This is just a warning to anybody thinking of selling their MINI. This is what happened to me.

After months of posting on NAM and Craigslist, I had one serious buyer on NAM who ended up having to forfeit the transaction due to a family illness. Once I've determined that he didn't want it anymore, I reposted it on NAM, and on Craigslist.

On NAM, I got one or two inquiries about seeing the car, on Craigslist I get two hits.

The first hit is from someone who obviously didn't read my post because he's asking questions that were answered. I also spelled out in my listing that I would NOT sell to any dealers or wholesalers and that this was a private party sale only.

That evening I get an email from a Matt Duke who says how fortunate to have found my listing. He said he totalled his Cooper last week from a drunk driver and was looking for a replacement. He says he works for the finance department at a Toyota dealership in San Diego. He says he hated the new '07 MINIs and was looking for an earlier model. He seems to know the lingo. He seems to know about the MINIs pretty well. We chat about MINIs in general. He doesn't know about NAM, so my first thought was--ok maybe he's not an enthusiast but atleast he knows about MINIs.

After talking a bit about the car and MINI stuff in general, he says he wants the car, but since he's in San Diego, asked if his uncle could come to check the car out first thing tomorrow--that he would call me. Sure enough he calls, and I talk to a Dean Verrone. We set up a meeting the next day. I started to have flashbacks of the first buyer that came to look at my MINI-who I ended up having to call the police for harrassing me, but this guy seems ok.

He kept me at ease, asked me questions, and acted as the middle person. He called Matt Duke on the phone and told him the condition. They did make a big stink about the notch I cut to install the engine damper which shot up a red flag--about why the heck he was so concerned about it.

Anyways, he finally let it go, he says ok lets go to the bank. Is there a Washington Mutual nearby? He claims that he used to live in this area and that he remembers one near Venice and Centinela. I look on my nav and find it, and we go there.

The line is super long, we wait there, go to the teller, she draws up a cashiers check. Look at his drivers license. He does some small talk about there being plenty of money there and that we are buying a car. We put my license plate on the check along with his name.

He gives me the check and we go back to my house, complete the transaction there. I take some pictures of my MINI, and snap a few of them driving off--making sure to grab their license plate in the car they came in.

For some reason I didn't feel totally at ease. Maybe it was because when I deposited the check, my bank puts a hold on any deposit over $5000. So now I wait.

Then last night I get a PM from a NAM member saying he saw my car on the Orange County Craigslist and was wondering if I was relisting it. I said what??? I do a search, and there it is. Not even 2 days after the transaction.

The NAM member replies to the ad, and the guy says he's a wholesaler, and that he got this car from a trade with a 2006 MCS and that he wants to sell it.

I took a screen shot of the ad.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...30#post1253530

The world is full of deceiving people. It's a sad sad world.

 

I'd feel cheated and sick as well

 

WOW people are really Screwed up aren't they,Thanks for the post and keeping us up todate on the latest scams. We should all call that number and tell the guys hes an A*****E

 

Geez Richard.....very sad ending to something that you thought would be a happy story. We too - have discovered many "snake in the grass" people out there. Not with our sale of the MINI (thank goodness) - that went off without a hitch. Hopefully your MINI will end up with a good owner. It just stinks that people have to be SO deceiving!!!

Donna

 

Thanks Donna, and everyone for your kind words. Once the cashiers check clears in 4 days-- I won't have to worry about this anymore, as infuriating as the experience has been already.

I'm just keeping my fingers crossed, they aren't thieves either.

 

I'm not following you... If you got the money you wanted out of the deal, why does it matter if he's reselling the car? Am I missing something here?

 

I don't fully understand either. My only concern would be the validity of the check.

 

same here with the sale, a sale is a sale.

Why did you not ask for cash since your in the bank? It's actually easier than making a cashiers check.

 

So obviously the guy wasn't totally upfront with you about why he wanted the car, but I'm sort of with everyone else. As long as the check cleared, and you got what you wanted, I'd just let it go.

I can understand that you'd want your baby to go to a good home, but (and I'm going to take some flack for saying this) it is "just a car" (gosh I hope mine didn't hear me say that...)

Maybe it's a good thing that a wholeseller was willing to spend retail prices for your car. Ofcourse maybe it means you were selling it too cheap

 

I am worried about the check, Octane, don't get me wrong. I'm not trying to sound like a jerk, honest (I can do THAT wighout any conscius effort whatsoever... heh). I just wonder why you care what happens to it after it leaves your possession. Unless you offered up a special low "NAM Members Only" price or something, perhaps?

 

First of all, I don't have all the money. My bank gave me $5,000 and is withholding the rest for a week. Until I have all the money in my hands, I basically gave me car away for $5,000.

I called the bank, and they say the buyer could put a stop payment on the Cashiers Check if he wanted to. This could happen if it were a scam. We were both at the bank when we had the teller draw up the check. Yeah, ok I wasn't as careful as I should have. I let my guard down. I gave way too much trust to someone I thought was telling me the truth--now I have to question everything.

I also sold my MINI at a reduced price and gave him a spare tranny to someone that claimed to be something they weren't. I specifically stated I wouldn't sell my MINI to a dealer. He pretended to be a private party.

I ONLY wanted to sell my MINI to someone that would appreciate it. I babied that car for the 3 years I owned it. I wasn't about to let it sit in a wholesale dealers lot.

Call me strange, but to me it wasn't about the money, it was about finding a good home, and I got scammed.

Richard

 

You must be real attached to that car because I would be thrilled just to unload it for the asking price within a reasonable time. Hopefully he doesn't do something strange with your check.

 

Well it's the whole transaction that I'm concerned about mostly. I agree, if I got the money---then it's a sad mistake but life goes on. If he wants to try to make some money off me, then fine, that's his conscience.

 

Oh, I see... you sold it for 5 grand TOTAL. That IS annoying. I wish I'd seen your for sale post, dude - I would have jumped ALL OVER that in a heartbeat. I'd love for my daughter to have a used MINI. Craaaaaaaaaaaaaaap... Sorry, dude.

 

Well no, I sold it for $13,000. But my bank only gave me $5,000, and is withholding the rest until it clears.

Actually I sold it for $12,700 cause the buyer wanted to test how firm I was at the last minute, and I said fine.

Richard

 

It makes me wonder how some people can even sleep at night and look at themselves in the mirror in the morning. How do you get so far gone that you can spend all day lying and making up a story just to buy cars. They could get their cars at auctions instead of deceiving an owner that truly wanted to see his car go to a good home. I'm sorry, Richard. You did all you could to insure a good home for your car. There is just no way to deal with people of that caliber. I hope the payment works out OK. We should all email the guy about the car and let him know how many people know what he did. Maybe he will think twice about it next time.

 

I agree, it's the principle of the whole thing. The MINI is appreciated by enthusiasts, and I think it is reasonable to want a well-cared for example to go to a fellow enthusiast. Somebody misrepresenting their intentions and identity is troubling. I hope you get the rest of the money with no problems. I have a feeling you will.

 

I had a similar experience last year when I sold my Harley to an out-of-towner. The guy brought me a cashiers check but before he did I asked him for the bank branch that issued it, the check number, the phone number and the person who signed the check. I called the branch, talked to the manager and found that he was a regular customer with no infractions and had sufficient funds to cover it so all went well. Since you were actually at the issuing bank you could stop by to voice your concerns and see if they can help assure you that this guy is truly for real and has not done anything shady in the past financially. You might be able to sleep better.

 

It's a car, not a member of your family. He paid the price you asked, now it's his to do with as he pleases. I don't see a problem.

 

I think you are TOO emotionally attached to this car. If you sold it so quick and they wanted to re-sell it that means you sold it for less than you should have didn't you? So who's fault is that? Allot of people who sell cars here will give a discount to a NAM member. Did you ask them if they were going to re-sell it? Did they mis-represent themselves? As long as you got what you asked for the car and the check does not bounce what’s the problem? would have just got cash and made them carrry it to your bank and deposit it to your account. I think you did well to sell it so quick, but like I said that means you sold it for too low of a price.

They got up set with the hole you put in the engine bay becuase they will have to explain it to the new buyer. Go buy another car already!

 

I can understand more now why you would be upset. I don't understand how someone could stop payment on a cashier's check. Isn't that the entire point of getting it done that way. Or is the a certified check?

 

Then he should have listed it " For sale to an ENTHUSIAST only " LOL

 

Hhaha, I already have a new MINI, bought from a NAM member.

Anywayssssss, to try to diffuse where this whole thread is going....

try to re read the post. He said he was buying the MINI for himself to drive because he totalled his MINI and needed a new one. He got compassion from me because he said he was hit by a drunk driver, but the car saved his life, and he wanted a new one, not an '07.

We had a conversation about the drawbacks of selling on Craigslist and dealers are always out there harrassing people. He shared his own "horror story" of being hounded by a "persian dealer".

Tell me, at what point should I have thought this guy was anything but what he said he was???

 

Man, you really should get the facts straight before you speak:

Here is a part of my original posting on Craigslist:

For Sale--Los Angeles near LAX 90066
SERIOUS PRIVATE BUYERS ONLY. NO DEALERS, RESELLERS, OR ANYONE THAT'S INVOLVED IN BUYING AND SELLING CARS. I'm relisting this car because the previous transaction failed to complete. I will accept CASH only and no substitutes or equivalents. I will not get burnt again, so please don't ask. I'm looking for a good home for this car, not a parking lot for you to make a quick buck off me. I've also adjusted the price $2500 less than the previous listing. This price is NOT negotiable. As others have said, this is the cleanest MINI they have seen-cleaner than any previously owned MINIs from the dealer!

2003 Indi Blue/White 5 Speed MC with 65,000 miles with factory leather, DVD nav, and all packages (Sorry no HK audio or cold weather). ....

 

It's not uncommon for people on different car enthusiast sites to have two different prices. The price is lower for fellow enthusiasts, most likely because the owner knows the car will be appreciated by another enthusiast, which helps the owner feel better about parting ways with the car. Face it, people do become emotionally attached to cars, just as we do with dogs or cats.