I bought my first car off Ebay ...

[mom04]

Well I did it I finally ( after weeks of looking) bought a car for our daughter off ebay . Of course I am a nervous wreck ,but I spoke to the dealer several times as well as exchanged emails -well up until 11:00 pm last night.We have been "watching " the car for several days and my husband was aware that it was 10 hrs away ,now he says that he doesnt want to drive a car home that he is unfamiliar with I have checked pricing on having it shipped to us-well thats another $540.00. Of course he says to pay that amount- it's comming out of my pocket ! It doesnt look like I really have a choice But at least we got her a car....

 

[pjshaff]

Can you get someone else to go with you to drive the car home?

 

[mom04]

It's a 10 hour drive each way ( I live in NE Ga-the car is in Tampa Fla ) , unfortunatly I only have saterday off,I would not be able to do it in one day. My work is not that understanding as to give me Sunday off.

 

[poohj80]

I'm curious - what kind of car did you get? I have been watching some on ebay but haven't been brave enough top take the plunge yet.

Do you know anyone near Tampa who might be able to drive it half way for you? You may have to offer them some kind of compensation but it would probably be less then $540.

 

[TinkerPixxie]

I bought my current car off ebay and have had terrible problems with it. The transmission went after 2 weeks, the brakes went, the water pump died, the front end is gone, and the thermostate was gone. Ive dished so much money into this thing it isnt funny. 1996 ford windstar. The dealer was from NH and im in MA. I had to get a private litigation comany to try and solve it, the laws in the states are very very different. After 6 months of fighting and me having to put the money into the car anyway I ended up with him footing the bill for the water pump only! Ebays protection plan wasnt avalible on this deal because i made the very foolish mistake of contacting the guy and going to purchase the car in person. At that time he pulled it as an auction... leaving me in the technical sense of having not bought it through ebay
I didnt realize the trouble i was getting into by doing that.
So a year later i have a rebuilt transmission i paid for that still isnt running properly, my front end is about to go and the temp gauge ahs never worked and apparently cant be fixed.

I do hope that your purchase was legitamatly through ebay, and that you have a more reputable dealer than I did.
BTW I know this question will come up... Yes he did have a significant amount of positive feedback at the time. Nows he no longer sells under that ebay name. Figures

Tink~

 

[Mom2Madi]

Hijacking the thread to say to Tinkerpixxie...

Just wanted to say that I could relate to your problems with your Windstar! I had a 2000 that I bought used from a dealer - it only had 35,000 on it, and it looked like it was in good condition - cosmetically. The check engine light came on right after the 4,000 mile warranty ran out from the dealer... that was a temperature gauge. We replaced basically every part - two tie-rods, the rack (of the rack and pinion steering), power steering pump, a water pump, a windshield wiper pump, etc.... the transmission also went bad - and when we had it pulled, we found that it wasn't original, so the original had gone bad before 35K! Yikes! It was in pretty good shape when I sold it locally, but I felt I couldn't trust it anymore and HATED driving it because I knew it was going to strand me somewhere! We disclosed all of the repairs we had made, and since the van was basically rebuilt felt they were getting a good deal. I bought a 1995 Toyota Camry and LOVE IT! Although I know I will miss the van when going to Disney!

Melissa
(Mom2Madi)

 

[Ellester]

It's a 10 hour drive each way ( I live in NE Ga-the car is in Tampa Fla ) , unfortunatly I only have saterday off,I would not be able to do it in one day. My work is not that understanding as to give me Sunday off.

Too bad you can't fit a pick-up in with a quick trip to WDW! Good luck figuring out what to do.

 

[mom04]

I bought my current car off ebay and have had terrible problems with it. The transmission went after 2 weeks, the brakes went, the water pump died, the front end is gone, and the thermostate was gone. Ive dished so much money into this thing it isnt funny. 1996 ford windstar. The dealer was from NH and im in MA. I had to get a private litigation comany to try and solve it, the laws in the states are very very different. After 6 months of fighting and me having to put the money into the car anyway I ended up with him footing the bill for the water pump only! Ebays protection plan wasnt avalible on this deal because i made the very foolish mistake of contacting the guy and going to purchase the car in person. At that time he pulled it as an auction... leaving me in the technical sense of having not bought it through ebay
I didnt realize the trouble i was getting into by doing that.
So a year later i have a rebuilt transmission i paid for that still isnt running properly, my front end is about to go and the temp gauge ahs never worked and apparently cant be fixed.

I do hope that your purchase was legitamatly through ebay, and that you have a more reputable dealer than I did.
BTW I know this question will come up... Yes he did have a significant amount of positive feedback at the time. Nows he no longer sells under that ebay name. Figures

Tink~

Ok now you have me freeked out !!! I bought a 1994 (1 owner -also I did a carfax report ) Toyota Peso, it had lots of pics and was VERY clean. Yes this was from a dealership with 233 positive feedback of 100 %. I watched alot of cars on ebay over the weeks and was too scared to bid, this one just seemed like it had everything that I wanted ( and my teen daughter ) Of course everyone takes a chance on ebay with anything you buy,so I can only cross my fingers and hope that all goes well !!! If not- then I will have learned a lesson the hard way

 

[m&m's mom]

A person in my office bought a Toyota Avalon on Ebay and had a great experience! My Couson bought a car off of ebay and he had a great experience as well.
Go figure I would never have been brave enough to do it though.

 

[zurgswife]

What is the cost to fly to tampa from your house...would it be less then the shipping cost..

My dad bought a very very high end car off ebay and ended up with problems..and one of them was that the shipping wasn't reliable...they kept stating that the car was going to be on the truck and day after day it wasn't so after a week...he ended up flying to Fl the day of one of the hurricane's to drive it back to NC...

 

[fsufandis]

I would think that a one-way ticket from ATL to TPA would be a lot less than Shipping.

I just did a search on side-step and there is an airtran flight (even with only 2 day advance for $188) on Saturday and one on Sunday for $209.

 

[disneymom3]

What is the cost to fly to tampa from your house...would it be less then the shipping cost..

My dad bought a very very high end car off ebay and ended up with problems..and one of them was that the shipping wasn't reliable...they kept stating that the car was going to be on the truck and day after day it wasn't so after a week...he ended up flying to Fl the day of one of the hurricane's to drive it back to NC...

That was my idea too. Can't be that much to fly from GA to Tampa is it? Of course, you have to check roundtrip as well as one way since half the time they are cheaper. lol

 

[mom04]

I did ck into flying, but like I said it would be at least a 10 hr drive, since I go into work at 4:00 AM I couldnt see a way to get down there-get the car- drive 10hrs home and be at work by 4 am.I did get several Quotes from different companies on shipping- and one was for $235,which of course is scary since its half the price of the other companies.If anyone has usd "Nationwide Auto Transport & Carrier " out of FLA please let me know,I would appreciate it very much !!

 

[TinkerPixxie]

Hijacking the thread to say to Tinkerpixxie...

Just wanted to say that I could relate to your problems with your Windstar! I had a 2000 that I bought used from a dealer - it only had 35,000 on it, and it looked like it was in good condition - cosmetically. The check engine light came on right after the 4,000 mile warranty ran out from the dealer... that was a temperature gauge. We replaced basically every part - two tie-rods, the rack (of the rack and pinion steering), power steering pump, a water pump, a windshield wiper pump, etc.... the transmission also went bad - and when we had it pulled, we found that it wasn't original, so the original had gone bad before 35K! Yikes! It was in pretty good shape when I sold it locally, but I felt I couldn't trust it anymore and HATED driving it because I knew it was going to strand me somewhere! We disclosed all of the repairs we had made, and since the van was basically rebuilt felt they were getting a good deal. I bought a 1995 Toyota Camry and LOVE IT! Although I know I will miss the van when going to Disney!

Melissa
(Mom2Madi)

I feel the exact same way, i cant wait to get rid of this van. Im alwasy waiting for the next thing to go, weve also replaced the tires 3 times and the windshield.. however that is because we have a nasty neighbor that I believe {but cant prove} is doing all this to us.

TO the original poster.. Ebay does have the buyer protection program so i would assume your going to be covered by that if you purchased through ebay. Like i mentioned I didnt ..i went to see the car thinking i would feel more confident of the purchase if i saw it and drove it. Goes to show how much I know about car purchases

I hope all works out well for you the car and your teen