Buying a car on Facebook turned into a ghostly adventure

The Citizen

3 days ago

What began as a bargain hunt for a fuel-efficient car ended in mechanical mayhem and a mysterious flashing light.
Your parents always warned you against things like speaking to strangers, the tokoloshe and the boogeyman.
Still, they never warned you about chancers on the internet or aunties selling cars voetstoots on Facebook.
Everybody likes a good deal, especially in today's economy, where stretching your rand is a way of life in 2025. While scrolling through my Facebook feed, I noticed an interesting post in a comment section; little did I know I was walking right into one of those voetstoot-aunties from Pretoria East trap.
The original post was someone asking for a cheap, reliable vehicle that was light on petrol for under R35 000.
Not only did this resonate with my needs, but I was very curious to see what was up for grabs because the post had multiple comments – and what did I have to lose?
Besides, I was in the market for a new vehicle because my current car had had enough of my wanna-be-racer tendencies and I was getting desperate.
They say curiosity killed the cat and I couldn't help myself when I saw a lady's comment about her dying mother's little car that, according to her, ticked all the above requirements.
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For some reason, I assumed that a dying old lady's little car would be neat, reliable and running.
At first – the first two weeks – it did, until the day it decided to leave me stranded on the side of the road on a Monday during afternoon peak traffic.
If you have to be honest with yourself, you accept that you won't get a brand-new fancy car with all the bells and whistles with a second-hand car.
Buying an old car was like getting to know an iron horse that you learn to drive with all its quirks and funny sounds – like the gearbox link in third gear and the suspicious flash of the battery light.
When this light appeared for the first time on the N14 towards Pretoria, I honestly prayed myself back home, but because the car kept on driving with the suspicious battery flashing, I wrote it off as just another quirk of an old lady's car.
If I could ignore the window that wants to pop out, the missing sun visor and the indicators and lights not working at the same time, I could make peace or have faith in the battery light, right?
Wrong…
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When I phoned the lady who sold me this reliable, fuel-efficient get-in-and-drive car to ask if she knew what was wrong with the car, she shouted voetstoots before hanging up on me.
Now I had to get the 'new' old car towed back home, repaired and on the road again.
Also not admitting that I may have fallen for an auntie's sales gimmick, I asked the mechanic to check everything in and on the car in an attempt to save me from my poor decision made on Facebook.
The reliable little car needed some rewiring, a new gasket and a gearbox link, which cost another R4 000 – without the towing cost.
However, something didn't add up because when I fetched the car, the mechanic told me not only did the car start when the tow truck dropped it off at his workshop, but it hadn't given a single problem since then, adding that it was now good to go.
I then decided to name the car, Spook, aka ghost and drove off into the sunset. We drove happily ever after until that flashing battery light made its appearance again. This time, they say it might be the alternator.
I had to accept that the legend of the ghost car lives on – and the theory of the alternator was part of the Facebook voetstoots vehicle deal.
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