Screwed by bad advertisement and myself

I went to an auction where the advertised that there was a 2007 Jeep Cherokee in a locker.  We got there and the auctioneer and the storage district manager both said it was a 2007 Jeep. 

It looked nice and they even let people walk into the unit but I got there late just as the bidding was starting.  My friend told me what they said on the phone about the 2007 Jeep.  Anyway I won the locker at $1950 which was a gamble I was willing to take on a 2007.  It turns out it was a 2001.  Big difference!!!! 

I am in the process of talking to the storage district manager about making things right.  I know it is buy AS IS and I am to blame for not doing my due diligence and it was a rookie mistake.  Still I feel that the storage place acted in bad faith as well. 

I do not believe they did it on purpose but they had the VIN and the owner of the unit told them it was a 2007.  They researched the title by calling Missouri which is where the car was registered.  I knew I could get a bonded title in Texas so I was not concerned about that. 

The problem was that I was able to find out it was a 2001 in less than ten minutes after I got the VIN by running a simple web search through one of the many services available online.

Anyway I will keep you guys posted on what is happening.  Worse case scenario this is a very expensive lesson.

FYI it has 186K miles and the engine sounds like crap.

I went to an auction where the advertised that there was a 2007 Jeep Cherokee in a locker.  Anyway I will keep you guys posted on what is happening.  Worse case scenario this is a very expensive lesson.

FYI it has 186K miles and the engine sounds like crap.

Sounds like your rush to get in on the action (with no real view of the car to speak of) AND the wrongfully advertised date did you in. 

We all make mistakes and on the positive side this will proably be the biggest one you ever make regarding auctions..in other words you'll be more cautious going forward. 

Too bad though the engine sounds like crap; you might have still done all right.

******

A few years ago a fellow auction buyer bought a Ford Bronco (the bigger one) that looked pretty good. He got it for $650 had a guy work on it (and botch it) and took it to another guy for the real repair. All told he had $3,000 in it by the time it was done and I think that's what he got for it, or maybe $2500 !

Even at $1950 you should be able to break even with it at least. It sucks to have the money tied up like that and it won't be as easy a flip as a 2007 because your profit margins are cut so low, leaving you less negotiation room. But if you price it right, you should be able to unload it.

Yes I am hoping to get it looked at and I think I can get it sold for $2500 once it is all said and done and break even.  It was so stupid, it would have taken me all of 2 minutes to use my flashlight on the dash and look up the VIN number.  Anyway money will be tied up for a little but I still got some bullets left. 

I went to an auction where the advertised that there was a 2007 Jeep Cherokee in a locker. 

The fact that they advertised a 2007 Jeep Cherokee as being in there, when in fact it was only a 2001 Jeep in itself puts them on the hook over false advertising. They would be wise to make sure you're not out any money.

The fact that they advertised a 2007 Jeep Cherokee as being in there, when in fact it was only a 2001 Jeep in itself puts them on the hook over false advertising. They would be wise to make sure you're not out any money.

I agree with Alloro. They're totally liable. They have to do a lot of research before they can sell a vehicle in Texas. Several of the documents they had to get would have listed the year. That's just incompetence on their part. I would ask them to knock off a grand from the purchase price. 


fixed a typo

I have been in contact with the district manager and it seems like they may work something out.  Unfortunately it is the weekend and the corporate office will be closed till Monday.

Is it really worth buy cars out of storage units?

Is it really worth buy cars out of storage units?

It can be. A few months ago I bought a unit with a Camaro in it for around $600. Sold the car as is for $1250, took everything I wanted out of the unit and resold the unit for $200. Three weeks ago, I bought a motor home for $650. Had keys made, put a new battery and rented the space for a month. Just sold it for $2,000.

Is it really worth buy cars out of storage units?

Absolutely as long as the price is right. Even if you cannot obtain a title to be able to sell the car, you can always part it out. In fact, parting it out can often bring in more money than selling the car as a whole.

Also, keep in mind that certain vehicles are worth a lot of money in scrap. For example, an old school bus or RV could be sold to a recycler for a grand or more.

Update on the situation

They called me today and offered a check for almost half the amount I paid.  I thought that was fair and though I still would not have paid that much for a 2001, some of the blame is on me for not doing my due diligence. 

They company was Secucare Self Storage and kudos to them.  I always believed it was an honest mistake but it is not hard to look up a VIN.  More incompetence then fraud.  I bet they look at VINs more carefully in the future.

Anyway thanks for the great input as usual guys.

Update on the situation

They called me today and offered a check for almost half the amount I paid.

Sounds like a winner to me.  This is one case where the squeaky wheel truly had a case to be made and came out OK.

Hopefully you'll do OK on the resale too.

Sounds like your rush to get in on the action (with no real view of the car to speak of) AND the wrongfully advertised date did you in. 

We all make mistakes and on the positive side this will proably be the biggest one you ever make regarding auctions..in other words you'll be more cautious going forward. 

Too bad though the engine sounds like crap; you might have still done all right.

******

A few years ago a fellow auction buyer bought a Ford Bronco (the bigger one) that looked pretty good. He got it for $650 had a guy work on it (and botch it) and took it to another guy for the real repair. All told he had $3,000 in it by the time it was done and I think that's what he got for it, or maybe $2500 !

Jeeps in general are crap! Did you see big profit in this jeep? or were you just looking to buy and caught up in the excitement to have a story to tell people that you bought a jeep at auction?

Jeeps in general are crap! Did you see big profit in this jeep? or were you just looking to buy and caught up in the excitement to have a story to tell people that you bought a jeep at auction?

Well if you read the first post you would I thought it was a 2007 Jeep Grand Cherokee. I bought it for $1950 and that was a good deal.  I did get excited at the bidding but I had a cutoff point of $2200.  I am confident that I could have sold a 2007 one for at least triple that amount. 

Anyway it is a good lesson and I will be a lot more cautious going forward especially for vehicles.