When people lie to make a sale, it’s only a matter of time before the truth catches up.

What would you do if a seller insisted their poorly maintained car was in perfect factory condition, even though you knew better? Would you call them out directly? Or would you find a more creative way to show them exactly how wrong they are?

In today’s story, one woman deals with this exact scenario and refuses to let a dishonest seller win. Here’s how it all played out.

A seller tried to pass off an old trashed car as “that’s how it was new”. So I brought my own “factory condition” car.

My partner and I own a car from the early 90s we rebuilt ourselves during the pandemic. It’s not factory new in many ways, but it does handle, behave and look like a new one would.

About a year ago, a friend of ours was looking to buy this particular make, and we, as self-proclaimed experts, agreed to help. He found a listing for a good price but had to leave for some time, so my partner and I were to do the initial check and secure it.

So, I called the seller and scheduled a test drive. There, I was told that it’s pretty much in excellent condition with no additional work or investments required. Visually that might had been true, but I asked whether I could do the test drive. He had a remark about if I (a woman way younger than the car) can even handle it, but I got my way.

She and her partner went to look at the car and weren’t impressed.

Compared to ours (even before we rebuilt it), the idle seemed quite rough, it had worse gas response, stiffer shifting, harder to get it in some gears and more vague steering. I did not mention my experience with the make, but I mentioned the issues.

The seller said that I cannot know how a car like that is, so I should get a proper reference first, and that it was like this when it was new. I wasn’t impressed.

So, my partner decided to pull a little test and schedule a test drive as well, but he would have to arrive in our car. He told him he’s checking it out for a friend, and was told by the seller that the seller’s car has some carb and gearbox issues, but that it would make it a great project or parts car. We weren’t impressed.

When the seller figured it out, he got pretty defensive.

We told our friend how it went and to keep looking, but he still wanted to see the car himself. So, he also scheduled a test drive. Partly because of coincidences and partly because of my pettiness, I drove him there in our car, which is a decently recognisable car, and the same car my partner drove there a week ago. The seller wasn’t impressed.

He didn’t say anything too direct, but he did apologise for misleading me about its condition before blaming it on me and my partner anyway. He said I should have told him that I know my stuff, and that my partner should have said something about knowing me.

In the end, friend kept looking and I made someone very mad as the listing stayed up for quite a long time afterwards.

Too funny! That’s one way to get the truth out of a seller.

Let’s see how the folks over at Reddit feel about buying cars from shady sellers.

According to this reader, she dealt with this same treatment one time.

That pretty much sums it up.

This woman is a gearhead and deals with shocked men all the time.

If only everyone knew this.

The seller deserved it! Lying is never an acceptable sales practice.

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.