So the Fri before Memorial Day w/e I get a text:
“Hi, my name is Cindy and I’m interested in the 2009 Porsche you have on Craigslist”.
Red flag #1 – scammers like to use female names.
She continues to text:
“We live in Iowa City, can we meet you in Des Moines to look at the car?”
Red flags #2 & 3 – the area code of the text was from WA state, not IA. And meet them somewhere way out of town? I don’t think so. I responded that OMA wasn’t that far from IA City. She immed responds back that they’ll come to OMA, just let them know when and where. I said I was avail Sun or Mon but reminded them banks weren’t open so there wouldn’t be a sale on either day. They decide to come Sun. Now where to meet? The local police station isn’t a typical open station. I talk to my neighbor who is in OPD and he suggests the local County Sheriff’s office (I was hoping he would volunteer to go with me).
An hr or so goes by. I’m still not too sure about this so I haven’t responded. She texts me again asking if I’ve decided on a location. I decide to call. A guy answers and says Cindy isn’t avail – Red flag #4. I tell him to come to the Sheriff’s office on the intersection of 2 major streets. A bit later I get a text from Cindy asking for the exact location, so I text it to her.
Then I asked her to text me a pic of her driver’s license. 5 min later I get the pic. Cindy is 52 and I google her and her addr, which is in IA City. Turns out she is legit, at least from the info on her license. But I’m still not sure. I can’t think of anyone to go with me, so my 86 yo mom comes along and goes into the station’s lobby to watch. Cindy and her husband arrive in a BMW SUV. They’re not familiar with Porsches and don’t ask a lot of questions. I leave with hubby for a test drive (me driving). We go out a couple miles and I feel better about the situation, so I let him drive back. Cindy asks how he liked it and he said he did. She asks if I’ll take $X, which was my current bottom $ and I countered with an extra $200. She agreed. They would come back on Thu to pick up the car. Then we joked about how she scared me with all her red flags. She didn’t realize she was causing me heartburn. She had done her research and knew what she wanted. Good for her.
The next day the windshield washer starts leaking. Oh great! I try a hillbilly fix with Flex Seal, but it keeps leaking over the next several days. Thu morning I call Cindy and say I can’t sell it to her with a leak and I’ll have to order the tank. She’s fine with waiting until Sun, June 9. I order the part thru a certain site sponsor, but it takes them 4 days to get it out of their secondary warehouse before dropping it off to FedEx. It’s scheduled to arrive at my house on Mon, the 10th. I give the tracking # to Cindy and say we may not make the 9th. She’s OK with going with the flow.
Somehow the tank arrives on Sat afternoon (didn’t know FedEx delivered on Sat). With any luck, I can get the tank in and make the Sun pickup. I transfer the grommets and plugs and motors and then test fill with H20. 5 min later it’s leaking. Dang! Looks like maybe the grommet for the tank pump could be loose and leaking. I let Cindy know we still have an issue and Sun is probably off. Then I go to O’Reilly’s to see if they have a grommet that will work. Amazingly they do but I can’t get it til Sun noon.
I pick up the grommet just after lunch on Sun. I put it in the tank and test fill again. 5 min later it’s leaking. Double dang! It appears the tank motor has a leak in the bottom seam. So I get the super glue out and give it 2 batches of glue. Put it back into the tank for a test. 5 min later it’s leaking. I text Cindy and tell her I need to order another part.
Mon morning I order the tank motor from our site sponsor w/ a 2 day ship. They got it to FedEx later that day and it arrived at my house Wed noon. I put it on the tank and fill with H2O. 30 min later, no leak. Thu morning, no leak, so I put the tank back in it’s reg position and fill with more H20. Still no leaks. I text Cindy that things are looking up. She wants to come on Sat to get it. Fri morning still dry, so I put the fender inner liner back in and clean her up.
Just after lunch, Cindy and her husband pick up the car and the Box S is off to it’s new home. I thanked Cindy for being so patient.
Funny how things work out. I almost didn’t take her serious after her first contact. Now on to the next Wheeler Dealer car…
