Is DMC a good place to buy?

[Wingingit]

I am researching ownership of a DeLorean and am lucky enough to live near a DMC shop. They have two Ds for $31000.00 or so. Should I trust that these are quality Ds based on the price? I would never blindly buy a DeLorean based solely on the asking price, but is it a good starting point since it is valued by DMC mechanics?

[sdg3205]

There are a lot of advantages to buying from a vendor if you can afford it, namely that they've been worked on PROPERLY by real mechanics and come with a warranty. Hard to beat that.

[jackb]

It's not a bad place to buy, if it's within your budget. Even if the car isn't in perfect condition, you can be confident they've done a full inspection and will be able to provide you with a list of work it requires.
It depends on your own budget, desires, patience, and mechanical abilities.

[louielouie2000]

I have known a few people who have bought "pre owned" DeLoreans from the various DMC franchises. They've all been fairly solid & cosmetically nice cars. However, none of them have bought trouble free automobiles, and some have had rather large issues come to the surface. Continual maintenance, restoration, and upkeep is just part of owning a DeLorean, though. So before you chunk down $30k, really pepper the vendor with how deep into the car they've gone; how extensively it's been updated. Have the recalls been performed, have the necessary electrical & cooling system updates been performed? Ask if the water pump is original, if the engine valley has been opened up & refreshed (and if there is any engine block rot in the valley). Ask what the status of the trailing arm bolts is. Get under the cars and look front to back to see if there are any swollen original coolant hoses. Open up the relay compartment under the parcel shelf behind the passenger seat and make sure there isn't a melted fuseblock or any melted wires/blown fuses. Make sure everything on the cars works... heater, A/C, HVAC fan works at all speeds, blinkers, headlights, et al. Have the vendor show you the state of the fuel pump & it's rubber boot. Have the vendor pull off the wheels so you can get a better look at tough to see parts of the frame. Have the vendor show you what work they have performed on the car, and ask to see any past receipts the car has with it (most DeLorean owners keep every single receipt for parts/work ever performed on the car. Good cars have many thousands of dollars worth of receipts). This may sound a bit excessive, but if you're going to pay at the very, very top of the market range, I'd make sure you're getting a damned fine example of the marque.

[sdg3205]

Which vendor are you close to?

[rddmc]

I am researching ownership of a DeLorean and am lucky enough to live near a DMC shop. They have two Ds for $31000.00 or so. Should I trust that these are quality Ds based on the price? I would never blindly buy a DeLorean based solely on the asking price, but is it a good starting point since it is valued by DMC mechanics?

I purchased the first "refurbished" DeLorean that DMC Texas sold as such in July 2001. It had 3050 miles on the odometer then and has just under 20,000 miles now. It has been basically trouble free during almost 12 years of ownership. I can only speak of my experience, your results may vary.

Rod
10921

[thirdmanj]

Of everything I've heard the cumulative response I've got is less than favorable. I had a lot of work done by Tony's team down at DMCFL, and for the most part it turned out pretty good over all, but I know someone else that was, and is still very dissatisfied. If I could go "back in time" as it were, I'd have shipped my car to Josh at DPI (http://www.deloreanindustries.com) from all my dealings with him, his free tech advice, and over the phone hand holding, he's earned a customer for life. I know many others that feel this way, and Josh has an overwhelming level of respect in this community for good reason. I'm pretty sure he has some DeLoreans for sale too, and they're bound to be of the finest quality.

[Jonathan]

I read this as having a "buy" and "service" part.

Is DMC a good place to buy?

- Let's look at what your alternatives are:

DMC (and I assume you mean Houston and all the franchises)
DeLorean vendors (DPI, Grady, others I may not be thinking of)
Main Street Classic Cars (or other similar private car dealerships)
Bob from DMCTalk
Doug the random guy on eBay selling his car
Rick the farmer outside of town who has had one in his barn for a while
GM, Ford, Chrysler, Honda dealership (oh yea, that won't work)
Perhaps a few other places, like radio contests, etc.

- I think the one common theme no matter where you buy your car is that you must know the condition of what you are buying. If you look at the options of where to buy one, I think you can see which ones give you a better chance to get one where you will have an honest and accurate summary of the car's condition.

- In my opinion, you stand a much better chance of knowing what you are getting from DMC, the vendors, and most of the guys who are selling their cars here on the forum. I think your chances go down when you buy one through some random classic car dealership, or guy on eBay, or the neighbor with one out back.

- Best thing you can do is find someone you trust who knows DeLoreans and enlist their help in looking at your car with you. That to me means DMC and the vendors primarily. And don't forget that all of these places can sell cars of varying condition. And it is not good nor bad to buy one in pristine condition versus a project. The key is to know what it is you are buying in advance and pay for that car appropriately. It is pretty much that simple.

Now on the subject of service and maintenance, like a couple others said, you will be fixing and maintaining a 30+ year old car no matter where you get it. The best thing to do for yourself is to know what kind of car you have and its condition and you'll feel better about doing work on it. It makes it a lot easier to find a mechanic or shop or whatever to get work done on your car when you understand what should be needed on your car. As for trust, you can take your car to the most trustworthy mechanic your town has ever known, but if you hand him your mystery disaster car, you are inevitably going to leave after having a bad experience because of the bill he hands you. And it might not be from him taking advantage of you, it might just be that the car was a mess and you didn't realize it.

Hope that helps. Learn, learn, learn before you buy and fight the temptation to rush into it. Patience is your biggest friend with these cars.

[DeLoreanman]

Of everything I've heard the cumulative response I've got is less than favorable. I had a lot of work done by Tony's team down at DMCFL, and for the most part it turned out pretty good over all, but I know someone else that was, and is still very dissatisfied. If I could go "back in time" as it were, I'd have shipped my car to Josh at DPI (http://www.deloreanindustries.com) from all my dealings with him, his free tech advice, and over the phone hand holding, he's earned a customer for life. I know many others that feel this way, and Josh has an overwhelming level of respect in this community for good reason. I'm pretty sure he has some DeLoreans for sale too, and they're bound to be of the finest quality.

+1!!

I bought my car from ebay and let's just say it wasn't what the description said it was, so I can't say anything about buying a car from any vendor but I can about service and know plenty of people who have bought "certified pre-owned" cars from DMC. When it comes to quality of product, it's best to choose the person who has a passion for said product and not there just for the money. If you look at the differences in the standpoint of DMC and DPI you will notice that DMC(H) will tell you honestly that they're there for the business part of it. Where DPI will go out of their way to make sure the car is the best that it can be. One sees these cars as nothing more than a money maker, the other has a passion for these cars and spends more time with the cars then he does his own family.

Only you can determine what is right for you. My advice, from past experiences with both parties is go with DPI. There have been too many "new build" cars that required thousands of dollars to fix problems that so called experts shouldn't sign off on.

[Dangermouse]

I
- Let's look at what your alternatives are:

DMC (and I assume you mean Houston and all the franchises)
DeLorean vendors (DPI, Grady, others I may not be thinking of)
Main Street Classic Cars (or other similar private car dealerships)
Bob from DMCTalk
Doug the random guy on eBay selling his car
Rick the farmer outside of town who has had one in his barn for a while
GM, Ford, Chrysler, Honda dealership (oh yea, that won't work)
Perhaps a few other places, like radio contests, etc.
.

One other High Profile place is Barrett Jackson (or similar physical auction). Good place for sellers anyway.

[dmcpom]

I think no mater where you get a car from unexpected things can happen beyond any sellers Best intentions .
Buying a 30 yr old car or any car second hand can be trouble or not . You can only reduce this with as much info as you can get about the car/ seller . With the cars age all seals sensors head gaskets are all old and could let go at any time .

[eagle-co94]

Just how long is the warranty from DMC or the other vendors? Price is a big factor for me simply because of cutting out the middle man. We'll see soon enough if that backfires on me or not. Any car will have issues, but how well it was maintained is most important. If you don't have a car checked out thoroughly before buying it, you may be in for some surprises later.

[refugeefromcalif]

Just how long is the warranty from DMC or the other vendors? Price is a big factor for me simply because of cutting out the middle man. We'll see soon enough if that backfires on me or not. Any car will have issues, but how well it was maintained is most important. If you don't have a car checked out thoroughly before buying it, you may be in for some surprises later.

I bought 6599 from DMC Florida back in September 2012. It's a Certified car with a 12 month/12,000 mile Power train warranty.

Even with a Certified car, I've found that things, can/do, happen/fail. :(

It IS a 31+ year old car...

George

[eagle-co94]

Exactly...and almost all the parts are 31 years old...just out of the plastic or not. So how was it getting warranty service (if any)?