sitting here second guessing myself. looking for other opinions...
here's the situation. grown daughter's boyfriend needs a car and they do all this research and shopping on the internet and pick out a 2002 Jeep Liberty in another state. Condition good, mileage good, price good, $6000, which is about $1000 below Kelly Blue Book. They make a deal on the phone and drive 400+ miles to Florida to get it. Car looks good, cranks good, runs good. They drive around a little. All is well except.. temperature gauge is running hotter than normal. 210 is straight up and the needle is past that at about the 2/3 position on the gauge. Not in the red. They look under the hood and it has an electric fan (i've never seen a Liberty before but i guess its normal), but the fan is not running. They have some more discussion with the owner, yeah - its been doing that.. sometimes on, sometimes not, but i took it to a mechanic and they said its ok, and blah blah blah. Daughter and boyfriend get nervous, hesitate, start seeing repair bills, renegotiate price some more. owner drops price down to loan payoff of $5200, now about $2000 below KBB. Daughter calls me for advice. I'm on the spot.... Daughters boyfriend not a gear head. They are in school out of town where car failure is bad, as opposed to at home where car failure is not so bad. They are 400+ miles away and expect to drive the car back to school, which is still nowhere near home. so i'm wondering.. how long has it been overheating ? how hot has it been getting ? probably just a bad temperature sensor, or bad fan, or loose wire. i wonder how many, if any, its been in the red. (this is in florida). visions of toasted engines are dancing in my head. quick dad, make a decision..... i said walk away, have lunch, drive home, the deal is not worth the risk. what would you have done ?

 

Well, I certainly won't assume the seller will disclose that it's been in the red on the temp gage. Given the circumstances, I think you are justified in being cautious. Perhpas they could take it to a local mechanic of their choice and have it checked. Would probably be $100 or less to have it professionally checked out.

 

I completely agree with the decision. The fact is, anything simple could be repaired for under $1000. No knowledgeable seller would drop$1000 off theprice that quick for something "simple", already checked by a mechanic.

 

Walking away was the right thing to do. Sounds like the seller knew something major was wrong and needing someone to dump it on.

 

Many times "good deals" turn out to be not so good. I think walking away was the smart thing to do based on the circumstances. And a mechanic isn't going to be able to look at the thing for 15 mins and say "oh ya it's overheated 3 times this week & 4 last week" those things show up later as blown head gaskets or worse.

 

You were 100% right to do what you did. I was pulled into a 'sweet deal' by my step-sons father. He had a friend that had a car that all it needed was a timing belt. Otherwise it ran fine. He would buy the car if I would fix it. My wife agreed before I could take a look. Here's what I ended up doing:
[ol][*]complete valve job[*]timing belt[*]complete gasket set replacement[*]new clutch[*]new CV joints[*]new exhaust[*]new brakes, including rotors all the way around[*]new oil pump.[*]new water pump.[/ol]
Yep it was a sweet deal for him, he paid $350. I did all the work and still paid over $1200. I could have bought a much nicer car for $1500.

If it sounds too good to be true, "IT IS".

 

I agree, walking away was the smart thing given the information you had. There will always be another deal out there, why risk it one one your not absolutly comfortable with.

 

i agree lunch was the best investment for them

 

walking away is what I would of told them if I were in your position. I bought my dually from a guy in georgia, drove from NJ to Georgia to pick it up. I got back to NC when the motor blew......very costly tow back to NJ[:@]

 

towed form NC to NJ. ouch. yeah, i had visions of them getting only about 10 miles down the road and it boiling over, and then having to get it towed to a shop where you they got you by the *****, and then getting the report... blown head gasket, cracked head, burnt pistons... we can fix you up for only $3000.