S2 Esprit misrepresented on Ebay

[USAndretti42]

Saw this nice S2 Esprit on Ebay under Classic cars, Lotus, today.  Interestingly, I also saw it on Saturday when I went to the Anglia Car Auctions classic car auction.  Bidding reached £16,800 and their web site says it sold for £18,020 including buyer's premium and VAT which matches.  So far so good.

HOWEVER, the Ebay seller's description says how they are having to sell it to pay for home improvements which doesn't ring true.  They are implying, to me, that they have had the car for a while and it's their treasured posession.  Does this make it a fraudulent listing?

Car did look very nive though and sounded lovely when they started it up.

[smash]

Seller has 0 feedback and started the listing at a very odd amount (12664.58).

Scam?

Beautiful car - looks good value at the car auction hammer price 

[slewthy]

Interior image looks like at an auction.

Also selling a Porsche. Same reason. 

Not the same as definite scams we've seen - just trying to make a quick few thousand?

[USAndretti42]

Porsche sold for £12,720 including buyer's premium, at the same auction.  Highly dubious or deceitful.

[USAndretti42]

So I sent the seller a message through Ebay asking if he had bought the car at the auction and he replied that he had and he had bought his missus a Porsche on the same day but he has had a low offer on a house accepted and now needs cash to renovate said house. 

Could be true.

[Barrykearley]

Ask him if you can view the car..... it’ll probably go downhill from there. You’ll probably need to send a deposit to secure the car

[USAndretti42]

I don't plan to buy the car.  If I did, I would have bid on it at the auction.  If I were to ask to view it and find that I couldn't, I don't know what I could do.  I reported it as fraudulent on Ebay but nothing happened.  I don't know if they investigate or not or just check that the ad looks believable.  There doesn't seem to be a means of querying an ad.  I'm not going to pursue it further as it could well be honest although a little misleading about how long he's had it but that's only in how I read it, not explixitly stated.  I think it is geniune.

[smash]

I guess whether the v5 has been changed to his name or not will determine whether genuine purchase or simply trying to flip for profit

[USAndretti42]

Just to clarify, when I said, "I think it's geniune," I meant that a) it's genuine and b) he did have the car and it wasn't a scam.  Whether he ever meant to keep the car ot just to make a profit, I don't know.

[GasketsGone]

I too went to look at this Esprit at the auction - can't see that it was worth what this fellow bid - needed A LOT of work to even get a MOT from what I saw...I had been keeping an eye on it since it came up a few months ago on eBay originally...

 I expect he's trying to make a quick buck on a flip (which I don't really object to) but the nonsense about house renovation is bs...he choose the wrong car imho to try this with... Esprit are too few and too well known...good luck though if someone does pick it up...if you sink a further 10k it'll be a cracker...

Edited June 22, 2019 by GasketsGone

[USAndretti42]

That's interesting.  What work did you see that it needed?

[GasketsGone]

While in the pictures the interior looked ok, as ever the reality was it was very tired indeed and other than the seats probably needed completely redoing - especially the instrument binacle. The hand brake didn't seem to want to budge so prumably stuck off. It did have a couple of new bits on that I noticed such as a new clutch line and fairly recent exhaust back box - but in my book that doesn't really count as "recommissioned"!

The engine bay looked very tired also and door fit wasn't great - though to be fair the car did look very complete and as I say would no doubt eventually make a fine specimen with some serious investment.

To put this into context though check out the new advert on eBay for the orange S2 that's has a full body off restoration and 2.2 engine rebuild etc. according to the advert and photos...makes this black one at least 10k overpriced I would say, if not more, for a car that hasn't even been on the road since 2005 ish...

I might add I am not running the black one down, it has potential to be a wonderful example, just questioning the idea that it's worth the asking price or even anywhere near what it was bid to!

 

Edited June 24, 2019 by GasketsGone

[USAndretti42]

Got to £16,500 without meeting the reserve. Back on with a starting bid of £16,400.

[GasketsGone]

As I said totally the wrong car to attempt a 4K flip profit on.... imho

the 911 didn't sell either I believe 🤦‍♂️