due dilligence with Barrett Jackson

[Joseph Meneghin]

Found a magazine from Barrett-Jackson the other night at Barnes and Noble.   I found an article in their explaining some of their requirements for listing a car.

The article states that any substancial claim about a vehicle must be documented in writing.  So, say for instance, someone wanted to, oh I dont know say a certain cadillac convertible was from the 1959 Motorama show and was an experimental vehicle from Cadillac, you would have to document this in writing.  If the owner could not provide the documentation, Barett-Jackson will run the auction with the claim omitted or if the owner and Barett-Jackson cannot agree on a listing, the car gets pulled from auction.


Compare this to ebays buyer policy which is "Were just a venue" or "we believe people are basically good" and you see the differences between the two venues.


Anyone falling victim to such a fraud on ebay, would have to resort to the courts to redress such an issue, and proving willful fraud would be most difficult.  I suspect even in the courts, a seller could claim he was misinformed about the nature of a car, and avoid any criminal wrong doing.


Now more than ever folks, let the buyer beware.

[denise 20352]

> So, say for instance, someone wanted to, oh I dont know say a certain cadillac convertible was from the 1959 Motorama show and was an experimental vehicle from Cadillac


   Just out of curiosity, how much did it sell for at the auction, or did it?

-d

[Joseph Meneghin]

The 2006 Scotsdale auction is Jan 17th-22.  So we will see what happens.

[Larry Savino]

Well up-untill last year i had always thought that any car ran thru at a B-J auction was the real deal.

 I enjoy corvettes and follow them closely. last year a very exspencive corvette was sold (or should I say a corvette was sold at a very exspencive price)thru the B-J scottsdale auction

Only to find out that at an earlyer date that same car was advertized in print (NCRS puplication) as a small block car whitch doesnt command the high price of a Big Block car that it was being sold as at the B-J scottsdale event. Car sold at record pricing

As far as I know B-J inspections only tell you the quaility of a cars as it appears and does not authenticate its pedegree nor its present configuration. So As you say due dilligence

or caveat emptor  

[Kevin Parkinson 20216]

It is scheduled to be auctioned on Sunday, January 22.

[Andrew 10642]

How much does BJ charge?  Ebay is $80, I think.

Really an apples-oranges comparison.  Any auction can be crooked, and unfortunately, too often are.

[Joseph Meneghin]

My point is on ebay, he can say any damn thing he wants about the car, and hope he gets away with it.  It would only be after the fact might he have a problem, and again, at that point, he has the persons money.


He does not have it listed with Barrett-Jackson as the Motorama car nor is it listed as an experimental vehicle from Cadillac.
Why is that?  Ill tell you why.  He tried to push onto BJ, and they said prove it, show us documentation. He saw the results from last years show with the 3.25 million dollar Oldsmobile and he thought he was going to cash in on it.


As others here pointed out, his ebay auctions are nothing but sales puff and a full legal disclaimer which basically makes all the ad copy completely null and void.  Ive heard it stated here from several members that he is very evasive and will dodge answering specific questions about a car.  I recall one poster flew or drove to Florida to look at a car, and was treated very poorly by him.

[Andrew 10642]

Your points are well taken. . .

I treat Ebay as a glorified garage sale, and although there are some protections available by paying with a credit card or through Paypal(minimal), the reality is that it is caveat emptor, and that buying a car sight unseen is unwise, unless you have a trusted independent third party verification process.

Of course, I prefer to be screwed the old fashioned way by being lied to in person by the seller:)  Or worse, by my impatience to buy what I want w/o verifying the items worth on the open market.

[Joe Abernathy #17524]

Joseph,

You bring up a good point about eBay.

I am the one who flew to Fla to see about a 54 Cadillac.  I was not just treated poorly but extremely rudely!  Something fishy was going on with the car I went to see as he told me that it was already sold but eBay had it listed for three more days.  The car was a pig.  Nothing like what it showed in the pictures so I didnt protest.  He said it was sold for almost 20,000 over the high bid at the time.  "You gonna pay me more than $50,000 for it?"

Also at the time I was there I saw the famous "Motorama" car as it was being built.  He (Marv) gave me the whole story about it but as I started to question him about it he suddenly had to go back to his office.  He told me "If you want to buy something Ill be in my office."

At the time there was just a big hole in the dash and some bracing being welded in.

I wouldnt buy ANYTHING from him!

[Joseph Meneghin]

I remembered that post Joe.  Your a better man than me, I would have been pretty damn upset making a trip like that for a car that was misrepresented.  Should have told him "dont hold your breath" when he said "Ill be in my office if you want to buy something"


Well, at least its official, the guy has been outed.  Thanks to everyone on this board, its now being listed as a "recreation".  Is that what you call a 60 body that was missing a frame or was in such bad shape the frame couldnt be used.  You know what the sad part is, he had bidders on this car during the summer bidding up to $160k for it.
Funny, dont remember those ebay auctions saying anything about a recreation,  when he was listing it as the motorama car and wanted 1,000,000 for it.