Contacting the former owner... "Hi, this is a bit of a strange call but..."

Couple weeks ago I purchased a used Tacoma. When going through the glove box at the dealer I found the window sticker and sales receipts that included the prior owners contact info.

So I decided to call him. It was an awkward introduction but it was for a good reason, the truck only came with one set of keys. He explained it was his wife's truck and thought she'd lost the spare fob, but he'd check and contact me they turned up. He just texted me for my address and I have a second set of keys coming. Luck favors the bold.

 

Or you texted him your address and he is on his way to steal the truck with the spare key.

 

Could be, He does have the other guys contact and such as well so if he did steal it he would be in line for the stupidest criminal award...

Something similar happened when I sold my WRX a while back, the new owner found something with my name and phone number on it (I think it was a business card) contacted me and asked if I still had any of the parts I had removed, (he had seen the car in a WRX forum all fixed up) I did and ended up selling everything to him and he reinstalled it all lol

 

Similar situation with my commuter CRz I picked up used. Insurance info in glove box. I looked up the guy. Made the call just to ask about the history of the car. Turns out it was repo’d and he was still pretty upset about it. Our conversation didn’t go as well as the OPs did.

 

I've heard the\at you're not really paranoid if everybody IS out to get you.

 

I would expect that more from Bill Dauterive to be honest.

 

Rusty Shackleford uses a PO Box

 

I had a similar experience. After I traded in my 2017 Tacoma TRD Sport, I received a call from the new owner asking about the second key fob. I turned in both key fobs to the dealer, but the new owner was only given one key fob. I did manage to find the tailgate key that I forgot to turn in and mailed it to the new owner. Overall, it was a pleasant exchange between the two of us.

 

Should have stole his tailgate

 

I made a similar call to a previous owner in the late 80's over a vehicle I was interested in, but had not bought.

(On the rare occasion that I dealership shop, I tend to look on the back of lots for vehicles of interest that have been there long enough that they are getting ready to go to auction.)

Anyway the call freaked out the previous owner, but after assuring her I only had her name/number because it was left in the vehicle, and all I wanted was some vehicle history from an owner, not a salesman, she filled me in.

I bought the vehicle with about 50k on it for a bit above wholesale, sold it about 8 years later at 160k for a respectable price.

 

I used to buy the factory service manual when I would buy a car. When I would trade in the car, I would include the service manual and any replacement parts such as oil filters. I would also include my log book and service records.

I traded in a 1997 Pontiac Grand Am. Because I had a class in Akron, I set the anti-theft code for the radio. I did not remember to remove that when I traded, but I went back and told the salesman the code. Years later, I started to get calls from a nearby city, which I did not answer because most of my calls are nuisance calls. I got a letter from the car's new owner. The alternator had failed, and the radio would not work without the code. I called them up that evening and told them the code, which I remembered.

 

On my Honda's that had that code I'd write in on the bottom of the ash tray. I had it in papers in the house too, but in case I was away from home and needed tunes after an electrical problem.

I'd have never remembered the code! My checking acct # or CC #, maybe. But not a radio code.