Seller's Remorse: They did WHAT to my car?

belteshazzar wrote: every EVERY time i see a car that i once owned, it's always in worse condition. usually much worse. just once i'd like to sell a car to someone who takes better care of it than i do.

My '92 GVR4 #960/1000, the first car I ever turned a wrench on. Built from bone stock to a great all 'rounder. Took her to literally hundreds of events: drag, autox, TSD, rallyx, HPDE, and daily driver for 13 years. 2-time DC region modified 4wd rallyx champion. Tri-state TSD rally champion. Never let me down driving a dozen+ hours to/from events. I let her down by selling because I didn't think I had the skill to fix the rust. Buyer immediately parted out.

Let's hear your stories.

I sold a really nice car, then spent the money on something else I wanted.

They can use it for target practice if they want.

I'm with Streetwiseguy. When they leave my driveway, the new owner can do what they want.

In reply to Streetwiseguy:

Yep, this is the only way to look at it. Selling something is about turning it into money and going about your business. Still...

'64 Barracuda Formula S. 235 hp 273, 4 speed. A beautiful, fast, good-handling car. I got it in '65, drove it several years, sold it to a guy who wrecked it, oh, I guess, a dozen times. Some of those were driving into ditches and retaining walls and other obstacles. Also into other cars and busses. He kept it about five years, ground it into junk, but it wouldn't quit running. I sold it with 83,000 miles and this clown got it over 150,000. Broke my heart.

My 88 turbo Shadow was probably one of the cleanest in the country, in spite of its 265,000 miles. Saw it ONCE about a year after I sold it. It was so trashed I didn't bother leaving a note offering to buy it back. Dents, dirt, and berkeleying Dale Earnhart stickers.

I hesitate to mention my disappointment with the new owner of my completely berkeleyed up three cylinder abomination of a Miata.

Yeah, the car was a complete POS but it had character.

The new owner drove it form Michigan to Oregon in an epic cross country adventure. then the car disappeared.

Absolutely nothing on that car was worth a E36 M3, every part was rusted or otherwise berkeleyed up beyond salvage.... but it had a very interesting drivetrain.

Perhaps this should be in the rant thread....

the interior was a bit rough but it was nicer than the rest of the car.

chuckles wrote: In reply to Streetwiseguy: Yep, this is the only way to look at it. Selling something is about turning it into money and going about your business.

And that's why I never sell anything. I'm not interested in getting money.

I sold the Hideous Hardbody to two former students (brothers, one is currently in grade 12).

While they absolutely love the truck, seeing it in the parking lot every day, is for me, kind of like seeing that old girlfriend you used to have, and wishing it had worked out.

I sold the Spec V in my avatar to a stupid kid, who planted an oak tree in the radiator at high speed within a few months. Then he (or rather, his mommy) emailed me to see if I could fix the reckless driving ticket. "I'll get riiiiight on that."

This after he didn't take me up on my offer to pay his first autox entry fee and teach him how to really drive the car. While it still bugs me every time I think about it (the car was really tricked out and was a decent STX car at the time), I was young and stupid once, so . . .

I sold my nicest Miata to an old guy who had been daily driving a right hand drive Lotus Elan since the mid-70s. He finally decided that he needed a bigger car.

I think it went to the right person.

I had a '70's vintage Toyota.

I saw it wrapped around a tree 2 days after I sold it.

I sold my 95 Maxima to a young college aged girl. It wasn't perfect, but it had sentimental value. She owned it a year and a half and blew up the motor. I just bought it back a few months ago for $500, so I'm putting a 3.5 in it and bringing it to the Challenge.

I came across an old acquaintance on Facebook the other day. He bought my first car from me back in 1989. I was afraid to snoop thru his fb pics for fear of seeing my car. I looked, though. No pics of my car were there. I'm probably glad.

The z28 needed to be parted out, it was probably worth twice as much in parts then what I sold it for, but after all the work I did, I didn't want to see her stripped so I sold it out of state, and for the first few weeks he would text to ask questions but haven't heard anything since, hope she went to a good home.

That's the only car I've given a E36 M3 about selling, everything else I could care less what they do with

My name is Tom and I am a shameless car whoring prostitute I have had affiars with many cars but in the end I loved the money they brought more as it allowed me to have a new fling. Many years ago, I got caught out and nearly put myself in financial bind, rather than sweating the house payment I sold a car I loved. The guy who bought let it sit to the point of neglect. Ironically I could have kept the car as my finances were actually in better shape within a couple of weeks. A year or so after the sale my wife commented that she appreciated the fact that I was willing to sell the car as she knew how much I loved it. My reply was I'd do it again in a minute as at the end of the day it's just a thing no matter how much I blather on about it. It's nice when someone loving takes care of your old car but if I was worried about it I wouldn't sell it. We've had the Datsun for 30 years and intend to keep it for many more BUT if the whole world smoked crack and the value went early 911 crazy (read pay off the mortgage) I'd sell in a heartbeat and find something else fun. If the new owner rolled it out of the garage and dropped a piano on it OK whatever, it's your money.

  Tom

'02 S2000 sold in 2009 with like 45k miles. After a bunch of tire kickers sold to some 18-20 year old. Told them when I first met them not to tell me what they were going to do with the car yet on my last drive in it on the way to his house from his bank he tells me about all his plans to turbo it and what not. About 6 - 8 months later I find out he wrapped it around a tree practicing his drifting skills. :(

On the other side of the sale, purchased my Miata. https://jimsgarage.wordpress.com/2013/03/10/building-a-track-cargoodbye-miata/ It's seen the track a few times, is still in great condition, and plans are to keep it forever as all cars except my DD are garaged.

I had a '91 Civic AWD Wagon with a ZC swap. Sold it to a neighbor, who autocrossed a CRX. He did a few things to it - new struts, wider wheels/tires, etc. For the few months that I still lived there, and saw it regularly, it looked like it was well-cared for.

I think it went to the right guy.

Sold my '90 F-150 XLT Lariat 4X4 after I was done towing race cars because it was too nice for regular truck duty. Bought a '81 Chevy K20 to replace it.

New owner got T-boned and totaled by a lady running a stop sign in town a couple months later. Nicest truck I ever owned, shoulda never sold it.

81 marquis 2 door. i was the second owner. stock long block/aod 8.8 with 3.73's and a trac loc. guy gave me 1300 bucks for it and turned around and derbied it.

In reply to dropstep:

That sucks. It's this sort of thing that made me initially hesitant to put my Mark VII on craigslist. I assumed somebody would buy it, yank the engine and rear end then scrap the rest.

As time goes on, though, I'm getting less and less attached to inanimate objects. I've gone from valuing it as something rare, to viewing it as merely a tool meant to perform a task.

In reply to The_Jed:

If it's any consolation, I have a customer with a Mark VII who just bought a Fox body Mustang GT for the engine and transmission.

Had a '89 Corolla SR-5 (wife's car) that we sold to my sister in '98-'99 with 130K on it. She drove it another 100K and sold it to some Latino farm workers for another 30K of hard use commuting. Somehow she ended up getting it back and I had to drive it somewhere to put it up for sale again. We had sold it in pretty nice shape but by that time the car was BERKELEYED!! Everything was worn out or broken. I wished I had never seen that poor car again

I sold my 2000 Focus to my brother. My first new car. I learned to autocross in it. I brought my oldest daughter home from the hospital in it. It was my daily driver for three years and then my wife's daily for two more. My brother really needed a car and was in a tough spot and I made him a sweetheart deal. He drove it for five more years. Got into a fender bender. His neighbor backed into it, twice. Required only minor maintinence and still looked good at 270k miles. He sold it because his oldest daughter got her license and "driving a manual is too complicated for her". They bought an automatic Cavilier that was crap. I would have flown up there to teach her to drive it. I offered. Nope. Too hard. I was mostly sad that they thought that little of my niece.

I know a guy who had a really nice older Volvo. Very clean car. Within two weeks after selling it, the exhaust fell off, the bottoms of the fenders rusted off, and the guy managed to break a strut and blow two brake lines.

Wait. I'm the guy who bought the Volvo. But man, it was weird how the thing was awesome until I transferred the title and then E36 M3 just started falling apart. I can honestly say that I had nothing to do with it.

Knurled wrote: In reply to The_Jed: If it's any consolation, I have a customer with a Mark VII who just bought a Fox body Mustang GT for the engine and transmission.

Definitely a refreshing change.