Do these weaselwords make my ass look big?

[G B.]

This legal disclaimer is actually longer than the text description of the car. I would prefer an honest, full description without the posturing BS. But, as often noted here, I have odd views about that kind of stuff.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1967-Corvette-L89-427-435hp-Coupe_W0QQitemZ4600999574QQcategoryZ6168QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

"This vehicle is being sold as is, where is with no warranty, expressed written or implied. The seller shall not be responsible for the correct description, authenticity, genuineness, or defects herein, and makes no warranty in connection therewith. No allowance or set aside will be made on account of any incorrectness, imperfection, defect or damage. Any descriptions or representations are for identification purposes only and are not to be construed as a warranty of any type. It is the responsibility of the buyer to have thoroughly inspected the vehicle, and to have satisfied himself or herself as to the condition and value and to bid based upon that judgement solely. The seller shall and will make every reasonable effort to disclose any known defects associated with this vehicle at the buyer's request prior to the close of sale. Seller assumes no responsibility for any repairs regardless of any oral statements about the vehicle."

[Dick W.]

Re: Do these weaselwords make my ass look big?

That disclaimer would do a CYA on 4 or 5 industrial sized a...s. I do not believe that he missed a thing

[Clem Z.]

Re: Do these weaselwords make my ass look big?

he did not say the engine has after market valve keys.

[Loren L.]

John Conder of Northville MI should

be interested; the paperwork shows his '66 #17346 as being the trade-in on this car. According to the ad in Driveline #95 where John offered it for sale, the 66 was a 250HP 327 - guess he got tired of having sand kicked in his face in 1967.........

[John M.]

Well I don't know,

I would rather see wording like this than the standard over-representing of the car like is the norm. I would rather just have a seller say: "Look at it yourself and decide what it is worth, and don't come back crying to me when you miss something". Sellers that constantly puff up their cars to be something that they are not, and buyers that expect every Corvette to be in "as new" condition,are both about as anoying. If the seller represents a car to be "as new" then the buyer has the right to expect it to be, but many cars are sold every day where the buyer did not even come and inspect the car, and then wants to re-negotiate the price when he comes to pick it up. It is very frustrating for the sellers as well. Anybody who would pay the big bucks for a 40 year old car without an inspection, needs a check-up from the neck-up to begin with! There are many less than scruplous dealers who will bid a car up and then show up and want to beat the price down, it is an auction for crying out loud! I have had several of these dealings with such dealers, and chislers, and I will not even talk to them once they start this crap! They can either pay what they agreed to, or they can get back in their truck and go on down the road. Their are crooks on both sides of car sales! It would be different if a frame was represented as being rust free, and it was not or some similar issue, but I have had guys show up and want to do a full judging on a car and deduct for each item that did not meet their standards. The time to do the inspection is before you agree to buy a car, not after!

Regards, John McGraw

[Jack W.]

Re: Well I don't know,

well John you and I sure know this car from last October.

Sure I noticed the newer, better, more improved disclaimer language this time around from what I surmise is the same seller in the Atlanta area; in my opinion (which is not shared by everyone) that does not make a misrepresented (if it is such) rare and high value car ad copy any more palatbale to the eager sap who buys it - just protects the seller better.

Now, if the seller had added some of THESE words to the ad copy, I would think the ad improved over his last effort: "clone" "restamp" "appears to have originally been, but you be the judge" "paperwork for demonstration purposes only" etc.

In case anyone forgot, here is the earlier effort from Oct, don't know if the $100,000 buyer had second thoughts . . . :




Oct 05 ebay ad for "L89"

[Patrick T.]

But when the buyer sues you....

and the Judge looks at all the eBay transaction paperwork, including the drivel below, you're off the hook. They love that legal mumbo jumbo, works everytime. There is a certain used Corvette Dealer that uses the same language.
__________________________________________________ _____________________________

"This vehicle is being sold as is, where is with no warranty, expressed written or implied. The seller shall not be responsible for the correct description, authenticity, genuineness, or defects herein, and makes no warranty in connection therewith. No allowance or set aside will be made on account of any incorrectness, imperfection, defect or damage. Any descriptions or representations are for identification purposes only and are not to be construed as a warranty of any type. It is the responsibility of the buyer to have thoroughly inspected the vehicle, and to have satisfied himself or herself as to the condition and value and to bid based upon that judgement solely. The seller shall and will make every reasonable effort to disclose any known defects associated with this vehicle at the buyer's request prior to the close of sale. Seller assumes no responsibility for any repairs regardless of any oral statements about the vehicle."

[John M.]

Re: Well I don't know,

Jack,
I know you are correct on this, but I am merely commenting on the language.
From my viewpoint, this car is nothing but a NOM 67 coupe that has been restored fairly well. Why someone would pay big bucks for a car that clearly did not have the original engine, and whose paperwork was suspect at best, is totally beyond me. The car is a pretty nice car, but one would assume that it is nothing but a clone, and should bid accordingly. I think that even with these disclaimers, he still has liability for the documentation if it is proven to be fraudulent, and I am pretty sure that we all are pretty sure that it is. This documentation will have an effect on the value of the car, and if it can be proven that he was responsible for the documentation, I would think that this meets the burden of proof for fraud. I do not think that creating fake documents, and then disavowing responsibility for them would fly in court. I will stick with the base engine cars thank you, people do not go to such lengths to attempt to defraud people of their money on smallblock cars! I just can't understand the huge desire for these cars when so many are complete fakes.

Regards, John McGraw

[G B.]

Fellers, it isn't that hard.

"This auction is for a fully rebuilt '67 Corvette coupe that I reconstructed from a basket case to L89 427 specs. I can't be certain what factory options were originally installed on this particular car. I created some display documents that go with it. Here's what you get: Blah, blah, blah..."

[Clem Z.]

Re: Do these weaselwords make my ass look big?

isn't this the same guy that sells tank stickers,just for display of course

[John M.]

Re: Do these weaselwords make my ass look big?

Same guy

[Norris W.]

Re: Do these weaselwords make my ass look big?

That's what I was thinking too, but even though the auction says location is in Georgia, the text says it's in Ohio.

[Bryan L.]

Re: Do these weaselwords make my ass look big?

He forgot to add "never driven uphill or into the wind, guaranteed not to rust, bust, or collect dust".

BL

[Mark Milner]

Re: Fellers, it isn't that hard.

Isn't that what he is saying?

"This is a older frame off restoration and the paint has 1 crack in the front drivers side fender. The chrome and stainless are in great shape. All correct date coded glass. Interior and gauges are in great condition. Warranty replaced 68 date coded block with all correct 67 L89 components."

It say NOM and it says with all correct '67 L89 components, not original components.

[G B.]

No

Implying a document could be original is wrong when you KNOW it is not.

"There is a tank sticker still on the car..." is a clear implication that the sticker is the GM original belonging to that car. The ad implies that this is documented as a factory L89-equipped car.

The high road to take in any used car description is clarity. It is very common on eBay to imply an old Corvette has more value than it really does. But that doesn't make it right.