Thread: Perils of shopping on eBay

I've been looking for a nice Manual 1988 RR, and so of course have been perusing eBay to see what is available.

I found a nice looking example for $4000 ($5000 buy it now), but up north of Sydney (I'm in Adelaide) so obviously not easy to view. I won't post the advert, but suffice to say it looked in reasonable condition with a stated 200,000Km on the clock.

I checked the seller history and noticed a negative feedback on the vehicle, so I sent the old buyer an email enquiring as to why he pulled out of the sale, and this is the letter we wrote back:

Hi again David
I have a bit to tell you about this vehicle but to fill you in I will first say that I have a1976 Rangie that I have owned since almost new and also a 1984 Land Rover County V8 which has the same running gear as a Rangie. I have always done all my own repairs so I can claim to know more about these vehicles than most.

Having said that I had been thinking for some time about upgrading to a 4 door Rangie despite the fact that mine is still in excellent condition-- I have resprayed it twice and its done at least 500000 -can't remember how many times it's gone round the clock. So I bid on the vehicle to which you now refer on the basis of the auction description and supplementary advice from the seller that there was no panel damage and that the only repair needed was perhaps replacement of the odometer cable.

When we got to the seller's home to pick it up after travelling some 350k we were quite frankly astounded by what we found to be the true condition of the vehicle. To be specific ----

1.faded paintwork on the bonnet was actually cracked and lifting of numerous layers of poorly sprayed paint -- almost certainly not the original bonnet.

2.paintwork and window glass on near side of vehicle is spattered with arc welding residue

3.the seller advised that the odometer had been replaced so recorded k's travelled is inaccurate

4.further that only one of the electric windows -rear door- worked properly gears stripped on drivers window - seller stated that wasn't a problem because he always used the air conditioning but he then also said that that didn't work because it need to be regassed ie its got a leak and probable repair cost would not be cheap. I am a fridge mechanic so know a little about that.

5.tyres are in poor condition -- I wouldn't have been game to attempt to drive home on them.

6.after the seller eventually got the motor to run the kindest thing I could say about it was that there wasn't anything wrong with it that a new motor wouldn't fix.

It eventually came out that the vehicle had been virtually unused for some three years.

I do have to say though that the interior of the vehicle is in surprisingly good condition despite the obvious hard life it has had.

There are other things that I could say but I think you will understand why I backed out of the purchase and that I am pretty annoyed that what I consider to be an intentional and blatant attempt to sell a seriously misrepresented vehicle should have set me back almost several hundred dollars in fuel and travel costs and two days of our time. Ebay also accepted my reasons for reneging without recording any strike against me.

Don't touch it with even with a 10 ft pole . In my view it's doubtful that it would be worthwhile doing up even if it could be got at an appropriate cost and its certainly not a vehicle to buy with the idea of being able to immediately drive it around.

Regards


So - it's worth asking questions sometimes, and I really thank the bloke who wrote back to me for taking the time to do so. The advert completely mis-represented the vehicle. Saved me wasted time and grief for sure.

Cheers
David

I know it is not all bad, as I buy stuff off eBay regularly. Cars are intrinsically more fraught than buying things like tools/clothes/books/etc as they are much higher priced and a lot more to go wrong. Just need to do proper research on the car and the seller.