Need feedback on 370Z purchase from forum member

[NISMOFO]

Hey guys/gals,

I’m looking for a little support. I’m a fellow Z enthusiast who has been involved in the Z community since 2005 and I’m active on the other Z forums. I have owned three 350Z’s including one that was twin turbo. I recently purchased a 370Z (private party purchase), and my dream turned into a nightmare. I made a private party purchase to avoid situations like this about a car’s hidden history…but I still got screwed. Keep in mind that the AutoCheck and CarFax were clean…but the seller was dirty.

**Short Story**
The short end of the story is that the 370Z ended up having paint/bodywork that the seller had never told me about. After purchasing and finding the bodywork…..I asked him what happened to the car; he owned up to the incident and told me the truth (finally). A few days later I emailed him, and told him I was very disappointed that he lied and deceived me. This was a major fact that was hidden from me before I bought the car just to ensure it would sell. (The fact is that I would have never bought the car knowing this). He knew that by disclosing this bodywork upfront, it would hurt his chances of selling the car. I asked for compensation and what I got in return is that the blame is all on me because I didn’t ask a direct question about the work.

Please read below and post your opinions. I’m just asking for support. I’m a victim to a liar that cannot admit what he did was wrong. He sold me “A” but delivered “B”.

**Long Story**
Purchase:
A few weeks back, I found a local 370Z that I was interested in buying. It had a few basic modifications, but nothing major that couldn’t be changed or would void the warranty. I wasn’t quite ready to buy the car yet, but I contacted the seller and let him know that maybe in a month I could be ready to make a move. He asked if I wanted to come out and at least take a look at it, so I did one Saturday afternoon (on short notice). So when I arrived the car was actually dirty. I was a little surprised, but I just tried to imagine it washed up. It’s a 2009, so any blemishes would be minimal at most. He let me drive off and test drive the car myself. The bottom of the rear bumper was painted black around the exhaust/fog lamp area. I simply asked if the body shop painted just that section or re-cleared the entire bumper? He said he “thinks” they just did the bottom. So I told him I liked the car, but it’s still too soon for me to purchase unless I get approval from my better half + sell my other car. He said he’d hold the car for a week before putting it on Ebay. So although I had not sold my Z06 yet, I went home and got approval from my better half to get the car now. So I contacted the seller, we negotiated a fair price that same night. This was Labor Day weekend, so I had to wait until Tuesday before I could get things moving with a new loan. But by Thursday I had gotten it all taken care of, signed the bill of sale….and I was ready to pick up the car after work.

Pickup:
I had another 350Z friend of mine take me to the seller’s house after work. The car was still dirty, but there was some rain just the day before. But I was hoping it would be clean since doesn’t even drive it. I mean he stores it in his garage, but just not clean…confusing to me. I walked around the car once more, talked to the guy a little and asked a few more questions. He gave me whatever stock parts he had for the car as well and some extra motor oil/filter. When walking around the car a few times, he noticed the front right brake caliper was leaking fluid (barely). He offered to order a new one from the guy he bought it from…then help me replace it when it came in. All is good, so I drove home in my slightly used 2009 370Z.

Cleaning the car:
The first night, I tried to detail the car as best as I could (in the dark) on the driveway because I wasn’t going to let my other car sit outside. I removed the rear license plate frame and when doing so, I noticed overspray on the VIN sticker. At that point I knew the rear bumper had been repainted…not just re-cleared.

When I finally got the car “clean”, a lot of things showed up that I could never see before. I easily determined the following:

• Passenger quarter panel repainted and body work (sanding marks/filler can be seen in the right lighting)
• Passenger door repainted
• Rear bumper repainted (fitment a little off on driver’s side, fitment extremely tight around driver’s taillight, 370Z emblem crooked and in the wrong location, etc.)
• Passenger sideskirt repainted (paint is off)
• Driver’s sideskirt repainted (paint is off)

So the seller came over roughly a week later to help replace the brake caliper. Now I had found nothing but paint work on the car (in my limited schedule) up until about an hour before he showed up. That is when I finally took a good look at the quarter panel to find body work. I wasn’t happy…..more like pissed because that is by far the worst place to have damage. It’s not a part you simply unbolt and replace. It’s welded to the car. So my plan was to ask him about all this paint/bodywork after we finished swapping the brake caliper. And I did because I wanted to know the truth about what he had sold me.

Confronting the seller:
I told him that I knew for a fact the car has had paint/bodywork although he didn’t mention it in either of his two for sale posts. He said really, I thought I mentioned that? He owned up to the damage though, BUT he said “I have to ask….how could you tell?” I pointed out every little thing that was a very clear indication to me….basically everything I couldn’t see when the car was dirty. So the story is that a 17 year old girl hit the car while pulling in next to it in a parking lot. He then proceeded to search for pictures of the damage on his cell phone (but no luck). But for some reason, he still claimed the rear bumper had never been painted, and this was something extremely obvious to me once the car was detailed. Then he mentioned the sideskirts were repainted through the Nissan dealership and that’s why they didn’t match…different body shop. I told him I loved the car still (while I was holding my true feelings in and keeping completely calm). He did ask if I had any other questions on the car and then left. I immediately got on my phone and checked both ads online, and found absolutely no mention of the work.

Emailing the seller disclosing my disappointment:
It took days for this to really sink in for me. It hurts because I know he did it on purpose just to get the car sold. I was really disappointed he knew I was a fellow Z enthusiast…so I really took this personally. So I emailed him two days ago asking about the body shop and if they warrantied their work. He replied immediately with the date, invoice number and full contact information of the shop. I also mentioned that I really had wished he would have told me about this BEFORE I bought the car. His response was that I didn’t ask him directly….the incident happened a year ago….so it simply slipped his mind and he doesn’t think about it. Wow, I find this so hard to believe when he was able to immediately email me the body shop invoice number, date & full contact information just minutes before. No true car enthusiast would ‘forget’ that their car had bodywork done…..especially when it comes to selling. I guess he does not understand what ‘full disclosure’ means.

But I asked him if there is some way he could ‘right this wrong’ because I wouldn’t have paid this price for the car knowing about the work. I asked if there is any sort of compensation he could provide?

He replied that there was no ‘wrong’ that was done in the first place. And he justified it by saying I got a good deal on the car. He also mentioned that the CarFax was clean so it shouldn't affect the resale. I read that as meaning that he suggests I hide the bodywork like he did when I decide to sell it, which I would never do.

I can’t even get him to admit that what he did was wrong (at the very least). It’s pretty sad.

My final email to him was:
“I just have one more question: If I had sold you this 370Z and failed to disclose any previous damage/bodywork, how would you feel if you found out about the bodywork later?

I would hate to see you do this (again) to someone else. That is my biggest concern.”

His final email:
“I’d be mad, but more at myself than anything else.

Regardless of how you feel about it, I didn’t intentionally do this to you. I’ve never in my life been called dishonest. I’m sorry that it changes your perspective on the car, it is truly an amazing vehicle.”

He’s never been called dishonest in his life? Well……there’s a first time for everything….