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BEWARE: VIN JH4NA1158MT000608 on Ebay

Joined
20 March 2014
Messages
50
Location
Chicago / Los Angeles
To anyone considering this car for sale on ebay currently, buyer beware!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Acura-NSX-C...tr=true&hash=item487cf4ea92&item=311334070930

The owner, Steve Kohke is not to be trusted. I purchased one of his NSX's in May of 2014. He advertised it as being in perfect condition, no accidents, no bodywork, etc. He was the original owner of this car, a Sebring Silver model, 91. He had just sold his Red 91 NSX a few weeks before I purchased mine. In his ebay ad for the red vehicle he was very up-front about having had an accident with the car and had documentation to show the repairs that were done, etc. The price of that sale reflected a car with a previous incident. Because of this upfront honesty on his Red car, my guard was let down when I saw him selling the Silver car a few weeks later, in which he assured me had not been in any accidents and was all original. I had my friend come check out the car as I live in Los Angeles. To the naked eye, everything appeared alright. I purchased the car, and picked it up. Only after a few weeks and a trip to Brookfield Acura solidified my fear that I had been completely misled and lied to. The car had indeed been in an accident of some sort on the front drivers side. The car was repaired correctly from a mechanical and frame standpoint. but nonetheless I was in shock at how I was taken advantage of. The whole intent behind buying a one owner car is to avoid being hit with surprises with a car's previous history. Steve provided me with every maintenance paper on the car from day one of ownership, but completely removed any paperwork dealing with the accident and chose to lie to my face about the car's history. He clearly disclosed the red car's incident because it was on the CarFax. The Silver car's accident history was not on the CarFax, so he chose not to disclose. CarFax is an absolute joke, take it with a grain of salt.

Since owning the car, I noticed some clear coat peeling issues around the door trim and B pillar trim. I've had to have the car completely repainted to correct all of these issues. The place he used to paint it taped off all of the trim rather than removing it. I suspect this black car will have the same issue if he chose to use an inferior body shop that chooses to cut corners. He finally admitted that the car had been in an accident after I berated him and his son (who is the one posting the ad). He didn't even have the common decency to offer up a fake apology. He instead defended his actions and was indignant. A true sign of a pathetic man.

Do not trust any story he tells you about this car. The car should be fully inspected by an Acura dealership and body shop. Do not waste your hard earned money on a car that he claims to be perfectly taken care of. The pictures looked just as amazing for my car, but don't be fooled.

If you need any more information about this, feel free to PM me.
 
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As a follow up to my original post, some may find this helpful. I'm attaching both the original eBay Red car ad from April 2014, as well as my Silver car eBay ad from May 2014. You will see how the seller discloses the accident with the Red car (only because it was on the Car Fax, so he had to). On my Silver car, he advertises the car with no mention of previous incident (good old Car Fax, being useless as usual). My specific questions to both Steve and his step-son (who has posted the cars for sale for him) were, "is the car completely original? No accidents, no body work, no paint work?" I was assured that the car had none of these issues, and Steve lied directly to my face in person. All lies! It truly is disgusting to have an owner who bought these cars new 25 years ago and belonged to the NSX clubs be so dishonest and despicable. There is a special place in Hell for this man.

red-car-ebay-ad1lr.jpg red-car-ad2lr.jpg red-car-ad3lr.jpg Acura-NSX-Ebay-Ad.jpg Acura-NSX-Ebay-Ad2lr.jpg

Once again, to anyone considering this car, do not leave any stone unturned when inspecting it. Just from downloading the high quality photos, I'm truly suspect of this car. I've attached two photos in particular that raise questions. Look at the gap difference between the drivers door and the front fender. Gap changes significantly from top to bottom. And look at the passenger B pillar space and door trim space, something looks to have been messed with or altered there perhaps?

wheel-well-lr.jpg b-pillar.jpg

Steve must be the worst driver in the world if he may have figured out a way to have accidents in all 3 of his NSX's, as 2 of them are 100% verified and admitted by him (unfortunately in my case, after the sale, at which point I had been essentially robbed of several thousands of dollars). His driving skills are truly embarrassing. Or, in the truly remote chance, this car could be accident free, at which point a buyer would have the pleasure of purchasing a $40K car that has $16K worth of useless overpriced NSX memorabilia in the trunk. Sounds like a killer deal doesn't it!!!????

**** If anyone wants higher resolution links for the eBay screen shots, please PM me, for whatever reason I can't upload high quality pics through Prime, so they are a little tough to read *****
 
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It looks like the auction was ended early today. Is anyone on Prime the new buyer? I truly hope whomever is buying this car saw this thread and has gone into this transaction knowing who they are dealing with.
 
cars looks pretty clean, he took lots of pictures from multiple angels.
Seems like a collector car - its a 1991, lowish serial (608th NSX ever made) with ~41,000 miles and one owner apparently, his dad.
Leather/faux-leather inside looks good, not very wrinkled (although seats are covered so can't tell there)
small blemish on the ashtray cover
very stock

I agree price is about 10k too high, but for the right buyer - a collector enthusiast, its probably the right fit.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience, may I suggest you get into your Delorean, go back in time, and get a PPI done? ;)
 
HaHaHa regarding the BTTF/DeLorean comment. Trust me, if I could go back in time and do a real PPI inspection I would definitely do that. Here's the deal, this car, just like mine and his other red one he sold were meticulously taken care of, I'm not saying anything to the contrary. The pictures for my car were just as nice looking as this black car he was advertising. The purpose of me starting this thread was to make sure any prospective buyer didn't get suckered into his "BS" about being an honest guy.

Steve is an older gentleman, who owned all of these cars for the last 25 years (original owner for my Silver car and this Black car, 2nd owner for the Red car, but purchased in 92). If I learned anything from this experience, it was don't trust anyone! If I hadn't seen him sell the Red car just weeks earlier where he disclosed that it had been in accident, I would never have gone into my sale with my guard down. I figured, he admitted the accident on the Red car, he would surely admit if an accident occurred with the Silver car he is now selling. He owns 3 of these cars, is the original owner, has all original service work receipts, is a member of the NSX community, he must be trustworthy. Wolf in Sheep clothing is all he was.

I love my car, I've had to do a lot more work to it than I had expected, but that is definitely the price I paid by trusting him and sending a friend to inspect it who wasn't certified to do a proper PPI. The fault in protecting myself from getting screwed completely falls on me, but that doesn't take away how wrong and despicable Steve's behavior was in this entire sale. He flat out lied, to my face, and I wanted to save someone else the same heartache if they were considering this car. In the event I ever sell my car, I will 100% disclose the history, at least what I've been able to piece together. And I've now taken detailed pictures of all the paint and body repairs that have been done to bring the car up to the highest standards that I prefer to have it at.

Now excuse me as I go into my lab and continue to work on my Flux Capacitor. ;)


cars looks pretty clean, he took lots of pictures from multiple angels.
Seems like a collector car - its a 1991, lowish serial (608th NSX ever made) with ~41,000 miles and one owner apparently, his dad.
Leather/faux-leather inside looks good, not very wrinkled (although seats are covered so can't tell there)
small blemish on the ashtray cover
very stock

I agree price is about 10k too high, but for the right buyer - a collector enthusiast, its probably the right fit.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience, may I suggest you get into your Delorean, go back in time, and get a PPI done? ;)
 
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