STORY TIME: gettin ripped off

recently i roadtripped to new york to buy my 91 st185 from a fellow whos also a member here. horrible trip by the way we were lost like 90% a the time, but i was more than overjoyed when i first saw my trac in person. the body is close to perfect and the motor freshely rejuvinated with new fluids and seals, twas like christmas in may. we talked a bit and soon i was on the way to a long trip home. but it wasnt long before the big bad nypd spotted the fact that i had no license plate, but a makeshift cut out plate ( not even close to reactangular..) made from the bottom of a mountain dew cube that said in bold letters 'LAF' (license applied for). i tell ya i never had a cop laugh at me that hard before! it was helarious tho... anyways he threatened to impound the car if my buddy who brought us there didnt come back and help me figure out how to tow my car to the "hotel we were stayin at" (had ta make something up you know) the trouble was that he had a suspended license and probobly would have been arrested on the spot. so i was inbetween a rock and a hard place tryin ta figure out WHAT the hell to do when i notice the officer (who looked like the meow dude from supertroopers) franticly searching his car like he had lost something. for about 10 min he was in and out of the car round and round back doors open and everything, i was startin ta think "is he gonna arrest us er sumthin?" just as that thought popped in he started to walk back towards me, i was now borderline crappin my pants as he said "uhh sir i seem to have lost your license... never happened to me before, i apologise, let me write you up a slip so you can drive legally." so he did and i got lucky too because he got an emergency call, and i explained that id just drive up the street to the best western and park it till i can figure out something to do with it. *pheew* holy shit that was a rush. so i meet back up with my buddy and we ended up stayin 2 extra days and seein the sights and crap. i wasnt the most impressed, but we got some kickass pics and i got a kickass trac! long story shortened, we drove all that way back home thru chi town and shit (like 1820 sum miles) with me having discovered my wheel bearing is bad in the front driverside and no license plate, not to mention the lowbeam didnt work on the pass. side, no radio and a fresh batch of insanity for me driving alone for 15 hours... and to top it off it started to piss oil out of the valvecover gasket 2 like days after i got home.... surprise surprise. and it leaked and leaked, probly close ta 2 quarts in the time between then and yesterdy.( dont worry i kept it full, i work for penzoil after all heh) so i baught the gasket for 40 f'kin dollars and tore the valve cover off only to descover all that silicone all over the cover was hiding the fact that the front far right bolt hole area had cracked off and was being "held" together by this shit. not to mention the gasket was still good... PISSED!!! so i suck it up gather some tools and wander to my mas house and steal the cover and bolts from my black trac (in the rain) and back to my pops it was, back together she went, and back on the road i was, no leaks and happier than a hobo with a ham sandwich. true story. SOOOO the moral of my story is to anyone thinking of buying a car from another state, make sure EVERYTHING is in warking order before the trip home, or sum douchebag rips you off, and dont assume its ok to drive a day without plates, you get your license lost by the nypd. and its not fun. but all in all it was more than worth the whole ordeal, tho ill never go to new york again, i have a story worth tellin haha hope everyone enjoyed story time!!
 

WarTowels

Active member
*Also edited*

Sorry you feel ripped off, but it is possible he didn't do that. I dunno.

It is a buyer beware market. And driving without ANY plates is just stupid... especially long distances. You were just asking to be impounded, fined, ect.

Losing your license imo, is getting off easy.

-Towels
 
*post edited* your right towels am an idiot, but ya only live once right? ya want sumthin ya gotta go for it if ya want it bad enough. and btw im sure he did do it because he TOLD me he redid all the seals himself. he just did it wrong and didnt inform me of half the shit thats wrong with it. tru its a risky process but i was runnin on gut feeling, i thought i could trust him after having gotten to know him a lil but before i went on the trip. as for the plate situation, things went sour when i tried to get it all registered and whatnot so i just said fk it and went on the trip as i was pressed for time with work and everything. i still say it was worth it.
 

WarTowels

Active member
Hey, just glad you got it all worked out in the end. :D

This actually the second time I've heard of NYP letting people go without registered cars or licenses at all.

My friend bought a 300zx Turbo, and made a fake paper license and got pulled over but the NY State Po, and let go with a warning and the following advice, "You should wait till it's dark out so other cops won't see your fake plates." :twisted:

-Towels
 

smog7

Moderator
isnt it fun finding surprises after you buy a used car?? yeah some people suck....but sometimes you get lucky
 

mx6er2587

New member
I drove my car home a few hundred miles from virgina. I got another week or so out of it. Its been sitting since. Definitively a buyer beware market.

Sometimes you get ripped off, sometimes the previous owners just an idiot, and sometimes it just an honest mistake.

Its up to you to make sure what your buying is really what you think it is. I knew my trac needed some work. I feel I was a bit misled about just how much work it needed, but then again a 400 mile drive can bring a lot of unknown problems to the surface. So I'm not bitter about it.

oh and don't drive out of your driveway without plates. Thats just asking for trouble.
 

darthripley

Moderator
expecting everything to be smooth sailing when buying a car that is 18 or so years old is not being realistic imho.
there will always be suprises to be found, hence the term "used car".

i'm not trying to slam you or anything, but there's no way that an alltrac doesn't have some kind of problem somewhere even if its minor.
 
so i got a case of imafuckingmoronitis. i just wanted to share my story man i didnt say i expected it to be perfect, i knew it would have to be worked on, just not the shit he already "fixed" i just wish he had been honest with me. but thats life, and alltracs
 

darthripley

Moderator
i know what you mean and no one is calling you a moron or anything.

have you talked with the seller about the things that were supposed to be fixed etc?
 
he wont answer my pm's or phone calls, i mean i called him a few times and he didnt answer so i jus kinda gave up on that considering hes 1800 miles away what can i really do ya no?
 

Hotrodhendrix

New member
You could get lucky like me and get down there just to find something is unplugged which is why its running bad. Pop it back in and you just raised the value 4 grand. :D

You just never know.
 

Andy

Member
Used to be, not sure anymore....

You could go the DMV and get an "In Transit" tag, much like a tempoary plate for purchsing a car out of state. I used one on a Toyota pickup I bought when I lived in NY, just before moving to Virginia. I also used one on a van I bought in Nebraska and brought back to Ohio.

Andy
 

Shaggz00

Active member
I also got a "Drive away permit" from the State of Illinois when I bought my first Trac. No tag, just a yellow slip of paper taped to the rear window.
 
Yeah man, no plates???? crazy. I nearly shit myself when i was driving my trac home with plates from a civic. I pulled off hard from the tolls when i saw a cop sitting! he pulled a 180 and i started to poop myself! but thank god he didnt follow me!
 

chaos_cascade

New member
It is a buyer beware market. And driving without ANY plates is just stupid... especially long distances. You were just asking to be impounded, fined, ect.

I drove from Denver to San Francisco without plates. Why would you make a fake one? People here drive around without plates for months. I wonder what the law is regarding that, it must be different state to state. It takes like a month to actually get them and how exactly are you supposed to get them in the state your in when you purchase a car in another state? I just taped up a copy of the bill of sale in the rear window.
Nobody looked at it twice. :D


a quick Google yields this:

Wisconsin law requires buyers of cars and small trucks (8000 pounds or less) to display a permanent or temporary plate within two business days of purchase.
 

etantshi

Moderator
I don't understand the laws of NY, but why is it such a problem not having tags on a newly purchased car? If you have insurance, and a bill of sale/title dated within a certain period of time, WTF is the big deal?
 

darthripley

Moderator
we drove home with the Cali plates still on Vadar & kept them on till we got TX plates here.
i've never heard of anyone taking away the old plates till now.
every car we've ever bought used came with plates already on it :shrug:
 

etantshi

Moderator
Here in GA when you sell a car and/or cancel the registration you return the plates. I certainly wouldn't want anyone to drive a car around with my registration on it.
 

darthripley

Moderator
that's interesting.
here in TX you just sell it with the plates on there & when the car is titled you get new plates then.
as long as you get a bill of sale & other documents you're covered if the new owner turns out to be unscrupulous.
you just can't sell a car with a personalized plate.
i kept Vadar's Cali plates actually b/c they still had the original dealership plastic surround where the car was purchased in 1990.
i actually have a bunch of old car plates ... it's hell being a packrat :oops:
 
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