Did I get scammed? ethics question

[explorerzip]

Yes, you did get scammed... by yourself.

I don't really want or need it but find it hard to turn down a cheap car.

Why even look at a car that you don't need regardless of how cheap it is? Do you have lots of extra time to look after a car you have no intention to drive?

So I look at the car and without a mechanic checking it out, suggest a price, seeing as she wants to get rid of it.

You should already know to get mechanic to look at it.

So I went through with the deal, because it would have been too awkward.

So losing a bunch of money is better than not feeling awkward?

Unfortunately, this is just a series of bad decisions even though you spotted problems from the beginning.

 

[malata]

me thinks you bought the car cause she has nice boobs and she gave you the pocket rocket

 

[The "Bone" Ranger]

I need to see a pic of the seller

 

[JaimeWolf]

me thinks you bought the car cause she has nice boobs and she gave you the pocket rocket

What's the saying? If it's got tits or tires, it's gonna give you problems?

 

[wazup]

In the first paragraph you admitted to knowing about the getting it out of underground parking thing, that eliminates that argument. She did lose her job so technically not a lie. If you were grossly underpaying for it then you didn't get screwed if you ended up paying what it is worth. Car deals are about negotiating imo.

 

[Jasmine Raine]

In the first paragraph you admitted to knowing about the getting it out of underground parking thing, that eliminates that argument. She did lose her job so technically not a lie. If you were grossly underpaying for it then you didn't get screwed if you ended up paying what it is worth. Car deals are about negotiating imo.

^^^^ This.

She did lose her job. OP assumed she only had one.

She can't afford the insurance on it. Also true. OP assumed it was because she is broke. Which his friend told him but to the OP broke means something else. Probably one step up from homeless. Most people are broke yet they have cars and houses, etc. Broke don't mean what he thought it meant.

Everything told was true and the OP made the assumptions. Natural assumptions I agree but assumptions none the less.

The value of the car and the paying price of the car is what determines it was a ”scam”

The friend, probably playing on the assumptions is who to look at and look at as the value of friendship. Two different issues.

Car purchase was not a scam, friend however maybe a little off on the friendship meter.

 

[danmand]

Yes, you did get scammed... by yourself.



Why even look at a car that you don't need regardless of how cheap it is? Do you have lots of extra time to look after a car you have no intention to drive?



You should already know to get mechanic to look at it.



So losing a bunch of money is better than not feeling awkward?

Unfortunately, this is just a series of bad decisions even though you spotted problems from the beginning.

The old saying goes: You can't cheat an honest man

 

[Robert Mugabe]

^^^^ This.

She did lose her job. OP assumed she only had one.

She can't afford the insurance on it. Also true. OP assumed it was because she is broke. Which his friend told him but to the OP broke means something else. Probably one step up from homeless. Most people are broke yet they have cars and houses, etc. Broke don't mean what he thought it meant.

Everything told was true and the OP made the assumptions. Natural assumptions I agree but assumptions none the less.

The value of the car and the paying price of the car is what determines it was a ”scam”

The friend, probably playing on the assumptions is who to look at and look at as the value of friendship. Two different issues.

Car purchase was not a scam, friend however maybe a little off on the friendship meter.

I assumed she only had one, in much the same way I didn't assume she had two or three or more.As I didn't assume she had two cars. Funny how they didn't mention that until after I was persuaded she was a charity case,and handed over the money.
You say,"she can't afford the insurance on it. Also true". Explain how you know that. You don't.
"Most people are broke and yet they have cars and houses etc. " Another opinion pulled out of your ass.Tell that to a homeless person.
"The value of the car and the paying price of the car is what determines it was a scam" No. What determines it was a scam is lying by omission and presenting falsehoods. sometimes referred to as "pulling the wool over their eyes"

 

[Robert Mugabe]

In the first paragraph you admitted to knowing about the getting it out of underground parking thing, that eliminates that argument. She did lose her job so technically not a lie. If you were grossly underpaying for it then you didn't get screwed if you ended up paying what it is worth. Car deals are about negotiating imo.

So I admitted to knowing about getting it out of the underground thing makes me at fault how? Eliminates what argument? She did lose her job.Her other job. So although technically not a lie it is definitely not presenting the whole truth. A little omission of the trivial fact that she still had a job. Forgot to mention that. And the fact she had two cars. I think, in court or when the police read you your rights, there is a phrase to the effect But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court
To clarify. The woman is blameless in this. The car is probably ok. My old car is showing signs of needing replacement. So it didn't seem frivolous to grab another car while the opportunity was there and keep it until I decided to either sell it on or replace my old beater. It's just that I have the spidey that my friend "engineered" the situation.And no. I didn't grossly underpay. I just paid more, based on the information that she had no job and couldn't afford to drive a car.

 

[Jasmine Raine]

I assumed she only had one, in much the same way I didn't assume she had two or three or more.As I didn't assume she had two cars. Funny how they didn't mention that until after I was persuaded she was a charity case,and handed over the money.
You say,"she can't afford the insurance on it. Also true". Explain how you know that. You don't.
"Most people are broke and yet they have cars and houses etc. " Another opinion pulled out of your ass.Tell that to a homeless person.
"The value of the car and the paying price of the car is what determines it was a scam" No. What determines it was a scam is lying by omission and presenting falsehoods. sometimes referred to as "pulling the wool over their eyes"

Except you admit it was not a falsehood.

She couldn't afford the insurance and she did lose her job. So what is omitted?

The assumptions, which I understand, came from.you. People are broke. Most in Ontario have a debt to income of over $2. Meaning for every dollar they earn, more then $2 is owed in debt. That is broke. Yet they have a roof over their head.

Everything I know is from your own posts. If she is broke and driving one car, how can she afford insurance on the second car. And again, I'm not saying your assumptions were wrong to assume. It is what most people would assume.

The question you ask is if you were scammed. No, you were not. You paid a lower price for a car. It is not a lemon, it is not broken in some way. You got sold a car.

Now the separate issue of how your friend treated you, I get questioning. That is questioning your trust in this person. If he knew that you were assuming incorrectly and did not speak up, then, of course, I would be questioning my friendship.

But you need to separate the two because only then can you address the real issue directly.

Stop being so angry with me to not see that I am actually on your side here regarding your friend. I'm just breaking it down to its core.

 

[NinjaBoy]

You got scammed.

Lets say you go to the dealership and say you want to pay X amount of dollars for a car. Dealership says great, pay $300 dollars for 36 months.

You say you can't afford that much.

Sales person says they talked to their manager and talked down your monthly payments to only $275.

Great deal right? Wrong, they Purposely omitted that they also extended the duration from 36 months to 48 months, thereby increasing the total cost of the car.

Next to nothing in life comes free. There's always a catch. Read the fine print.

 

[malata]

He calls me back next day and says he thinks he might be able to get her a better offer, than the one we discussed. I said. Go for it. Don't let me stand in her way. I don't really need it.
Calls me back next day and says that deal is off. Why don't I come and see it? I say. Why doesn't she just sell it on Craigslist? He says, you don't understand. She isn't going to do that. A lot of people just aren't going to bother doing that.

me thinks, he tried to test you if you would make a better offer and when you didn't, he tells you the deal is off from fake buyer and car is yours if you still want it

so your buddy likes her boobs too and is using you to get her a better deal. Dat fucker

 

[Robert Mugabe]

Except you admit it was not a falsehood.

She couldn't afford the insurance and she did lose her job. So what is omitted?

The assumptions, which I understand, came from.you. People are broke. Most in Ontario have a debt to income of over $2. Meaning for every dollar they earn, more then $2 is owed in debt. That is broke. Yet they have a roof over their head.

Everything I know is from your own posts. If she is broke and driving one car, how can she afford insurance on the second car. And again, I'm not saying your assumptions were wrong to assume. It is what most people would assume.


Stop being so angry with me to not see that I am actually on your side here regarding your friend. I'm just breaking it down to its core.

Average Income per Person GNI - Welcome To Botswana. Botswana's Gross National Income is 33.11 billion USD (357.58 billion). Botswana's GNI per capita is 16 520 USD (179 507 pula).
what the fuck does that have to do with me.
Who are you to say she is broke? you don't know that. you are spouting opinions not facts.If she has a a job, recently two jobs, a roof over her head and two cars, one of which she is driving, she is not broke. by any standards. just by your opinion.

 

[Jasmine Raine]

Average Income per Person GNI - Welcome To Botswana. Botswana's Gross National Income is 33.11 billion USD (357.58 billion). Botswana's GNI per capita is 16 520 USD (179 507 pula).
what the fuck does that have to do with me.
Who are you to say she is broke? you don't know that. you are spouting opinions not facts.If she has a a job, recently two jobs, a roof over her head and two cars, one of which she is driving, she is not broke. by any standards. just by your opinion.

If she only has 4.00 on her bank account, she is broke. Which is what you said your buddy told you. He has a track record of actually being ”factually” truthful so there is no reason to doubt what he is saying. That is broke. You have no idea how she is keeping that all going. But like you said, she is not the issue. It is your friend.

Again, you have so much anger towards me you can't even truly read what I am writing. So whatever. Keep being an anger-filled man. You asked for opinions, when you should have asked for the opinions you wanted presented how you wanted and nothing else would do.

You didn't get scammed, you bought a car that you have no issue with. You have a friend who you now can't trust as much as you thought. EOD. For me at least. You are truly impossuble.

 

[Insidious Von]

Obvously your friend doesn't buy into "bros before hos", he possibly threw you under a bus to keep his franking privileges.

You haven't told us the make on model of the car...hope it's not a Cavalier!

 

[deezed]

I need to see a pic of the seller

and a review .

 

[Robert Mugabe]

If she only has 4.00 on her bank account, she is broke. Which is what you said your buddy told you. He has a track record of actually being ”factually” truthful so there is no reason to doubt what he is saying. That is broke. You have no idea how she is keeping that all going. But like you said, she is not the issue. It is your friend.

Again, you have so much anger towards me you can't even truly read what I am writing. So whatever. Keep being an anger-filled man. You asked for opinions, when you should have asked for the opinions you wanted presented how you wanted and nothing else would do.

You didn't get scammed, you bought a car that you have no issue with. You have a friend who you now can't trust as much as you thought. EOD. For me at least. You are truly impossuble.

To clarify. The woman is blameless in this..

my buddy told me she only has 4 dollars. she has a steady paycheque. omitting the truth hardly qualifies as" having a track record of being truthful" yes I asked for opinions, and appreciate the input, but when you throw in your baseless speculation as facts, I tend to get annoyed.

 

[yomero5]

If you paid 5k for a 2015 Honda Civic, you were not scammed. If you paid 25k for the same car, you were scammed.

 

[Knuckle Ball]

It sounds like one of those fake charity scams where someone pays money to help out someone who is dying of cancer when they aren’t reallly sick.

The OP paid a higher price for the car than he otherwise would have based on the false belief that he was helping out someone in need. The seller was sorta in need but not to the degree that was being portrayed by her friend.

I would thus agree that the buyer got scammed here. It wasn’t a complete scam but the direness of the seller’s circumstances was certainly exaggerated.

I think the OP should tell his friend how he feels about what happened and, based on the friend’s response, decide whether or not to dump him as a friend.

 

[Robert Mugabe]

It sounds like one of those fake charity scams where someone pays money to help out someone who is dying of cancer when they aren’t reallly sick.

The OP paid a higher price for the car than he otherwise would have based on the false belief that he was helping out someone in need. The seller was sorta in need but not to the degree that was being portrayed by her friend.

I would thus agree that the buyer got scammed here. It wasn’t a complete scam but the direness of the seller’s circumstances was certainly exaggerated.

I think the OP should tell his friend how he feels about what happened and, based on the friend’s response, decide whether or not to dump him as a friend.

nailed it