Car purchases are complicated, confusing, and often emotional and we auto enthusiasts seem to buy or sell one every year. On average, I’ve owned about three vehicles per year since 2000, though I’ve slowed down over the last couple years and stayed loyal to my old Saab. It’s well-aged, interesting, and fits well with my personality, plus I’m thousands of dollars upside down in restoration costs.

Recently, I sold my 2001 Cadillac Seville on Craigslist after 40,000 miles of pleasurable motoring. I have long-term plans for work and grad school and owning two cars would hamper my mobility. Plus, it was wasteful to keep, maintain, register, and insure two older cars, so one had to go. At one point I considered buying a truck or SUV as a third vehicle and stopped myself when I realized I was becoming a hoarder.

I received several voicemails and only returned calls from people who sounded coherent and intelligent.

When I found the right buyer I talked to him about the cars he owned in the past and to my relief, he previously owned a 2003 Seville STS similar to mine as well as a late-model CTS and an older Seville from the mid-1990s. He, like me, was a Cadillac enthusiast and knew what to expect.

He really wanted my car and I really wanted him to be the one to buy it. Sure, I had a dozen other prospects to call back, but few of them seemed like people I wanted to deal with.

And the last thing I wanted to do was sell a high-maintenance luxury car to some poor person in the city who would run it into the ground and ditch it on the side of Highway 40. After the love, care, and affection I put into my Cadillac and after the dependable cross-country touring it rewarded me with, it deserved to go to a good home.

This 2001 Seville has taken me (and my dog) to the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, mountains, beaches, canyons, deserts, forests, and blizzards. It’s even seen tornadoes. This wasn’t just a car, it was part of my life story.

[As I began writing the last paragraph, iTunes started playing “Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You” by Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. Spooky.]

Fast Tube by Casper

Fast Tube by Casper

Fast Tube by Casper

But that’s the difference between being a car salesman and being a private seller. I get to be picky.

I scheduled a time for Eric to come over for a test drive and sent him a massively long e-mail detailing the car’s service history, where I bought it, how much I paid for it, and the minor issues I hadn’t yet fixed. I referred him to the technical archives at Cadillacowners.com to make sure he understood the car’s quirks and flaws and the Northstar V8’s issues and potential hazards.

I knew that giving him more information might risk losing the sale, but I couldn’t be comfortable selling the car to someone who wasn’t thoroughly informed. This wasn’t, after all, a lawn mower. This was a Cadillac chock full of gizmos, gadgets, and electronics that could potentially go wrong.

I even gave him a lower price than I initially intended just to get the car into his hands. I originally advertised the car at $4500, then ran the ad again for a more realistic $3990. I finally let him have it for $3200. I could have held out for closer to $4000 with someone else, but I may not have been happy with who the car ended up with.

This sounds like do-gooder bragging, but it’s only because I’ve been on the receiving end of seller dishonesty:

Back in 2007, advertised in the classifieds section of Cadillacowners.com was a 1992 Cadillac Seville STS, polo green with tan leather and only 130,000 miles. It was the car, the color, and the body style I had admired for years, and for only $2250 it was going to be mine. Chump change for a piece of American luxury.

The pictures were blurry and didn’t show a whole lot of detail but the seller was a regular member on the Cadillac forum, of which I was a moderator. The car was also parked in front of a very nice, well-maintained house, so he clearly had the means to care of it.

Based on that, I figured there was no way he would be dishonest about the car’s condition, especially after speaking with him on the phone and getting pretty specific about how it looked and drove. He assured me that the seats were not torn, the body was clean, and it drove out smooth and nice.

So, I booked my flight to Islip, New York for the following week and flew 1,060 miles across the country.

When I arrived at the airport he picked me up in his white 1999 Seville STS, a stunning car that he recently purchased to replace the ’92 he was selling me. There’s something reassuring about someone who liked their old car enough to buy another example.

We chatted for a bit about his business, something involving magazine publishing, and headed to the New York DMV. After a brief wait in line I paid for my temp tag and went with him to his house where my car was parked.

The thing was pretty ugly. At first, I just accepted it. I figured it wasn’t deception on his part, just one of those quirks of online communication and differing expectations. As time went on, I felt pretty screwed about how badly he had abused this car over the last seven years.

He said the bumpers were a bit faded, but in some sections they were completely devoid of paint, as if the car had been parked inside an oven, and he didn’t mention to me that the rear bumper was damaged from an accident where he backed over some kind of “urban stump.”

He described the seat on the phone as being cracked. It was demolished. It looked like someone set off an explosive.

At least he did a good bit of mechanical work over the years. Most significantly, it received a remanufactured AC compressor which kept on ticking well on to 200,000 miles. A lot of what had been repaired according to his paperwork was still in need of service, so I suspect his mechanic wasn’t the greatest.

The mileage was reasonable low for the car’s age, 131k as advertised. Aside from the nasty seats the carpet, dashboard, and headliner just needed a diligent cleaning. Nothing else was physically damaged.

Unfortunately, as I headed out of his neighborhood the car began to lurch badly which I later discovered was due to a bad idle speed plunger (which had been replaced once already according to his records). He did not use a genuine GM part. The idle problem also caused the engine and transmission to run hot and put extra wear on the brakes.

As I got on the highway, the car started to shake and rattle violently like someone was beating on the floor pan with a hammer. I couldn’t figure out what it was until I finally got home. It turned out to be a seriously neglected inner tie rod. How could he describe the car as driving smoothly in that condition? Clearly, he commuted into the city for work. He had to have known.

At least from far away the car looked pretty sharp. I didn’t make a stink about it on the forum though others who saw my photos did. I eventually banned him from the forum, though not permanently.

He lied to me, but I should have turned around immediately and demanded my money back. Upon seeing the condition of the seat I should have called a taxi to take me back to the airport. I ignored all the signs and should have been suspicious when he picked me up in a different car from the one I was buying.

I got hosed, but the worst part was that I allowed it happen. There’s a tendency among people in that region to advertise their questionable heaps as diamonds, and my friendly midwest naivete resulted in a hard lesson learned.

Fortunately, after a few thousand dollars in rehabilitation and a lot of bodywork, the car turned out to be quite a trooper, covering road trips from coast to coast and soaking up highway miles blissfully for several years. The engine and transmission kept ticking despite his abusive ownership.

So, that’s why I try to give people as much information as I possibly can when I sell a car. Be careful out there, and be reasonably honest.