Car buying experiences

[DCVING 6]

I bought my daily driver 96 Pontiac Sunfire off of my brother in law. I was a year out of high school and just starting college. It had 77k miles and was pretty clean overall. I got a family discount and paid $1750 for it. Well it now has 187k miles 6 years later and has taken only minimal maintenance.

Best part of the story:

2 years ago I was rear ended at a light and pushed into the car in front of me. All it did was crack both bumper covers and pushed in the rear body panel. I went to a high end body shop down the street from my work and they wrote it for all new GM stuff. The kids insurance co ended up totalling the car and selling it back to me for $400. I got to keep the car and got a check from ins for $2550. Remember I initially paid 1750 for the car 110,000 miles ago.

 

[DJ Red Barron]

Probably my most unusual was a sale of a car. I went through several 4th Gen F-Bodies a few years back. My first was a '99 30th T/A. But when I found out 02 was it for those cars, I knew I had to get one.

At the time, even though I wasn't yet employed by the local Pontiac dealership, I did spec the cars ordered for stocked units. I didn't yet know how many of the Collectors Edition cars were going to be produced, so I had one built exactly how I wanted it. I also ordered several Firehawks and had one built to my specs as well. I knew I'd decide which one I wanted by the time they arrived. Since there ended up being a LOT of CEs built, I went with the Hawk. It was a T-Top car, all GM options and all SLP options except the Auburn differential. I paid invoice pricing for the car, which was roughly $30k. Drove the car for two years and put close to 30k on the odometer in that time. I had also done some custom touches to the car.

One day, a friend of mine asked me what I thought I could get for it if I were to try and sell it. I didn't really know, but for grins I wanted to find out. I put the car up on eBay with a reserve price of $28,500. I figured if I could get that for it, I would take it in a heartbeat. I didn't really expect much action on the car, but my phone started blowing up the first day of the auction. It came down to 5 people seriously interested, 3 of which were VERY serious. I told them all what the reserve price was and basically, whoever got me the cash first was the new owner. A very cool guy from England was the guy who wanted it the most. We talked on the phone a few times and within a short period of time, he sent me a deposit to pull the eBay ad. 24 hours later, a wire transfer for the full amount was made. This guy bought the car sight unseen, based on pictures alone. With the wait of international shipping, it took a few months for him to finally get the car. He then had to spend a good amount of money to convert some things over on the car.

I was sad to see it go. Here is a pic of the last time I saw her as the transport truck drive away.

But to this day, he still has the car and is still extremely happy with it. He and I still talk from time to time. His girlfriend contacted me wanting to get him the SLP Birth Certificate as one of his Christmas presents this past year, but was having hell ordering internationally. I took care of getting that to her and also sent some other Firehawk related stuff I had found in my storage building recently.

 

[Dennis Kirban]

Some great stories popping up....the rare cloth interior Turbo Trans Am and the best bang for the buck the Sunbird....

Once in awhile you can come out ahead with an insurance company not often but it does happen.

Happened to me once. My first truck I used to trailer the turbo cars back home was a 2000 Dodge Dakota extended cab V8 car.

Its 3 days prior to Thanksgiving I am on the back roads in the northwest corner of Ohio. Its late morning two lane road. Kid passes me and around the curve stops quick to make a left turn. I can't stop and the guard rail is to my rite. I hit him square the turbo-t on my trailer doesn't move an inch.

The kids are ok but it crumbled his car to his back seat. Towing company takes my rig to a storage place. Trying to think fast since I am 400 miles from home. I decide to gamble take my license plate off the truck put it on the turbo car and drive it straight home.

Borrow my sons diesel Ford one ton turn around head back to Ohio to retrieve my truck and trailer before place closes for Thanksgiving and ends up costing me more storage. I get my truck up on my trailer and turn around and repeat the same trip.

Insurance company ends up totalling my Dodge as the bed even got bent. The good news is they assessed the truck because it was in such nice condition and added up the options and paid me more than I paid for the truck used a year earlier.

I was not hurt except for a bruise on my arm when the air bag exploded. (I knew it was coming).

My next 2 trucks were the best 2001 Chevy 2500 HD with the 8.1 gas engine and allison trans and then a 2001 GMC same drivetrain. I towed so many with the Chevy the receiver on the truck was worn oblong!

end of story....

keep them coming will post another one tomorrow nite.

denniskirban@yahoo.com