Henry Gerrits Hendrikus Gerrits Car Sale Misrepresentation, Deception Cary, North Carolina

Before you buy a car from Hendrikus (Henry) Gerrits, or the company he created to limit his liability on future sales (Classic Investments), you should read about my experience with him.

I paid Henry Gerrits $13k for a classic car.  If everything he had told me in person, via e-mail, or in writing had been true, it would have been a fair price.  However, Mr. Gerrits deceived me in several ways.  According to the car restoration expert I am having fix the problems Mr. Gerrits deceived me about, or failed to mention, it would take more than $6500 to bring the car to the state I believed it was in, and $6500 is definitely the lower bound for all of the repairs (a more reasonable figure would be $9000).

While some of his deceptions can not be proven without a shadow of a doubt, since they are his word against mine, and I did not take a tape recorder with me when I spoke with him in person when I actually bought the car, there is one deception that can be proven, and it happens to involve a single problem that would cost me $5000-$6000 to fix correctly, and bring the car to the state he said it was in.  That's right, $5k-$6k, for one problem, on a $13k car.

After transporting the car to my home, and flatbedding it through approximately 700 miles of rain while doing so, I discovered that the car had a leak (several actually).  The main leak is very bad, bad enough to let a LOT of water in during my journey home.  The car can not be washed, or driven in the rain, at all.  Every ounce of water that goes into the fresh air inlet for the heater/vents goes into the cab of the car.

The leak is in an area (the cowl) which is welded shut with 150 spot welds.  The entire front of the car (the fenders/hood/engine) must first be removed, and then the 150 welds cut, before the part that is damaged can be replaced.  The part in question is the bottom surface of the cowl.

Mr. Gerrits told me there was no problem with the area in person (he had a plastic magnet over it which naturally drew my attention).  After my complaints about the massive water intrusion on the drive home, he mailed me a drawing of the area that shows there is no problem with the part in question, and that he had a "repair kit" added that would prevent possible future leaks, if they were to develop.  He even added text to his drawing that describes how to reseal the "repair kit" if there was currently a small leak.

In actuality, the "repair kit" he drew is not there.  In fact, the part of the cowl's bottom surface that keeps the water out of the cab by the manufacturer's design is not there (the cowl lips).  I and my machanic suspect it rusted out since there is rust present, but the cowl lips are not present ... at all.  Mr. Gerrits himself stated to my mechanic on the phone that he purposely had them cut out so the area could be painted better. 

The truth may never be known since Mr. Gerrits' story keeps changing, but whether or not they rusted out or were cut out, they certainly are not there, and neither is the "repair kit" that Mr. Gerrits depicted in the drawing he sent me, and it would take $5000-$6000 dollars to fix it correctly.

This is hardly the only deception, it is simply the most costly, and the one that can be proven.  Buyer beware when you are dealing with Hendrikus (Henry) Gerrits or his company Classic Investments.