Sorry for the long rant but...
I guess 12Scooter57 must live near the seller as the Craig's List ad still has it in the same area, El Cajon, California 92020. Being just two days after BaT announced it sold to the high bidder for $20,000 seems funny to me. The price of $29,500 makes it sound like old Scooter is a flipper. The fact that the new seller has used photos from the BaT auction, which should not happen, is also troubling but I’ve seen it done before.
Back last November I bid on a red 1992 Caterham that was only 2 ½ hours form my home. I drove up to see the car and talked to the seller. I liked it and found out what the reserve price was. I was the high bid (and I knew I was over the reserve) right up to 5 seconds before the end when a new bidder bumped my bid $250. I thought that’s not right, a bidder who was unheard of didn’t ask any questions or make any comments for 7 days comes in at the end. I bumped him back and he waited to do it again. I said I wasn’t playing his game and dropped out.
Four days later it shows up for sale on Autotrader, Kajiji and Marketplace. I could not believe it moved an hour closer to me and the new seller was asking $15,000 over what I know he had into the car including buyer’s fees. Furthermore, he was using not only the photos from the BaT auction but all the descriptions too. He was so lazy he didn’t even change any of the information. I called the number and spoke to the guy and he lied through his teeth. He answered all the questions as if he was the person he bought the car from. I made arrangements and the wife and I drove up to see the car, for the second time. When we started talking and I ask him about info in the ad he changed his story and then said I must have misunderstood him. He bought it from a friend. Well it went downhill from there. He seemed like a nice, likable chap who was genuinely a car guy. But, I knew that he was “curb siding” this car. As we talked he freely admitted that he had not changed the ownership over into his name and had no intentions of doing so. By leaving the car in the old owners name he doesn’t pay any added taxes. In Ontario it’s a blended 13% based on the bill of sale or a government assessed value, whichever is greater. He has six days to make the change. I offered to pay him $2k over his purchase price if we did the deal that day. I was prepared to go a little higher but he didn’t give me the chance. He shut me down and said he had lots of money and the car would sit in his garage until the spring when he’d get his price. Well last I saw it he’d dropped the price &11 grand. I doubt he has done anything to it and it needed work.
Now I made formal complaints to every agency I could get information on to expose this person. He had broken several laws but no one cares. It upsets me to no end that scumbags like this exist. I have had to deal with these types in every hobby or business I’ve been involved with.
I'm not sure if this red Europa is being flipped or if the auction seller had a friend bidding to drive the price up and got stuck with it.
