I bid on a used car on eBay. The pictures showed PERFECT exterior and some minor interior wear. The car was listed as overall good condition inside out and mechanically. There were no know defect at the time of posting the ad, according to the seller.
I did not win the bid, but was offered a second chance to buy the car for my highest bid. I was excited, and I immediately rented a car and drove the 13 hours to pick up the car (with girlfriend and dog in tow).
When I got to the location of the vehicle, I immediately see from the road that the exterior is in BAD shape (not wrecked, but extremely beat up and dented). There were AT LEAST 50 scratches and small dents around the car. In some spots, there were paint ships so dense it looked like the car was shot with bird shot. The front AND rear bumpers were cracked. The hood did not sit flush opn the body, clearly due to a front end collision. All of the seals were cracked and swollen (probably leaking), and the edges of the doors were stripped of paint. Pretty awful, but I don't really care about asthetics and the car was a decent deal, so we proceed.
The insisde was closer to the description. Some defects that weren't mentioned in the ad include a faulty sunroom, broken back seat seatbelt, and NO AC (AC was listed as a feature of the vehicle and the ad did not mention that it did not work).
The mechanical issues continue: the brakes had something wrong, probably warped rotors. The car fishtailed at every stop and made an awful screetching sound (he said it was because the car had been sitting... that's not true). The car shifted rough and was very sluggish on acceleration. There was a lot of rattling and chirping from under the hood while driving the car.
Serge, the "owner" of this tiny "dealership" was extremely rude and intimidating (well, I wasn't intimidated and didn'y buy the car, but it was clear his intent). He continuously said he didn't want to sell me the car, I was getting too good of a deal. Not in a playful way, though. He was extemely rude and callous. Every time I pointed out something new is wrong with the car, he say (russian?) "It is used car, what do you expect? It's Mercedes! Worth way more than this at auction!". Ok, I don't care if its a Bentley, a POS is a POS. Very rude, unhelpful, and had I not been extremely careful, I would have lost a lot of money on this car. Also , he lied and kept telling me "I cancel second chance offer. I cancel now, I don't want sell this car to you." I guess he thought it was a psychology move? AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL business. Never do business with this person. No car deal is worth playing games with this man, and you are certainly NOT getting the deal you expect.