Land Rovers For Sale FAQ
ECR 88 on the British Virgin Islands
Q: Do you have more photos of the vehicle?
A: We are happy to take any images you like if
you are considering purchasing a vehicle. Just let us know what you want
to see and we can post the images for you. We do generally post photos
of all sides of the vehicle, as well and engine bay, interior and some
underneath shots that are linked to the For Sale page. Be sure you have
clicked on the "More Images" link.
Q: Is the vehicle legal for road use in the USA?
A: ECR will not, has not and never will, offer for sale through ECR, a vehicle that has any monkey business attached to it. You will not see an altered VINs, illegal imports or "registered as" vehicles offered for sale by ECR. If it isn't 100% legal to be in this country and legal for road use, you won't find it offered for sale here. We leave that crap to the other guys. All our vehicles are NAS Defenders.
Q: Is the vehicle a USA version?
A: All Rovers for sale are USA versions, or Left Hand Drive, unless
specifically noted in the description.
Q: How much will it cost to ship the Rover to my place?
A: For a free estimate on shipping costs contact
one of the shipping companies on this page:
http://www.eastcoastrover.com/Transport.html
They will be happy to help you. We can't quote for them, so please speak to them directly.
Q: What about paperwork?
A: All modern Land Rovers we offer, such as Defenders and Range Rovers have a valid State title that can be processed in your state just like any other car. However, on older Rovers, such as 1960s and 1970s Series IIAs and such, the State of Maine does not, and will not, offer a title for a vehicle manufactured prior to 1984. Pre-1984 vehicles are sold on a "Bill of Sale" only. In our state this constitutes full transfer of legal ownership.
If your state requires a title for say, a 1972 Series III 88, make sure you can process the "Bill of Sale" into a title BEFORE you purchase, as that is all we can offer you, due to the laws of the State of Maine.
Q: I'd like to make an offer on a vehicle you have for sale, how do I do that?
A: If you have found a Rover you like, you can always make an offer if you want to try and buy it for less than the posted asking price. However, you need to be aware that if your offer is accepted you are obligated to buy that vehicle. If you offer $15,000. on a vehicle that is posted for $16,000. and we agree, you just bought it. Do not make an offer unless you are prepared to buy the Rover for that price.
Q: Why don't you have more Rovers for sale?
A: Honestly, we can't find ones that are good enough. We just can't
bring ourselves to be "used car salesmen" and tell potential
customers,"Yeah, its great." on 30 and 40 year old Rovers. We
live in the real world and we know these cool old vehicles all have flaws.
The difference is that we'll tell you all its flaws. This scares a lot
of people away, but that is OK with us. We rather tell you the truth and
loose the sale vs. filling your head with pipe dreams about how much your
wife will enjoy driving that stock Series II diesel 109 around to pick
up the kids from school. The other thing is that as we give the potential
buyers our full evaluation of the vehicle, they think that means it needs
all that work done, and in some cases that is true, but in other cases
we are just listing things that are not original or could use work in the
future. The same vehicle for sale at another Rover place would likely be
listed as "ready to go." Go here for
details on just such a case where a poor quality Rover was sold by
ECR to a place call Indy-Rover (now out of business). Once it arrived at
Indy-Rover it suddenly became "a great truck." So it really depends
on what you want. Do you want to be told what you want to hear, then find
out once some rotted old Rover arrives in your driveway that you weren't
told the real story, or would you rather be told the real deal up front
and know exactly what you are getting. Its a glass half empty vs. glass
half full sort of thing.
A little theory on selling from the owner of ECR:
I've always been into cars, from the day when I could first hold a Matchbox car in my hand until today. They are what I think and dream about. They are my art. They are my passion. One reason ECR's selling of vehicles sounds so pessimistic is that in my 4 decade love of cars I have had many a long road trip turn out to be a big waste of time. I'd spend an hour or so on the phone asking questions of a seller and even with my long list of questions, the seller would always present the car as "really nice." The last time this happened to me was a long time ago, long before the days of email and jpeg pictures, but the story may help shed some light on why ECR sales are handled the way they are.
An advertisement was found. A phone call was made and the car sounded perfect. A deal was struck on a 1957 Chevy and a trip from Maine to New Jersey was planned. Off in a U-Haul truck towing a car trailer my father and I go to collect my prize. We'll skip the story about how the U-Haul truck runs out of gas at 1/2 a tank on the gauge and the subsequent field search for gas in the middle of nowhere as night fell. We arrive worse for wear somewhere in New Jersey up seven back roads that all seem to lead nowhere. The seller walks us out back near the chicken coop and the goat shed to show us the "really nice" '57. What he sees as really nice, I see as rusted out floors, rusted off drip edge on the roof, tons of parts missing and other needed parts scattered on the ground all around the car. In his eyes, really nice. In my eyes, a piece of shit. The '57 Chevy came home with us on the U-Haul trailer. It was restored in the long run and has been long gone, but it changed things for me.
At that moment I knew that buyer's remorse would never happen to me again. I'd never buy sight unseen. The only way I'd ever even consider doing it was if I fully trusted the person I would send to look at the car. People's perceptions of what is "good" and "restored" vary too greatly. One man's junk is another man's treasure is the phrase I believe.
So I applied the same principles I would demand personally in a vehicle purchase to the way we sell things here at ECR. The "full evaluation" we offer is the minimum of what I would expect if I was buying a car or truck long distance. It is our way of having you see the flaws in the Rover through our eyes, and our eyes don't have any misconceptions about the condition of a 40 year old Rover. All of the guys here at ECR who do the evaluations are picky, anal, son's of bitches. We'll find every flaw and every bolt that someone put in wrong. In one case this lead to threats against us when we blew the sale of a 109 that was brought to us for evaluation. The seller said "mint." We said "junk or donor for restoration only." That didn't sit too well with the seller, guess he has his own reality.
If you want someone to pull the wool over your eyes and tell you, "It is all good." there are plenty of people on the net, ebay and fancy high end dealers that will do that for you. If you want the real story, as I would want it told to me, you can look into any vehicle sold by ECR.
Best of luck with your purchase,
Mike Smith, ECR