Hostility encountered helping a friend by a 914, at local vw shop Options

[thomasotten]

So this story starts out a few weeks back when I drove my 914 to church, and I met a guy who was very interested in my 914 and was thinking about buying one. A few weeks pass and he asks me to come take a look at this 914 over at George's buggy shop. He is all set to buy it, and already paid the guy $500 as a deposit, but wanted to get my opinion.

So I went over there with him. I had also bought my car from the same place, but that was back 15 years ago. I told him that I had some reservations about the place, it has a so-so reputation and all. But I was not going to blow the deal for either side.

The sale price was to be $5,500. For that price, I was expecting to see a car in fairly sound mechanical and cosmetic condition. So we get there and start looking at the car. When the owner sees that I am helping the guy inspect the car, he immediatley gets very defensive. He wouldn't even shake my hand. I thought to myself, that I would just look the car over, and if it didn't have any major problems, to tell the guy the car was OK. I did not want to cause any problems.

So, my first step is to look at the old hell hole. I noticed that the battery was gone, and the side wall had been fiberglassed. So, I had to point that out to the guy. I have seen many 914's with glassed side walls, to disguise the hell hole rot, and I knew it wasn't a good thing, but it wasn't enough to blow the deal. So, I made sure the longitudinals were not rusted, and they weren't so I thought, the car was pretty solid, it would need some preventive POR-15, but it was solid.

At this point the owner comes back and says, "hey if you want a perfect car, there is one on ebay for 15k". I thought, man is this guy blowing this deal or what. :screwy

Next, my friend asks me about the blower in the engine compartment, and asks why there are not hoses attached to it, and the owner jumps in again, this time getting a bit more hostile, with "those are just flexible hoses - if you want a perfect car, go buy one for 15k". Well, the car was not only missing the flexible hoses, but it was missing all the heater stuff like J tubes, etc. So I told my friend about this, quitley, so as to avert any more hostility.

But the owner heard me, and started getting more and more pissed off. It is funny, because the owner knew that I knew what I was talking about, and he obviously had something to hide, or felt guitly. Was it the guilt that the car was really only worth $2,500?

I then started looking at the body, and although to the untrained eye it looked fine, I noticed the car had a lot of bondo on the rear 1/4 panels. Again, I told him about it quitely, and told him that it is common on these cars to expect some body work from previous collisions. But guess what, the owner comes back and says, "just come get your deposit". I told him at that point that I was only showing my friend things about the car, based on my experience, and that I was not the one buying the car. I was only there to advise, the final decision would be up to him.

So more time passes, and we ask someone there for the keys, to take a test drive. The owner at this point comes back and insults me, and tells my friend to come inside and get his damn check back, and "go buy the car for 15k on ebay". I don't say a word, because I knew this could erupt into violence at any minute.

When we finally leave, the owner again looks at me and smarts of "yeah, you did your job real good". At that point I looked at him and said "I was going to tell him to buy the car". He then uttered some profanities that I couldn't make out.

I thought to myself, what an idiot. If he would have just shut his mouth he would have sold that car for $5500, even though it was only worth $2500. I had no intention of blowing a deal for anyone, because I thought since my friend already gave a $500 deposit, I was only there to advise the guy on his new purchase - not to say buy it or not.

It just shows you that sometimes, these used car dealers are so greedy they screw themselves.