Why do we try and sell our old cars.

[kfsgo]

3 hours ago, Dave_Q said:

The Audi cab I bought recently which was on FB for 1000, the seller reckoned he was getting 2-3 messages AN HOUR which were either just "600" or offers of swaps for gold, quads, and dogs. 

It can play in the favour of a shiter as you can pick up a bargain just by being less of a shithead than the other people messaging. 

I got his number, asked some questions, had an obligatory attempt to try and get it a few quid cheaper, failed, booked a train, sorted. 

He held onto it for several days without a deposit or anything despite the ad being live and his phone pinging with messages about it even as he picked me up from the station, presumably as I had established myself as a human and clearly had my shit together enough to book and actually get on a train putting me in the top 0.5% of facebook marketplace buyers.

I quite like the one where you're selling something and you get some no-mark messaging from Dover or Inverness asking where you are and not even managing to be able to put the postcode you've given them into Google to find out for themselves how far it is, how these people manage to breath and feed themselves I have no idea.

It's no better in the land where the distances go up a digit. I sold an old Suburban last year and had people in Nova Scotia messaging me about it. That is:

[Dave_Q]

Search distance filter: continental

[kfsgo]

The annoying part of it is that you 'have' to take them somewhat seriously because enough people move from there to here for work for a while. Then you get 20 minutes in and it turns out buddy was just hitting the booze a bit too hard last night and thought the house it was outside looked like auntie Doris's down the way.

Thing eventually sold with no drama to someone the next town over who messaged about it half an hour after the ad was up and then disappeared for three months. Definitely less idiots out in the middle of nowhere, but things take even longer to happen...

[Vince70]

1 hour ago, Bitzer said:

www.fiatforum.com used to be a great resource for all things Fiat, but it seems its Punto Mk1 section went the way of all flesh.

Edit: Using the link reports you sold the car for Ł715, is that correct of Fakebook gimmickry?

I decided just to mark it as sold, as I knew deep down I couldn’t get a lower offer than £300 surely lol.

The old girl is staying and I will keep it for emergencies just in case one of the other 5 won’t  start in the morning lol

I’ve noticed on old posts on Fiat Punto Forums about 3/4 years ago  that you see a lovely old Punto that’s been carefully looked after for years with low mileage etc, that have cropped up for sale, then someone has bought them and the next year it’s been scrapped.

I wouldn’t want to see this old girl go the same way, as I hate seeing lovely old well cared for cars, end their life for the odd minor fault come MOT time.

The only problem is I won’t be able to buy anymore cars, but I think I’ve got enough cars to last me now till I’m six feet under lol

 

[Bren]

1 hour ago, D.E said:

That seems like a terrible way to make money. Buy scrap cars, offer said scrap cars for £500, deal with all the other numpties who'll try to negotiate a 50% discount, make a tiny bit of profit, repeat. How much could you realistically earn on a £500 broken car anyway, a hundred or so? No thanks...

A measure of how far the country has sank......

[Bitzer]

Just keep 'em running. I still miss my blue 5-door 55S. Terminal rust.

[kfsgo]

1 hour ago, D.E said:

That seems like a terrible way to make money. Buy scrap cars, offer said scrap cars for £500, deal with all the other numpties who'll try to negotiate a 50% discount, make a tiny bit of profit, repeat. How much could you realistically earn on a £500 broken car anyway, a hundred or so? No thanks...

As I understand it the real money is in selling the same car several times.

[maxxo]

I got so fed up trying to sell my red C5 with a knackered gearbox I ended up scrapping it

people asking if I’d give money back if it went wrong, asking if it’s alright to drive and asking if it’ll make it 500 or whatever miles home

had one who didn’t show up who seemed actually interested

in the end a local scrap man came when he said he would and gave me what he said he would, all organised over Facebook messenger in a morning

i hate selling cars

[artdjones]

8 hours ago, kfsgo said:

The annoying part of it is that you 'have' to take them somewhat seriously because enough people move from there to here for work for a while. Then you get 20 minutes in and it turns out buddy was just hitting the booze a bit too hard last night and thought the house it was outside looked like auntie Doris's down the way.

Thing eventually sold with no drama to someone the next town over who messaged about it half an hour after the ad was up and then disappeared for three months. Definitely less idiots out in the middle of nowhere, but things take even longer to happen...

My wife's Canadian, back in the 70s she had a friend, Fred,  who could make worthwhile money buying cars around  Montreal and driving them over to the West Coast. I don't know why, but prices in BC were very high compared to Quebec.

[Split_Pin]

My worst experience was selling an 07 Mini with suspected HGF.

I advertised it at £700 and some absolute tramp came and simpered over how much it would cost to fix. He had at least phoned beforehand and asked what the lowest I would take was to which I said £500 but after looking at the car here he bleated "Hmm I was hoping to make an offer on it" which was £400.  I took the key, sent him packing and went inside and locked the door.

The next day he offered me £475 which, on the day he came, I actually said I would have accepted but he refused to go any higher so on principle I told him to get it round him. What can I say, I'm that kind of guy.

Someone on here paid me £500 for it the next day,  came and took it away and used it for 7 months until it eventually shat its brains. Turns out it was just the thermostat so it was a good outcome all round.

On the flip side, I had a Cavalier up for sale for £1000 and I was a bit bristly with someone who asked if I would accept £800 without seeing it. Turns out he was genuine, came and gave it a sensible check over with his son, transferred me £800 and took it away. I'm still friends with them both to this day!

[Rocket88]

Worst culprits are one make classic car perverts. They think that you should sell to them at 14.67% of the asking price because they’ll “ look after it”……

[Split_Pin]

42 minutes ago, Rocket88 said:

Worst people are one make car perverts

Can't stand obstinate folk like that. Some Saab owners seem particularly evangelistic about their beloved marque.

[Vince70]

1 hour ago, Split_Pin said:

My worst experience was selling an 07 Mini with suspected HGF.

I advertised it at £700 and some absolute tramp came and simpered over how much it would cost to fix. He had at least phoned beforehand and asked what the lowest I would take was to which I said £500 but after looking at the car here he bleated "Hmm I was hoping to make an offer on it" which was £400.  I took the key, sent him packing and went inside and locked the door.

The next day he offered me £475 which, on the day he came, I actually said I would have accepted but he refused to go any higher so on principle I told him to get it round him. What can I say, I'm that kind of guy.

Someone on here paid me £500 for it the next day,  came and took it away and used it for 7 months until it eventually shat its brains. Turns out it was just the thermostat so it was a good outcome all round.

On the flip side, I had a Cavalier up for sale for £1000 and I was a bit bristly with someone who asked if I would accept £800 without seeing it. Turns out he was genuine, came and gave it a sensible check over with his son, transferred me £800 and took it away. I'm still friends with them both to this day!

I don’t know if it’s a mini thing, as I had serious trouble selling my lovely example, so I ended up keeping it.

I tried selling my R50 Cooper a couple of years ago and should learn from my mistakes as I put it up on marketplace for around £800 I think, with about a 10 months MOT and it’s mechanically spot on and it never uses a drop of oil or coolant.

Again I had the best price merchants and my favourite was from a guy who needed a yellow Mini and because he would look after it, told me I should let him have the car for £400 I think.

Its still giving me sterling service to this day and really is economical and due to the train strikes it’s getting used as my daily commuter and it never really gives me any issues.

I think it’s now on 97000 but I have noticed a slight rattle and a burning rubber smell today which seems to be coming from the bottom damper Pulley, which I believe is a common issue.

So I will be on eBay today to buy a new pulley and most probably go for an uprated solid one rather than the one with the rubber insert.

I’ve already bought the tensioner tool and a belt, but they’ve been sitting in a kitchen cupboard for the last 4 years and my other  half hates me using the kitchen for storing car spares lol.

 

 

[SRi05]

27 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

Can't stand obstinate folk like that. Some Saab owners seem particularly evangelistic about their beloved marque.

I live in fear of a saddo from one the Saab facebook groups parking next to me in ASDA and trying to talk to me

 

[Dave_Q]

1 hour ago, Rocket88 said:

Worst culprits are one make classic car perverts. They think that you should sell to them at 14.67% of the asking price because they’ll “ look after it”……

Enthusiast selling their car: worth a million quid for non-specific reasons related to their enthusiasm

Enthusiast buying your car: £12 max mate, that dealer sticker in the back window is from the second dealer that sold it at 3 years old not the original dealer so it's basically scrap

[Split_Pin]

6 minutes ago, SRi05 said:

I live in fear of a saddo from one the Saab facebook groups parking next to me in ASDA and trying to talk to me

 

At least you aren't me, I've got double trouble with the Rover as well 😅

Apparently it's the 'Law'.

[SRi05]

15 minutes ago, Split_Pin said:

At least you aren't me, I've got double trouble with the Rover as well 😅

Apparently it's the 'Law'.

 

Can't stand it 🤣

[skoda_fan]

10 hours ago, Vince70 said:

I decided just to mark it as sold, as I knew deep down I couldn’t get a lower offer than £300 surely lol.

The old girl is staying and I will keep it for emergencies just in case one of the other 5 won’t  start in the morning lol

I’ve noticed on old posts on Fiat Punto Forums about 3/4 years ago  that you see a lovely old Punto that’s been carefully looked after for years with low mileage etc, that have cropped up for sale, then someone has bought them and the next year it’s been scrapped.

I wouldn’t want to see this old girl go the same way, as I hate seeing lovely old well cared for cars, end their life for the odd minor fault come MOT time.

The only problem is I won’t be able to buy anymore cars, but I think I’ve got enough cars to last me now till I’m six feet under lol

 

This strikes a chord with me. I tried selling my mk1 Octavia a while ago. It is past its prime but running fine. I marked it as sold because I just got fed up dealing with idiots. I still have it and agree, I couldn't bear to find out it had been scrapped six months after selling it which is what happened to my Peugeot Partner that I'd grown quite fond of. I recently put my Kia Rio into a dealer for a couple of faults. They quoted a ridiculous £2.5k for a lot of mostly unnecessary work. I then thought maybe the time has come to chop it in but I can't see anything that appeals to me at a sensible price so looks like that's staying too.

[sierraman]

A few cars seem to attract this belief that you are merely a custodian, like you’ve been bestowed with looking after the Magna Carta and that you should let the Rover enthusiasts club have it for a pittance on the basis they’ve got 15 Rover 75s in their garden. Really when you want rid of it you want rid of it, if it catches fire at the foot of the road you couldn’t give a rats because it’s now someone else’s problem.

It’s a nightmare buying one from an enthusiast as well, Jags seem really bad for this as well. It’ll have all the Jaguar Enthusiasts Club stickers and it will have been clay barred within an inch of its life. But enthusiasts are sometimes meddlers and the enthusiasm outweighs the ability. Plus they will want four million quid for it, look at the crazy prices asked for diesel X types. We all know it’s got the dreadful 2.0 TDCI engine in and it’s as rough as a week sleeping on a park bench in Scunthorpe. 

[Split_Pin]

30 minutes ago, sierraman said:

A few cars seem to attract this belief that you are merely a custodian, like you’ve been bestowed with looking after the Magna Carta and that you should let the Rover enthusiasts club have it for a pittance on the basis they’ve got 15 Rover 75s in their garden. Really when you want rid of it you want rid of it, if it catches fire at the foot of the road you couldn’t give a rats because it’s now someone else’s problem.

It’s a nightmare buying one from an enthusiast as well, Jags seem really bad for this as well. It’ll have all the Jaguar Enthusiasts Club stickers and it will have been clay barred within an inch of its life. But enthusiasts are sometimes meddlers and the enthusiasm outweighs the ability. Plus they will want four million quid for it, look at the crazy prices asked for diesel X types. We all know it’s got the dreadful 2.0 TDCI engine in and it’s as rough as a week sleeping on a park bench in Scunthorpe. 

There will also be at least four of their loser mates backing them up and saying because it belongs to this guy it will be a good one.

I remember seeing a lowly spec Saab 93 for sale for £1800 through the FB page. It had the same issue as mine, it had the battery light on so in reality it's worth less than half that. However because it was one of old Wullie Swankie's motors, who thinks he is way more popular than he actually is,  it's value is somehow significantly more.

[Dave_Q]

I'm an enthusiast = I fix my own car with twin and earth, baler twine, self tappers/tek screws, and mix my own underseal from a secret family blend of creosote and Golden Virginia

[Split_Pin]

Usually you'll need to go and lie down in a darkened room after reading their eight-page for sale advert.

[wuvvum]

3 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Can't stand obstinate folk like that. Some Saab owners seem particularly evangelistic about their beloved marque.

Rover 75 owners are by far the worst though.  Absolute insufferable twats, the lot of them.

[Split_Pin]

Excuse me I resemble that remark.

[EyesWeldedShut]

On 3/15/2023 at 3:06 PM, sierraman said:

I don’t sell them, my policy is to scrap them when I’ve finished with them or I’ve bought something better to avoid this specific situation. There is a place I’ve dealt with for years and I ring them up and the come and take it away. 

^^ this 

(or if still has some ticket and moves then >  Leominster Car Auctions, no reserve, drop in car & keys, walk away)

[warch]

One marque car enthusiasts are a bit peculiar. Mrs warch once insisted we visit a Land Rover show at Shepton Mallet in Mummerset. I was walking around looking at the sorts of people who are really into Landrovers and thinking 'Fucking hell is this really me?'*

*To be fair I might have been experiencing Only Gay in the Village Syndrome whereby I felt my uniqueness was diminished when in the company of fellow Landroverites. 

Regarding selling old cars, I much prefer buying older cars (or inheriting Mrs warchs hand-me-downs) and then using them until the wheels fall off. As previously alluded to, people are completely unrealistic about buying secondhand cars and won't accept that they are buying something that is really at or close to the end of its economic life. 

 

[Low ontime]

Why do people turn up mob heavy to view a car? Even if it’s not for sale!
 

I just bought a bmw e30 few years ago, following sunday I had 5 burly blokes in football kits stood at the foot of my drive asking me what I’m doing with it and if it’s for sale (it wasn’t and isn’t). 
 

The last car I tried to sell (and never again for  the fear aspect of it) was a mk 1 seat Toledo sxe 8v,  was a nice one tbf . A absolute knuckle dragger of a guy turned up with WAG in tow, goes on test drive screams it up to 95 on a ring road close by told him to calm it down and if breaks you’ve bought it. Gets back to where I’m selling it and complains about the mayo in the oil filler cap (100% condensation no HGF on this as it was stood a while) to the point he is so irate I think I’m going to get smacked, his WAG calls him back and off he goes…. But not before a mouthful of abuse…Miserable dark drizzle filled November evening too… still makes me shudder about it as it was roadside advertised by a main rd and i was on my own.

 Sold it in the end to a baseball cap wearing beaver tail sort of character (still complained about the price) Cash on the hip never got another mot so prob dead or parts car. Shame really, as it looked great decent spec ;air con, half leather, basically a mk2 golf gti in a different body style.

[sierraman]

I think it’s best to vet anyone before they even contemplate arriving. You can often tell what a fool they are as soon as they open their mouth. Also don’t bend over backwards with viewing, give some of these fuckers an inch and they’ll take a mile. 

[Split_Pin]

Yes there's definitely a fair few I would not want on or near my property.

[straightSix]

It's not all doom and gloom though. I've sold about 4 cars through marketplace now which didn't sell on eBay/car and classic/here. Yeah you do get a lot of Muppets but it's easy to weed them out by looking at their profile etc. And if you treat it like a game it can be fun trolling people back. If you hold out long enough there are some decent people out there.

Tbh I'm actually more wary of buying stuff of marketplace than selling