Have You Ever STOLEN A Car? We Mean Bought One SO Cheap, It Was Impossible To Say NO?

Now and again, particularly when there is an overflowing inventory, you can walk out of the showroom with more cash in your pocket than you may have expected. Hell, sometimes you may even feel as though you STOLE the product -- not literally, of course.

That said we're a little curious about those situations:

Have you ever been offered an unheard of DEAL from a dealer?

Have YOU ever paid way less than a buddy or neighbor?

Speaking of your neighbor and friend, have you ever been in the situation to take a vehicle off of someone's hands for next to nothing while the original owner took a ridiculous loss?

Have you been web-savvy and snapped up an eBay find that was way below the wholesale price?

If you've got stories, we want to know!

What vehicle was it? What was the deal? AND, how did it compare?

85bmw745i - 1/28/2012 11:58:30 PM

+1 Boost

about 4 years ago one of the bouncers I worked with told me about a 99 1/2 a4 1.8t quattro for $300. I never bothered to even entertain looking at it because I figured it would be wrecked to hell. Onje day my wife and I were going to eat at Shogun and we got there too early so we decided to check it out. Looked like a brand new car, had one hand sized dent from a tree limb, and 89,000 miles on it. The guy was selling it for $300 because the dealer said it would cost $4,200 to fix because the timing belt broke. I puled the head, had it re-built, changed the water pump timing belt and associated gear, along wit new belts and other misc. parts. total cost including buying the car was around $1,000. Got $5,900 for it when I sold it. It was a great car.

Agent00R - 1/29/2012 6:54:48 PM

+2 Boost

@85

That's a helluva story, sir.

Well done!

85bmw745i - 1/30/2012 12:26:50 AM

+1 Boost

I spent about $240 for the labor to rebuild the head and about $150 or so for the new head set and bought all 20 valves for the engine. I pulled the head and performed all of the labor myself and saved a ton. I loved that car but it was too small after we had our little girl so we got rid of it and got our ML320.

85bmw745i - 1/30/2012 12:29:05 AM

+1 Boost

Oh and I offered the guy $250.00 and he took it. I kept the for sale sign for memorabilia.

Agent00R - 1/29/2012 6:57:11 PM

+1 Boost

@blazin

I don't think it's a matter of having or not having means, to some extent. Don't get me wrong, it factors in some cases but I think there is a bigger problem: People -- rich and poor -- just treat what they have like garbage.

85bmw745i - 1/30/2012 12:24:49 AM

+1 Boost

When you do your own maintenance and repairs they aren't that bad. A guy put some stop leak in my wifes ML320 after the valve core in the low pressure side fill line was leaking, it was just loose. It is just like the valve core on a tire. the stop leak screwed my expansion valve up and blew the compressor seals. I bough a new dryer (around $30) a new expansion valve (around $25) a new condensor (around $50 shipped) and a compressor (just under $200 shipped and pre-filled wit pag oil) Total cost including r134 was under $400 and took me only a couple of hrs to do. I now have a completely new a/c system with the exception of the evaporator core. Had I went to the dealer I don't even want to know what it would cost. the Expansion valve and Dryer were well over $100 each from the dealer.

fabulescent - 1/30/2012 1:38:32 PM

+1 Boost

Fall 2008 was the best time to buy a car. Wish I bought more.

Acura had a GLUT of 2008 MDXes at every dealer at a time when everyone was afraid to buy.

It wasn't even really a negotiation - every dealer just outright offered insanely cheap prices. I bought a 2008 MDX w/Tech and roof rails for $31k before TTL, only other fees were $99 dealer fee, $95 tags, 6% sales tax.

Pretty much every SUV was being sold at firesale prices - also looked at CX-9, Saturn Outlook, and Q7. All were at least 15% off MSRP.

5senna5 - 2/1/2012 10:00:47 AM

+1 Boost

Three years ago bought a blk/blk 2005 CLK500 coupe, came standard with AMG wheels and bodykit, very clean car, 22k miles, clean carfax, no paintwork, w/ extended warranty till 2013 for $17k. Guy pimped one of his mom's car out so she'd buy him another one he wanted more. I was the lucky guy standing there when he decided to do it. Bought it on the spot and put 15k miles on it before I sold it for $23k.