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Buyer "sudden death syndrome" strikes again.


Lankytim

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It happens on here too. A prolific shiter left a £100 deposit on a car then ignored all texts and emails. Spineless twat, if there is a problem then just say. It's not like communicating these days is hard.

Folk are just odd though. Like you said if it's a problem just say. And if they want the deposit back just say fuck off!
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Mate of mine was selling a Carlight caravan on ebay a few years ago, some guy from Halifax got in touch to say he liked it but would we be able to meet him half way as it was a bit far for him (Essex/Suffolk border). He got arsey when the reply came back in the negative. Eventually sold to a charming man who flew from Japan, rented a Hilux and towed it straight to Southampton docks, loading it onto a ship then flying back all in the space of about 36 hours. We were convinced it was a hoax until he actually turned up with the readies and just enough English to do the deal

sometimes the weird ones do work out. My wife’s Golf went to a guy who worked on an oil rig. He sent a deposit and picked up about ten days later. I did tell him that I had been dubious as the old ‘on an oil rig can mate collect?’ Is a known scam and he laughed and said he had had a few people slam the phone down on him when he tried to buy cars. Her other Golf went to a Polish guy with pretty much zero English beyond ‘car for sale, where? Spell for me’ he turned up, looked it over for all of two minutes, paid the asking price in cash and drove off. Best buyer ever.
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Had one once where he wanted the car but had no money for a deposit BUT wanted me to keep the car for him. No fucking chance.

 

Another wittered on and on about any old shit that came into his mind. I couldn’t give a shit about his circumstances. Pay the money and fuck off.

 

One earlier this year, spent £20 on a taxi, generally annoyed me then taxied it back after I told him if the car I was selling was such a bag of shit then he’d better not buy it.

 

Now however I won’t sell cars, they just get baled after I’ve stripped them out, couldn’t care less how much of a waste or whatever it is, in fact the people who often bemoan about you crushing something saveable are the same people who haven’t got any money in their hand to do anything about it. Life’s too short for dealing with people looking to spend £300 on a car. 80% of them are fucking idiots.

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Conversely I never take a deposit. Full whack on collection and collection date agreed in advance. That way you can relist or keep on sale as soon as Walter Mitty is a no show rather than keep it off the market because you have £50 from somebody who has gone into radio silence but you're giving him the benefit of the doubt.

 

I had issues years ago selling a bike because the winning bidder paid deposit, paid to have bike taxed and then was (metaphorically speaking) locked up in the attic when his wife found out! Three weeks later he finally escaped and got in touch to say I could keep the deposit.

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It happens on here too. A prolific shiter left a £100 deposit on a car then ignored all texts and emails. Spineless twat, if there is a problem then just say. It's not like communicating these days is hard.

 

I had to read that twice, and then think hard about whether I'd agreed to buy something then totally forgotten about it!!

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I had a guy ring me about my old 405 Estate advertised for £300

I had honestly advertised it as the rough old workhorse that it was.

He asked so many questions about service history (none), what was the paintwork like (plaster), any scrapes or dents (not a straight panel on it), did it have the original radio (no), how many previous owners (loads)....

 

Eventually I had to say - Look I'm sorry but this is clearly not the car for you.

 

Sold it to some South African who wanted to keep his dugs out of his new car. Ideal!

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I have had it once when trying to sell a Polo. It was on Gumtree, was a cosmetically poor example, but I'd done a fair amount of work to the suspension so although it looked rough it drove as well as a 1.2 3 cylinder Polo could. It had an almost full MOT too.

 

The buyer haggled a bit because he'd had to travel to view it, which annoyed me but I just needed the car gone so I dropped the price. He was adamant he wanted it, called me over the next few days telling me he'd sorted insurance and would definitely collect it on Friday. Then never turned up. When I called him he said he was busy but would call me back. I never heard from him again, which is good as he probably wouldn't appreciate what I would have said to him for wasting my Friday night.

 

I sold it to my brother in the end, much less hassle. I think it's still on the road, although it's changed hands a few times since I owned it.

I gave the 320k mile £200 golf estate to our Dad earlier because I simply couldn't face the messers that'd haggle £50 on a £200 car that's just had two new calipers, discs, pads and rear springs and shocks done.

 

It's not worth your time on the small price stuff. People who look at sub £500 cars can't actually afford to buy and run a car at all a lot of the time.

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fucked about every single time except once when selling a car to the great unwashed. That is why I sell pretty much everyting on here :D

 

The once I wasnt fucked about I was utterly convinced it was another time waster

 

Turkish Kurd messaged me that he was in Germany but could pick up next night, ok he was 20 minutes late but he showed up with his chain smoking, redbull swilling mate. plan was to use it for Pizza Delivery in Blasingsmoke then relocate it to Northern Turkey. You honestly couldn't make this shit up.

 

Mrs thestag uses Facebook marketplace and every single enquiry is a time waster, never sold anything through it. Some folk even show up, make the right noises and then disappear off the face of the Planet

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Happens with sellers too.

 

I still have nightmares about a 405 I won on ebay.  Guy said he'd pick me up from a station near him in Surrey so I got the train down from Plymouth.  Tried to ring him half an hour before I landed, at the station and at regular intervals for the next three hours.  I was stranded in a tiny god-forsaken station in the middle of nowhere, so I eventually took about two hours and three trains to get to my brother's house who lived forty miles away.  Guy rings me up at 9.30pm, apologised and said he'd had a family emergency and offered to bring it round to my brother's an hour later.  All my instincts were telling me to tell him to feck off, but I still had that excitement you get when you've bought a new car so I said OK.  It turns up in the pitch dark so I accept it on trust, guy seemed fairly reasonable and apologetic.

 

This was the one which had HGF, which I discovered the next day when it proved a bugger to start and belched out clouds of white smoke when cold.  Thing cost me over a grand and I only ever drove it back from London.

 

Sellers or buyers, they're all members of the human race and come in all flavours.

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Going to back Carlo up here, with twatty sellers.

 

Looked at, among other fine vehicles, a Dolomite Sprint in 2002. Saw one in Wingham near Canterbury, needed a little welding doing but was keenly priced. Drove ok, was better than a few other cars I had seen, agreed a price, gave him a £100 deposit and said I'd be back the following weekend when I had sorted out insurance etc.

 

I had a phonecall from him wanting to delay the collection, then another, then another, each time the excuse changed. We agreed on another day, got the train down to Canterbury and one of my mates ran me down to Wingham. Car wasn't there, knocked on his door, no answer, rang him no answer. £15 of train ticket wasted, my time wasted, my mate's time also wasted.

 

Eventually I got home, 2 days later he text & asked me for my address as he would bring the car to me the following weekend but wouldn't answer a call or text I sent. Instead I got my £100 deposit back in the post in the form of a cheque.

 

If he'd changed his mind and didn't want to sell, or accepted a cash better offer than mine, I'd rather he was just upfront. At least my deposit wasn't kept.

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Happens with sellers too.

 

I still have nightmares about a 405 I won on ebay.  Guy said he'd pick me up from a station near him in Surrey so I got the train down from Plymouth.  Tried to ring him half an hour before I landed, at the station and at regular intervals for the next three hours.  I was stranded in a tiny god-forsaken station in the middle of nowhere, so I eventually took about two hours and three trains to get to my brother's house who lived forty miles away.  Guy rings me up at 9.30pm, apologised and said he'd had a family emergency and offered to bring it round to my brother's an hour later.  All my instincts were telling me to tell him to feck off, but I still had that excitement you get when you've bought a new car so I said OK.  It turns up in the pitch dark so I accept it on trust, guy seemed fairly reasonable and apologetic.

 

This was the one which had HGF, which I discovered the next day when it proved a bugger to start and belched out clouds of white smoke when cold.  Thing cost me over a grand and I only ever drove it back from London.

 

Sellers or buyers, they're all members of the human race and come in all flavours.

Reminds me of the time my mate Alex went to pick up an old Jag he’d won off ebay:

post-3940-0-43691200-1544435582_thumb.jpeg

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I've a friend who sold an old Ford Ranger on ebay.  £300.  To someone from Nigeria.

Sorry about the assumptions, but I can understand that he assumed this was a time waster.

 

However, a couple of days later, knock at the door.  Two smartly dressed gents, £300 cash, handed over and off to Nigeria it went!

 

I have sold many cars over the years.  I reckon the worst was a VW Touran.  Really rough, high miles, dents, rust and so on.  Thing is: its going to cost a bomb to run and sort out, so anyone with any sense should buy a better one or a cheaper type of car.  Reckon that dawns on them when they are about to leave.  Why people can't send a text to say 'changed my mind' I really do not know.  

 

I reckon that the more messages about when they will turn up, what special arrangements they have made, changed shifts, whatever, the less likely to show.  The ones that just say 'be there at 3', they'll probably be ok.

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I've a friend who sold an old Ford Ranger on ebay.  £300.  To someone from Nigeria.

Sorry about the assumptions, but I can understand that he assumed this was a time waster.

 

However, a couple of days later, knock at the door.  Two smartly dressed gents, £300 cash, handed over and off to Nigeria it went!

 

I have sold many cars over the years.  I reckon the worst was a VW Touran.  Really rough, high miles, dents, rust and so on.  Thing is: its going to cost a bomb to run and sort out, so anyone with any sense should buy a better one or a cheaper type of car.  Reckon that dawns on them when they are about to leave.  Why people can't send a text to say 'changed my mind' I really do not know.  

 

I reckon that the more messages about when they will turn up, what special arrangements they have made, changed shifts, whatever, the less likely to show.  The ones that just say 'be there at 3', they'll probably be ok.

Same with selling houses - the buyers who coo over your kitchen and the fact that you have a cat flap, view and woodburning stove never buy...the bloke who comes round says nothing and leaves is usually the buyer.

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I had a guy on the phone text and email from France when I was selling a Maserati 4200 , it went on for weeks , but he wanted me to drive it to Dover which I wasn't prepared to do, especially without a deposit , I finally cracked and said right £500 deposit

 

Ah arm sereous abaht buhing youer Maserati look I ave sent yeu a video

 

I opened the link and there was a video of a guy spannering a drift car

 

It ees me so now you know ah arm sereus

 

Fuck off , sold it next day to someone in the uk

 

That made me laugh :)

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If you:

Show up on time when you've said you would. (Shows you are serious)

Actually either have the cash with you or it's in the bank and accessable ASAP (ie: you aren't a chancer)

Treat the other party in a amicable but professional-type manner (ie: show them you are serious and wish to be treated as such)

Talk sensibly and show them you have a brain (getting rare these days)

Don't bullshit (you'll prob get sussed out if the seller is wise), grandstand and bore them with your life story (Hint: no-one cares).

 

Then IME, you'll get a bargain or at least the vehicle you want for a sensible price.

 

Most of the above goes for sellers too. 

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It happens on here too. A prolific shiter left a £100 deposit on a car then ignored all texts and emails. Spineless twat, if there is a problem then just say. It's not like communicating these days is hard.

 

Also been dicked around by a prolific shiter from here, who went radio silence after agreeing to buy it and collect on a certain date.

 

Then sold the same car on ebay, buyer sent me a £100 deposit and then disappeared, eventually made contact out of the blue around 8 weeks later, fed me some story about his mate being a heroin addict and owing him money and he was on the verge of losing his house etc.  I even offered him a month to get his shit together before I sold it on, if he'd had the decency to make contact after that then I might have even given him his deposit back, but he didn't so I kept it.

 

Then a losing bidder from the original auction made contact to see if it actually sold, did a deal with him and he picked it up the following day no questions asked.

 

Fucking hate selling cars

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Same with selling houses - the buyers who coo over your kitchen and the fact that you have a cat flap, view and woodburning stove never buy...the bloke who comes round says nothing and leaves is usually the buyer.

 

 

At least when Lady Grumpius and I pulled out of a house sale, we called the solicitor and made our reasons clear.  In that case, it was because of undisclosed covenants that only came to light when we had a draft contract in our hand.  They were obliged to tell us about them and didn't, so that kind of soured the deal...

 

On the subject of houses, my Mum and Dad sold the family home about five years ago.  It was bizarre.  One chap was into American cars, measured up the garage, etc., put an offer in, agreed to buy and then pulled out without saying why (probably had a mortgage refused, we think), then another chap viewed, put an offer in, agreed to sell and when it came to exchanging contracts, my parents were met with radio silence.  After numerous emails, he told my parents he'd been in India and could talk about it the next day.  Another two weeks went by and nothing, so my Dad told the solicitor to cancel the acceptance and refuse sale.

 

Guess what?  An hour later, the bloke turned up at the door step and started ranting.  My Dad told him that he was only going to discuss it at the seller's cost through a solicitor and slammed the door in his face.

 

The best thing?  The next day, our old neighbour (my old babysitter) got wind and came round to have a chat.  He lived two doors down with his young family.  He said that he'd been to a mortgage advisor and had an agreement in principle and he hadn't put an offer in because he thought it had been sold and that he never thought he'd actually be able to afford it.  Apparently he'd been looking at the house for ten years and had always wanted to own it.

 

My Dad looked at the numbers with my Mum and accepted it on the spot - obviously they put it through officially but even five years on we're utterly delighted that he got the house.  A lovely man, with a lovely wife and a lovely family who actually deserved a break.

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