New to the board 94 civic vx FED

[honerscivic]

Hello all,

I have reading here for a while because this site seems to have a strong vx presence compared to others. I bought my car in Aug of '10 and spent a lot of money since then. Got the car off of LA craigslist and had my parents inspect, buy and deliver it to AZ. The ad said it had 135000 miles on it so I thought I would pay a little more (3300 total) for a low milage car that would give many trouble free years. A few days after taking delivery, the odometer rolled to the tune of 298000 and the carfax confirmed. Moral of the story, check the carfax. I got 2000 back from the guy because I had already done a lot of work by that time. Now I'm in too deep to sell so one thing led to another and $6000 later...

Repaired old engine including the head gasket and it failed again
I bought a spare engine and transmission and both completely rebuilt
Replaced brake rotors/drums pads/shoes
Rebuilt rear suspension including shocks and springs
Replaced tires

More than that but the car has become a money pit. I have gained a lot of
knowledge along the way so if anyone has any questions or wants to know what parts I'm using with success, let me know.

[VX_Arky]

Wow. What a crappy way to have to introduce yourself. Was there anything legally you could have done to the guy for rolling the odomoter back 160,000 miles??? That seems somewhat criminal. I swear there are some real jerks out there. I knkow this much, I don't ever look at Craigslist for anything because of all the scams like this that I read about.

But welcome! You will find this community very friendly and very helpful. The guys on here are good people. Nobody here trying to scam someone either. Everyone kind of looks out for and tries to help each other.

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by Arky

That seems somewhat criminal.

Yup.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Odometer_Act
http://uscode.house.gov/download/pls/49C327.txt

[honerscivic]

Thanks for the replies. I could have pursued the matter in criminal court but I had the car in AZ and the guy lived in LA. I just wanted the difference between what I paid and what the car booked at. My Dad lives close so he handled it because he was my "broker" in the deal. He reluctantly agreed in the waiting room of the courthouse and eventually paid me 2000 so I got the car for 1300 in the end.
My lessons learned are to always check the carfax and make sure you see it in person first.