Projects Project car "deal breaker"

Thou art welcome Duke of Benzine

 

Hey, HRP.....I'm not too far from you. Next time you decide to pass on a killer deal, give me a shout. I'll even pay a finders fee. No titles here in Georgia. That goes for anyone thats not too far away. $$ finders fee waiting for your no title finds!!

 

I just got my story to contribute here quite recently. I was working on a deal on a 39 4dr that was complete and nicely priced for what it was. I call the guy and have a very pleasant chat with him for about a half hour. He says he bought the car from a friend of his 10 or 15 years ago, changed the oil, and parked it in his barn; he never put it on the road. We leave it with me telling him I'll go do some research to see what I'd need to title/reg it in my state, which is MUCH more strict than his. He agrees and we end the call. Fast forward a few days and I call back like we agreed and I tell him what I need and ask if he has that or if he can get it and he starts getting squirrely and increasingly belligerent, going on a tirade about how he knows the law, the car is his, yadda yadda, etc. while I just stand there holding the phone away from my face so I don't end up with a ring in my ear. I tried one more time to get the guy to give me a straight answer and got an even more evasive and incoherent tirade instead of anything that would make me drive half a day to go see a car let alone pay ANY amount of money for it when the guy's been an asshole to me and the legality isn't clear. Nah, hard pass. When his ranting finally slowed down a bit I just said, Ok then, you have a nice night and hung up. I've encountered some cantankerous folks before but this one was pretty wild, LOL.

 

No title...not interested!

 

The responses from some of these sellers is just amazing, he knows he's caught out with no paperwork on the car so he then gets pissed off at you for asking too many questions trying to straighten it out. Absolute textbook scammer jackass. There's plenty of cars out there, you did the right thing to forget it and move on.

 

Rust, title, missing hard to find parts, but the real killer for me is once the seller appears to have lied about something. Things go south pretty quick after that.

 

For me, in my area- No title, and more rust than steel.

Years ago I had a friend drive like 10 hours to see a 57 Bel Air 2 door that was listed and a rare straight survivor at a premium price. Driving down the street it looked decent, when they drove past and turned around they saw the other side and been side swiped by a semi, they did not stop, just kept driving and headed home.

 

There’s been several projects I just had to have, then got buyers remorse after I got it home and dug in, then took it as a challenge to see what I could do with it. In the end, I just really enjoy those weekends in the garage bringing some heap back to life and listening to baseball on the radio. My only absolute NO is a bad title or no title.

 

I'm not looking to add to my fleet right now, so I can be picky. Anything I buy would have to have a clear CA title in the sellers' name, complete and running, mostly original and below market value. In other words, a screamin' deal. I've bought junk in the past. I've been through the DMV hassles. I've scrapped rusty CA cars that others outside would have saved. It's just not worth it to me.

Devin

 

I won't buy anything with a salvage title, title in someone else's name, missing or non-matching vin numbers.

I recently bought a '40 Coupe, and saw a lot of horrendous 80's-90's permanent "improvements" that were an immediate dismissal..

 

My Age

 

The biggest deal breaker is how bad the claw at the scrap yard hurt it

 

Before I buy another car I always ask myself "can I hide it from my wife?"

 

Lately my biggest deal breaker is that what I want is too expensive.

 

I tried to buy a 47 Chevy once . Everytime I would agree to his asking price the owner would say I’ve got to call my nephew and give him first chance to buy it . I’d wait a week and call him . The price went up $250 . I told him I’d be there with the cash . Same story he had to call his nephew again price would go up $250 . This happened 3 times I told him I was done with him. The car sat in his yard for another 10 months before it sold

 

I am black and white. First lie , DONE. Bull sh..ter. DONE. No title ,DONE .

 

A good title in seller’s name is an absolute must. Then it is missing critical, impossible to find parts. Just about everything else can be tolerated.

 

Oh yeah , owner playing stupid when he has owned the car for 5/10/15 years .

 

No title is first. Good sheet metal is second. I don't do body work at all. I have found that it is less expensive in the long run to buy good sheet metal than it is to have the body work done correctly.

 

Exactly!!! Once a person reveals themselves to be dishonest, I have no desire to interact with them- nor do I want anything that they have.

 

major rust. thats about it, i'll mess with a title as long as i know it isnt stolen if i really really want the car. like my fairlane, still working on a title...

 

Can't say there's one single thing for every old car that's a deal breaker, as it varies. A less complete car might be a deal breaker for me IF the parts I know are impossible to find. But if the parts are easy to find, it could be just a body shell and I'd buy it if the price was right.
A title is a big deal for me, and I personally wouldn't buy a car without one unless I had lots of paperwork to make getting a title easy, or knew the seller and was assured I'd get my money back if I didn't get a title. I had one guy go to DMV with me when he'd lost his title, and he paid the fee to replace it, and issue it in my name. So I was fine buying the car that way.

 

My deal breakers are "No title","B-S" about rust or missing parts, BAD seller's attitude. I've bought "salvage" title cars : basically all I have to do is go through the procedures to ressurect them with the CA DMV... (& I don't buy them unless I get one hell of a price discount!!)

 

having new paint is a deal breaker for me.
I’d rather buy em with some rust, dings.and weathered old paint.

 

I like unique cars. Its a given that title concerns are high on the list, completeness can be a hard deal breaker for me. Try to find trim pieces, door latches ,etc for a 49 Buick, Old or Caddy sedanette. Some pieces are just almost made of unobtanium. If you have a core, at least its possible to restore it. It may be cost prohibitive, but at least you have an out. 34 Ford grilles are hard to find and expensive when you do.

So, don't love trolling swap meets for years. Completeness is important to me.

 

I’m out if I can’t step over the holes in the floor

 

My deal breaker for buying cars is bad rust and dishonesty. For selling cars it is “what’s the least you’ll take” when they’ve never seen the car yet or even had a phone conversation about it. If I respond at all it’s with an number higher than my asking price

 

At this stage in my life, just hearing or reading the words "project car" is a deal breaker for me....

 

New paint, no rust on a car from up north.

 

Did I mention interior color?? I hate brown interiors. I went looking to buy a hot rod earlier this year and I saw some good candidates until I looked at the interior photos. Brown tweed, brown velour, brown carpet, brown garnish moldings, ugh. I'd have to disassemble it and start over. Dark brown leather is the only possible exception.
The car I ended up with has older black tuck n roll - perfect.