If you buy a box that's wayyyyy below market value and you have reason enough to believe that there is something fishy about the whole deal, then a reasonable case can be made that you should've known you were potentially buying stolen property. And b/c these boxes have serial numbers, and you know the procedure now...call the manufacturer and see if there is a lien or not on the box, then you have no excuse.
When it comes to truck-brand tools and boxes, "market value" is a concept that's worth everything I flush down the toilet on a regular basis.
If I see a "deal" on a box, my first thought is "here's someone who's not an idiot, and not trying to **** me on the price of a toolbox".
Prior to this thread, I didn't know jack about the serial numbers, and being able to call up the manufacturer. I figured the stuff was bought on a standard unsecured credit line. So far, all I "know" from this thread is that's how Matco does it. I haven't seen any claims that this is what Snap-On or Mac do.
Further, there's no "reasonable case" to be made - if someone is selling an item on a public forum, the "reasonable case" is that "reasonable" people don't sell "stolen" merchandise, and I have no obligation to start tracking down world+dog to find out.
Were I to have made the mistake of buying something like this, and someone tried to come repo it from me, I'd tell them to take a hike, and collect their pound of flesh from the dirtball who actually stole it from them.
Only if they're buying it off a seller that still owes money on the box, and it's pretty unlikely they're going to take American Express.
I was referring to buying the box from the dealer with AmEx, not from the criminal tool-truck-tool-buyer.
So you think it's perfectly fine for YOU to buy a toolbox at a huge savings from that dirtball who still owes money on the box to the manufacturer of that box...but YOU have absolutely no intention to pay the remaining balance due on that box?
*I* didn't make any deal with a tool truck finance company. *I* am not under any legal obligation to pay off someone's debt. Show me the contract that *I* signed.
It's been established that mechanics don't buy these boxes on a regular credit card where the box is paid for and it's between them and the CC company. Rather, they sign a loan agreement with the manufacturer, and the collateral is the box itself. So don't give me the CC argument, b/c it doesn't apply here.
So, it's like a hate-crime. If you harm someone who looks like you, it's not as bad as harming someone who looks different?
Theft is theft, deadbeats are deadbeats. There's no gray area here.
Yes, I guess it is semantics. The semantics of defaulting on a loan and selling the collateral vs. the semantics of buying stolen property.
You still don't get it...if you benefit from the original purchaser's crime of selling something he DOESN'T LEGALLY OWN
YOU ARE PROFITTING FROM HIS CRIME.
SARCASM ON.
No, I get it. What I take away from this thread is that people who buy tools on credit from tool truck dealers are deadbeat slime, and therefore, I'll completely avoid buying tools from the deadbeat slime who bought tools on credit from tool truck dealers - you know, since we're painting everyone with the same broad brush.
BTW, is the grocery store where the original purchaser buys his groceries with the money I gave him for the toolbox profitting from his crime?
SARCASM OFF.
Seriously, though - it's NOT the same thing, and the Craigslist buyer shouldn't be obligated to jump through these hoops.
