Greetings all,
I am new to this forum and I just wanted to let everyone know how I got ripped off on eBay with the purchase of an 86 GN. The guy I won the car from is located in Oakland Gardens, NY and his name is Sean Hancock. He claims that he purchased the vehicle from a friend of his that was moving to FL. The title was not in his name. Anyway, he totally misrepresented the vehicle on eBay and he sent me a clean Carfax report via email on this vehicle saying it was never in a major accident and had a clean title. I was so excited to get the GN, I made some very stupid mistakes and was too blind to see things that should have been red flags. He wanted me to send him a cashier's check for the purchase of the vehicle instead of going through paypal because he claimed he didn't want to pay the fees. I contacted eBay VPP (Vehicle Protection Program) and they said that I was still covered if I sent him a bank check so I sent him the check. He sent me the title and I went to DMV to get a 30-day inspection tag. I drove to NY in a rental to pick the vehicle up. I noticed that it had major electrical problems and that the suspension was messed up. The car had a dead spot in the steering and pulled really hard to the right. Upon taking it to a local auto shop for the Maryland state inspection, I realized just how bad I was ripped off. It failed in almost every area of the inspection. They told me "it looks like this vehicle was wrapped around a telephone pole and that someone replaced the frame, and the new frame is not the correct frame for the vehicle". The frame is lopsided causing one of the rear wheels to rub against the body of the car. There is major rust damage in critical areas under the vehicle. I was also told that the front wheels could fall off at any time and that the vehicle was in "Very poor condition". There are more things wrong with this vehicle than there were right. The car was apparently repaired in someone's home garage because it looks like they bought cans of spraypaint and primer to pain the car on their own. They did this so that it wouldn't show up on Carfax. Carfax only gets what the DMV or insurance company reports to them. I told Sean that I wanted my money back and he told me there was nothing he could do and that I would have to sue him. Beware of buying vehicles online (e.g. eBay, auto-trader, etc.). I paid $6,100.00 for a car that is practically worthless because it has the wrong frame. Now I have to go through the eBay VPP to try and recover my money and if I can't get the money from them, I will have to sue Sean in small-claims court which means I will loose $1,100. The following is the eBay item number and the VIN for the vehicle. I am going to have the MD state police check this car out.
eBay item # 4550749999
VIN: 1G4GK4775GP434978
If anyone has some better ideas as to how I could recover my money, please let me know. I can also send pictures of the underneath of the vehicle via email upon request to get input on that. I feel so stupid for letting myself get ripped off like this, but hopefully my lesson will also prevent this from happening to someone else. I will keep everyone updated on what is happening with this issue and I will also post a full laundry list of exactly what is wrong with the vehicle when I get home from work this evening. I would really apprecaite if someone could tell me what they think the car is worth after I post the laundry list of what is wrong with the vehicle. I don't think I will even be able to sell this vehicle in it's current condition and I don't even know if it is a true GN. I would like to thank everyone on this forum in advance for their help. This whole thing has made me sick.
I am new to this forum and I just wanted to let everyone know how I got ripped off on eBay with the purchase of an 86 GN. The guy I won the car from is located in Oakland Gardens, NY and his name is Sean Hancock. He claims that he purchased the vehicle from a friend of his that was moving to FL. The title was not in his name. Anyway, he totally misrepresented the vehicle on eBay and he sent me a clean Carfax report via email on this vehicle saying it was never in a major accident and had a clean title. I was so excited to get the GN, I made some very stupid mistakes and was too blind to see things that should have been red flags. He wanted me to send him a cashier's check for the purchase of the vehicle instead of going through paypal because he claimed he didn't want to pay the fees. I contacted eBay VPP (Vehicle Protection Program) and they said that I was still covered if I sent him a bank check so I sent him the check. He sent me the title and I went to DMV to get a 30-day inspection tag. I drove to NY in a rental to pick the vehicle up. I noticed that it had major electrical problems and that the suspension was messed up. The car had a dead spot in the steering and pulled really hard to the right. Upon taking it to a local auto shop for the Maryland state inspection, I realized just how bad I was ripped off. It failed in almost every area of the inspection. They told me "it looks like this vehicle was wrapped around a telephone pole and that someone replaced the frame, and the new frame is not the correct frame for the vehicle". The frame is lopsided causing one of the rear wheels to rub against the body of the car. There is major rust damage in critical areas under the vehicle. I was also told that the front wheels could fall off at any time and that the vehicle was in "Very poor condition". There are more things wrong with this vehicle than there were right. The car was apparently repaired in someone's home garage because it looks like they bought cans of spraypaint and primer to pain the car on their own. They did this so that it wouldn't show up on Carfax. Carfax only gets what the DMV or insurance company reports to them. I told Sean that I wanted my money back and he told me there was nothing he could do and that I would have to sue him. Beware of buying vehicles online (e.g. eBay, auto-trader, etc.). I paid $6,100.00 for a car that is practically worthless because it has the wrong frame. Now I have to go through the eBay VPP to try and recover my money and if I can't get the money from them, I will have to sue Sean in small-claims court which means I will loose $1,100. The following is the eBay item number and the VIN for the vehicle. I am going to have the MD state police check this car out.
eBay item # 4550749999
VIN: 1G4GK4775GP434978
If anyone has some better ideas as to how I could recover my money, please let me know. I can also send pictures of the underneath of the vehicle via email upon request to get input on that. I feel so stupid for letting myself get ripped off like this, but hopefully my lesson will also prevent this from happening to someone else. I will keep everyone updated on what is happening with this issue and I will also post a full laundry list of exactly what is wrong with the vehicle when I get home from work this evening. I would really apprecaite if someone could tell me what they think the car is worth after I post the laundry list of what is wrong with the vehicle. I don't think I will even be able to sell this vehicle in it's current condition and I don't even know if it is a true GN. I would like to thank everyone on this forum in advance for their help. This whole thing has made me sick.
