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Thread: BUYER BEWARE - fellow forum member sold me a car with this

  1. #1
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    beware - fellow forum member sold me a car with this

    I thought about this for a good bit before posting. I did not message the seller BMWhiteman directly before posting, I messaged him initially with some of the other issues I had found and felt I was lied to in response, and honestly I wouldnt expect anyone to own up to actually doing this. I had always felt a little more comfortable buying a car off a forum member until this experience, but this most recent find on the car has really just blown my mind that someone could be so completely careless/reckless with the lives of others.

    E46's are fairly safe cars, which is one of the main reasons I was looking for another for my fiance when we moved to California. I found the e46 on craigslist, bought it around Christmas '13. Looked great in pics, made the mistake of checking it out at night and missed a few real obvious cosmetic issues, have since fixed all of that. Under the car looked like the Exxon Valdez, one of the most oil soaked e46's I've seen. Motor sounded good, tons of maintenance records, figured its just due for a pile of oil seals and the regular stuff. FCAB's were installed so wrong that one had torn (cheapest possible chinese ones anyway, would have replaced anyway). Being incredibly anal I replaced a ton of parts fixed a ton of issues and did a lot of preventative maintenance, easily a few grand in parts, planned on that, always plan on that with a used BMW and no big deal. Where things start getting annoying - through that process I found several bolts that were just straight missing. Transmission to motor was missing 3 or 4 bolts, the crash plate under the car had some random bolts in it that did not belong (these bolts are designed to break in a crash).

    Hooked a scanner up a few weeks ago and found that there were airbag codes.. However, no airbag light.

    Decided to finally get around to fixing the clock set-knob that was broken, and while i was at it investigate why the airbag light wasnt working. This is absurd, selling me a car that I'm putting my loved ones in with at least one or two faulty airbags, and covering it up by not only blocking out the airbag light with ELECTRICAL TAPE, but also coloring in the LED on the cluster board with a black marker.

    I'm also fairly certain this is a FEDERAL OFFENSE

    20140703_203745.jpg20140703_203811.jpg20140703_203916.jpg20140703_203946.jpg


    As with everything else, I'll fix this too
    Last edited by 1320ms; 07-04-2014 at 03:30 AM.
    Matt
    95 Supra Turbo - 1100rwhp - worlds fastest factory automatic trans supra - 8.7@161mph
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  2. #2
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    Sounds like they got tired of staring at the airbag light. I don't see how that's a federal offense. I'm not sure about BMW, but I know some manufacturers recommend airbag and seat belt tensioner replacement every 10-15 years. Also, the light being on doesn't render the system inoperative. What was the code for? Usually its something stupid like a seat belt sensor being bad despite there not being anything wrong with any of the restraint systems in the car. I would agree that it should've been disclosed prior to the sale but the airbag light comes on every time the car is keyed up and its absence could've been noticed during a routine PPI. I would chalk it up to a live and learn and always get a proper, thorough inspection before buying any used car, especially one that is 13 years old.

  3. #3
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    There will always be dishonest a**holes who will do anything within their power to sell their POS car. Be a forum member or not. That said, I think you also failed in being a smart buyer. You checked the car at night, didn't perform a PPI, probably didn't bother to run a carfax either. I don't mean to sound like a jerk but I just don't understand how you didn't take the time to buy the right car for someone you love and want to keep safe.

  4. #4
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    While I checked it at night, I was fairly thorough (and yes carfax and all) - theres no way to tell certain bolts are missing without removing the crash shield. And without a pressure washer to hose off the oil there would be no way to tell incorrect bolts were used. And yes, I failed to notice the SRS light not coming on with key-on, not saying I'm perfect, simply saying thats incredibly shady on the sellers part.

    The codes for the airbags, while I dont recall them off the top of my head, are related to the airbags not being functional - the a-pillar for instance was hot glued onto one of them.

    Tampering with manufacturer safety warning lights and selling a car without clearly identifying/disclosing that is a crime.

    Also, as a side note, its not the car in my sig.
    Last edited by 1320ms; 07-04-2014 at 01:57 AM.
    Matt
    95 Supra Turbo - 1100rwhp - worlds fastest factory automatic trans supra - 8.7@161mph
    01 330Ci

  5. #5
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    Dude....everyone on here PREACHES to get a PPI at a shop. You chose to inspect a car at night on your own and missed a ton of stuff. Sounds like you got hosed and you have no recourse now since it's a private sale. I would be more nervous buying from a forum member because I know people on here like to get their hands dirty and screw with stuff. Fix it a learn from your mistakes. We have all made bad choices somewhere along the line.

    Lol federal offense? Where'd you go to law school?

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by timsev View Post
    Dude....everyone on here PREACHES to get a PPI at a shop. You chose to inspect a car at night on your own and missed a ton of stuff. Sounds like you got hosed and you have no recourse now since it's a private sale. I would be more nervous buying from a forum member because I know people on here like to get their hands dirty and screw with stuff. Fix it a learn from your mistakes. We have all made bad choices somewhere along the line.

    Lol federal offense? Where'd you go to law school?
    yea, idk about in your state, but here they dont much care about the airbags after the car is sold from the dealership. you can pass safety inspection with the airbag light on.
    1991 BMW 325i(Current Daily) (S52)
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  7. #7
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    1320ms,

    what a terrible experience ...got some big brothers to 'visit him' and swap the car for your money back?

  8. #8
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    Airbag fraud is illegal in some states, but usually gets overlooked as airbags are not required to be functional or present in most states.

    Despite what the buyer did or didn't do prior to buying the car, there is absolutely NO defending someone taping over the light and selling the car. None.

  9. #9
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    Common sense dictates that a buyer should have some knowledge of what he buying and if not he should enlist the services of an expert. Seems you were able to find all the issues yourself so could have made the same inspections yourself BEFORE. Instead, you relied on a Carfax report
    Shame on the obviously deceptive seller but you asked for it by not looking it over better.
    Fix the faults and move on. Hopefully the seller will get his one day.
    Last edited by ross1; 07-08-2014 at 08:51 PM.

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