Buyer Beware: CYM currently for sale JM1FD3319P0206769 - Undisclosed accident damage!
08-31-13, 01:25 PM
#1
Buyer Beware: CYM currently for sale JM1FD3319P0206769 - Undisclosed accident damage!
I wasn't sure where to post this, but just another example of "Buyer Beware" when shopping for an RX-7 (or any car really).
I just got back from a 7-hour round trip drive to Pompano Beach (Ft. Lauderdale area) to look at a 1993 RX-7 R1 CYM that was advertised as being "stock" and "accident free" with 59,xxx miles and a recently replaced motor (work done by Mazda dealership). It's currently on eBay with a couple days left, at $13,100 current bid.
Here is the vehicle in question:
Mazda : RX-7 R1 in Mazda | eBay Motors
The car has the VIN number JM1FD3319P0206769 and is located in Pompano Beach, Florida. The seller's name is Gary Eichsteadt and his eBay ID is stock2180.
Short story: the seller is a flat out liar and is clearly misrepresenting and also flat-out lying about this vehicle so he get it off his hands. The car has been in a fairly bad front end collision, has been completely repainted (poorly), and has other issues.
Long story: I got in touch with the seller a few days ago. In our first conversation, the seller told me he would sell the car for $15,000 locally. I asked all the basics and the answers sounded too good to be true: 1 owner car, "my wife drives it to and from work", no accidents, original CYM paint, all stock / all original, and there was a "new motor" installed by the Mazda dealership just 3000 miles ago. The car is listed with a vehicle history report that APPEARS to be clean and accident-free.
It sounded great, but I noticed a few things about the photos that concerned me: #1 the gap between the hood & front bumper looked inconsistent, #2 the black plastic headlight shrouds were missing, and #3 the front emblem was missing. I contacted the seller to ask about these things. He replied claiming that the emblem was "pulled off" when he "peeled off the spray-on clear bra that was previously applied" and that he "gave the headlight shrouds to a friend who needed them". I then checked the seller's eBay history and it showed that he recently purchased a stock air intake cover (the piece that sits on top of intercooler ducting and diverts air to the intake box) - I thought, why would this guy randomly buy that part if his car was already "all stock" and "never modified" as he had so claimed. I was still skeptical but decided to check out the car anyway.
This morning I woke up at 5:30am and made the 3+ hour drive to see the car. The seller met me in an IHop parking lot without the RX-7. He then had me follow him to his house where the RX-7 was parked in the driveway.
Before I was even out of my car, I could tell the RX-7 had been repainted: I could see that some of the trim pieces (that should have been black) were painted yellow. Also, all four fender wells had pretty bad overspray. I looked under the car and saw overspray everywhere. I then walked and looked in the front bumper opening to find a brand new shiny crash rebar behind the bumper skin. I also noticed some poorly installed aftermarket fog lights (they were literally held in place with caulking). I also noticed that the fender liners were loose on both sides and there were a number of random bolts missing throughout. I looked at the paint again, and I noticed that the entire front end and both sides of the car had been completely repainted with the wrong paint - the yellow didn't match that of the roof or the spoiler. Also, the paint was already starting to chip at the edges - on the doors, the fenders, and the bumper.
After seeing all this, I asked the owner how long he had owned the car, to which he replied, "I am the original owner." I then asked him when the car was repainted, and he said, "It hasn't been repainted. I did take it to Mazda awhile back to fix a small ding in the rear fender but maybe they just repainted the whole car." I told him that was very unlikely that Mazda would give him a free paint job, and also the paint job did not look to be Mazda quality.
After that I asked him to pop the hood. When I got it open, I could tell right away that the entire front half of the engine bay had been repaired, pulled-out, and repainted. It looked like the front half of the engine bay was repainted by hand using a brush and the paint color was completely off - it looked like "Ryder Truck yellow", not anything close to CYM. I also noticed yellow paint overspray on the alternator, factory, AST, and other places. The bolts that attached the fenders & hood had clearly been removed and reinstalled. The hood latch was also warped and it looked like the metal of the chassis had been pulled-out or even re-welded in some areas. It was clear that the car was in a front-end collision and the repair & bodywork must have been done by some half-assed body shop. It looked like a cheap Maaco paint job that was done in an afternoon.
I then checked out the interior and found random holes in the carpet, and miss-matched interior plastics. The car was a '93 but it had some random '94 interior plastics on the doors, and the passenger's side grip handle plastic looked like someone had taken it off and spray painted it gloss black. The interior speaker grills were somehow rusted. There was a cheap boost gauge glued to the dash / a-pilar and the dash was cut so the 3/8" thick wiring sleeve could go though the dash. There was also some kind of cheap fog light switch screwed into the underside of the dash near the hood-pop.
Then I checked out the brakes and suspension. I saw rust spots here and there, and more overspray.
After seeing everything, I said to the seller, "Look, be straight with me. I just drove over 3 hours to see this car. You told me it had never been in an accident and never painted. The car has clearly been in a front end collision and the whole car has been poorly repainted." His wife, who was standing around outside with us, rolled her eyes and went inside without saying anything.
The seller denied all of it. He said the car had never been wrecked, he said it had never been painted, and it was "all stock". I asked him where the work was done and he said "It's always been serviced at Mazda." So then I said, "OK, well do you have the service records?" He said, "No." So I said, "Can we get them from Mazda then - Mazda would have all the records." Again he said, "No." I told him that I wouldn't be able to offer him $15k for the car. I said $11k or $12k was more reasonable because of all the issues and the accident damage. To that he said, "I wouldn't sell it for that! I could spend that much money before going to lunch!" (What does that even mean?)
At that point I said, "Look, I know the car has been in an accident and repainted. And I don't believe that you would be unaware of such a thing if you are the original owner. If you had just told me the car was in an accident and repainted, I wouldn't have come to see it - you just wasted 7 hours of my time and $80 worth of gas and tolls." To that the seller said, "I don't like your attitude, get off my property." I told him he is falsely advertising the car and I was going to post all this information online and report him to eBay. He said, "I'll sell the car to someone who isn't an ******* like you!" and then stormed into his house.
Now, I've bought 2 RX-7s in the past though eBay - both times I got exactly what I was expecting. Just a lesson to everyone: BUYER BEWARE. There are lots of shady sellers out there who will lie through their teeth to make more money on a car.
I just got back from a 7-hour round trip drive to Pompano Beach (Ft. Lauderdale area) to look at a 1993 RX-7 R1 CYM that was advertised as being "stock" and "accident free" with 59,xxx miles and a recently replaced motor (work done by Mazda dealership). It's currently on eBay with a couple days left, at $13,100 current bid.
Here is the vehicle in question:
Mazda : RX-7 R1 in Mazda | eBay Motors
The car has the VIN number JM1FD3319P0206769 and is located in Pompano Beach, Florida. The seller's name is Gary Eichsteadt and his eBay ID is stock2180.
Short story: the seller is a flat out liar and is clearly misrepresenting and also flat-out lying about this vehicle so he get it off his hands. The car has been in a fairly bad front end collision, has been completely repainted (poorly), and has other issues.
Long story: I got in touch with the seller a few days ago. In our first conversation, the seller told me he would sell the car for $15,000 locally. I asked all the basics and the answers sounded too good to be true: 1 owner car, "my wife drives it to and from work", no accidents, original CYM paint, all stock / all original, and there was a "new motor" installed by the Mazda dealership just 3000 miles ago. The car is listed with a vehicle history report that APPEARS to be clean and accident-free.
It sounded great, but I noticed a few things about the photos that concerned me: #1 the gap between the hood & front bumper looked inconsistent, #2 the black plastic headlight shrouds were missing, and #3 the front emblem was missing. I contacted the seller to ask about these things. He replied claiming that the emblem was "pulled off" when he "peeled off the spray-on clear bra that was previously applied" and that he "gave the headlight shrouds to a friend who needed them". I then checked the seller's eBay history and it showed that he recently purchased a stock air intake cover (the piece that sits on top of intercooler ducting and diverts air to the intake box) - I thought, why would this guy randomly buy that part if his car was already "all stock" and "never modified" as he had so claimed. I was still skeptical but decided to check out the car anyway.
This morning I woke up at 5:30am and made the 3+ hour drive to see the car. The seller met me in an IHop parking lot without the RX-7. He then had me follow him to his house where the RX-7 was parked in the driveway.
Before I was even out of my car, I could tell the RX-7 had been repainted: I could see that some of the trim pieces (that should have been black) were painted yellow. Also, all four fender wells had pretty bad overspray. I looked under the car and saw overspray everywhere. I then walked and looked in the front bumper opening to find a brand new shiny crash rebar behind the bumper skin. I also noticed some poorly installed aftermarket fog lights (they were literally held in place with caulking). I also noticed that the fender liners were loose on both sides and there were a number of random bolts missing throughout. I looked at the paint again, and I noticed that the entire front end and both sides of the car had been completely repainted with the wrong paint - the yellow didn't match that of the roof or the spoiler. Also, the paint was already starting to chip at the edges - on the doors, the fenders, and the bumper.
After seeing all this, I asked the owner how long he had owned the car, to which he replied, "I am the original owner." I then asked him when the car was repainted, and he said, "It hasn't been repainted. I did take it to Mazda awhile back to fix a small ding in the rear fender but maybe they just repainted the whole car." I told him that was very unlikely that Mazda would give him a free paint job, and also the paint job did not look to be Mazda quality.
After that I asked him to pop the hood. When I got it open, I could tell right away that the entire front half of the engine bay had been repaired, pulled-out, and repainted. It looked like the front half of the engine bay was repainted by hand using a brush and the paint color was completely off - it looked like "Ryder Truck yellow", not anything close to CYM. I also noticed yellow paint overspray on the alternator, factory, AST, and other places. The bolts that attached the fenders & hood had clearly been removed and reinstalled. The hood latch was also warped and it looked like the metal of the chassis had been pulled-out or even re-welded in some areas. It was clear that the car was in a front-end collision and the repair & bodywork must have been done by some half-assed body shop. It looked like a cheap Maaco paint job that was done in an afternoon.
I then checked out the interior and found random holes in the carpet, and miss-matched interior plastics. The car was a '93 but it had some random '94 interior plastics on the doors, and the passenger's side grip handle plastic looked like someone had taken it off and spray painted it gloss black. The interior speaker grills were somehow rusted. There was a cheap boost gauge glued to the dash / a-pilar and the dash was cut so the 3/8" thick wiring sleeve could go though the dash. There was also some kind of cheap fog light switch screwed into the underside of the dash near the hood-pop.
Then I checked out the brakes and suspension. I saw rust spots here and there, and more overspray.
After seeing everything, I said to the seller, "Look, be straight with me. I just drove over 3 hours to see this car. You told me it had never been in an accident and never painted. The car has clearly been in a front end collision and the whole car has been poorly repainted." His wife, who was standing around outside with us, rolled her eyes and went inside without saying anything.
The seller denied all of it. He said the car had never been wrecked, he said it had never been painted, and it was "all stock". I asked him where the work was done and he said "It's always been serviced at Mazda." So then I said, "OK, well do you have the service records?" He said, "No." So I said, "Can we get them from Mazda then - Mazda would have all the records." Again he said, "No." I told him that I wouldn't be able to offer him $15k for the car. I said $11k or $12k was more reasonable because of all the issues and the accident damage. To that he said, "I wouldn't sell it for that! I could spend that much money before going to lunch!" (What does that even mean?)
At that point I said, "Look, I know the car has been in an accident and repainted. And I don't believe that you would be unaware of such a thing if you are the original owner. If you had just told me the car was in an accident and repainted, I wouldn't have come to see it - you just wasted 7 hours of my time and $80 worth of gas and tolls." To that the seller said, "I don't like your attitude, get off my property." I told him he is falsely advertising the car and I was going to post all this information online and report him to eBay. He said, "I'll sell the car to someone who isn't an ******* like you!" and then stormed into his house.
Now, I've bought 2 RX-7s in the past though eBay - both times I got exactly what I was expecting. Just a lesson to everyone: BUYER BEWARE. There are lots of shady sellers out there who will lie through their teeth to make more money on a car.
08-31-13, 01:59 PM
#3
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i ran the warranty history thru the Mazda computer, and it does show garry (two R's) as the owner. it IS a real CYM,
Mazda show's a clean title, although that doesn't mean it hasn't been in an accident, it just means its never been totaled by an insurance company
the other interesting thing, is that when you hit the "customer pay" button, which is new, nothing at all comes up, so this means the car hasn't seen a dealership since possibly 2010?
third, Mazda did do an engine, 7/7/1994, with 23,000miles.
fourth, the last warranty repair was 8/13/1996, 55,000 miles. which means in the last 8 years its only done 4600miles?
assumptions; he may be the original owner, two, he has no receipts because there are no receipts, he pretty obviously didn't buy anything, and probably didn't do any maintenance. three, he drove it pretty regularly until 96, but then he stopped, why? was it in the body shop the whole time?
and last assumption, can we assume every car in florida has some kind of issue with the title/vin/hidden damage?
Mazda show's a clean title, although that doesn't mean it hasn't been in an accident, it just means its never been totaled by an insurance company
the other interesting thing, is that when you hit the "customer pay" button, which is new, nothing at all comes up, so this means the car hasn't seen a dealership since possibly 2010?
third, Mazda did do an engine, 7/7/1994, with 23,000miles.
fourth, the last warranty repair was 8/13/1996, 55,000 miles. which means in the last 8 years its only done 4600miles?
assumptions; he may be the original owner, two, he has no receipts because there are no receipts, he pretty obviously didn't buy anything, and probably didn't do any maintenance. three, he drove it pretty regularly until 96, but then he stopped, why? was it in the body shop the whole time?
and last assumption, can we assume every car in florida has some kind of issue with the title/vin/hidden damage?
08-31-13, 02:34 PM
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there is a possibility that he bought an engine at the parts counter, however he has no receipts!
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08-31-13, 03:03 PM
#9
Man the lying people these days. Makes me wonder about my car since you said carfax was clean, mines clean but I see evidence of a front bumper repaint at least. And hood repaint since there's a new paint cut line on the edges. However everything in the engine bay, front suspension, fender liners, condenser, ect. look like they been there for a very long time. Pretty sure maybe bumper replaced and a body shop could have painted other things to blend the car. You never know really.
Carfax does show almost no records, just smog until I owned it. I checked it and it already shows all the records I did already. Ricks performance is on there, I didn't know he updates carfax.
P.s. where did he get 33k from?! Carfax right now shows highest you should pay for a FD is around 15k.
Carfax does show almost no records, just smog until I owned it. I checked it and it already shows all the records I did already. Ricks performance is on there, I didn't know he updates carfax.
P.s. where did he get 33k from?! Carfax right now shows highest you should pay for a FD is around 15k.
Last edited by jayscoobs; 08-31-13 at 03:06 PM.
08-31-13, 03:29 PM
#10
33k new.
Weird. It seems like if the guy would just fess up about the accident, he'd STILL have a pretty damn desirable FD for sale. I mean, it didn't look like it was ever totaled or in a bad accident, right?
A fender bender and some paint is fine by me, especially on an original, semi low mileage CYM..
That said, the gaps between the fenders, doors and hood on my 150k mile car look a million times better than the ones on this car.
Weird. It seems like if the guy would just fess up about the accident, he'd STILL have a pretty damn desirable FD for sale. I mean, it didn't look like it was ever totaled or in a bad accident, right?
A fender bender and some paint is fine by me, especially on an original, semi low mileage CYM..
That said, the gaps between the fenders, doors and hood on my 150k mile car look a million times better than the ones on this car.
08-31-13, 03:37 PM
#11
The front bumper, fenders, and hood looked like they were replaced (I'm guessing used body parts off other cars). And like I said, the paint job (on the whole car) was straight out of some ghetto Maaco "while you wait" body shop. It didn't match the roof paint (looked original on the roof) and the edges were chipping everywhere. Not a quality job at all.
08-31-13, 03:54 PM
#12
I bought my FD with a clean CA title and a clean carfax.
Autocheck however, proved that to be wrong. The car was a salvage title in VA and somehow was managed to be sold as a clean title in CA.
I don't know how that works.
The guy I bought the car from had no idea since he bought it from another CA owner. After I started tearing the car down to clean everything up and modify it to my liking, is when I saw the damage.
Autocheck however, proved that to be wrong. The car was a salvage title in VA and somehow was managed to be sold as a clean title in CA.
I don't know how that works.
The guy I bought the car from had no idea since he bought it from another CA owner. After I started tearing the car down to clean everything up and modify it to my liking, is when I saw the damage.
08-31-13, 05:58 PM
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Man the lying people these days. Makes me wonder about my car since you said carfax was clean, mines clean but I see evidence of a front bumper repaint at least. And hood repaint since there's a new paint cut line on the edges. However everything in the engine bay, front suspension, fender liners, condenser, ect. look like they been there for a very long time. Pretty sure maybe bumper replaced and a body shop could have painted other things to blend the car. You never know really.
Carfax does show almost no records, just smog until I owned it. I checked it and it already shows all the records I did already. Ricks performance is on there, I didn't know he updates carfax.
P.s. where did he get 33k from?! Carfax right now shows highest you should pay for a FD is around 15k.
Carfax does show almost no records, just smog until I owned it. I checked it and it already shows all the records I did already. Ricks performance is on there, I didn't know he updates carfax.
P.s. where did he get 33k from?! Carfax right now shows highest you should pay for a FD is around 15k.
if you buy a newer car, like an Rx8, carfax will work fine, but its pretty worthless on an FD
08-31-13, 08:45 PM
#16
I bought my FD "off" eBay and was blown away at how much nicer it was than described. Seller also had about $1000 worth of extra parts he just threw in that he didn't even tell me about. The guy went so far as to replace the wipers the day I picked it up because he knew I was driving it back home 600 miles and there was a chance of rain on the way.
You win some and lose some
Last edited by 94RX7R2; 08-31-13 at 08:50 PM.
08-31-13, 09:46 PM
#18
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I bought my FD with a clean CA title and a clean carfax.
Autocheck however, proved that to be wrong. The car was a salvage title in VA and somehow was managed to be sold as a clean title in CA.
I don't know how that works.
The guy I bought the car from had no idea since he bought it from another CA owner. After I started tearing the car down to clean everything up and modify it to my liking, is when I saw the damage.
Autocheck however, proved that to be wrong. The car was a salvage title in VA and somehow was managed to be sold as a clean title in CA.
I don't know how that works.
The guy I bought the car from had no idea since he bought it from another CA owner. After I started tearing the car down to clean everything up and modify it to my liking, is when I saw the damage.
09-01-13, 12:36 AM
#19
Original owner my ***. I was about to get a fd in long island, real original owner bought it new in 1993, has only 23 k on odo, has all paper work, change its oil like once a year cuz he hardly drives it and coolant every 3 yrs at mazda, has all paper work, and it was a yellow !!! Its some 70 yr old guy, he wants to sell it to people who knows rotary and takes care of it, was about to take a loan for it, but found out my gf gotta work overseas so i had to go with her, he said he will keep it until the right person comes, and if i want it later i can always give him a call and he will just sell it.
09-01-13, 09:09 AM
#20
Original owner my ***. I was about to get a fd in long island, real original owner bought it new in 1993, has only 23 k on odo, has all paper work, change its oil like once a year cuz he hardly drives it and coolant every 3 yrs at mazda, has all paper work, and it was a yellow !!! Its some 70 yr old guy, he wants to sell it to people who knows rotary and takes care of it, was about to take a loan for it, but found out my gf gotta work overseas so i had to go with her, he said he will keep it until the right person comes, and if i want it later i can always give him a call and he will just sell it.
09-02-13, 02:06 PM
#22
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Geeze, this is so crazy. Finding an honest person as well as a good FD is really hard. Not impossible but people these days will tell you anything you want to hear and only show you what looks good. Awesome post, I'm sure there are others out there trying to flip an FD like this. Bastards!!!!~
09-02-13, 05:08 PM
#23
I bought mine off of my mechanic. It had about a million parking lot dents down one side and it also looked like the rear tire blew out and some of the body work around the fender was messed up. It was also keyed down the other side. I'm like the 7th owner, 150k miles. CARFAX was clean but I guess that means nothing after reading this thread. The seats were toast, and the engine, although passing smog and running pretty well, was ready for a rebuild. The good news is it was straight, the interior was in good shape, the transmission shifted perfectly in all gears, and it was cheap. I bought it for 6k and went to work.
It's been such a fun and rewarding journey bringing this car back to what it should be. I get compliments on it every time I drive it, and when I park it in front of my house, I regularly see people walk around it and check it out. From old ladies to kids on skateboards to rich guys driving by in Ferraris, the survey says that my 'crashed' FD is as desirable and good-looking as it ever was.
It feels SOO good to cruise by the guy I bought it from's house and see him kick himself for not doing what I did.
It's been such a fun and rewarding journey bringing this car back to what it should be. I get compliments on it every time I drive it, and when I park it in front of my house, I regularly see people walk around it and check it out. From old ladies to kids on skateboards to rich guys driving by in Ferraris, the survey says that my 'crashed' FD is as desirable and good-looking as it ever was.
It feels SOO good to cruise by the guy I bought it from's house and see him kick himself for not doing what I did.
09-05-13, 04:09 PM
#24
I don't get what the huge deal is. The guy is selling his car. You either purchase it or you don't. I understand you're trying to warn others, thank you for your generosity, but ebay is one of the worst places to purchase a vehicle because their contract overrides any other contract between the buyer and seller. This makes it very difficult for an auto sale.
If you are familiar with a specific brand/model, do your research and check the car out. If it's not to your liking, move on.
If you are familiar with a specific brand/model, do your research and check the car out. If it's not to your liking, move on.
