1988 Oldsmobile Custom Cruiser

Essentially a brand new Oldsmobile; only 13,000 miles. Doesn't seem very popular with the bidding crowd.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAP...33078789&lgeo=1&vectorid=229466#ht_379wt_1255

 

I can't see why it wouldn't get some attention, it is a truly magnificent car. I saw it on ebay yesterday, and almost posted it myself.

 

His starting bid is not a bad price for the car, but his mistake is in starting the auction at the minimum he'll accept for the car.

Auctions don't work that way. The idea is to let the market tell YOU what the thing you're selling is worth, not the other way around. He should start the bidding at a low value (say, $500), with a reserve set at what his minimum is, and see where it ends up. Then he'll have an idea of the market thinks his car is worth.

If the bidding ends up close to his reserve and he's willing to accept it, he can offer the car to the high bidder and see if he'll take it. If the bidder takes it, great, car sold. If not, well, the seller has learned something. Right now, he's not really learning anything other than apparently no one thinks the car is worth his starting price.

 

Everyone RUN AWAY from this one. I emailed the seller about this one when it was first listed for $8995 about 3 weeks ago. Here is the story...the odometer reads 13,xxx miles.

If you click on the history report in eBay, the last registered odometer reading was 124,xxx back in 2012 (I think that was the number, I'm going off memory). All of the previous mileage up to that date seems to check out. So how do you get from a reading of 24,xxx to 13,xxx in about a year. I highly doubt someone put 90,000 miles on it in a year and rolled the odometer over a second time. Me thinks this one has been tampered with.

If you read the listing carefully, he never comes out and says 13,000 original miles, although you would think that he is representing it that way. The original listing also mentioned something about how people love the look of the wood. How's that...the car has no wood?? I am wondering if he took the wood off and had it painted?

He responded back that he had to enter the number that the odometer shows and the buyer could "be the judge" of the mileage. Sure, ok, whatever....

 

"SELLERS" WHO WRITE IN ALL CAPS aren't to be trusted.

How can it be a "one owner car" when (as MercWoody pointed out) the Vehicle History Report says "TITLE 10.12.2013" plain as day?

10/03/2013 SAN MARCOS, CA
Motor Vehicle Dept. REGISTRATION EVENT/RENEWAL
10/12/2013 SAN MARCOS, CA
Motor Vehicle Dept. TITLE

The quoted 13,000 mileage is also so easy to suss out as bullshirt with the same Report...
51,394 07/23/1998
70,632 06/19/2000
70,880 06/28/2000
87,087 06/19/2002
98,510 07/01/2004
124,778 07/06/2012

If he really did buy it from the original owners/estate and is trying to resell it that's fine - but show me all the one-owner stuff like sales receipts, repairs etc. If he put a different odometer in it that's fine too, just say so (or if its really "one-owner" then the odometer question should be fairly easy to resolve). If he took the woodgrain off that's great but again just say so (although "nice wood" could be a reference to the dashboard inserts).

SHOUTING OBVIOUS UNTRUTHS like a Carnival barker re: a special interest automobile is ridiculous, makes me think he doesn't really want to sell the car. I see that a lot.

 

Nice looking Olds but all the in the ad turns me off. I was already suspicious with the pic that shows what looks like filthy front carpet and the fact there isn't any under hood . Looks like a higher option model though, cornering lights and full gauges.