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Looking For A Grand Prix For My Son - Questions & Support Needed

J

JCWarrior

New member
Hey Folks,
I am looking to buy a Grand Prix for my 17 year old son. I want a dependable car that's clean. I've been looking at GP's and man, I tell ya, I can't believe how many freaking dishonest scammers are out there trying to sell cars now!

I looked at 2 cars yesterday, both about an hours drive from home. The sellers raved about how nice they were. I get there and 1 looked like they let there dogs live in it and the other had a broken driver seat, suspension issues and very little heat.

I've also noticed a lot of people are selling cars under the guise of "for sale by owner" when they are really running a small (or not so small) used car dealership. People trying to sell cars with 90k miles but they don't tell you they were pieced together.

I really hate the thought of going to one of the many used car lots.

Can those places really be trusted?
 


I would recommend just to keep looking, when the right one shows up, you will know. they are great cars and people on this forum are very helpful. you may be able to find a good Grand Prix in the classifieds section on here.
 
I know the feeling.
I was looking at a 2002 Anniversary GTP a couple years back and wanted it. Needed a few things right off the hop that I told the seller I would need to do. (LIM, elbows, plugs etc.)

He was on about how he just put 2000.00 dollars into it at the shop for new injectors and a new egr valve. I called his bluff immediately. nothing was touched on this car for a very long time.

I got him down on price and when hes doing up the bill of sale informs me he is a dealer and I must pay tax on the vehicle. No way in HELL BUDDY!!

Buying/selling privately is a painful process most of the time. Sometimes you get lucky and the seller is honest.

Best of luck. I suggest not to rush it. TRUST YOUR GUT. Man I wish i would have listened to mine, thats another story.
 
I've gotten mine through personal sales only, and I've had half-decent (but not perfect) luck.

For what it's worth, I've planned on several jobs as soon as I buy mine- all new brakes, all new struts, replace the Intake Manifold Gasket, flush all fluids, etc. - this whole thing takes a couple of days but then you proactively eliminate 90% of the maintenance-related problems down the road. I'd recommend the same for you, especially if you have a garage.

Issues like "very little heat" can usually be cured pretty simply, and so can a car full of dog hair (unless all of the fabric was torn). So it might be worth having potential purchases analyzed by a mechanic, then come back to the board and advise us of what he's found so we can tell you know whether the problems are big or small. Also, there are quite a few older cars with "siezed engines" which just need an intake manifold replaced - they can be purchased at a huge discount and repaired in a day (if you have a garage).

-BC
 


I feel your pain. I traveled 2 hours away from home to look at one. Only to find out that the guy was a used car sales man. I almost bought the car. I made him a low ball offer and he accepted it. Then he started pulling out paper work for Blah Blah auto sales. I busted him out on the spot about him posting the car under the "By Owner Only" section and how he wasted my time. I have had bad experiences with those used car lots in the past. I don't by from them no matter how good the car looks on the outside. The guy was really sneaky when I think about the pictures that were posted on craigslist. I normally catch those guys because they usually leave the sticker in the windows, Or take pictures of the car while it is on the lot. I have even caught in the picture when they leave the inventory tag on the key ring. But this guy took pictures of the car in front of a house with the garage up like it was in a residential area. From that point on I started asking are you a used car salesman before I go out and test drive.

Make sure you read the sticky notes in the newbie section on what to look for before you buy. It really helped me.
 


Easily can tell that the car had just been detailed by the clean engine bay and tire shine that was put on, not a bad thing since it will make it easier to spot leaks or such in the engine. Looks like it could potentially be a dealer car because if you look in the picture of the driver side door buttons, there is a paper dealers floor mat in there. Just be a little cautious.
 
I found that car on other sites and one led me to a dealer so.....

Ok, switching gears. I found another one from a private seller. The guy sounds very nice and honest. I know that's not always true but you know what I mean. It's probably a 2 hour drive but looks like a nice car. 151k miles but..... Says it has a small leak at the radiator elbow (not actual radiator) and he's getting that fixed. Dropping the car off while he's on vacation.

It's a GTP and he warned me it might be a fast car for my son. My son has driven the GT that I had. Are the superchargers that much faster? Any thoughts. Car link is below.

http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...&mmt=[PONT[GP[]][]]&listingId=388582260&Log=0
 


I dont think the extra 40-50 horse is going to be that big of a deal.Its a front wheel drive boat, if he's irresponsible,he'll do the same without a supercharger.Mineaswell get the supercharged version if you can imo.
 
JCWarrior said:
I found that car on other sites and one led me to a dealer so.....

Ok, switching gears. I found another one from a private seller. The guy sounds very nice and honest. I know that's not always true but you know what I mean. It's probably a 2 hour drive but looks like a nice car. 151k miles but..... Says it has a small leak at the radiator elbow (not actual radiator) and he's getting that fixed. Dropping the car off while he's on vacation.

It's a GTP and he warned me it might be a fast car for my son. My son has driven the GT that I had. Are the superchargers that much faster? Any thoughts. Car link is below.

http://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-...&mmt=[PONT[GP[]][]]&listingId=388582260&Log=0
Click to expand...

I have a 2000 GTP 4 door and drove an '03 GT coupe once and it was a pretty noticeable difference, the supercharger makes the car feel more lively. With that said, I feel like this car is hard get into trouble with, unlike maybe a Mustang or Camaro. These cars really aren't all that fast in stock form. I think that one in the ad is rated at 260hp, so nothing too wild.

Most craigslist sellers are terrible, I'll probably never buy another car listed on that site after this GTP, starting to believe I bought someone else's headache that they were being dishonest about and I fell for it. But, I'm stuck with the car now so I have to take this project head on, but I learned my lesson, I'll never go through this again.
 
I ended up rebuilding the trans in mine because the seller flushed and filled the fluid to make it look good. Three weeks into ownership and the trans started acting up and eventually wouldn't go in Drive anymore. Pulled the dipstick when I looked at the car... it was a nice red and smelled good. Pulled it when it started acting up and it was muddy looking and smelled burned. First time I have gotten bent over on a car in a long time and it will be my last time. If a private seller can't produce receipts or show any kind of service history, I'd probably move on unless you can fix stuff yourself, or have a decent budget for a mechanic to do it. Mom and pops dealers tend to get their cars from auctions and are real hit or miss. Your local Ford, GM and Dodge dealers can get nice ones in trade from time to time but you gotta be quick on those. Although I was pissed about the trans in my car, the seller did do a fair amount of other stuff to it and I can concentrate on the other stuff and get it looking good again. It will give me something to do and be fun in the process.
 
There's nothing wrong with buying from a dealer especially if they tell you upfront.That's how got my 05 gtp comp g.All I have to say is don't be an emotional buyer. Think logically when buying a car. I made that mistake once but luckily I sold the car before I was to deep in it. I had a experience during the summer when I sold my 2001 gtp. I was looking for weeks for another gtp in black. The ones I looked at were either to far or had bad records. I finally found one. A 2004 black gtp. I paid 50 dollars to catch a cab just to see the car. When I got there I was super excited to finally be driving again and at my first chance at owning a 04+ gtp. I began to look over the car and I noticed many red flags right away. The owner failed to mention that the entire windshield had a huge and VERY noticeable crack, The owner stated a lower mileage in the ad. When I looked the odometer it was like 36k more miles than what he stated in the ad. To be safe I quickly pulled out my phone and looked up the car's vin using carfax.CAR WAS CLAIMED A TOTAL LOSS BY INSURANCE COMPANY!:th_embarassed: After finding that out I pretty much made up my mind that I didn't want the car. I was extremely dissapointed and angry. I seriously felt like punching the guy in the face. I wasted 50 on a cab plus 40 on the carfax. I ended up catching like 4 buses and a train back home seriously. Even though I was dissapointed I glad I walked away from that deal.One thing I learned about buying cars off craigslist is that 99% of the time there is always something wrong with the car whether it be minor or major. People are always out for their own benefit and you can never trust what anyone says.My suggestion is to at least look up the cars history so you know what your getting into.After that happened to me I continued to search for more grand prixs on craigslist. Finally a 2005 grand prix comp g popped up out pretty much no where. It was the color I wanted to. Black. The car was less than 8 miles away too. I was able to get it for 3300.It had a clean history and overrall the car looked clean inside and out. It had 157k miles but it drove like it had much less. All I have to say is to never rush into any deals because it could turn out to be a headache. If you wait sometimes better deals will come along.
 
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