Life Lessons from the Grundel [How I lost my Y34 and $12,000]

[b]Don't buy cars on craigslist.[/b]

The $12,000 I paid for my GS. Gone.

The Y34 I got, has 73 days before its not mine anymore.

The $1,200 I paid off with the understanding that there was $3,000 remaining, gone.  The actual amount that was remaining: $7,800.

I just found out I got absolutely fucked from the on going 3 way cluster fuck that has been my M45.  Swindled out of my GS that was paid off and left with absolutely NOTHING.

Honestly at this point i'm happy to be able to take the loss and wash my hands of the entire thing.  After all of the stress with the trying to get the title from the guy who bought the car for the methhead I bought it from, i'm just glad its going to be over soon.

The shitty part is the only way to get ANY of my money back is to put the whole car back together and find a buyer.  

So after all of the work and planning that went into the car, its over.  It is fucking over.

But, i'm not letting it get to me, i'm going channel my rage into work and get some cash together to buy something else.  I know what the remedy for this entire situation is.  The good news is my credit is actually good I thought it was bad so i'll be able to get a house this winter.

I just needed to vent.  Very, very disappointing.  There's no punchline to that shit.

oh wow!! Im sorry to hear that :(

Like I said earlier, just keep your head up.  You will get through it

Ya that shit happens to me every 7 to 9 months for the last 4 years.  I'm really used to it.  I'm going to start grinding and come back with a fucking vengeance.

ooo Sam sorry to hear that buddy ,  I have lost another Y34 modding buddy, you stuff is very creative  A+...
 
Keep your head up !! you will be back better than ever lets hope you come back with a Infiniti  M .....:biggthumpup:

Why do you not learn from the first lesson is what I want to know??











but it does suck..so yah.

dam ..some f'ed up shit. I would say it's all good..but its never good when losing money like that. But hey as long as u got your health...life... u can make that money back.

I'm confused, what happned? You bought a car that didnt have a clear title?
 
Twice?
 
In Australia we have services that check the title for you and warn you if there is money owing on a car before you buy it. My mate bought a car knowing it had money owing, but at the time of sale, he went with the previous owner to the bank to ensure it was paid off then and there.
 
Man that sucks that you will lose your car with nothing to show for it

wow .. that sucks big ones..

To clarify: 

I have not gotten ripped off twice haha when I bought my SEL off of craigslist (which drove 2,200 miles home to MN without incident) I thought the dude signed the wrong part of the title and didn't get it transfered because of that and I didn't want to send it back to him if he never sent it back but it turned out he DID sign the right part and I got it in my name.

On the Y34:

I am NOT about to type out the full story and have that shit on the internet but to keep it short methhead motherfucker played ME and the guy whose name was on the title of the M45.  Cause of how he did it there was no way for the other person to know what was going untill he had dipped out with the clear lexus title and was a ghost.

So i've been tracking down the dude whose name is on the title and I finally get a hold of me and he's telling me he's been trying to look for me and shit and thats when I first realized that something was wrong.  We started talking and he got the info I needed and we discovered he'd be playin us BOTH and faked the print off that had the remaining balance due.

SO he's gone wit the GS. That part is done.  So now I got a car that can't be insured in my name unless I pay off the car and it gets transfered. 

Well no big deal right? WRONG. It's not a couple thousand thats left to pay off like the sheet said its almost 8 fucking thousand!! I can not get insurance for it and it has no insurance on it.  On top of that the dudes record is NOT STRAIGHT and as the manager (who was a cop for 9 years) was telling me when he had to choke slam the meth head dude when he freaked out there and got banned, so he says "if the minneapolis police got behind you and ran your tags they'll be pulling you out by your wig and there'd be a lot of guns pointing at you." Terrific.

There's 73 days left till the loan will default.  So I can either suck it up and pay the $8,000 to get it in my name (FUCK THAT) or I can drive the car for 72 days, day 73 park it, it'll default in the dudes name and I walk away with nothing.  No debt, no cash.  Zero.

I talked to the dude whos name in the title FINALLY when the car place called his house.  So we talked and he was like "man if you have to default the loan you can do it, I have my house and my credit isn't that good anyway."  Then was explained that when it gets taken the bank auctions it and whatever they get pays off the loan, if any cash is left over you get it.

So we (me, the guy whos name on the title, and the dude who runs the dealership -its family owned- who I fucking worked for 5-6 months ago at the Crystal location small fucking world) so anyway we all talk and came to the decision that the best thing in everyones interest is for me to sell the car, and the guy who has his name on the title said they can send the check for the difference straight to me.  He was expecting to get completely fucked on this deal cause he didn't have my real fucking phone number (meth master plan) and when we finally got reconnected and realized what was going on he was all appreciative and shit and is totally working to get this resolved and wash both our hands of this and move on. 

So now I have to sell the car for more then $8,250 (break even point with all fee's and taxes and shit) anything past that is money recovered from the $1,200 i've already fucking paid off and then anything after that is money recovered from the lexus.  Judging by the fact it needs a few things i'll be lucky to get $8,500 asap.

The ONLY good thing is I thought my credit was shitty but it turns out its still good and I can go through a normal bank without a cosigner on a decent car AND I can get a house this winter if I keep my current pace up at work so that is :biggthumpup:

So ya.  I get back on my feet again and something will always kick it out.  I guess my legs are stronger now cause i'm still standing.  This only lights a fire under my ass to hustle harder at work and get the things I want out of life. :biggthumpup:

My next cars ballerness will be a direct reflection of how fucking angry this whole thing has made me.  My goal is to save cash, pay off the rest of the shit owe, find my next car, build it, and drive it to the west coast VIP meet after sema this year.  I really think I can do it if I can keep a healthy rage going.  Since this entire process involves me driving that infiniti around with the no radio and shit all crappy I will not require a meditation session to bring out the rage i'll just have to use my EYES and LOOK AROUND.

The manager -who when I first met him thought he was a total fucking asshole- is a totally fucking awesome dude.  This was a nightmare for him LONG before I got involved.  Just meth dude buying the car was serious drama.  Some serious tweaker drama.  So he told me I could search around on the auction website and find a car and he'll add $300 so they make something.  So once I figure out what I want and get the M gone it's new project car time.

So ya, goals set, past behind me, time to work.  Luckily my boss is the coolest, most understanding boss in the world, and has given me all the shit I need to make some money for myself so I can just go work and get a new car and put this behind me.

It just sucks I finished my front seats, I don't even want to do the rears now.  But i'll just go fast and if it sucks who cares.  It'll look a thousand times better then it did before.

*SIGH*
Craigslist.
:pat:

o damn ;\ i am hellllla sorry to hear such things man

AAhhhh i think i got it now
 
You swapped the GS which had a clean title for an M45 of craigs list (off Mr Meth-head) with the understanding that there was only a bit owing on it.

Then you find out that the M45 was bought under someone elses name (Mr Real Owner) and it has alot owing on it.

In the meantime Mr Meth-head has vanished with your GS
 
And now you are left with a car with alot owing on it. If you leave it, will default Mr Real Owners' loan and just get reposessed. If you sell it, you might get a little bit back but its unlikely.
 
Damn that does suck.... And no recourse or way of going after Mr Meth-head?

aww man, that blows!
 
good luck to you and i hope you sell the car for $8500 +

Dominik, yes more or less thats how it went down. I knew it wasn't in his name cause he said that, and the 3 of us met up to sign the titles and stuff. Thats when he started making shit ALL confusing and it was hard to get any sort of control on the situation. Plus me and the title dude had eachothers numbers... so we thought.... cept meth head dude just so happened to get a number off on both of them. So when the dealership called him he was like REALLY happy to hear from them that I was there cause they didn't have any of my info, they didn't even know me when I walked in there today, and title dood didn't have my correct number so we were cut off both trying to reach eachother.
 
Where everything went wrong is when I let the pressure of not having a car for work (cause it kept dying, long story) get to me and I was just like "fuck it" and let him leave without having him sign anything or getting any of his information. I mean he showed me a print off that looked legit! I thought everything was straight! But i'm glad me and title guy worked everything out and got to the bottom of this before the car was half way paid off.
 
So ya now I gotta put all that shit back in the car and find someone locally to snag it on the cheap. I'm just pissed I went through all the work of doing the seats and painting the exterior and shit.
 
Oh well.
 
EDIT: PS: Caramel ostrich luggage leather seats ARRrggggggg why didn't I find out this deal was bunk before I spent all that time on my seats!!

OK, so the guy is rolling around in your old GS, correct?

Which would mean, it'd probably still have the old plates, or shit, the VIN, correct? Why not go to the police, since this is basically theft/fraud, and at least get your old car back, or at least bust the guy. This is like Grand Theft (larceny?) and you definitely have a case. Shit, restitution might actually get you some money back. 

This is definitely fraud, and you NEED to get that guy back. Legally, will fuck him over good, prison status.

Not even 2 weeks after he had the GS he sold it to someone for $6,000 and a cadillac STS with a landau top.  I know this cause he called me and wanted me to come look at it and see if I could fix the landau top and I told him while he was there he could sign the papers he was supposed to the other week.  He never showed up.  This dude for all practical purposes is gone to the world.  There is no way to get a hold of him, he doesn't have a home, he is lost to the world.  Honestly after aaaalll of the shit i've been through (I didn't even get into the cavilier blowing up on the highway at 3am or when he freaked the fuck out and smashed the center console of the GS and broke the windshield) I just want it to be done and over with.  Karma will play out.  And by that I mean, the people that he fucked over have had enough and I can walk from this knowing hes going to get his.

The last thing I want to do is bring the police involved.  The car was never connected to him.  Thats why this is all fucked up.  Just like how the car is not connected to me.  And since me and the title dude have worked shit out and have a solution to the problem i'm not going to complicate it by getting the cops involved.  I gave him an opening and he took it, I am partially at fault here.

Plus my old car absolutely is a wrecked piece of shit at this point.  I feel bad for the dude who traded a caddy and cash for that hunk of shit.  All trim pieces and doors were sprayed at point blank with black or cream colored spray paint.  I'd go in depth but its not worth the finger energy.

This, like most of the shit that goes down in my life is just another crazy story that should have stopped way before it finished and only got crazier and crazier. Fuck meth heads, fuck craigslist, and while i'm at it fuck fruit by the foot for not making fruit by the mile its such a waste of packaging.

Yeah you can't trust people these days. I recently got screwed over pretty bad too. I was parting out one of my project cars (Camaro) and I got swindled by someone on craigslist. Total loss like $2K, not as bad as your incident but still shetty. It's a long story and I don't want to jack your thread. Bottom line, trust no-one. Only do transactions on the up and up, with witnesses, verify all contact information, get addresses, check ID's, verify everything, go the whole 9 years.

dam sorry for your lost but you shoulda been more carefull in handling peeps on craigslist

I still think you could get him real good...maybe after you sell off the M lol.

damn thats some real grimey ish. Dont worry Karms a bitch hes probally gonna get a bad batch and be worst off lol. Goodluck hope everything turns around.

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I feel your pain Sam.... been there on a S13 deal I had on e-bay.... hurts but just keep your head straight and move on...

BTW, if you happen to know this guy wherabouts you do have a case..at least file a police report.

Ok couple of updates:

1. The cops got involved due to some other shit that was related.  So the other day I had to meet with an officer to explain my involvement in this whole thing.  I basically told them how it all went down and showed them all the stuff I had.  In the end the guy was like (and i'm paraphrasing) "our job is to help good people and bring bad people to justice.  when bad people want to hurt bad people it is its own justice and we just clean it up." 

The legal system is too convoluted, bureaucratic, and time consuming for me to even begin to be interested in getting involved with that.  I have enough stuff going on as is.  I have 26 hours of work in each 24 hour day i'm not going to mess with it.  I mean seriously, the dude is a wasteoid methhead, even if anything happens it's not like he has a mansion and ferrari fleet they can repo to pay me back. 

The guy whos name is on the title has the same first name as the cop I talked to and the owner of the little budget dealership has the same first name as the methhead dude so telling the story got VERY confusing till we decided to use last names haha

2. [QUOTE=Caoboy;267898]I still think you could get him real good...maybe after you sell off the M lol.[/QUOTE]

Believe me, he's going to get it real good and I don't have to do a thing.  All I gotta do is walk away and let karma do its thing.  Karma in this case being the nickname of whoever is going to go stomp this dude for screwing a bunch of people.  I am just one of MANY who got fucked from this whole thing and related events.

3. I talked again with the guy who owns the dealership and he's going to help me find a local buyer for the M and run it all through the dealership.  He's already found me 3 cars that fit what I told him I was looking for in the price/mileage range I was looking for so as soon as I get the M sold and a little money for a down payment at least I know that part is going to be taken care of.

This whole thing has been a nightmare for him as well especially with physical altercations that went down between him and methhead dude so he's trying to do all that he can.  The dude who has his name on the title was afraid I was going to sue him over all this so he's working with me too to get the car sold and get me some cash back after all of this.

4. The more I think about the whole situation that M was in such shitty shape I don't mind getting rid of it.  I thought it was be cool to fix it up while I paid of those last couple G's and then build it over the winter but now i'm like 'fuck it, i'm going to get something thats in really good shape and mod it from there.'

Though my next car is not going to be a platform VIP car I gotta get it and get it out of my system.  

My plan now is just to work my ass of, get a house with a barn garage, build my benz and a probably like a Y33 Q45 this winter.  Till then i'm just going to save cash and parts and knock out this next car and move on from all of this. We'll just have to see how it goes.
[b]
EDIT:

If someone could please tell me what size wheels these are that would help me out a lot.  [/b]I had those wheels in 18's for my W126 and they look like they are the same but i'm not sure.  I know this guy went 20's but I don't know if that was up from 18's or 19's.

[url]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8gowLm6n-g[/url]

[URL]http://minkara.carview.co.jp/userid/244312/car/228079/profile.aspx[/URL]
He had 19" MAEs
 
Replaced with 20" Brabus Monoblocks

Thank you! Ok so they were 19's.  I'm sure the offsets aren't on there are they?  I was hoping to have wheels ready when I got the car so I didn't have to measure and order.  I'm trying to get the car done for the cali after sema VIP thing.

Nope, just that they were 9.5/10.5s.
 
I'll post a question to him asking what offsets they were...

Note he did have his rear fenders modded slightly wider so he could fit the 10.5s. Apparently with airsus you cant go more than 10" in width before it hits the strut
And the front fender arches are raised

^ Man if you could do that for me that'd be awesome I would appreciate it. I imagine since its old wheels he maybe wouldn't mind giving them out.  I have a fender roller and can do any sort of fender work needed but that is very good to know.  I'm going to pull the fuse and slam the factory air so i'm ready for fender work.  I just want to get as close as I can off the bat so I can have the wheels waiting when I get the car.

Fender mods:
[URL]http://minkara.carview.co.jp/userid/244312/car/228079/479311/note.aspx[/URL]
[URL]http://minkara.carview.co.jp/userid/244312/car/228079/513799/note.aspx[/URL]
 
Lets see what he says about the offsets...

those look like the same MAE's I am selling....  Sucks to Hear SAM!!!  I wish you the best of luck moving forward.  

To bad no one near you has a Y34 you could swap out your modded parts for stock ish...and a small amount of money so you could save the mods and also recoup a small amount of what was lost and at the same time make the car more presentable so that it gets a higher price at auction/sale.....G/L!

The only mods I got left are the E55 projector headlights if someone wants to trade me their OEM headlights + $200 for them.  They are plug and play and utilize the factory beam adjustors.

What a bummer.

you swapped the seats already?

I didn't swap them I just finished them and threw them back in there.  At this point ANYTHING that will increase the value of the car is important.  I can't say I did a good job with them I was SO upset about the whole thing I practically closed my eyes and ran the seats through the sewing machine.  I'll post some pics just so you guys can see how it turned out.  Again I wasn't trying so don't let it be a indication of my work. I just gotta find my camera.  It's been missing since I got broken into but I don't think it was in the car so its probably lost in the mess of my living room.


EDIT:

Teaser pic of the leathers unstalled, this is back when I cared about them:

[img]http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m190/moparman2006/Roll104-2.jpg?t=1252101835[/img]

Cellphone pic of seats in car after I found out I was screwed (hence the less then perfect craftsmanship) it's hard to see the double stitching.  You gotta love the burn in the leather somehow I didn't notice it till after I put the seats on.  I don't even know why I bothered with the seat belt cover. Oh well.

[img]http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m190/moparman2006/Photo-0202.jpg?t=1252102013[/img]


*sigh*


The good news is I was talking to the GSM of this toyota dealership I work at and he was explaining cause of the cash for clunkers and all that jazz the prices for cars at the auction are ridiculously inflated and there is very little to choose from.  The dealers are barely making $300 a car.  Yesterday was auction day and the cars they brought back looked like they belonged on a NE Minneapolis bargin lot.  What this means is that if I can't find a buyer for the car then at least there's a good chance I could make a little money back when the bank auctions it.

damn. sad to hear this happen.
 
look forward to see what comes along next.
 
revenge and anger are a great motivation.
 
keep your head up.
 
just, come back stronger and harder.

Wow, crazy....sorry to hear about that, but seems like you're doin an excellent job about moving on and looking forward to what is ahead.

...and I just got rear ended.
:pat:

Good Grief. If your playing the Karma game, you screwed somebody over really bad in the past or your about to make a ridiculous come up.

GL.

^ I got my fingers crossed on ridiculous come up.

Thank god for black cars... little bit of spray paint and a heat gun will hold me over till I can fix the bumper proper.

I can't wait to dump this car and move on.  Literally I want to dump/trash/crash/incinerate this car and move on.

tweeker suck.
 
Sounds like you got your head in the game. That's good. Especially where you were saying that you are going to outlet your rage and that your next project will reflect it. Good stuff. Nobody, I mean nobody will every be able to take that away from you. Keep your head up.

Just when I thought this couldn't get any stranger...

The dude calls me tonight, he basically tells me that he's cleaned up and got out of the dope game yadda yadda yadda he heard from the guy who has his name on the title about the whole thing and feels really bad about the whole thing.  We had this random ass talk when we were waiting for the keys for it one time and he was talking about how he felt like he'd been awake for the last near.  That he only passes out he never sleeps.  How he wants to quit and all that jazz.  Since he was being real about it to me when he barely knew me I felt for him and gave him some advice apparently he listened to.

At first I thought it was one of my friends playing a trick on me cause it didn't sound like him at all.  Then I realized it WAS actually him.  I guess he has an aversion to getting cut into pieces and sunk in a suitcase or something cause whatever the title dude said worked.

So ya he sold the cadillac that he traded the GS for and will pay me the difference [which was quite a bit more then I thought he would offer] so we'll see.  Honestly I don't expect to hear from him again but he did sound very sincere. We'll see.

Wow, that sounds like good news. I hope he has been watching a lot of "My name is Earl" and he genuinely wants to make things right.
 
Keep us updated!

Good luck

wow good luck dude, u been through a shitload of trouble.

that sucks dude!

And now for the thrilling conclusion of the M45 saga...

I'm supposed to meet up with the recovering methhead and the title guy.  The RMH [recovering methhead] is going to give me a 1994 cadillac deville [tan with a tan interior] to somehow make up for this whole thing and some cash.

I'm scrambling to put the car back together and its taking longer then I thought it would.  I call them to tell them that and RMH says no problem.  He calls me back and says he talked to the title dude and hes all pissed off and shit but doesn't know why.  Title guy calls me and says:

"If I don't get the car back in 1 hour i'm going to report it stolen. I have your address."

So I had to park it at the nearby lexus dealership and put the key in the overhead.

I walked home.

So ya, I don't think there ever was a cadillac for me to get.  There's a chance RMH will call me back and maybe I will get it.  Maybe I won't.  We'll see.

As I said to my buddy this morning  "it's like digging a fishhook out your scalp, it fucking sucks, but I don't have a hook in my head anymore."

SUCKS my friend....I hope that it all works out for you in the end man.  Wish I could help.