Most stupid message while flogging a shiter

[Cookiesouwest]

6 minutes ago, 1duck said:

If the car is as described there's nothing to chip later. 

The whole you have to see the car before buying stinks of the car is shagged but the seller is covering themselves with the old "you saw it b4 u bought it m8" 

If someone demands you see the car before offering a price that's a massive red flag for me.

Do you guys just not do ebay auctions? Because I'd imagine most bidders don't go view the car before bidding and rely on the description. 

I hadn't thought of it like this. I've turned down numerous offers before, because they wanted to agree a price before coming to see it.

Maybe I wont be so hard on the mouthbreathers in future.

[wuvvum]

I have to say that my experience (and I've flogged a few motors in my time) matches that of some of the commenters earlier today, in that if a price is agreed before a viewing, very often that price will then be used as a start point for haggling rather than as the price to be paid.

[loserone]

I've sold a few on gumtree and FB, all have been offers for a bit less than I asked but more than I wanted, and all have been met with "yes that's fine, but that's the price you pay.  If you look round and find something else to chip me away on, you walk.". 

 

Only one guy walked - when I was selling the legacy.  He had spent the whole day travelling, three trains each way.  To be fair if it had met his incredibly high standards he'd have paid twice what I wanted, and he wouldn't have gone home in it for 5% of that.

[bangernomics]

Nah I’m with you. People blindly offering below the asking price can fuck off. 

I do it all the time if I think the ask is above value but equally if it’s fair I just offer the ask. Then and this is the important part I follow through in every sense because I’m old. In fact my last purchase off here a week or two ago was a well reasoned offer based on a transparent description that was graciously accepted and completed without me ever seeing the car. The recipient (My dad) was very happy, the seller was happy after having the oh my wallet caught fire bollox from the other “buyers”. Equally I’m happy to pay over the odds for something I really really want.

I do find if the ask is polite and not an absolute pisstake I’ll accept it too on condition that they pay a lump in advance.

[sierraman]

I wouldn’t bid on a car I’d never seen unless it was verified as ‘good’ through someone I knew, the amount of cars I’ve gone to look at over the years that looked great in the ad then when you got there they were fucked beggars belief. Perhaps I’m a bit old fashioned, it’s part of today’s practice of excessive haggling that I won’t put up with, if you arrived and bid me £500 on a £1,000 car you’d be finding the door firmly in your face, end of negotiations.

Years ago you used to be able to filter out the likely candidates based on their general demeanour and poor use of grammar, but now it seems everybody seems to think it’s a market in Marrakesh and you offer 30% of the asking price to get things started followed by a series of sob stories.

The usual format is agree £xxx then come to see it, start quibbling about very minor issues on a £1,000 car to chip it down to the point they are getting it for free. Funnily enough a while back I was chatting to a chap who was selling his late fathers ‘04 Fiesta, it really was a pearl, full history, really clean inside and out, can’t recall the mileage but it wasn’t a lot, 40,000 seems to ring a bell, from memory he wanted £600 on it - practically nothing. Anyway it was a bereavement sale, the amount of people had turning up distressing the old girl with offering £100 and generally aggressive odd behaviour when they turned up. In the end he rightfully deemed at a time like that it was much less aggro to just simply scrap the fucker and avoid dealing with scumbags turning up at his door.

I think there’s a few things at play here, you’ve only got to watch these reality shows on the television, everybody has some sort of sob story as to why they can only offer you 10p for anything or why they never got to do something. It’s simply not relevant, I couldn’t give a fuck about someone’s personal circumstances, selling them a car is simply business. 

[1duck]

I bought a car last week, didn't see the thing, paid the money via bank transfer. Then arranged for a friend to go round and move it off the sellers drive by the end of the day.

I didn't see the car until the end of the next week, but perhaps i don't expect much from a car that i pay under a grand for...so long as it is more or less as described, i mainly go off the last MOT and see if their description matches upto that. I'm not going to turn up and piss people about over a hundred quid because the alloys are kerbed or what have you.

It does feel like 90s/00s cars are so well built that i haven't had one that was catastrophically shit in years, but perhaps i've just been lucky or my definition of shit is shitter than most peoples

If you really want to put off the chancers, ask for a non refundable deposit even a small one like 20-50 quid via bank transfer/paypal gift.

[anonymous user]

53 minutes ago, 1duck said:

If the car is as described there's nothing to chip later. 

The whole you have to see the car before buying stinks of the car is shagged but the seller is covering themselves with the old "you saw it b4 u bought it m8" 

If someone demands you see the car before offering a price that's a massive red flag for me.

Surely if you look at it and think it's shagged you don't buy it.

I also dislike the assumption that everything should be discounted for sale.

I must be different, I take a lot of effort describing anything I sell and try to set a sensible asking price.

It immediately gets my back up to be met with "what's the lowest" when it hasn't been looked at.

If there was any flexibility on the price I would advise that, but always request that the "buyer" take a look before making any offer or committing to purchase.

I had the wonderful experience trying to sell my A35 on Ebay. The chap who made an offer unseen, which I rejected, raised his offer slightly which I accepted. He then arranged to come to collect. He arrived with another car already on  the trailer. No he wasn't collecting but coming to have a look. 

He proceded to point out "faults" with the car, that were in the description, including that it "needed" a £3000 respray. And then dropped his offer below his original rejected one.

He was surprised that I said no and went back in the house. 

He later messaged me, raising the offer back to his original rejected one, I declined. 

He then rang me and was quite rude telling me it would never sell for what I wanted and would sit there as an unfinished project (It was driveable, usable and had just had new brakes fitted)

He then got his wife to ring to ask why I wouldn't sell it to him.

I no longer sell on ebay, mainly due to people like this.

Luckily for me a young lad into older cars (who already had a Morris Minor) came to look at it with his mother. We agreed a deal. He paid a deposit (they offered to do a bank transfer, but I wasn't set up for that at the time)

He came back at the weekend with cash, his family dropped him off and he happily drove it away to join them on a week's holiday.

 

[Agila]

4 minutes ago, 1duck said:

my definition of shit is shitter than most peoples

I can 100% confirm this is true🤣🤣🤣

You did buy my shite 107 after all.😉

(The thing actually didn't seem to do too badly for you in fairness)

The rav4 is distinctly better though. Well bought.

[1duck]

1 minute ago, Agila said:

I can 100% confirm this is true🤣🤣🤣

You did buy my shite 107 after all.😉

(The thing actually didn't seem to do too badly for you in fairness)

The rav4 is distinctly better though. Well bought.

Well it was definitely shite by the time i took it to arnold clark last week, it was a good little car...which then developed a god awful timing chain rattle as i headed to arnold clark, it was almost as if it knew it was going to be turned into a cube destined for china on the slowboat.

Still pocket money motoring 🙂 it never put a foot wrong, i really enjoyed it and you overly described every niggle on it!

[artdjones]

When I bought my Xantia in 2009 it had been up for sale on Gumtree near Dublin for weeks. First at €3000 then €2500, finally €1500. It was 9 years old at the time. I phoned him up and said I was definitely interested, but was it really in as good a condition as it looked. He then offered to meet me in the yard of Kent Station in Cork, about 90 miles from him and 30 from me. If I didn't like it, no hard feelings, but no haggling. I went down at the specified time, there he was, I took it for a short drive and coughed up the money, he went straight onto the platform and jumped on a Dublin bound train.

 The best everyday car I've owned. I replaced it with a C5ll three years later and spent years regretting it. The C5 was fine but the Xantia really clicked with me. It was a 110 HDi, originally sold by Marshall's of Cambridge.

[sierraman]

36 minutes ago, 1duck said:

I bought a car last week, didn't see the thing, paid the money via bank transfer. Then arranged for a friend to go round and move it off the sellers drive by the end of the day.

I didn't see the car until the end of the next week, but perhaps i don't expect much from a car that i pay under a grand for...so long as it is more or less as described, i mainly go off the last MOT and see if their description matches upto that. I'm not going to turn up and piss people about over a hundred quid because the alloys are kerbed or what have you.

It does feel like 90s/00s cars are so well built that i haven't had one that was catastrophically shit in years, but perhaps i've just been lucky or my definition of shit is shitter than most peoples

If you really want to put off the chancers, ask for a non refundable deposit even a small one like 20-50 quid via bank transfer/paypal gift.

I’m afraid you are in the minority these days. Most people expect 3 years free servicing, piss flaps, mats, a 100,000 mile no quibble warranty, free coffee, a birthday card for the wife and some flowers on the back seat for £1,000. 

[Datsuncog]

5 hours ago, 1duck said:

Do you guys just not do ebay auctions? Because I'd imagine most bidders don't go view the car before bidding and rely on the description. 

Nope, I don't - not for cars, anyway.

Maybe it's because I started my car-buying career back in the era of classifieds in the local rag, or - at best - a smudgy black 'n' white pic the size of a stamp in Auto Trader.

The amount of bare-faced lies told to me over the phone about the condition of various cars was enough to make me forever hesitant about agreeing to buy a car, or discussing a final price, without giving it a good eyeballing first.

("Showroom condition" = floor and sills entirely composed of pop-riveted plates; bodywork so dented you'd think scaffolding had collapsed onto it. Who knew?)

Generally I don't haggle; if I think a car's hugely overpriced I probably won't waste their time enquiring. If it's more or less as good as they've said, I'll pay the full asking price then and there.

A few sellers have advised they'd be flexible on price when I'm on the phone to them, which is good to know, but I've never made an offer before seeing the car.

Maybe I'm weird, maybe I'm fussy - maybe times really have moved on.

There's plenty of cars out there, though, and it's worked ok for me so far...

[Split_Pin]

4 hours ago, 1duck said:

If the car is as described there's nothing to chip later. 

The whole you have to see the car before buying stinks of the car is shagged but the seller is covering themselves with the old "you saw it b4 u bought it m8" 

If someone demands you see the car before offering a price that's a massive red flag for me.

 

What.

The.

Fuck.

Sorry, what I meant was, you appear to be suggesting I'm I'm untrustworthy seller peddling a nackered motor but I shall respectfully agree to disagree with you.

The Cavalier was well known on this forum, so good luck trying to claim it was fucked.

[1duck]

55 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

What.

The.

Fuck.

Sorry, what I meant was, you appear to be suggesting I'm I'm untrustworthy seller peddling a nackered motor but I shall respectfully agree to disagree with you.

The Cavalier was well known on this forum, so good luck trying to claim it was fucked.

Nah, i wasn't suggesting that at all, what i was suggesting is that if you don't know the person selling it then someone saying "you have to come see it m8" is pretty sketchy. It was a generalization sorry if you felt it was aimed at you.

 

If someone tells me that i must see the car before bidding, i just assume there's something wrong with it and they are trying to hide it. I mean why are they not confident in their written description of it?

what difference does it make if someone goes and sees it, compared to someone making a blind offer on it. I just fail to see how an offer of 800 without seeing it is any different to the guy who shows up walks round it twice sucks some air through his teeth then offers 800 quid?

 I think if you were willing to take 800 you should have bitten his hand off, especially after the second message.  I just don't feel like he has made some massive faux pas, but obviously opinions differ depending on previous experiences. It wasn't an attack on you or your car, which frankly looked a bit of a bargain for a nice looking cavalier (if you're into that sort of thing). I just didn't really think that guy belonged in this thread, as it wasn't the usual give u a broken xbox 2nite for it.

[DodgyBastard]

15 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

This guy made no sense to me:

 

It was probably that bald guy from the Addams family.

[loserone]

4 minutes ago, DodgyBastard said:

It was probably that bald guy from the Addams family.

Money here let's get it done bud

[Cord Fourteener]

15 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

This guy made no sense to me:

 

What's he going on about???

Guy makes no sense, after a bawbag opening.

[Cord Fourteener]

13 hours ago, bangernomics said:

Every “what is best price” twat ever.

My response: why don't you make me an offer.

What I want to say: like I'm going to do your haggling for you, you intellectually lazy arsehole.

[dome]

If I'm buying and I think it should be cheaper I'll sound the seller out with "is there any movement on price"

I don't need a number, I just need to know that there is. I've had a lot of success by viewing, leaving and messaging an offer the next day. 

It works both ways, the Manta was paid for in full on the basis of some pics and a video from a seller 500 miles away. For the Rangey the seller was so fed up with gumtree mongs messaging him that after I viewed he lowered his price as I was the only one who'd strung a sentence together and actually looked at the car.

[Supernaut]

I've also had experience of the whole 'making an offer before viewing' types.

They're always trying to then haggle further once they arrive. So I may come across badly to some, but I don't accept offers from people who haven't viewed the car. Mainly because, at least in my experience, they always end up haggling more.

I will admit, though, the only offers I've had before viewing have been utterly stupid offers to begin with, like 50% or less. So they just get ignored straight off.

 

What is it with all the haggling anyway? I sold some alloy wheels with winter tyres on them a few months back. Had them up for £50, guy comes to view them after much to'ing and fro'ing and asks if I'd take £40. I said yes just to get rid of them, but why even haggle for £10 FFS? I could have just have easily told him to sod off and he would have lost out for the sake of £10, though.

 

Meanwhile I just bought a car blind from the Midlands and drove it home, but that's something I only do on here.

[1duck]

5 hours ago, Supernaut said:

What is it with all the haggling anyway? I sold some alloy wheels with winter tyres on them a few months back. Had them up for £50, guy comes to view them after much to'ing and fro'ing and asks if I'd take £40. I said yes just to get rid of them, but why even haggle for £10 FFS? I could have just have easily told him to sod off and he would have lost out for the sake of £10, though.

You should have laughed at him and scrapped them it's about 9 quid an alloy scrap value anyway. 

I personally hate haggling, I don't mind being haggled, but I don't like trying to haggle other people. 

[New POD]

8 hours ago, Cord Forteener aka Tim_E said:

My response: why don't you make me an offer.

What I want to say: like I'm going to do your haggling for you, you intellectually lazy arsehole.

I've always said.  If there is something wrong with the car that I haven't described, I'd be happy to knock £10 off for every fault you can find, but the price is fair, so if you don't want to pay that price, and you can't find any faults I'm not dropping the price. 

But be careful with forums. You don't know the people, really.  Some may be more honest than others. Even here. I assume. 

 

[steveo3002]

you can only  think some people do say yes to the 50% offer....assume these chomps sit there messaging  every listing in the area , then if they say yes it gets parked on their scummy car sales site

[New POD]

4 minutes ago, steveo3002 said:

you can only  think some people do say yes to the 50% offer....assume these chomps sit there messaging  every listing in the area , then if they say yes it gets parked on their scummy car sales site

I think we should all agree on the phone. Then when they arrive say the price is now 150% 

I ask £1000, you insult me by offering £500. Well I've had a think and I want £1500. Take it or leave it. Cash. Now. Do you want a cup of tea whilst you think about it? 

[steveo3002]

3 minutes ago, New POD said:

I think we should all agree on the phone. Then when they arrive say the price is now 150% 

I ask £1000, you insult me by offering £500. Well I've had a think and I want £1500. Take it or leave it. Cash. Now. Do you want a cup of tea whilst you think about it? 

accept it then give a bogus address miles away ....waste each others time  

[Talbot]

8 minutes ago, New POD said:

I ask £1000, you insult me by offering £500.

It may not be an insult.  It's quite possible that the car you've advertised for £1000 is probably closer to an £800-£850 car.  Buyer puts in an offer of £500, knowing full well he's not going to get it for that price.  You suggest you could come down a bit to £950.  Buyer ups the offer to £650.  You have a think about it, suggest to him that £900 is the lowest you can really go to.  Buyer umms-and-aaahhhs a bit, then says he can make it £800.  You both have a think about it for a while.  You consider how much you want it gone, buyer considers how much he wants it.  One of you suggests meeting in the middle at £850.  Other agrees.

You get the £850 that the car was realistically worth, Buyer pays the £850 that the car was worth.

It depends a lot on what the car in question is as to whether I'll make an offer based on photos, on a visit, buy blind, etc. etc.  But I'll always discuss the price, based on the fact that most sellers will be trying to get as much cash for their old shunter as they can.  He wants to sell it for as much as he can.  I want to buy it for as little as I can.  It's then just a case of who's better at the process.

[Rod/b]

29 minutes ago, Talbot said:

It may not be an insult.  It's quite possible that the car you've advertised for £1000 is probably closer to an £800-£850 car.  Buyer puts in an offer of £500, knowing full well he's not going to get it for that price.  You suggest you could come down a bit to £950.  Buyer ups the offer to £650.  You have a think about it, suggest to him that £900 is the lowest you can really go to.  Buyer umms-and-aaahhhs a bit, then says he can make it £800.  You both have a think about it for a while.  You consider how much you want it gone, buyer considers how much he wants it.  One of you suggests meeting in the middle at £850.  Other agrees.

You get the £850 that the car was realistically worth, Buyer pays the £850 that the car was worth.

It depends a lot on what the car in question is as to whether I'll make an offer based on photos, on a visit, buy blind, etc. etc.  But I'll always discuss the price, based on the fact that most sellers will be trying to get as much cash for their old shunter as they can.  He wants to sell it for as much as he can.  I want to buy it for as little as I can.  It's then just a case of who's better at the process.

Unless they can be bothered to stand in front of the car, they can get bent. I wouldn’t even bother replying to a 50% offer online. Or any online haggling in response to an advert, because as mentioned above, it just becomes the new starting point to chip away at. 

If someone did turn up and then offer 50% of asking at least you can laugh straight in their face and walk away. 

[Talbot]

44 minutes ago, Rod/b said:

Or any online haggling in response to an advert, because as mentioned above, it just becomes the new starting point to chip away at. 

Well.... yes.  You've to expect that.  That's been true in second-hand car buying for years.  You advertise a price which is at least 10% more than you'd be happy with.  Anyone who puts an ask-price on a car (other than on here maybe) that is absolutely fixed with no wiggle room is naive.  You accept a slight drop over the phone/internet, and then expect another when they view.  If I had a car that I actually wanted to get a grand for, it'll be advertised for £1295.  I know it's worth a grand, the buyer knows it's worth a grand.  They offer £750 for it and we go from there.

If you laugh in the face of someone who's turned up to buy a car from you, you're going to at best still be left with the car for sale, and at worst end up knifed.  People will try their luck, but a "that won't buy it" will be a billion times safer than laughing at them.  As said above, the offer they make isn't what they're actually going to buy it for, they know that, you know that etc.  It's about playing the game.

[cort16]

You can see why a lot of car dealers have a no haggle policy now. I usually find if they've asked some sensible questions about the car first then make an offer it's worth engaging with.

If they come out the gate with £200 can pick up 2nite M8 you know they're a time waster as it's not an informed offer. 

[Talbot]

Absolutely.  There's a world of difference between a "200 2nite m8" and a well-written enquiry, asking about various aspects of the car (which *haven't* been mentioned in the advert!) and also asking about wiggle room on price.