Dream Buyer

[Cheggers]

I've just sold the 159 to what I think is just about the perfectly imperfect buyer.

 

Let's looks at the evidence:

 

Undertook a 2 hour train journey to see the car, the only one he was seeing (and happy to tell me)

Knows feck all about cars (and happy to tell me)

Fell in love with the car the moment he saw it (and happy to tell me)

Finds car sellers intimidating (and happy to tell me)

Hates haggling (and happy to tell me)

Had the full asking price in his rucksack in crisp £20 notes (and happy to tell me)

 

I felt so sorry for the poor lamb I volunteered a £100 discount to cover his costs getting here and driving back to Kent.

 

Your best/ worst buyers??

[Richard]

The best buyer I ever had was the chap who joined Autoshite specially to buy my old LPG C5. I never met him, he came on the train while I was away buying the Volvo, paid my wife the asking price and I never heard from him again. I wish he was here now.

[Cavcraft]

Too many bad ones to list.

 

Good ones?

 

Many, not least of whom was Mr W. T Craft, who came and purchased the Renault Laguna I'd owned for about 25 minutes and the many others on here who've always been a pleasure to deal with.

[Bren]

Polish guy who bought my laguna.

 

The fact he paid me cash monies for an automatic renault makes him pure gold in my book.

[New POD]

To be honest, every car I've sold, has had one person, who came, haggled a bit, paid cash and was never seen again. 

 

There was one buyer, who I did feel a bit sorry for.  I was 18, selling a 125 having passed my bike test, and wanting something bigger (faster).  This lad was just 17, came on the train from Liverpool (about 15 miles), didn't even own a helmet, hadn't actually invested in a licence, and hadn't even discussed it with his parents.  I took him for a ride with a spare helmet, and he then paid me in cash. I asked how he was going to get home. He thought he could push it to the station and take it on the train.  Now I once achieve this with a flat tyre from Ainsdale to Freshfield on the last train of the night, but that was because the station staff, were not watching and the guard was in a good mood.

 

Anyway, I took pity on him and gave him a lift to his house in Everton Heights, where I gave him my spare helmet, and got the bus into Liverpool, and the train home.

[Matt]

The lad that came and bought my blue Polo was pretty good, he was damn keen on the car; phoned/texted frequently, came down from Inverness for it and paid the asking price without haggling even though I told him the photos were flattering. Didn't stop him selling it in less than a year and it getting scrapped not long afterwards (no tax or MOT since September '14). I bet it went to scrap with the unobtanium spoiler I imported. Still got his number actually, maybe I'll text him some time and see what happened to it.

[HMC]

One chap who won an auction of mine from e bay years ago.

 

No contact then a week later randomly turned up at my work expecting to take th car away. Eventually once back at the house he chipped away at the price with faults I'd listed on the listing. At this point id gone past caring. It also made me understand why people weigh certain mega cheap stuff in rather than bother with the general public.

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I'm an excellent buyer. I turn up, pay cash and take it away. I'm going to sell myself a car.

[EssDeeWon]

Sold my 1999 MK4 Golf GTI Turbo about 3 years ago.....I get a call one morning as im heading into London for work from a well spoken chap who also worked in the city, said he was buying the Golf for his son and if i send him my account details he will ping across the full asking price and his son will collect it tomorrow, hmmm not sure about but what can he do with an account number and sort code? not a lot!

 

Ok my account number is........ and sort code is....... and an hour later the money is there. Next day his wife drops his son off to collect the golf, didn't look at it, didn't want to go through the FSH, just signed a log book and drove it off LOL!!

[Timewaster]

The guy who paid way over the odds for my mk2 Cavalier.

I was at work when he came to look at it, my old man had been primed as to how low he could go on the price.

(I had been very ambitious / cheeky with the asking price)

 

When I got home, the car had gone and I was handed an envelope of £20s for the asking price.

Dad said "he haggled a bit, I had to give him the steering wheel lock!"

 

A £15 argos steering wheel lock.

 

Funny really cos when Dad buys or sells his own cars, he gets his pants pulled down!

[lisbon_road]

A friend advertised a Ford pick up (Ranger?) apparently an old one.

 

Sold to someone.  Fine.  Looks at address, Nigeria.

 

Automatically assumed a scam.  I'd have thought the same frankly.

 

Couple of days later, a knock at the door.  Two very polite gents.....from Nigeria.  Apparently they're worth more out there.  Amazing.  I think it was all of £300.

[New POD]

The guy who paid way over the odds for my mk2 Cavalier.

I was at work when he came to look at it, my old man had been primed as to how low he could go on the price.

(I had been very ambitious / cheeky with the asking price)

 

When I got home, the car had gone and I was handed an envelope of £20s for the asking price.

Dad said "he haggled a bit, I had to give him the steering wheel lock!"

 

A £15 argos steering wheel lock.

 

Funny really cos when Dad buys or sells his own cars, he gets his pants pulled down!

 

 

The thing is when you sell a car not belonging to you, you feel absolutely obliged to do your level best for them.

 

My parents sold my 1st car, a shitty spitfire whilst I was out and achieved exactly what I'd paid for it, before I'd replaced the engine and resprayed it.

[fred]

Probably my Camaro

Chucked it on fleabay - went for a decent amount, had a email from the winning bloke - from Madrid

 

Bollocks..... I thought

 

'I be sent man saturday forez car ' the email read 'ok mate heres my phone number' sent back to him

Guess I'd leave it till saturday before I put it back on.

 

10 am saturday morning Recovery truck with two other cars on it pulled up outside where I kept her, Spanish bloke got out - looked at car

nodded vigorously - handed me a big jiffy bag of notes, signed 'going abroad bit' on V5 and went awesome! 

[trigger]

My worse buyer was the one who got killed in a motorbike accident between paying the deposit and collecting the car a week later.

[EssDeeWon]

When I woz yung and living at home I had a MK1 Golf GTi Cabrio  (Angry Dicky this was bought from one of your teachers at KES)

 

Anyway I stuck it on fleabay when it became surplus to requirements, and one enquiry was from a northern bloke from near Leeds, asked a few questions etc etc and that was that.........Then about 7am on Sunday morning two quite nawty looking northern looking geerzers are banging on the door, Oh sh!t I better go down and see what these two fella's want, hopefully they have got the wrong house...

 

They had just driven down from North Yorkshire to Essex to collect the Golf, and there was me to greet them in primark boxers and not a thread more...

 

They were more than happy and drove it back no probs after handing over a brown envelope, I went back to bed and counted it later....

[andy18s]

I sold a Suzuki Freewind on the bay but didn't twig the username was sounded a bit foreign.

Polish guy phoned and asked me to keep it a week as he wasn't in the UK at that time.Sure I said, not really expecting to hear any more from him

Fair do's he turned up a week later driving a lwb Sprinter, complete with a C max on a trailer behind

Van itself was stuffed with baby pushchairs, car seats and all manner of house furnishings.

Most of which had to be unloaded to get the bike loaded up, then stuffed back in.

Guy paid in full without even starting it.He even asked for the tank to be as empty as possible for his trip home.....

Baby stuff goes for big money he told me.

Maybe I'm in the wrong job....

[Station]

When I was selling the Whizzkid, the bloke who was the first owner and had it restored saw my ad and had to have it. He said how much do you want for it? Considering I had it up for 1 grand, I said 1700 and he sent a cheque and then picked it up in his Studebaker truck a month later and then his mate drove it to a car show.

[New POD]

My worse buyer was the one who got killed in a motorbike accident between paying the deposit and collecting the car a week later.

 

 

Did he collect ?

[MrBiscuits]

A few years back, my 525 sold to the classic eBay timewaster. Won the auction then no contact. As I really needed it gone I waited a couple of days and tried a second chance offer. Next morning before work I get a call from a guy called Mo telling me how much he loves these old E34s and that he 'might' want my car but wants to come down to see it. At this point we establish that he's in Dewsbury (I'm in Portsmouth) adding to this the fact it is snowing heavily across the country I don't expect much.

 

Didn't hear any more from Mo that day. Then about 7:30, a knock at the door - Mo + mate, apparently just driven non-stop through the SNOCHAOS from Yorkshire in a shitty old passat. Hitting M25 at rush hour too by my estimation. I cleared the snow off the car and started it up, whilst he had a quick look round it (dark by now). He asked for £20 off because the stereo didn't work (loose wire which I would've fixed if I thought he was remotely serious), and given his epic feat to arrive I obliged. Then he gave me me the cash and was on his way. I can only imagine what the drive back was like but I got a text next day to say the old girl had made it with no drama!

[R9UKE]

Best have definitely been the three shiters off here who have flown over to Belfast for a car that hasn't been driven in months, needs fuel, electricity and the green slime removed, and they still go away with smiles on their faces!

 

Worst was probably the sale of my C5 V6 a few months back. Pleasant guy arrived in a new Scenic full of his family, he got out, introduced himself and starting looking around, explaining he needed a cheap auto as his arthritis was getting worse. The car was advertised very cheaply due to the ABS light intermittently coming on - which was stated in massive writing at the very beginning of the ad! Suddenly the wife, with a face that told many stories of an extremely bitter life, bounced out of the car and interrupted our civil conversation to tell him that her brother "Ricky" had told her these Citroens need a service on the suspension before they can be driven and I'd better factor that into the price.

 

He ignored her, gave me a look as if to say "you don't have to live with it" and started the C5 up. She looked in, saw the ABS light and well, the shit hit the fan.

 

"THAT CAR IS 100% ILLEGAL - YOU SHOULDNT BE SELLING THIS, THE BRAKES DONT WORK".

 

I'd had enough at this point seeing as she didn't even introduce herself and was now insulting me on my own driveway. She kept coming with the ill-educated so called facts and rounded it off with "and you expect me to put my kids in the back of this?"

 

I said "If you had spent more time learning to read, and less time gathering up the benefits by having more kids, it would've been the first thing you'd have seen on the ad, and you could've saved your time and mine by showering someone else with false information from your outspoken, hideous face". Her partner didn't say a thing as she huffed off to her car muttering expletives. He then turned to me and started negotiations as if nothing happened. I was that wound up that I told him to fuck off and grow a pair and parked the car back in the garage.

 

A brilliant guy with a Xantia V6 turned up and paid full asking the next day.

[Bren]

My worse buyer was the one who got killed in a motorbike accident between paying the deposit and collecting the car a week later.

I take it you gave him negative feedback?

[AndyW201]

When I sold the Astra, it just shouldn't have gone right. Everything was wrong.

 

- For a start it was advertised on the Middlesbrough section of Gumtree.

- In two days I had already had two no-shows. Quelle surprise...

- Then on the third day, I received a barely readable text. I managed to extract the information that it was a young lady who needed a car to transport her young daughter. She needed a couple of hours to get the cash together and could she have my postcode so she could come round in a taxi to have a look at it.

 

Just to humour her, I sent her the postcode and expected never to hear from her again. Bugger me, there was a taxi pulling up bang on the time she promised. Complete with a handbag full of notes for the correct amount.

Now I had been honest with her. The car had a number of faults (yes, starting with the fact it was a mk4 Astra. AVAS etc). It had been declared a Cat D in the past due to a slightly damaged rear quarter, it had the 1.6 16v engine, but even by ecowreck standards it was tapping it's tits off. And over the past few weeks it had developed a starting problem where 9 times out of 10 it would take 2 or 3 cranks to start. But at £750 it was still cheap for a 2003 SXi.

Despite this, she decided within 5 minutes she was having it. Even her daughter loved it because it had working aircon and CD player... Turned out her husband had effed off and left her with a wreck of a mk1 Clio that was so bad the police had pulled her and ordered it off the road. So the Astra was like a Bentley in comparison...

 

Should have been a disaster but one of the quickest most pain free sales I've ever had.

[JohnK]

Best one I had was for a Peugeot 106 Diesel.

 

I stupidly bought it blind on eBay one night after a few beers, no MOT, in a purple colour for £105. I went to view and determined it had a great fuck off oil leak and was just generally tatty. It was owned by a single mother who's husband had buggered off and left her. She was gutted it had failed it's MOT as it was all she could really afford to run and she couldn't afford the £300 quoted to get it back on the road. I got all kinda stories of how well it had done her.

 

I took pity on her and handed the money over and drove it away. Few days later I checked the MOT fails and I really could not see the problem. I boshed it in and fuck me it flew through. I repaired the oil leak (sump gasket), taxed it and ran it for a couple of months.

 

All in it probably owed me £200. I lobbed it back on eBay for £395 or best offer, sold for £350 - to the lady I bought it from!

 

She got a lift up and handed over the cash, I felt so bad that the garage had her eyes out I chucked £100 back at her because she was just all out genuine and I'm a decent bloke and 5 years later she still has it. She now uses me for repairs and I'm tasked with the annual job of throwing it on the truck to deliver to the MOT station (the same one who failed it!).

[Vince70]

My last buyer was a dream just a normal bloke he came around looked at the car and I had to force him to go for a drive and check it over as all he wanted to know was will a set of golf clubs fit in the back and gave me the cash no quibble and said it was cheap anyway so why haggle.

 

But you can normally tell if someone is straight and saying that it normally is as important when buying a car as the car itself as if the seller is dodgy then the car generally is.

 

Yet the A4 I sold previous to that was a complete nightmare and I put it up way too cheap as the phone didn't stop ringing it was low mileage immaculate etc etc and I sold it for £500

 

The couple who bought it seemed quite well to do types and the guy was ok but the wive was demented and looked over the car for two bloody hours and went through every single bill and bit of history on the thing afterwards.

 

It was the crying and shoving their bank balance In my face saying that their skint which done it for me and it nearly put me off selling again and if it wasn't for the fortune of my previous car sale I think I would of just given all my cars a Viking burial rather than selling them in the future.

 

I just bought a new one last week from a tattooist and his misses in Romford and I didn't bother looking it over I just did the paperwork signed a receipt and had a general chat about the weather and was gone in 10 minutes as you could just tell these people were straight as a die .

The girl wanted to show me this and that on the motor and I just asked if I could check the oil and water before I set off on my journey home and the young lady even offered me a can of unopened GTX out of the boot of her new pride and joy if I needed it.

 

So I find its normally more about the seller than the car at times if buying so when you get these shites around your house trying to knock you its because these are the shites that you wouldn't want to buy from yourself as the wheels will fall off once you've gone round the corner and think everyone is out to rip them off because their rip off merchants.

[Andrew353w]

I sold an orange "N" reg Wartburg to a guy from the Orkney Islands. Bearing in mind I live in Barnet, north London, this was never going to happen... but it did! As good as gold, he came by ferry to Aberdeen & then by train to Kings Cross & tube to Barnet. He took it for a drive to the end of the estate where I lived (about 300 yards!) was totally happy and handed me the full asking price in Scottish £20 notes. The only condition was that I had to deliver the Wartburg to a car transporter that was going to be at South Mimms services in 3 days' time, which I was happy to do.

 

I never heard from him again (he took the tube back to London & the overnight sleeper train from Kings Cross to Edinburgh & then an express to Aberdeen, followed by another ferry to the Orkney Islands) and I have no idea what happened to the car after I waved goodbye to it at South Mimms. The transporter driver had a good laugh though-he reckoned he'd driven everything, but had NEVER driven a Wartburg!

[D Spares & Tyres]

A friend advertised a Ford pick up (Ranger?) apparently an old one.

 

Sold to someone.  Fine.  Looks at address, Nigeria.

 

Automatically assumed a scam.  I'd have thought the same frankly.

 

Couple of days later, a knock at the door.  Two very polite gents.....from Nigeria.  Apparently they're worth more out there.  Amazing.  I think it was all of £300.

At my local auctions in deepest Herefordshire where its all yokels there was a tatty old 2wd hilux which I thought I would get for £500, but these two black chaps bid against each other all the way up to £1750! i knew they were good for export but not that good!

[D Spares & Tyres]

Tried to sell an Audi A3 with accident damage to some people from Bradford for £395 (130 miles?). Haggled on phone, I agreed to £300. Came down, picked all sorts of faults that were already mentioned and offered £280, refused to go  any more and went all the way home again for the sake of £20....