So about 2 weeks ago I saw a 2001 pontiac grand prix gtp 40th anniversary on craigslist. Asking price was 2600 with 129k miles. I called the fella and after some questions and talking I got him down to 1800 for the car. It had a check engine light for 02 low curcuit. So fine whatever no big deal.
So i drove what was supposed to be 3 hrs that turned it to a 6.5 hr drive with LA traffic. I had my wife, mother in law, 3 yrs old and 1 yr old boys with me.
Once I got there the car was running, sounded good looked good no leaks. He didnt have the title because he said he lost it. The registration was current and he and a recent smog done. So we did a bill of sale and he gave me all the previous bill of sales for a record.
Half way home the low coolant level light came on and check engine light started flashing. I didn't stop I just continued on. I made it home everyone tired.
The next day I went to the dmv to get it transferred and after hours of waiting I found out that dontrell didn't own it even though he had all the paperwork. So I went through all the paperwork with the dmv worker and found the he bought it off of Shawnee. She was not the owner. We continued through the paperwork and found that she bought it from Tyrone. And of course he was not the owner. Well finally we found that Tyrone had bought it off of Tommy who was the original owner. The DMV told us we have to track down Tommy and get the title from him or we can never transfer or register the vehicle.
We contacted Tommy and told him the situation and he is being kind enough to help us get the title. What a headache.
Never go to COMPTON to buy a car. Dontrelle, Shawnee and Tyrone as I was going through the paperwork with the dmv work he was laughing and so were the other people around me. You can't make this stuff up.

 

Well at least tommy is playing along, rule of thumb: never buy a car without a title (unless it will be dismantled for parts. Was it worth the headache? You still got the coolant and CEL issue to deal with on top of the title issue. Next time don't take your family through a neighborhood like that. if the car is for your wife have her drive one that is locally for sale to get the feel of the car and go with a male friend to pick that car up cause walking around with that kind of money on you is asking for trouble in that type of area.

 

It turns out the car has more issues which I have not fixed because I have not got the title yet. After a day of it being parked there was a huge puddle of oil under the car. It looks like it's coming from the oil filter extention. It had 7 codes from lean fuel to misfire. When I popped the hood I found #5 wire disconnected from the spark plug. They used cardboard for a gasket between the throttle body and supercharger. I order alot of parts this morning from zzp cyber sale.
I will not be doing anything like that again. The guys I meet were pretty cool and funny guys. And we stopped to put gas and the customer service was good. I think I was in the good side of Compton.

 

OUCH! So sorry to hear about all of your problems. Dang, tough break for sure. Does sound like a scene from a bad movie.

 

Did you miss all of that stuff when you inspected the car?

Between improperly done repairs and lack of a title, I sure would've left it. Who knows what other improper repair shortcuts they've taken.

Before you put any more money into it, might be best to take it to a trusted mechanic to give it a once over, it very well might be better to just resell it once you understand what all work it needs from being neglected.