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View Full Version : Buyers BEWARE!!



Mr X
07-18-2005, 09:27 AM
Everyone needs to keep in mind last years, and this years hurricane's!!
If a deal seems good....and the boat is in Florida, Alabama, Georgia ETC.
Be sure to take a VERY close look at it. Insurance companys have settled
with HUNDREDS of boat owners for damaged boats. Some of the damage is from submursion........and very hard to detect. Its sad that some the sellers will not be truthfull about the history of what they are selling.

I had FIRST HAND experiance Saturday driving 430 miles each way.
Only to find that the photos sent to me from the owner were 5 years old.......

Be sure to check EVERYTHING!!! If you are not an expert, hire one to survey the boat and make sure you hire a good honest one!!!!

Again some of them are VERY hard to detect!!!!

gcarter
07-18-2005, 02:53 PM
On the other hand, and your qualified, this can be a golden oportunity to get into a boat you never thought you could.
But you're right, don't have any illusions about anything!!!
CAVEAT EMPTOR!!!

p729lws
07-18-2005, 03:53 PM
I flew 500 miles on Saturday to purchase a car that was 2 years old with 20K miles and described as in perfect condition. I took it for an inspection and they said it looked like it had been in a flood with substantial corrosion in the undercarage. :mad: The body/paint/interior looked great and it had a clear Carfax verified as a single owner private auto. I even told the dealer I was going to have it checked out before I made flight arangements and they still said it was perfect. Somehow it had passed the dealers "72-point inspection" :rolleyes:

Got to drive a POS rental back to P'cola. :banghead:

Dan

Donzigo
07-18-2005, 05:07 PM
Ted, I had a freind who bought a Porsche a few yeras ago. Yup, it had been sunk. There are 100's, maybe 1,000's of cars that are stored over in the Ruskin area in holding yards, paid for by insurance company claims, that are auctioned off after any natural disaster. My freind's Porsche was purchased there, for $6,000 and sold to my buddy, by a rather well-known guy, here in St. Pete. (you know him, I'm sure), who buys & sells these boats/cars to whoever will pay. My buddy got royally screwed, thinking that he got a good deal from a freind.

You got to be careful......boats or cars.

BUIZILLA
07-18-2005, 06:18 PM
A good friend had this happen to him just yesterday... must be the same weekend sickness... car is in New Orleans...
He finds an advertised **numbers match** 1970 Stage 1 Buick GS ( I luv these things) 4 speed, air, Gulfstream Blue, buckets, white guts.... nice car in the pic's, seller says he has *all doc's*... guy then says he had it painted since the pic's were done a couple years back, looks even better now... friend fly's with cash early yesterday... get's to the guys house... hmmmm, nice car, but where is the Gulfstream Blue one for sale??? guy says... *oh, it was GM Gulfstream Blue, but I liked Ford Gulfstream Blue better, so I changed the color when I painted it, after the pic's I took that I sent you*.... :bawling: :splat: friend keeps looking... finds the engine has been re-stamped as well. VIN # is 44 numbers from this true production date.... seller didn't know this, so he says, but he owned the car for the last 8 years, seller says it was a stupid assembly at the factory deal, somebody screwed up by a couple weeks, but it is the original engine.. :banghead: ... friend keeps looking.... what's this tranny number that doesn't match??? supposed to be a '70, year is unknown, VIN numbers ground off, oh, seller says, welp, the casting number matches right??? friend keeps looking.... how's come it's got a '71 dated rear in it??? seller says, oh... welp, it has a 10 bolt, all GM's had 10 bolts right?? (wrong) and the number of cover bolts matches the '70 rear right??
I could go on and on....

JH

Donzigo
07-18-2005, 09:30 PM
I was looking for a car for my son years ago. The ad says: "pristine, etc. etc.". We get there and it looks pretty good, until we open the hood. the battery had exploded and the acid was everywhere. The guy says: "Yeah, well this ain't run in a while, so when I wuz chargin the bat-try, it sort of blew up; but, hey, it's just a little acid, ain't gonna hurt nothing..............he says: "Hey, buddy, the tars are good, so, what's the big deal."

Rootsy
07-19-2005, 06:37 AM
yeah kinda reminds me of an 18 i went to look at a few years ago... seller on this site advertised it at immaculate, beautiful and pristine... so i drove 2 hours only to be disappointed... made her a "realistic" offer which i believe insulted her but oh well.. "I" had to pull this thing to the ramp, it had no lights on the trailer since the pigtail was cut off and it had no license plates... you about fell through the floor, custom carpet was some indoor outdoor rotton crap tossed on the floor, the hull was a 50 footer... looks good from 50 feet... you could move teh alpha back and forth in the gimble about an inch in each direction.. and the ole 350 mag was so tired that it held 5 psi worth of oil pressure at idle and the warning "light" flickered but no whistle... owner says... well the horn was corroded and kept going off so we just "took it out"... horn worked fine... warning buzzer on the other hand... but i could go on and on... and then afterward when others were considering it i even got an email asking me not to "speak" to others bout the boat... sorry but i don't sugar coat and i won't let others be screwed if i can help it..

JR