Advice: what to do with my alltrac?

turbo4wd

Moderator
Well I stand by what I said about John. I've known the guy since high school, and he was the reason why I picked up a 185.

The bottom line is it wasn't his car, and I know for a fact it sat in his driveway 99% of the time before it was sold. After that he took the money and promptly deposited it into Steve's account (minus the cost of repairs).

In other words he had no interest or motive to hide anything, not to say that he's not even that type of person to begin with - proof of that shows when he sold his own ride this past year. He had full disclosure of all the issues with his car here on the forum, as well as to the buyer.

So don't assume you know somebody or "how they operate" when you have no clue who they are, or what the true circumstances were. I do because I was there, as well as a few other old school Alltrac owners. He's got a lot more respect from old school guys on this forum and in SoCal for being who he is, and not for someone you assume him to be. He is a TRUE guru who has helped more owners than 99% of the current guys on this forum today who THINK they're gurus...

Good luck with your sale...
 

lumbercis

Moderator
You are making my point for me. John IS an OG Guru. You could tell that by talking to him. So how much of guru do you have to be to figure out that a badly repainted car with fenders that don't line up right was in a front end collision?

At the time I bought it, I knew NOTHING about cars. I didn't know how to change the oil. But there were plenty of red flags that an experienced owner can see right off the bat.

The bottom line is that I am the one that got left holding the bag. That's either John's fault or Steve's fault. Not mine. If they have as much integrity as you think they do, you think they'll refund me about $2000 for selling me a damaged car? Because that's the minimum loss I'm taking on this car. I paid John/Steve $8500 for the car as it sat. I've put at least 2-3k into maintenance and redo-ing some of the mickey-mouse mods the car came with. I'm selling it for $8000.

Or how about this. How about I ask John to take the car back and give me back the $8500 I paid, and he can keep the 2-3k I put into it. I still take a loss, and John/Steve loses nothing. That's only fair, right? Since the car was not as advertised (clean title).

I understand John is your friend, and to be honest, I liked the guy myself. But he knew too much about alltracs to not be aware of the condition the car was in.

Like I said though, this is really water under the bridge for me. I consider it a learning experience. But if you want to call John and ask him if he wants to buy the car back, go right ahead.

J.
 

turbo4wd

Moderator
Well.. simply put, a "clean title" means that the car was never totalled out by the insurance company, never salvaged, and never had any reported mileage discrepancies.. It doesn't mean that it was never in an accident.. so on that front, that's something I hope you understand the next time you buy any used vehicle.

Just because I'm curious, I'm wondering what you consider "frame damage"? Especially after a bodyshop professional you had look at it tell you its cosmetic..

I'll tell you this much, John may be a guru with the Alltrac, but he's not a bodyshop professional, and he wasn't pulling panels off the car to check the frame or anything else..
 

sardgt4

New member
James, I honestly don't know where you are trying to get at with this post. I sold you this car and told you all that I knew about this vehicle. If you don't believe me that is your own personal problem. It seems like you have some kind of animosity towards me that is totally uncalled for. I know nothing about body work on a car. I do know a lot about fixing up alltracs. but I am no body shop tech nor do I have any experience or education in that field. I sold you the car the way I received it except for the few minor things that I ended up fixing that affected the car's performance in the short time I had it.

FYI a clean title means the car has no issues with the title of ownership and that the car is NOT SALVAGED. And yes the car is not salvaged. I have no knowledge of any accident on that vehicle while it was in my possession or the prior owner's possession. Did you do a CARFAX? If you didn't you should have. If you did then you knew there was an accident? If it wasn't on record, then how would you or myself have known??? After selling you this vehicle you called me a few times when you had questions and I was more than welcome to help you to the best that I can. What more do you expect? In the last 3 years or so you did not once call me to tell me any of the things you mention here.

You bought the car for $8500 and you can probably sell it for that if you had the time. Honestly, you have to stop whining. I spent over 20k on my 92 and I ended selling that car for dirt. Should I have expected to get 20k for my alltrac? NO! I have a 03 G35 coupe that I had for 4 years. I paid 39k for that car with tax. Kelly bluebook for it now is like 15k. For you to even be able to sell your car for 8k or even close to that you should feel fortunate. That car did not depreciate on you in the last 3 years. You say you spent 2-3k on the car? What 15 year old car can you buy without expecting to pay $ on maintenance: Porsche, honda, toyota, or BMW. This kind of stuff comes with the territory.

I let you test drive the car, when you didn't even know how to drive stick. I let you do a compression test, which I didn't even do prior to selling and it came out perfectly. If you wanted to have a body shop look at it I would have been fine with that as well. If you cared so much for the vehicle maybe you shouldn't let random people do 4wd launches on it. IF you think that I am the one to blame for all your problems you have issues buddy.
 

lumbercis

Moderator
Hey John,

I don't know quite how to respond to this. I'll ignore the childish personal attacks since I don't feel like getting into an internet pissing match. This really is water under the bridge as I've said several times.

I bought the car "as-is" and take responsibilty as the buyer for not having it checked more thoroughly. I don't want anything from you (well, maybe an apology). I haven't left you any nasty feedback. I wouldn't even have brought your name up if your friend hadn't mentioned it first. I don't think I'm being at all unreasonable for being suspicious and a little miffed that I was sold a car with undisclosed damage. Are you saying that it is the buyer's fault if he is sold damaged goods? Tell me honestly what you would think if the roles were reversed?

All I've said was that I had a hard time believing that as experienced as you were with alltracs, that you didn't know about it's condition. Another experienced alltrac owner was the one that originally pointed it out to me. It took him less than 60 seconds looking at the car to tell.

Be that as it may, since you've come here and told me that you didn't know about the damage, I am willing to take your word for it. Case closed. John is an honest guy.

I guess even alltrac gurus sometimes make mistakes.

J.
 
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