Things that really do your head in when selling a car

[Dan_ZTT]

43 minutes ago, dome said:

Is yours the Ex Wack one? Prob more than the Skoda is TBH. 

 

 

Yeah that's the one, you're right it would need to be a bit more (although not by loads)

I had seen the ad now, I remember. The scout version doesn't quite do it for me, looks like a good one though.

 

 

[Cavcraft]

6 hours ago, lesapandre said:

 What do we think the answer is?

Here is a few;

1. Don't ask a reasonable price - double what you really want to allow for offers and put off the batshit impecunious ?

2. Use a pay as you go mobile to screen callers - keep them away from your proper phone and life?

3. Put no offers no texts and immediately block numbers that try that or can't read?

4. Don't Ebay Auction cars - life is too short?

5. Put vehicles that deserve it on specialists or enthusiasts sites?

6. Don't entertain dumb questions - they must view to see for themselves - avoid getting drawn down the ' has it had its **** replaced' line of enquiry?

7. Just put basic facts in ads - avoid 'good bodywork' as it leads to how long is a piece of string discussions?

8. Don't tolerate the rude, the late or no shows - block them on a one strike you are out basis? 

9. Put a basic location in the ad to block off the where are you nonsense and if happens deploy 3.

10. Put no px or if you do be very specific - again deploy 3 in cases of sillyness.

Any more???

This may not sell a car but at least you can keep your sanity and 'own' your sale.

It doesn't make a blind bit of difference. You can put every last detail and scores of pictures up, and some bell end will either ask you a question already answered by said description/or in photographs, and completely ignore anything else at random. Maybe it's actually better if you attract people like this on social media, as you can just block them without even bothering to reply to their inane questions.

[overrun]

11 hours ago, twosmoke300 said:

I sold / swapped a Puma to the friend / relative of someone one here . ( terrible memory means I can’t remember who ) 

I drove the puma up to Taunton for the swap and shiters mate gives the puma the “ expert “ eye and proclaims the water pump is leaking . This was a surprise to me so I asked him to point it out to me - gestures to above the gearbox area where there was a pin hole in a pipe . Shiters eyes roll in embarrassment ?. 
 

Haha as soon as I started reading this I knew it sounded familiar. ?

[rusty998]

Last price boss ?

[DodgyBastard]

26 minutes ago, rusty998 said:

Last price boss ?

This or "what's the lowest you would take?"

[strangeangel]

3 hours ago, Cavcraft said:

It doesn't make a blind bit of difference. You can put every last detail and scores of pictures up, and some bell end will either ask you a question already answered by said description/or in photographs, and completely ignore anything else at random.

 

 

In support of my learned friend's assertion I would like to bring Exhibit A to the attention of the court:

 

 

I rest my case.

 

[Cavcraft]

1 hour ago, strangeangel said:

 

In support of my learned friend's assertion I would like to bring Exhibit A to the attention of the court:

 

 

 

I rest my case.

 

Fucking LOLZ. The absolute worst bit is though you can put your past quid on him saying 'soz mate, wanted 15"' if you'd have replied they were 14s.

[Christine]

Shoe on the other foot  , I did once have 1500 quid  in my pocket , and saw a Scirocco in autotrader for 2800 quid. ,  quick sale wanted .. in the next village. And I wanted it .. I'd  seen it driving about ..it was a good one . So I rang up , and said   look  I don't want to waste your time,. I've only got 1500...Come and look says he .Well he took me out in it and I did want it, it were lovely ? So he's trying to get me up a bit , but 1500 was all I had ! He gives me the keys to drive it myself ...And giving it the beans the clutch slipped .... He'd driven it perfectly to disguise the fact .When I got back , I laughed and said how well he'd driven it , I would never have guessed the clutch was fucked...And he laughed  and admitted he knew it was fucked...but wanted to buy an Alfa that was advertised.. Both parties happy..I got the car for 1500 !  New clutch and cambelt  for 250  and we had it for years !

[DoctorRetro]

I found the screen shots from my attempt to sell a Corsa B... 

 

Like I say, he did come and give me 200 quid in the end. 

[strangeangel]

"Sort of golden and smelly" ?

 

[High Jetter]

From Morrisons, then.

[srad34]

I am in Jan about to sell my old CLK. It's not perfect but I am dreading the 'best price for cash' mongs who will no doubt pick through every minor fault to try and convince me its scrap and they are doing me a favour. I am not looking forward to it at fucking all...

Twats.......

[overrun]

5 hours ago, TheDoctor said:

I found the screen shots from my attempt to sell a Corsa B... 

 

Like I say, he did come and give me 200 quid in the end. 

You deserve it, for using that font!

[wuvvum]

I always wonder why people seem to think saying "cash" is going to get them a better price.  What other payment method are sellers going to accept on a £300 car - Green Shield stamps?

[spartacus]

Not disagreeing for the sake of it wuv but it's a throwback from days when people wanted to pay via cheque and you either had to wait for it to clear or trust them! I think also some buyers assume that the sellers finances may be so poor that any money that is payed into an account will be swallowed up, hence a preference for cash.

Either way, I'd broadly agree, especially at the lower end of the market, every seller expects cash I think.

[bramz7]

Oh god, I detest selling cars. Good examples of this:

-Bloke who paid more than asking price (dunno why) without fuss, I thought I had struck buyer gold but he then crashed into someone later that day and fled the scene. Without insurance too. Great!

-Guy comes round, thrashes the living shit out of a car that isn't up to temp  (I am talking redline in all gears) and then moans when water pump apparently fails when he gets it home.

-Had someone win a car off of eBay, then their first question was enquiring for the reg number, despite it being in multiple photos. They didn't complete the sale.

-Had the classic 'oh can you shave a bit off of the price due to the distance I am travelling', I ended up scrapping the car. 

Buying cars isn't much better as I am quite young looking (and young I guess) so people just try and BS me a lot, but there we go.

[sierraman]

1 hour ago, wuvvum said:

I always wonder why people seem to think saying "cash" is going to get them a better price.  What other payment method are sellers going to accept on a £300 car - Green Shield stamps?

I think it goes back to Mike Brewer stood with a fan of 20’s waving it in the sellers face. 

[Angrydicky]

I always buy and sell through here where possible. Hate dealing with the general public! Lying shyster sellers and unreliable, idiot buyers.

[DodgyBastard]

I always buy and sell through here where possible. Hate dealing with the general public! Lying shyster sellers and unreliable, idiot buyers.

I find it much easier to buy and sell through anywhere but here.
It's easier to get actual money from the general public even if you do have to deal with the odd spastic.

Sent from my G3121 using Tapatalk

[stuboy]

when i bought the current mondeo for shy of 1k, an interested party ask would i put mot on the focus, umm no i have no more money pall and it was up for 300quid with mot for few months too

[sdkrc]

I too have given up selling privately. If I'm selling a £350 car I don't want to spend hours making the ad, dealing with 'lowest price mate?', answering questions that are in the description and then getting 2 or 3 no-shows when I could skip all that and scrap it. Every day it's on the road I'm paying for tax and insurance and my time is worth something to me.

I had an MG ZT-T up for £350.

It had a few weeks MOT, a leaky rear side-window and it would hunt at idle. Other than that it was perfectly useable. I got maybe 30 offers at under 300. I eventually gave up after 3 weeks and had a Greek guy give me £250 and a sob story about having to get back to Greece. Turns out he was legitimate but also absolutely minted and a robotics professor/engineer. 

Saying that, whenever I've given cars to family down on their luck it's bitten me in the arse. Lots of threatening letters from the French police and Marseille airport...

[sierraman]

I’ve sold on here to AMC Rebel (?) I think it was. Painless. He turned up paid was no bother. To be fair that was on a decent car that had no issues, I was disposing if it for my old man. Most of the time I’m getting rid because it’s clapped out. 

[Jazoli]

I have had mainly positive experiences selling on here to JohnK, Sims00 (twice) and Bangernomics (twice), I've also been given a proper runaround by a couple of people who shall remain nameless, just thinking about it my last 6 cars have sold on here.

[Split_Pin]

I've sold on here 3 times now and it was the most painless sale ever. I was actually asleep when my gold 75 was collected by @Tam, money through the letterbox, keys under the wheelarch. Beat that!

[ChampionRabbit]

12 hours ago, Christine said:

Shoe on the other foot  , I did once have 1500 quid  in my pocket , and saw a Scirocco in autotrader for 2800 quid. ,  quick sale wanted .. in the next village. And I wanted it .. I'd  seen it driving about ..it was a good one . So I rang up , and said   look  I don't want to waste your time,. I've only got 1500...Come and look says he .Well he took me out in it and I did want it, it were lovely ? So he's trying to get me up a bit , but 1500 was all I had ! He gives me the keys to drive it myself ...And giving it the beans the clutch slipped .... He'd driven it perfectly to disguise the fact .When I got back , I laughed and said how well he'd driven it , I would never have guessed the clutch was fucked...And he laughed  and admitted he knew it was fucked...but wanted to buy an Alfa that was advertised.. Both parties happy..I got the car for 1500 !  New clutch and cambelt  for 250  and we had it for years !

I don't think there's anything much wrong with saying "I have £1500, can I have your car?". If the answer is no, then fine. I absolutely ALWAYS contact a seller regarding what I'm willing to pay assuming the advert is accurate before wasting our time on a viewing, only to be turned down afterwards. I would have thought that most people would want to get the provisional haggling out of the way in advance rather than doing it on the drive? I suppose in a city where maybe there are loads of cars in a small area it doesn't matter so much in terms of wasted time...

[overrun]

4 hours ago, sierraman said:

I think it goes back to Mike Brewer stood with a fan of 20’s waving it in the sellers face. 

I’ve always laughed at the Brewer-inspired counting of the money to try and persuade me.

I shot one bloke down immediately when he tried it, by saying there’s no point doing that, mate. I know what 4 grand looks like. A thousand less than 5 grand.

I was selling a nearly new Cat D I had repaired (all new parts and straight as an arrow) at the time, for massively below market value - never getting into that shite again.

He seemed gobsmacked that his little trick wasn’t going to work. Unless you are on the hook to fucking Brighthouse at 4000% APR on a 65” telly and Paul and Steve are about to chap the door re rent arrears, I have never understood how the sight of a certain amount of money is somehow more appealing than the mention of it - if it is less than desired. ?

[overrun]

Three mentions of selling on this forum, on the last page alone and not one of you has mentioned flogging a motor to Barry Shitpeas.

Surely not?!

[sierraman]

The usual format for discussing price goes like this...

’Whats Lowes Price u’l Tek 2nite m8’ by text. The convo usually stops at this point as an actual face to face interaction is not possible with many of the usual fare on Gumtree, it’s all done through the semaphore of text. Anyway assuming they do actually have some money in their hand and have summoned the courage to actually come and look at the car lets say.

Then they’ve arrived and come out with a load of bullshit about what’s up with it then want a bit more further off now they’ve a foot in the door. Then cue some aggressive haggling.

In some parts of the world that’s how bargaining works, you pitch up and it’s an extremely tiring to and fro the aim being to get it for 20% of the original price. However given we are talking about buying a car not a Michael Cors (sic) handbag on a market in Marrakesh it’s considered annoying. Maybe that’s where it comes from, some bloke spending four hours trying to get a fake belt on a market on holiday. Eventually gets it for £2, thinks I’ll use this when I buy a car next. 

[bunglebus]

Actually I'd prefer someone looked at the car before haggling. How can you decide what you're willing to pay without looking at it? Fair enough the "I've got £x, will you accept it" routine if you're genuinely willing to pay that amount without further haggling.

[xtriple]

I used to LOVE selling cars. Just fucking love it. Loved the back and forth twixt buyer and myself, the haggle, the sniff of the cash. Now, not so much. I told one chap that I'd give him a ton off if he promised to fuck off and never darken my doorstep again. He bought the car. Threatened to set the dog on a bloke, who once he'd stopped laughing bought the car... Called one bloke all the names under the sun as he tried the wrong tactics on me and refused point blank to sell him the car even though he wanted it so badly he offered full asking.

I've sold cars when I've been so skint that if the sale didn't go through there was no dosh for dinner, that certainly ups the pressure but has not so far lowered the price! I've killed sales when I could sniff out the buyer was going to be a pain in the arse for ever after and stitched people into buying a car that was totally unsuitable for them when they have pissed me off too much.  I have stung people into finance deals where I've made five times the amount on the commision than I did on the car itself and also stitched my boss into finance deals which barely covered the price of the paperwork!

But, I'm a fussier seller than I am a buyer nowadays. If a cars a good un and 'right' then the price is the price (with a small margin) but if there's faults or I can't be arsed, then sell it cheap but do it honestly. List faults and flaws (usually filthy and smells of dog - wonder why?) and price accordingly.  Oh, and sell it on here. People seem to be much more realistic in their expectations here than in the 'real world'.