Beautifully restored?

[Macgraham]

I have a court date coming up in July or August with the dirt bag who sold me my Jeep. As most of you know from my previous whinning I was told it was beautifully restored, overhauled L134 engine etc. I think it may be helpful to me if I could get some opinions as to what a Beautifully restored CJ3A would be worth. An accurate value assessment might help me in this case and what better place to get opinions than the 3A Site. Anyone willing?

[F Bill]

I think your best bet is to go to ewillys and print off all the sold jeeps. Beautifully restored is such a subjective term I dunno if it is gonn ahelp ya what folks think a beautifully restored jeep is. Better to stick with false statements you can prove the buyer said.

[Gunslinger]

X2 what Bill said,  I've been to the "halls of justice" a time or two and it seems that the verbal stuff all turns into "he said-she said".  I guess I'd take his original add and take it apart line by line and show documentation that he misrepresented the true condition.  I think you have enough reciepts for work and parts to really challenge the not obvious condition of the jeep.  Engine rebuild? Transmission/ transfer case rebuild.  Just walk the judge through every line one at a time and prove the guy lied.

[athawk11]

Mac,
I agree with the others. Prices  for 'beautifully restored' can be all over the place.  I would imagine, many here have put more time and money into their Willys than they think it is actually worth on the open market.  At least right now.

One suggestion that might help:  A professional witness.  If you know or have access to a very skilled, certified mechanic, he/she could varify the actual steps required to do an overall drive train restoration, and what it might cost for this type of service on a Willys.  

He couldn't speak on yours directly, as you have done your own repairs to your "beautifully restored" Jeep.  But the direct comparison to what he suggests vs what you have documented and had to re-do, may be quite powerful in the Judges eyes.

Just a thought.

Tim

[Carls_jeep]

Your best evidence is a loose leaf binder filled with photo's of your Jeep from when You bought it through all the stages of work and the invoices of parts and if possible the hours you spent working on it. By the time the Judge looks through your photos of before and after repairs you will probably win. Since most people, including Judges, don't know squat about mechanical workings photo's are your best friend.

[Macgraham]

I'm hoping for a Judge who just got ripped off on a Jeep he bought. Maybe too much to hope for? I'm going to be honest and have enough info and pics and bills to baffle their brains. It seems that the Judge may think I'm the dishonest one after all this guy is pretty important politically in the state. The kind of advice you guys are giving is just what I was looking for. This is not a sure thing but I will present my point of view as good as I can. Thanks

[calvinhunt]

Maybe another "comparison" figure you will need is the value of a project Jeep--one that needs all you had to do to your Jeep.  It was worth something, just not what you paid for it.  The judge would probably want to know what a "Project Jeep" is worth to determine the amount you over paid.  

I haven't been in the Jeep-buying business for about 4 years now, but when I was I looked at many of them on eBay.  There were a lot of them there then--probably still are.