Steve is a dishonest crook.
I was selling my 1988 Mercedes 560SL and the buyer asked me to bring the car to "Hi Quality" for an inspection.
First, Steve and I did a ride along together. Steve drove my car while I sat in the passenger seat. As soon as we were on the road, safely out of earshot of the potential buyer, Steve blurted, "You look like you're British. You British?"
I thought to myself how best to answer this oddly specific, random question, but before I could respond, Steve snapped, "Or you don't know where you were born?!"
Biting my tongue, I replied, "I do know where I was born. I was born in Los Angeles." Being a good sport, I then asked him where he was from. He jumped at the question, "Jordan! Do you even know where that is?"
To Steve's apparent surprise, I did have a general knowledge of geography, and stated, "the Middle East".
"That's right", Steve acknowledged, "The Holy Land. You should go there."
I could tell now that this was going to be a fun ride.
Steve continued to drive, and drive, and drive....
Before we'd left, I'd been under the impression that this would be a test drive around the block. However, this spin was turning into a full on road trip.
"How does it handle on the freeway?" Steve asked rhetorically, as he pulled onto the 101.
"Um, pretty good", I said.
Steve floored the car up the onramp and when the transmission groaned to keep up, he shouted, "What's that noise!"
"I don't know. You're the mechanic", I said with a shrug.
"You don't like to get your hands dirty huh," he gibed, while he spastically mashed the accelerator up and down, eliciting more grumbles from the transmission.
When we were close to the shop, Steve quizzed me on some of the questions he'd already inquired about the car.
"So what side was the damage from the hit and run on?", he asked.
"The right side", I answered.
"Which side?", Steve requestioned, hunting for discrepancies, even though I'd already told him about the right side damage before the car ride.
"The right side...".
"On the right, right?"
"Yes", I told him, for the fourth time.
Finally, Steve pulled the car back into his back alley shop. The potential buyer walked up to the car and announced, "You guys were gone a really long time!"
If you only knew man.
At this point, it was dark. Steve hoisted the car on the lift and told us that the car had rust, which was like a cancer on the car. I couldn't see much, and also didn't really want to be around Steve much longer, so I took his word on it. Tired and defeated, I drove the car home.
Later on that night, in texts, the potential buyer acknowledged that Steve is "a struggling mechanic/actor who's very angry at the world" but that according to Steve "the rust is widespread and only going to get worse" and "[he] trusts Steve to know what he's talking about" and "that said if we can make a deal that makes sense to both of us fantastic".
I was pretty bummed because I'd owned the car for ten years. I'd kept up the car really well. No mechanic had ever mentioned rust in any of the numerous maintenance jobs.
The next day, out of the blue, my regular mechanic called me and said that a girl had come into his shop looking for an old Mercedes like mine. He told me, "she brought in this 380 Mercedes for an inspection, but it was junk. I told her that you're trying to sell your 560SL, and I know it's in good condition from working on it, so if you want I can call her. She's very interested."
I warned my mechanic that this asshole Steve had informed me that my car had widespread rust. My mechanic told me just to come down and we'd take a look. I took the car down the following day, the very same day I was scheduled to sell the car for peanuts to this potential buyer who'd sworn by Steve.
We put the car on the lift and my mechanic showed me, in the light of day, that the car had no rust at all. "Your frame has a coating, to protect it from rust," he said, "there is a little surface rust on the muffler, but that's normal. There is not a spot of rust on the frame." After the inspection, I told him to call the interested girl. She came in and I sold her my Mercedes for nearly asking price.
Steve did his best to dupe me into selling the car for nothing. I almost fell for it. He is a deceptive, unsavory, awful husk of a human being. Avoid this crooked thief as you would an open manhole cover. read more
