A warning for everyone.....don't let a car sit up for months and then try to sell it!

I just got bit in the ying yang with my first used car sale. I was selling a 1998 Mercedes C230 because I bought that little Fiesta. Well, I was asking 3500 for it and it was worth every penny. Well, the car has been parked since I bought the Fiesta and has only been moved around the yard to get it out of the way for mowing, etc. Well, someone from out of state comes to look at it and drives it and I expect them to come back grinning from ear to ear. They get out the car and say they don't want it, it's got some kind of problem where it won't take its gas. I get in, we go drive it, and it drives fine for me. They all get back in and drive it and it messes up. So I go WITH them and drive it and I can finally recreate the problem. You step on the gas and the car just sits there......smoothly idling, then once it decides to go it gets the hell out of dodge in a hurry.

Well they wind up offering me 2000 for the car and I just don't have time to mess with it as I work so much I just decided to take it and run. They texted me this morning that the problem all but completely cleared up on the drive back to their house and it ran perfectly. Someone had test drove it not long ago and told me it ran fine. Now I don't know if he was honest with me or not, but I never drove it after him. Oh man......

I got screwed. I lost mega bucks on that deal. :facepalm:

Re: A warning for everyone.....don't let a car sit up for months and then try to sell

Perhaps it was waterinthefuel.

Sorry couldn't resist.

Re: A warning for everyone.....don't let a car sit up for months and then try to sell

That happen when a car sets, good to drive a tank of gas before selling

Re: A warning for everyone.....don't let a car sit up for months and then try to sell

waterinthefuel said:

I got screwed. I lost mega bucks on that deal. :facepalm:

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Well, you did drive it and experience the problem yourself, so you know it was legit. And with a screen name like "waterinthefuel" you should have KNOWN that there was water in the fuel of your Mercedes. Some dri-gas and fresh fuel would have gotten you an additional $1500. But hey, "it costs money to go to school."

Re: A warning for everyone.....don't let a car sit up for months and then try to sell

Hommmm for some reason a white one eh......you lost money yea......oh well its gone FGAI move on NEXT CHAPTER

Re: A warning for everyone.....don't let a car sit up for months and then try to sell

waterinthefuel said:

I got screwed. I lost mega bucks on that deal. :facepalm:

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And the screwing was self inflicted. Don't you just hate that?

Re: A warning for everyone.....don't let a car sit up for months and then try to sell

Well, there is the old saying of "buyer beware" . . . But there is also the less known saying of "seller prepare".

Re: A warning for everyone.....don't let a car sit up for months and then try to sell

As my signature says, "Failing to prepare is preparing to fail."

Re: A warning for everyone.....don't let a car sit up for months and then try to sell

Newer cars....and particularly German cars older than a couple of years are notorious for poor electrical/management/control systems.
(Quick Electronics Backstory: the remedy to this for Mercedes was to buy Chrysler and adapt a lot of the improved and much simpler electronics/controls that were and are more typical of both U.S and Japanese made cars to their products...but the Germans were waaaayyyy behind the curve on this electronics stuff)
Anyways, I'm pretty sure what happened is some of the memory fundamentals in the car were lost in the storage process particularly if the battery ran down a bit.
The reason it cleared up is that the car works to 're-teach' itself after driving for a while.
A friend had something very similar happen to his Mercedes when he stored it over the winter....the thing went electronically nuts after the battery voltage dropped down to a minimum (sub 10Volts). After a couple of days it 'settled down' but until then...throttle settings, door locks, gauges, etc...were all out of whack.
Any newer car should NEVER be stored without a trickle charge to ensure the battery is kept up.
My two bits....sorry to hear you had to sell at a loss.
BP