote in another thread below for a start.

Edited June 1, 2010 by kaushama

[kaushama]

I should tell this story for the benefit of the members I think. I will not mention details or particulars of identity of the persons concerned apart from my identity. I went to see a vehicle advertised recently. It was a Honda and apparently the first owner, who was a certain professional was selling it. As I am in the same trade and a professional in the same rank, I trusted and went ahead to see the vehicle. A third person, who is a very nice polite gentleman, soft spoken showed me the vehicle and he seemed a very honest guy. He said that he is one of the best friends of the professional and selling it on behalf of him. He was very reasonable and showed some minor flaws of the vehicle. As I have done my homework regarding the particular 7th generation Honda sedan, I wanted to check CVT gear problems and steering rack problems. He also guided me to run the tests and everything was seems to be smooth except for few problems. As I am paranoid about CVT issues I wanted to check Staford records and he nicely evaded the topic. Car was in a very good shape and condition.

We agreed on a price tag of 2.725 mil. He did not want to reduce the price to 2.7 mil as the current bloated value by sale owners for this vehicle swings around that value. He never mentioned a tranny issue when we closed the deal. Just mentioned that he has changed the oil.

I gave him an advance but was clever enough to call my fellow professional although I have never spoken to him before. The professional have sold the car for mere 2.2 mil 2 days ago. The gentleman was told that the car has a CVT problems and the current market for that car is 2.2-2.3 mil. In fact the car was having some vibration, when it runs from idle position and Stafford has told the gent that it need a replacement of the CVT, when it dies soon. They have done the oil change several times and just after the change it runs smoothly only 1 or 2K before getting the issue again.

So I contacted the seller. I confronted him bluntly and very directly and asked him whether he replaced the gearbox after buying the car. He was stunned and couldn't lie in that tight situation. He said no. He has only done a oil change. I said I would check Stafford before buying and he said OK.

The car was well known to Stafford and it had CVT issues.

The pathetic part was he got the car through one of the good friends of the professional. He trusted them fully and feared the imminent doom to the CVT. So he told the whole truth about the tranny to them. Later he was told that they replaced the CVT for 400000 and then will sell the car for 2.7 mil. Later again he was told they have done change of a valve inside the tranny. What a lie! he had done only an oil change. He is selling it for 2.7+ mil using the good name of the professional and milking money, while the honest professional has already sold it for lesser price considering the CVT issue.I have asked for a refund of the advance . He gave it without any hesitancy and was very polite. I am sure he will sell it either to a poor person who trust his conduct or another sale owner out of the few, who were lurking around when I was checking the car.

Myself and other colleague checked the market price for that Honda (2003) from various sources. I checked with few sale owners, I met before, through phone, who quoted 2.7-2.8 mil for similar car (not a penny less). I acted as if I wanted sell my Honda. Surprise surprise! Market value was 2.3-2.2 mil. They pointed out the difficulties of selling vehicles in current market. Imminent price drop! And yet wanted to see the car.

Another car sale owner has a white Honda 2003 sedan around kohuwala junction. 2.85 mil He said he can not reduce the price even a penny as he bought it for almost 2.7 plus few days ago. I know it was overpriced but set it as the benchmark price for this week. When asked the price again on Sunday suddenly the price was 3.0 mil. So who make that price hike? The seller himself!

Well the moral of the story! Decide yourselves!

We are honest people, who earns our money honestly. not by fraudulent manners. I think it is high time to come out with similar stories. And it is high time for us to have auction or garage sale type of places to sell secondhand vehicles. I do not mind paying money for a good car. I can even go for a 10 mil car with a cash deal any day. But as a sensible person I wanted to buy a mid priced car just to go from A to B. For that I do not want to feed these filthy sharks some money for nothing but for their lies and dishonesty.

I am seriously thinking to go back to the country, I came from to serve this country as a patriot after the conclusion of the war. People there were not Buddhists or spirituals. But at least they were honest beyond imagination when you consider the status of our lovely home land currently fallen into.

Edited June 2, 2010 by kaushama

[kaushama]

When my sister was selling her FB15 some time back, about 20 people came one after other and depreciated the value of the car significantly, demoralizing her. A good four or five lakhs below the real value. And suddenly a gentleman came and gave a bid 2 lakhs more. She was so depressed by that time and concluded the deal. They were very quick in closing the deal early Sunday morning. The gentleman crook came to conclude the deal with few people, who depreciated the car. My sis was furious and she said she is not selling the car. They almost threatened her but she stood her grounds and sold the car for a good price later

Edited June 1, 2010 by kaushama

[VVTi]

When my sister was selling her FB15 some time back, about 20 people came one after other and depreciated the value of the car significantly, demoralizing her. A good four or five lakhs below the real value. And suddenly a gentleman came and gave a bid 2 lakhs more. She was so depressed by that time and concluded the deal. They were very quick in closing the deal early Sunday morning. The gentleman crook came to conclude the deal with few people, who depreciated the car. My sis was furious and she said she is not selling the car. They almost threatened her but she stood her grounds and sold the car for a good price later

Damn!!! in 2006, when we were trying to sell our N16 we had the same issue. We wanted 15.5 but the jokers who came was offering 8-9. We said no and finally sold it for our price. Another time two brokers got involved with the selling of my Platz and brought a buyer with them. they didn't allow him to talk. They were offering me, 10.5 in his absence. 2 days later the buyer comes to our house and says. "I know they are cheating both of us, shall we close the deal. I sold it for 13.5 which was my target price anyway. They have told him that I wanted 14, but told me that they will give me 10.5... imagine their cut!!!

Not surprisingly the brokers were furious and threatened me... we had to go to their houses and show them that it was a not a good idea..

Edited June 1, 2010 by VVTi

[sharky]

The same old story about the brokers, what was scary to hear was that they actually got threatening?? We too had this problem when my FIL wanted to sell his auto, they were giving ridiculously low offers and asking buyers 5 to 6 lakhs above our quoted price and going to great lengths to depreciate the value of the car to us. Luckily we found out. There really isn't a need for this parasitic occupation, if the general public just has the patience and the minimum resourcefulness required to use the classifieds, these days there are so many in the printed press,not to count the sites like Autolanka.com. Sure it's time consuming, but then again you are less likely to be scammed.

[SeanD]

I am curious to know how people selling cars come up with a value to quote?

And does anyone use a valuation service? What are the perceptions of this service?

[kaushama]

The same old story about the brokers, what was scary to hear was that they actually got threatening?? We too had this problem when my FIL wanted to sell his auto, they were giving ridiculously low offers and asking buyers 5 to 6 lakhs above our quoted price and going to great lengths to depreciate the value of the car to us. Luckily we found out. There really isn't a need for this parasitic occupation, if the general public just has the patience and the minimum resourcefulness required to use the classifieds, these days there are so many in the printed press,not to count the sites like Autolanka.com. Sure it's time consuming, but then again you are less likely to be scammed.

Yes These parasites sniff their way through paper classified early morning. Some of them even get the details before papers printed through contacts in the papers. So the best way is to go to offices of the papers on Friday or Saturday and get the details of the good cars before they publish them. How ridiculous!!!!

Parasites are all over the society! Funny part is they call themselves businessman and lead more exuberant lives than people, who really work and live honestly. Disgusting!

Edited June 1, 2010 by kaushama

[kaushama]

Valuation service is a good option. But value depends on simple economics and market. I think it is being set up by sale owners and brokers these days. I do not see a reason for vehicle prices suddenly upsurge within three months by 2-3 lakhs. The high taxes and scarcity of imports had been there for some time now. Why sudden surge?

These parasites are more organized than mafia now. It is the same scenario for the rice and vegetables you eat! How much do you think poor farmer sweat a lot, gets at the end of the day? How much do you pay, when it comes to your door step? Who benefits? Middleman!!

[dakrazyman20]

Sort of an isolated incident. I've been in the market for a zc21s swift for a quite sometime now. The examples i saw mainly came from the agents but were hacked or badly damaged due to reckless driving. I'm assuming the good examples are still in the hands of owners who enjoy the car and wont sell until several years from now.

So bout 3 weeks back I saw a 1500cc zc21 advertised along marine drive. i went to look at the car and it wasnt a car from A*W it was a JDM import. The owner was quiet but reasonably honest. The car had done around 94,000 km but needed a lot of work, the 1500 engine felt slower that the 1300 in my ht51s. Plus it was on open papers, which was suspicious, so me and my dad decided it wasnt for us and said goodbye.

Next week another black 1500cc was advertised in Dehiwela, me and my dad went first thing and looked at it. Upon first impressions the car seemed good and had only done around 33000 kms. The engine seemed fine and it pulled rather decently. So after a drive and some lengthy checks we got negotiating on price. When my dad looked at the registration, it wasnt in the name of the current owner. He said it was in the name of an employee blah blah. So my dad asked if he could produce this employee when we finalised the deal. But he evaded my dads query but because we had been looking for one for so long and this example looked ok apart from some needed TLC we decided to go for it. So in the end after paying a deposit of 16 grand we left, happy but feelin a little odd.

On Monday morning i got a sudden hunch to check the ##### and compare the car from Marine drive and the one i had settled on. Loh and behold they looked exactly the same all the way down to the noticeable plastic shades stuck on the light. So i got suspicious and told my dad bout it. He said he would enquire and sure enough the guy changed his story saying he bought it from a friend and that it was still in his name blah blah and it was obvious he had hacked the odometer and changed the mileage from the 94 to the 33000kms fixed some of the major faults and spruced it up. My dad told him to **** off and by sheer luck we saved a ton of cash only loosing the deposit we paid.

Goes to show u can never be sure when buying a car in Sl. I got so disillusioned i have given up looking for a ZC21s altogether.

Needless to say i learned my lesson.

Edited June 1, 2010 by dakrazyman20

[da_kool_guy]

Sort of an isolated incident. I've been in the market for a zc21s swift for a quite sometime now. The examples i saw mainly came from the agents but were hacked or badly damaged due to reckless driving. I'm assuming the good examples are still in the hands of owners who enjoy the car and wont sell until several years from now.

So bout 3 weeks back I saw a 1500cc zc21 advertised along marine drive. i went to look at the car and it wasnt a car from A*W it was a JDM import. The owner was quiet but reasonably honest. The car had done around 94,000 km but needed a lot of work, the 1500 engine felt slower that the 1300 in my ht51s. Plus it was on open papers, which was suspicious, so me and my dad decided it wasnt for us and said goodbye.

Next week another black 1500cc was advertised in Dehiwela, me and my dad went first thing and looked at it. Upon first impressions the car seemed good and had only done around 33000 kms. The engine seemed fine and it pulled rather decently. So after a drive and some lengthy checks we got negotiating on price. When my dad looked at the registration, it wasnt in the name of the current owner. He said it was in the name of an employee blah blah. So my dad asked if he could produce this employee when we finalised the deal. But he evaded my dads query but because we had been looking for one for so long and this example looked ok apart from some needed TLC we decided to go for it. So in the end after paying a deposit of 16 grand we left, happy but feelin a little odd.

On Monday morning i got a sudden hunch to check the ##### and compare the car from Marine drive and the one i had settled on. Loh and behold they looked exactly the same all the way down to the noticeable plastic shades stuck on the light. So i got suspicious and told my dad bout it. He said he would enquire and sure enough the guy changed his story saying he bought it from a friend and that it was still in his name blah blah and it was obvious he had hacked the odometer and changed the mileage from the 94 to the 33000kms fixed some of the major faults and spruced it up. My dad told him to **** off and by sheer luck we saved a ton of cash only loosing the deposit we paid.

Goes to show u can never be sure when buying a car in Sl. I got so disillusioned i have given up looking for a ZC21s altogether.

Needless to say i learned my lesson.

You are in the best place to know all kind of scams related to vehicle business. Cuz some of our reputed respectable AL members who pose big shadows and muscles do worst than this.

Lifting their own vehicles, claim the insuarance and resell the vehicle with or without new docs and engine numbers

Removing parts with in a day before closing the deal

Reversing Oddometer <<< Most Popular thing

Repairing condemnded vehicles and sell as unabused

Blocking and changing engine sensors and other engine related stuff

This is a kind of "Horage Ammagen Peena Ahanawa" thing.....

[Watchman]

You are in the best place to know all kind of scams related to vehicle business. Cuz some of our reputed respectable AL members who pose big shadows and muscles do worst than this.

Lifting their own vehicles, claim the insuarance and resell the vehicle with or without new docs and engine numbers

Removing parts with in a day before closing the deal

Reversing Oddometer <<< Most Popular thing

Repairing condemnded vehicles and sell as unabused

Blocking and changing engine sensors and other engine related stuff

This is a kind of "Horage Ammagen Peena Ahanawa" thing.....

I dont quite get what you're saying.. Are you saying that AutoLanka members do the above stuff?

[Pericles]

You are in the best place to know all kind of scams related to vehicle business. Cuz some of our reputed respectable AL members who pose big shadows and muscles do worst than this.

What the heck? What is it with ppl today and their "AL member" posts? Have you been sharing Sylvi's Shrooms?

[dakrazyman20]

Is there like a thread which details how we can look for something like this. I know for a fact that manufacturers do not encode or protect odometer readings in case the system gets wiped cleaned or u replace an engine and u want the mileage to match. Modern digital odometers can be hacked via the ecu or by plugin directly into the dash. Look for signs of prying and scratches around the dash indicative of it being taken out.

If there is a thread detailing how to spot such fraudulent activity it will be a great help, if not maybe ppl can share their tips on this one.

[da_kool_guy]

I dont quite get what you're saying.. Are you saying that AutoLanka members do the above stuff?

Yep... doing it PROFESSIONALLY

1st hand info

need names?

[Ripper]

Yep... doing it PROFESSIONALLY

1st hand info

need names?

i'd say spill the beans but you gotta have evidence and show yourself when you point fingers.

Or else it can be just another accusation without much effect cos you are anonymous and some of us aren't

[Watchman]

i'd say spill the beans but you gotta have evidence and show yourself when you point fingers.

Or else it can be just another accusation without much effect cos you are anonymous and some of us aren't

yep agree,

if you have credible evidence, no reason you cant tell us. And it will also give the person accused of this a fair chance to tell us his side of the story.

And we'll allbe a bit more informed on who/what to look out for.

[da_kool_guy]

i'd say spill the beans but you gotta have evidence and show yourself when you point fingers.

Or else it can be just another accusation without much effect cos you are anonymous and some of us aren't

jack the ripper.....dont worry man...

Im not a 3rd class person like some of AL members who use even mothers and sisters for their offenses in much vulgar ways. So i won't reveal it that easily.

NO ACCUSATIONS...REAL WORLD INCIDENTS which were described by themselves or people who backed them up.

One advice - check the autheniticity of the owner and documents. Even before going for tech stuff. Or else u will be in a real SHIT HOLE.

[Ripper]

jack the ripper.....dont worry man...

Im not a 3rd class person like some of AL members who use even mothers and sisters for their offenses in much vulgar ways. So i won't reveal it that easily.

NO ACCUSATIONS...REAL WORLD INCIDENTS which were described by themselves or people who backed them up.

One advice - check the autheniticity of the owner and documents. Even before going for tech stuff. Or else u will be in a real SHIT HOLE.

dude you're just spitting venom accusing un named AL members of doing all these bad things without an iota of evidence.

the way i can see...at least so far....you're just BS'ing trying to take high ground.

If you make an accusation... come clean! Or don't make it in the first place.

[kaushama]

Well guys! sanity! This was not the initial intention of the thread. If someone knows some details of fraudulent matters please post us your first hand experiences. It would be great help to us than learning it through experience and feeding these F####ng D###heads our hard earned money!

Edited June 2, 2010 by kaushama

[mirage7777]

I think we should start a thread to share our experiences of being cheated when buying or selling cars. For that matter any thing related to automobile business including survices. I am sure it will be a good database for members, who do not know these dirty tactics simply because they are honest people. I will post few experiences which I wrote in another thread below for a start.

kaushama - i personally think that this thread is invaluable - Hope ALL members contribute their bad experiences or near misses.

Just a gentle request to the moderator - pls inform the members to keep personal battles to the 02 on going threads ONLY. Although i confess its interesting to see such entertainment - it becomes stale to see it on ALL the threads. Peri, hope you wont take it the wrong way - but IMO its good for the AL membership and also for people who doesn't contribute but are passive visitors only- to have recourse to helpful threads like this.

[rangerover]

kaushama - i personally think that this thread is invaluable - Hope ALL members contribute their bad experiences or near misses.

Just a gentle request to the moderator - pls inform the members to keep personal battles to the 02 on going threads ONLY. Although i confess its interesting to see such entertainment - it becomes stale to see it on ALL the threads. Peri, hope you wont take it the wrong way - but IMO its good for the AL membership and also for people who doesn't contribute but are passive visitors only- to have recourse to helpful threads like this.

+1

[VVTi]

One cannot be cheated without One's own permission, is what I always say.

When you are selling a car, always check the kind of person who comes, the questions they ask, the way they carry themselves. A Broker will never want to go for a test drive (Most of the time) and will not show any interest whatsoever to the general well being of the car.

He will want to know the year, the number and the trim level. That's about it. A real buyer, will want to smell the car, sit, drive, and ask questions that are very relevant.

That's my experience.

And when buying, its accepted that the ownership confirmation is paramount.

Last 2 cars I sold, I took the DeSilva valuation reports before advertising and kept it for the buyer to see. That will help the buyer to see that what he is about to invest in is within the current market.

I strongly believe that we as buyers and sellers should start a practice of demanding an Accredited valuation when buying or selling. That way, the brokers and such scum will not stand a chance.

Edited June 2, 2010 by VVTi

[Pericles]

Just a gentle request to the moderator - pls inform the members to keep personal battles to the 02 on going threads ONLY. Although i confess its interesting to see such entertainment - it becomes stale to see it on ALL the threads. Peri, hope you wont take it the wrong way - but IMO its good for the AL membership and also for people who doesn't contribute but are passive visitors only- to have recourse to helpful threads like this.

Agreed. Moved the posts.

[Supra_Natural]

Oh for heavens sake people let's stop feeding these trolls eh? This is a genuinely useful thread that got started here so lets not derail it because of one clown, it's fairly obvious that our Rockcity donkey adores the attention we give him, so perhaps a good way to deal with him would be to not give him what he craves?

Im aware that it's obvious, just stating the facts.

And here's my story of being cheated...

In the early 1990's my dad came across a Toyota sprinter Carib at a car sale that was run by a known party. It was a really nice car with a very high spec, TEMS electronic suspension, push button 4WD, sports interior, climate control, the works. He liked it so much that he bought it almost immediately without giving it a going over properly, egged on by the fact that the importer was known and supposedly trustworthy. Turned out to be a serious mistake.

First problems were from the engine, which was a 4A-FE if i remember correctly with an electronically controlled twin carb set up. That thing was so complicated that not even the toyota agents at the time had anyone who could make sense of it! I think they were out of sync or something but the net result was fuel consumption in the 4-5 Km/l range. After trying for six months he finally had enough and yanked out the system to replace it with the single carb set up from the standard brand new spec corolla.

Next it turned out that the TEMS suspension packed up and remained stuck on the stiff setting, that was not fixed for as long as we had the car since importing the right bits would have had to be done personally from japan and would have cost an arm and a leg!

The final straw was when we found out during an inspection that the frame had actually cracked, no doubt due to a severe accident in japan. According to the guy who found it, the impact would probably have made the car a write off, and our wonderful importer would have got it for a song! Anyway, that was about the limit and we finally got rid of the thing a few months later.

Moral of the story: when buying a car, ALWAYS look at more than one example, if the car is a rare one make sure you can source the right parts for it (easier nowadays than it was then) and most important of all, get a trusted person who knows the mechanical aspect to check the vehicle out thoroughly and if possible get it inspected at the relevant agents as well.

The small time and money investment made at this point will pay dividends later on!

[Sylvi]

You are in the best place to know all kind of scams related to vehicle business. Cuz some of our reputed respectable AL members who pose big shadows and muscles do worst than this.

Lifting their own vehicles, claim the insuarance and resell the vehicle with or without new docs and engine numbers

Removing parts with in a day before closing the deal

Reversing Oddometer <<< Most Popular thing

Repairing condemnded vehicles and sell as unabused

Blocking and changing engine sensors and other engine related stuff

This is a kind of "Horage Ammagen Peena Ahanawa" thing.....

Sir,

In Vehicle business Reversing Speedometer mileage Repairing condemned vehicles importing Vehicles in cut export as parts them here in two three shipments with different importers names and Weld get some accident Vehicle Chassis number re stamped engine re stamped to the Accident Vehicles Specifications.

These are very common after free era came in 1978 all above are done with the help of Authorities concern with big money and big timers.

Wijesinghe.