TheSamba.com :: View topic - Oldbug.com

Tue Apr 05, 2005 12:04 pm

Greetings to all:
Has anyone bought a/their bug from OldBug.com?

How did your dealings with them go? Did you have it shipped to you? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

RASCH :)

Tue Apr 05, 2005 1:45 pm

I bought a car thru them a few years ago, the pictures were great, and everything looked good. But when I got the car started to notice things after about a month. I figured going thru a place like them the car would have been just about Mint, but the car ended up needing lots of work.

Old Bugs.com is just a selling site, they are only there to sell the car, so check your car out before buying it, trust no one! I got lazy and payed the price for it. The people at Old Bugs are nice and I am not saying anything bad about them, they only know what the seller tells them.

Hope it helps.
Gary

Tue Apr 05, 2005 2:12 pm

Gary Kline wrote: they only know what the seller tells them.

Not exactly. All of the info that is on the add that goes with the pictures, is all first hand knowledge that comes from Randy at oldbugs.com because he personally goes through and checks every car they sell.

This is written on their site
Quote:
I see people buy the "wrong car" so often and it just makes me cringe.
All the cars that I list on the site are ones that I like,
cars that meet my strict guidelines for quality.
My father once told me,
"Never buy a car to re-sell that you wouldnt mind keeping for yourself."
It's a good rule, because if I like it, someone else will too.

I will most certainly check the car out completely and let you know of any problems.
I take pride in what I do.

Tue Apr 05, 2005 5:42 pm

It really doesn't get any better than Randy. That's as good as it gets. :wink:

Tue Apr 05, 2005 8:00 pm

I bought my 1956 Euro-spec convertible thru Oldbug.com and had ZERO problems when making the deal with Randy. Granted, I was able to inspect the car personally prior to purchase, but with all the pics that Randy had posted, there were no suprises. I'd deal with him again if he could find me another "must have" car.

Tue Apr 05, 2005 9:39 pm

Well he missed some things on the car I had bough the whole front end of the body was rusted out and was patched over. I missed it at first as well, but when I drove her for a few weeks a crack under both front wheel wells developed almost a foot long on both side, had to grind and cut out all the rust and weld in new plates. Was pretty serious rust, the guy who built it had to have known about it. Also had some serious problems with the tranny after about a month, there was almost no fluid in it, and the bearings froze up, they had no grease in them, had to have all that replaced as well. Thankfully the tranny was saveable. But with bugs you dont always know what the last guy did, or didn't do to it.
Gary

Tue Apr 05, 2005 10:09 pm

Gary Kline wrote: Well he missed some things on the car I had bough .... I missed it at first as well.....

You can't put the blame on Randy there. If he had known about it, I'm sure he would have revealed it. But as you said, you missed it as well

Tue Apr 05, 2005 10:26 pm

Gary Kline wrote: Also had some serious problems with the tranny after about a month, there was almost no fluid in it, and the bearings froze up, they had no grease in them, had to have all that replaced as well.

Quote: If a problem does occur, I do whatever I can to make it right.
As an example, a Beetle I recently sold (the 63 Ragtop) developed a shifting problem
while we had it. It wasnt a constant thing, but twice while I drove it,
the shifter popped out of 4th gear.
This was a consignment car with us that had already been sold to a customer, the money had changed hands and the truck was on it's way to pick it up in a matter of hours.
I just couldnt send it off across the country like this...it bugged the heck out of me.
Immediately I called the buyer to tell him what was up, I called the seller and hit him with the problem, and when the truck pulled up I sent him away.
End result to this nightmare?
The car got a freshly rebuilt transmission and clutch, over $800 in repairs and it didnt cost the buyer one red cent.

If he had bought the car directly from the seller, he would have gotten screwed.
Even though it cost me most of my commission on the sale, I can sleep at night knowing that the car runs and drives as good as I said it did.

Now if you buy a car from me, dont expect a new transmission,
but I will most certainly check the car out completely and let you know of any problems.
I take pride in what I do.

No way you can complain about Randy, definately seems to be one of the most stand up guy's selling VWs. Too bad he didnt catch your tranny problem prior, or you would have been shifting smooth as butter.

Wed Apr 06, 2005 12:07 am

Wasn't complaining. I said it was my fault for not catching it :oops: . I was just pointing out that you should alaways double check stuff, something may have been over looked. I know several people who have purchased thru him and have never had any problems. I even stated they were nice people to deal with. Even with the problems the car had I still loved it.
Gary

Wed Apr 06, 2005 6:45 am

I bought my OG 57 Oval thru OLDBUG.COM. I dealt with Randy and was able to inspect the car first hand. It was as described on his website. I would not hesitate to go thru Randy again!

Wed Apr 06, 2005 7:23 am

Never buy a car you haven't seen, or haven't had checked out by a 3rd party that has the same taste and knowledge as you.

Randy is a good guy yes, however he too is making money off the deal and want's you to buy the car (that's his business) when you buy a car sight unseen be prepared to get Earlyman'd

Wed Apr 06, 2005 10:14 am

i have never dealt with Randy, but i strongly discourage buying any car without personally seeing it or having a trusted person look it over. Randy sells vw's as a business, so his money comes from selling the cars. not saying anything negative about him, but that's his job, to sell cars.

i have bought some cars in the past without seeing them in person, and boy was i sweatin' it for a couple weeks until i got the car. thank god the seller was honest and sent me 100's of detailed pictures. but as a rule, i will not buy another car without seeing it in person.

with airfare rates being good now, i would spend $400-500 roundtrip and see the car. if you don't like it once you see it, all you are out is $500. that's nothing compared to $10,000 or more that you would have paid for a car that you weren't happy with. just my two cents.

Wed Apr 06, 2005 10:22 am

I HAD A GREAT DEAL WITH THESE GUYS, VERY STRAIGHT FORWARD , NO MESSING , VERY HONEST , EASY TO DEAL WITH , AND IM ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE SEA !!!!! KEITH FROM www.vwrelics.co.uk

Wed Apr 06, 2005 7:51 pm

I Purchased My Dream Car from Randy Carlson-- A Black 57 Delux sedan Red interior. But The sweet deal is that I traded my OG 65 sedan along with sum cash for the 57. (Randy Does Horse Trade still) I feel that Randy was up front on all issue's of the 57(As was I with my 65) that I traded. Everything went Smoothly and I would Recommend anyone to Oldbug.com who wants probably one of the best looked over VW's You Can Buy! Eric=(VMR)

Wed Apr 06, 2005 11:25 pm

i bought a strange little car from randy over a year ago, and it is as he said, i havent had time to play with it much as i work overseas, and i can say if you do plan on buying sight unseen go through oldbug.com first of all there are lots of pics with each add, second if you need pics of certaint areas i dont think Randy would have any problem getting you what you wanted. just my 2 cents :wink:

Thu Feb 07, 2008 12:23 pm

Good buyer - recommended!