Earlier I had posted about my sunroof once again being broken. In my search for replacement parts, I first tried my favorite salvage yard in Duarte CA. FAST (Foreign Auto Salvage Technicians) The Secor brothers have operated that salvage yard for years and they specialized in VWs. It had been years since my last visit and I made the assumption, there would always be Corrados & Passats in the lot. Every time I'd visited, I always had several cars to chose from. I should have known when they informed me they had not had Corrados or B3 Passats in years.
So I started my search online. All of the forum posts were very old and dating back roughly 10 years.
I started searching the VW Specific classified but to no avail. There were some VW parts search engines that said the parts I needed were NLA (No Longer Available) but indicated that some VW Dealers in the Ukraine might have them in stock.
I wasn't having much luck. So I decided to put in an "In Search of" post in the SoCal VW Parts classified section of the VW Vortex. I was naive to think these are straight up VW enthusiasts and I assumed since I was posting in the SoCal forums that I could pick it up locally and pay cash.
A guy using the name FreddieAlbert messaged me and said he had the sunroof rails for a Corrado. His selling price was $150. He asked for payment via Venmo. I offered to pay cash and pick it up. To my surprise, he said he wasn't in Southern Calfornia. He said he was located in Oregon. (Why was someone in Oregon responding to a SoCal classified ?) That was my first Red Flag. But naively, I let my eagerness to get a part overcome my better judgement. I sent him the payment and in return, he changed his Venmo name to "Scammer" and boasted about how he's taken several people using the same scam.
One of my trusted friends on the VWVortex later told me the Classifieds on the Vortex are full of scammers looking for victims. Beware
Lesson Learned.
So I continued my search, this time with a bit more caution and skepticism.
A friend brought a classified ad to my attention. It was for a complete Glass Sunroof panel and assembly from a B3 Passat on OfferUp. The Corrado never came from the factory with a glass sunroof. And the B3 Passat glass sunroof was a popular factory retrofit back in the day. I was excited at the prospect of a sunroof repair AND and upgrade to the glass moonroof!
I offered to pay the sellers asking price and that I would pick it up. No response...
A few days later, I made a second offer to the seller: No response...
I never understood why Offerup Sellers don't respond to offers or questions. Why sell on the platform at all? I'd read OfferUps FAQs that the seller is not obligated to respond under any circumstances. BUT, the buyer is obligated if the seller accepts my offer at a later date.
I continued to watch for several weeks with no response. I finally see the status change to "Sold - no longer available" Another disappointment.
My outlook wasn't looking good. Was I ever going to be able to fix my broken sunroof?
At that moment a Vortexer using the name VWgirlAZ messaged me with an offer to sell me the part. I responded that I wasn't going to pay online and that I'd much prefer pickup and paying in cash. The seller agreed -- except that the part was located in Phoenix Arizona!
Fortunately for me, I was planning a drive eastward on the 10 freeway and I would be passing by.
In July, I made my trip and I stopped by VWgirlAZ's garage and was able to acquire a used Corrado Sunroof panel along with the cables and hardware. It's fully disassembled and will need a thorough cleaning and assembly. Hopefully I can refurbish a working sunroof using these parts. Update coming soon.
Comments