European-cars: Where do they find these 80s ?

[vegasfj40]

I've noticed for the past year or so a company on ebay selling 80s. Here is an example

1996 Toyota Land Cruiser RARE FJ80 4WD Clean CARFAX Serviced 3rd Row 4WD! | eBay

🔥 HOT LISTING Open for more photos and a detailed description.

www.ebay.com

How do they consistently find these things? Its almost like they have a connection with a bunch of dealerships or something.

 

[Ghostrider I]

I am wondering how does the selling dealer know that the mileage is "mostly highway miles?"

 

[MoJ]

If a 20 year old vehicle with 100k mile is claimed to be mostly “highway” miles it’s most certainly untrue.

 

[vegasfj40]

Seems like at any given week this place will have from 4 to 8 or 10 trucks on ebay. These trucks are pretty hard to find in decent shape anywhere you are in the country. Hard to believe they can find these things local.

 

[Indyteecee]

I have been wondering the same thing about this seller. Very odd how they are finding 80s in that good of condition as frequently as they are.

 

[Desert Dino]

.

 

[Rifleman]

Seems like at any given week this place will have from 4 to 8 or 10 trucks on ebay. These trucks are pretty hard to find in decent shape anywhere you are in the country. Hard to believe they can find these things local.

I have been wondering the same thing about this seller. Very odd how they are finding 80s in that good of condition as frequently as they are.

Remember that old saying, if something looks to good to be true, it probably is. So along with that old saying goes this VERY valuable piece of advice, you may not really be getting a " clean low mileage" truck that you think you are, so buyer beware.

 

[mehbohdi]

Can you say water, flood, storm Damage........ having almost been a victim of such a sale it pays to have some one crawl all over it before purchasing. I'm just saying

 

[Indyteecee]

Can you say water, flood, storm Damage........ having almost been a victim of such a sale it pays to have some one crawl all over it before purchasing. I'm just saying

I was thinking the same thing. They are all east coast trucks being sold at a very low price for what they look like. Kind of a red flag...

 

[studawg]

He buys them from auctions all over the country, and simply outbids everyone for them. HIs MO is to replace the leather, paint the bumpers and undercarriage, detail the H out of it, and take very good pics.

 

[popstar]

He’s also very good at the making them “look” really mint in the pics. A lot of spit and shoe polish goes into giving the right appearance. Lipstick on a pig type of thing. Ask me how I know...

If you buy one expect the same type of base lining done as to any other 80, except very often times, given the low mileage certain things (spark plugs, front axle, hoses, diff, case fluids, etc) have never been done.

 

[amagnono]

I’ve seen one of theirs up close and personal in the last year. I saw nothing shady but, as has been mentioned already, it was a HELL of a lot worse in person than in the pics. Needed a ton of basic maintenance, too. Again, nothing fraudulent but It was much like that chick you meet online with one or two amazing pics but when you meet her in person it’s holy sh$*!!!

 

[GA Trevor]

All the pictures appear slightly out of focus to me, my iPhone would have a better image

 

[popstar]

I think he uses a point and shoot style camera + eBay upload compression = decent but minimally blurry images. Also if you notice he doesn’t actually include images in normal eBay location, he probably posts them on his photobucket and then uses some simple html to post them in a scrolling fashion as part of his listing. I used to do the same thing on Craigslist to include more images with my ads.

Years ago I bought an lc from this guy, and the effort he goes to hide flaws in his cars is beyond explanation

To give you and example: the tie down metal loops in the cargo area in mine were pained with a silver paint pen over the oxidation and surface rust. Additionally the small green led bulbs in the climate control module were the wrong size and actually painted with a green gel marker to give the appearamce of “stock” look. Also he painted the steering wheel in the original leather paint color to mask it being super worn out so it would show up well in the images.

Also as part of his sales pitch he droned on on the phone about how he would not hesitate the to take his wife and small children in the car he was selling me and he felt 100% confident in the condition of the car. When I got the car it has 10 year old dry rotted tires plus aforementioned, floppy drivers side mirror, original spark plugs (at 110k) and most fluids besides oil never having been changed.

I made the mistake to buy the car sight unseen and relied on his word and reviews. Buyer beware!!! Unless you go there to take a look at it, I say steer clear!
Overall I got fairly lucky with mine since it could have been much worse but I was very close to litigate his ass when I initially got the car and inspected it. However my mileage was accurate. I did not see evidence of tempering with odometer vis avis smudge marks and lack of dust on the back of the Speedo unit.

Like I said, spit and shoe polish nothing overly complicated or high tech in terms of his deception skills.

 

[BILT4ME]

When looking at the ad listed in the first post,
Owner 1 bought it as a corporate vehicle in 1996 and owned it for 2 yr, 10 mo. with 56,071 miles (average 19,477 miles per yr)
Owner 2 bought it in 2014 and owned it for 3 yr 11 mo. with 122,556 and averaged 5,039 miles/ yr.

What happened between 1999 and 2014? (1999 because Owner 1 only owned it 2 yr-10 mo.)

It is an 18 YO vehicle and two owners and a 15 year hiatus of ownership.........

Nothing fishy there at all. The math does NOT work.

 

[zpilot]

Some are purchased from clean title auctions.

I was about to buy what was the ideal cruiser for me from them and luckily googled the VIN and saw pictures of it before the "Reconditioning." Very clean looking Night shadow pearl, gray interior, 100K miles, diff locks for 28K so I was ready to buy. I asked for undercarriage pictures and that's what made me cancel. Pretty much a flat black rattle can job to make it seem better which really looked terrible.

 

[whaler]

On mud this guy is a criminal but in the real world of auto wholesalers hes a genius. I wouldnt buy anything from a wholesaler or anyone like this just for the fact that this is their job and they have no attachment to any of these vehicles. Give me a cared for 80 in need of some things anyday over one of these.

 

[COYS]

Some are purchased from clean title auctions.

I was about to buy what was the ideal cruiser for me from them and luckily googled the VIN and saw pictures of it before the "Reconditioning." Very clean looking Night shadow pearl, gray interior, 100K miles, diff locks for 28K so I was ready to buy. I asked for undercarriage pictures and that's what made me cancel. Pretty much a flat black rattle can job to make it seem better which really looked terrible.

I am literally having a physical reaction to those pics. barf

This vendor makes eBay look... eBay.

A car dealer, let alone a used car dealer, with 100% positive feedback?

All positive ratings, total of 9 in the past year with all those listings he's got?

What gives?

 

[amagnono]

I think he does most of his transactions off eBay. The one I know of, he contacted the buyer and they negotiated the final price by phone. Payment was a direct wire transfer outside of eBay - to ‘keep the price down.’ As I said before, the truck arrived and just barely met the description by the letter of the law - but it needed over $2K in basic maintenance just to be safely driven and $2-$3K more to bring it up to a level I would be satisfied with.

I can’t think all of his 80s are lemons. He probably has moved some truly amazing rigs - but I wouldn’t send him a red cent without seeing the vehicle in person and doing a thorough inspection - and probably not even then.

 

[Rifleman]

Pretty much a flat black rattle can job to make it seem better which really looked terrible

To many potential buyers, that think they are about to take delivery of a clean low mileage truck, just might considered what this seller is doing as putting lipstick on a pig. Or another way a potential buyer might look at it, as outright fraud.