I make money on the price I bought the car, when I come to sell it

[Stroller133]

If you have willing sellers and buyers then no problem. It's not like your selling them on at 5x market value to sub prime buyers in 15 year 5000% apr finance deals -are you?

The only buyers that amuse/-annoy me are the e-bay/ Facebook mongs that send pms saying will you take less as I want to sell it on for a profit!

[mouseflakes]

Every car I buy is so shit that I have to give them away.

[Cavcraft]

I'm holding out to find the time to get a pedal and pop working, pretend its a push bike and taking it on a train to Preston stuffed with £50 notes.

[Sigmund Fraud]

So this chap wants to buy a 29-year-old, £500 car, and expects it to be fully taxed, MoT'd, "running 100% smoothly" with "no surprises" !!!

 

I usually redirect such people to the closest Ford/Vauxhall/VW dealership and end the conversation.

[Pillock]

It's true that most cars come with tax.... If you buy them from a dealer.

 

As long as you never stated that the car has tax, he needs to put his hand in his pocket and admit he forgot to check.

[dugong]

Do enlighten us all!

 

 

I had one of its members offer to buy it four separate times and pull out, another one wanted it and cried off with a sad sob story. Two other 'prominent members' decided to give me a ton of abuse about when I pointed out how hard it was to sell. Lots of 'likes' on the Facebook page but very little real interest. I paid far too much for it and had unrealistic expectations as to its value. 

 

I toyed with moving it between units to break, but the costs were prohibitive and all I got were several people saying they 'might' be interested in the engine and dashboard with no offers made as to price (which would have been buttons anyway, because GS folk don't appear to deal in money, with a few notable exceptions). Got deeply sick of being told my spares cache (which included two NOS rear wings) was 'worthless' when we all know it would have been all the coin had the situation been reversed. 

 

At one point I was all for sacking everything off (including the large unit and everything in it) - the place, my spares, the 305, 460, everything bar the Amazon and C4, realising a low four-figure sum and using that to support myself for a few more months. The 305 went separately, but that's another story. 

 

I was sick of old cars and the old car movement at that point in time. All I'll say is that Citroen was very lucky to escape me cutting it in two with a circular saw - and that was only because I couldn't afford the rental costs. I wanted to do it out of spite, unfortunately. 

 

According to certain members, I should have given it away to a true enthusiast, or something. That was quite hard to read when I was down to my last £100 and hadn't worked full-time in seven months. Had another buyer not come through, a banger racer offered to beat the weigh-in price. Yes, I used that fact as a cheap threat. Sue me, I was brassic. I was within minutes of ringing a scrapyard on several occasions, but a close mate talked me out of it. 

 

It all worked out in the end, though - a specialist bought it for some money (yay) and collected it. And I got to own a car with real Sercks for a short while. It's hard to stick to principles when you have very little coming in from one month to the next. 

I still love the cars, but I'll leave the social gatherings, ta. 

[Jim Bell]

I kind of treat cars as a hobby, so generally don't mind breaking even or small losses. Cheaper tha playing golf or similar. If I get something cheap from a forum, I think it's only fair to offer it back via that avenue at a similar price. If nobody wants it, then eBay/gumtree and hope for a bit of proffit.

Proffit isn't a crime, but if I saw something sell on AS for £500, then it was up for sale on eBay straight away for £1250 I'd think the buyer/seller was a knob. Just my opinion.

[Micrashed]

The Maverick will probably be my biggest loss in  the shortest time.

 

Ive had a bit of fun with it, thumbed a raspberry at my mate Ivan with his £10K super off roader that he wont off road (in case he scratches it) but by christ on a pop and pedal moped it haemorrhages money.

[Cavcraft]

More than happy to help making the Maverick lose money for you, just say the word !

[Squire_Dawson]

If he can't afford or is arguing about a £600 car, he shouldn't be buying a car.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

He's just trying his luck i reckon, I dont think you can expect a £500 car that says on the ad 'contact me if you want it taxed' to come with a tax disc provided, but I would weigh up his plausibility, likelihood of another buyer coming along etc before deciding whether to sack him off. How much is the tax on one of these? Can't be very much for 6 months.

[dugong]

If he can't afford or is arguing about a £600 car, he shouldn't be buying a car.

 

 

Precisely. Bloke hasn't come forward with the money anyway. 

[scruff]

I would be annoyed as well Station. All this bollocks about his "travel costs" like you should feel guilty he's taken it upon himself to buy an old car on the internet that happens to be in Liverpool when he's on the Isle of Wight. Just tell him sorry but you aren't willing to tax it, if he wants it that bad he will cough up.

[Station]

He's already booked his ticket.

All said and done, 450 is still not a bad price for one of these. And it's pretty much sold as if he doesn't like it, it's either haggling more off the price (which I'm not going to do) or BUS FARE HOME.

[twosmoke300]

probably wants you to tax it cos he wont be insuring it

[HillmanImp]

I would have a piece of paper with the words 'Jog on dickhead' folded up in my pocket ready to pull out and hold infront of my face if he tried knocking money off for the tax. I would also have 'Did you not hear me' written on the other side for when he started complaining which I could then rotate back round to reaffirm the 'Jog on dickhead' stance.

 

I have pretty much lost money on all the cars I have ever owned except the few I have bought with the intention of making money on (Lancia and Sera off here). However I have owned them for quite a while and got good use out of them so am happy enough with that.

[Cavcraft]

You're in a reasonably good position now though. If you tell him to get bent he's wasted his travel money and if he arrives and tries to chip you down simply tell him to FRO and shut the door in his face.

He's hardly likely to go home empty handed for the sake of fifty quid or whatever.

[dugong]

Has he sent you the money yet?

Fingers crossed this ends well. 

[New POD]

As an amateur accountant*, I'd suggest that as a viable business, you are probably not breaking even, if you factor in all your costs.   You are almost operating as an unofficial charity, set up to "save" rare chod that would otherwise be scrapped, and also helping people into ownership. 

 

The price you charge reflects the fact that you are not a trader, do not offer a warranty, do not have liability insurance, and do not have to pay business rates.  That you are honest about your dealings reflects well on you, and I for one praise you.

 

 

* I'm not an accountant, but I do run a small ltd company, prepare my own accounts, and then have my accountant tell me, how far out I am. 

[New POD]

As an aside, I believe in the concept of Durable car ownership, and rarely go into the purchase of any car, without the belief that I'm going to keep it 5 years at least.  Sometimes it doesn't work out that way, and sometimes we keep a car for longer (so far the longest was 13 years)

 

My current daily driver has probably lost £1.5 K in Value over 3 years, and repairs have been larger than I planned (at least another £1800 in that time), but now I'm committed, I'm hoping for at least another 4 years out of it. By that time It will have lost another £2K I reckon.

 

This is unusual, as mostly I've never lost more than £300 a year in depreciation.

[Station]

You're in a reasonably good position now though. If you tell him to get bent he's wasted his travel money and if he arrives and tries to chip you down simply tell him to FRO and shut the door in his face.

He's hardly likely to go home empty handed for the sake of fifty quid or whatever.

 

I'm not budging on price. of course he will try.

 

Has he sent you the money yet?

 

Fingers crossed this ends well. 

 

No, if he doesn't come (he has sent me evidence of train booking) I'll relist it again. I've dealt with this kind of person before, but I think this is the first time they have actually made the effort to turn up.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Has he paid a deposit??