AutoSanity.com

I’ve now joined the “shopping for a car” crowd  because of a new driver in the family - read about it here. I figured that since we mostly drive older American Iron with lots of miles (1994 Taurus Wagon, 123,000 miles and a 1998 Ford Windstar with 127,000 miles), I’d better be on the lookout in case one of these senior citizens decides to turn into a boat anchor with air conditioning. Plus, with three drivers in the family, it would be convenient to have another vehicle available for my daughter to use.

Looking through Craigslist the other day, I spied a 2002 Ford Focus Wagon (with 5-speed, no less) for $5,000. The photo showed a decent looking car with 72,000 miles, silver w/gray interior and the ad said “Handles AWESOME in the snow.” I was only mildly suspicious that the car had been advertised for over a week and not snapped up. So I set up an appointment to see the car that day. And here’s what I found.

1. I Rang the doorbell & the lady who answered seemed mildly irritated that a potential customer had actually driven out to SEE the car. Muttered something about her children. But, she did offer a key and told my wife & I to take it for a test drive, after some initial chit-chat.
2. Before we drove off, she ran around to the driver’s side rear door and removed her husband’s dirty baseball cleats & socks. This was not as appetizing as you would think.
3. Sat down and went to adjust the driver’s outside mirror. Wait - it’s not there, just a hunk of plastic & wires where a mirror USED to be. She said her husband knocked it off in a snowstorm by hitting a plastic road barrier. “I thought it was AWESOME in the snow,” I said. No reply was offered. The passenger mirror was also damaged - missing the front cover. But the glass was still there.
4. Both front seats were filthy, and the passenger seat had upholstery damage. “Sorry for it being so dirty, I didn’t expect anybody to see it today,” the lady said. I thought, Really? It’s advertised on the internet for millions to see. I suppose she really doesn’t WANT to sell the car.
5. Carpets, mats and dash were filthy as well.
6. I reached for the little lever to adjust the steering column (the one on the bottom) and, guess what? It’s gone, broken off. I Can feel the ragged edges of the part of lever that is still there, but there will not be any steering column adjustments today. The wheel sits way up - must be to clear a big belly, I thought. I feel like I’m getting ready to drive a bus. The woman professes no knowledge about this defect. We shut the doors and start the engine.
7. The car drove fine and we went a few miles up and down the highway. No surprises here - surprise!
8. After we got back, there were more discoveries. There obviously were child car seats on the back seats at one time because the upholstery was trashed - fabric worn down in the shape of two car seat bottoms. Note: When my wife and I hauled car seats in the back seat of our cars, we put a towel on the seat FIRST, then strapped the car seat in. Voila - no damage. That didn’t happen here. Both front seat backs were pretty heavily damaged where the children (in their car seats) had kicked them. Repeatedly.
9. How in the world could a headliner get so dirty? From front to back, black, grimy marks stained the fake mousehair. Kinda like chalk markings on a sidewalk. Maybe the children fixed cars after preschool and didn’t have a handi-wipe.
10. Cigarette burns on the passenger seat and a general “smoky” smell. The woman’s husband used to smoke, but he quit. Not soon enough.
11. Windshield broken. The woman offered to have that replaced next week.
12. One side of the fabric on the cargo bay (behind the seats) was worn down almost bare.

Needless to say, my wife and I were ready to let this one go and bid the lady adieu. There was some talk of a lowball offer, but in the end, we decided that these defects would be too hard to live with. Days later, the car is still for sale. I guess lots of others thought as we did.

It’s too bad that such a nice car was rendered a mess by careless and sloppy behavior. But, the preparation for sale, or lack thereof, turned out to be a great lesson for “What Not To Do When Selling Your Car.”