"The Porsche 911 Twin Turbo that went from dream car to nightmare"Like nearly every kid I always dreamed of owning a Porsche 911.
I've been a car enthusiast my entire life and when I could finally afford to purchase the car of my dreams I set out searching in my local newspaper. But I wasn't having any luck. I knew exactly what I wanted, so I turned to the Internet to help expand my options of finding the perfect car.
I spent weeks searching AutoTrader.com, Cars.com and E-bay Motors. It was fun looking at so many different cars, checking out the pictures, reading about the details… heck, this was like a hobby.
And then one day, there it was, listed on AutoTrader.com. The perfect car - a 1997 Porsche 911 Twin Turbo with only 4,200 miles on the clock.
A small dealer had the car for sale and from the pictures it appeared to be like brand new. The dealer told me it was a one-owner car, non-smoker, garage kept, never been painted, no dings or scratches and proceeded to fax me the entire vehicle maintenance history. I thought, “Could it get any better”?
The Dealer said he had two other people interested in the car so I should act quickly if I wanted it. This was the car of my dreams, so I decided to buy it!! (As you’ll soon read, it turned out to be the car of many sleepless nights, fear for my own safety and quite frankly the worst nightmare I could have ever imagined).
The dealer seemed like a nice guy on the phone but I was still apprehensive, so I had the car checked out at a local Porsche dealer. Everything checked out so I arranged to make the purchase. I sent the dealer $70,000 of my hard-earned money and proceeded to arrange an auto transport to pick-up the car.
The car was delivered to my house about a week later. I was ecstatic! The car was perfect and was just like the dealer said. I called and thanked him for such a fantastic car and reminded him to send me the title. He assured me the title was in the mail and wished me luck.
Well, it turned out that I was going to need a lot of luck. I called the dealer every week trying to get the title. He kept telling me he was going to send it but after about four weeks I was getting worried. Then one Thursday afternoon my phone rang. A tough-talking person on the other end of the phone told me that Dr. Jones demanded his car back. I said “what are you talking about, I purchased the car from a dealer and paid for it in full.” I informed him that I had all the copies of the transaction and documentation to prove that I owned the car. The guy on the phone explained that the car was consigned to the dealer I bought it from and the dealer never paid the original owner!
The original owner of the Porsche still had the title and was insisting that it was his car. At this moment I was flush with heat, and quickly got a terrible rumbling in my stomach and felt like I was going to be sick. This is what it feels like to be a victim of fraud. I immediately hung up the phone, ran out to the parking garage, jumped in the silver Porsche and raced home. I put the car in my garage and called the dealer and my attorney.
It turned out the dealer's phone was disconnected. I met with my attorney the next day and told him about the situation. Fortunately, he said I was on the right side of the deal. He explained that I fulfilled my obligation to the dealer and that the dealer failed to fulfill his obligation to the consignee. This was a relief! He told me that in my state I could also bond for a new title by showing my documentation that I purchased the car. I thought everything would be fine. It wasn't!
That weekend I was working in my garage when I heard a loud noise out front of my house. I opened the garage door and found a repossession thug arguing with my wife and demanding the Porsche. As the garage door opened he noticed the car and stepped into my garage. I informed him that he was now on private property and he might want to back up if he wanted to walk out of my garage. The argument escalated and I called the police. The thug threatened that he would get the car no matter what! I met with the police, explained the entire situation and they assured me that I was in the right and that as long as the car was in my garage I was ok.
I was back in my attorney’s office first thing Monday explaining what happened. He proceeded to write some nasty letters to the original owner informing him of the law and that if he tried to take the car that would be stealing and he would be arrested. This made me feel better but I was still scared that someone was going to break into my house and try to steal the car. This car was now threatening the safety of my family. I was mad!
So, I installed the most expensive security system I could buy - it even had motion detectors in my garage. I also proceeded to remove all the wheels and the spark plug wires on the beautiful silver Porsche twin turbo in hope that if someone did break in they would not be able to drive it or tow it. I even contemplated selling it part by part. Fortunately, I didn’t have to.
The original owner and the thug backed off after they received the letters. And, I was able to bond for a new title so I could sell the car. As soon as I got the title I put the car back on the Internet and sold it in three days. The buyer wired me the money and I shipped him the car. That’s the last I ever saw of that silver Porsche.
About two months later I received a call from an investigator who was processing the case against the dealer from whom I purchased the car. It turned out the dealer bilked over 20 people out of more than one million dollars. The investigator told me “I was one of the lucky ones” because I could bond for a new title in my state and sell the car. Funny, I didn’t feel so lucky after the months of hell my family and I went through. But in the end I was spared and it turned out the original owner lost $70,000.
You can get great deals online, but protect yourself from fraud by using a service such as BuyerGuardian.com. Our customers win every time! I wish this existed when I bought my car online.
W. Morrison
Founder
BuyerGuardian.com |
