Have you ever refused to sell a car to someone?

[Imhotep]

£400 1.25 Fiesta mk6 I had for a bit. Think I told almost everyone messaging me to fuck off about that one. Highlight was someone getting really offended I wouldn’t give the car to her because she was disabled. I’m sorry but sympathy doesn’t pay my electricity bill. 

Mondeo Ghia X 2.0, someone wanted me to guarantee the air con would work and wanted me to go and top up the (perfectly functional) air con, and then he’d be happy to pay me £200 under asking (it was for sale for £500).

[Rightnider]

I’ve sold many cars over the years. My method to avoid idiocy is to not disclose my phone number, write (in the bottom of the advert) that all interested can contact me with name, phone number and place of residence, and I will get back to them in order. 
 

If the car is very cheap, roughly 1 in 50 will have read and followed those instructions. Those who do are almost always respectful people with good manners and realistic expectations on the object for sale. 

[BritChod]

Three times: 

1) Almost 20 years ago. A 'police pursuit driver', as he billed himself, who drove so dangerously that I told him to pull over and get out of my car. 

2) A guy and his dad who spent over an hour looking over the car and every piece of paper in the ring-folder of history - which is fine - and then pretended to have thought the price was £1500 less than I was asking for it (more than a third of the asking price), and then offered an amount lower than that.

"Oh, I would never have been interested if I'd known that were the price, but we're here now."

I pointed out that it was already one of the cheapest examples in the UK, that the price was clearly stated on the advert and politely suggested that it was best that they go home, at which point they offered a perfectly acceptable amount. Too late. 

3) This is the worst, most aggravating one that still rankles today. A know-it-all who immediately started looking at all my other cars and recounting the better versions of each that he'd had over the years. Spent an age shuffling about the car, didn't want to drive it, didn't really like the colour and would prefer one with fewer miles that he'd have to do less work to in order for it to be up to his standard. This was my pride and joy. He went away to think about it and kept calling with additional, nonsensical questions before making a derisory offer. It was rebuffed and he gradually upped his offer to the full asking price, which I gleefully refused with my wife's words ringing in my ears: "You are not selling that car to that horrible little gnome!" 

I love buying cars, but my god selling can be awful. 

[cobblers]

When I was selling my old, fairly modified T25 about ten years ago a couple came to look at it and they "really liked it" but then they started asking questions about the service history 🙄, I knew they were gonna be trouble.

"I'm just worried that it's got no service history since 2002, and not a lot before that.. it's done a lot of miles"

150k miles for a 30 year old van. It'd been off the road stored in workshop since 2003, and changed the engine for one out of a golf gti engine anyway.

"Has it had a habitation check?" Get a grip woman it's a fucking van with a sink in it!!

 

I wouldn't have sold this van to these people for £2000 over asking price. 100% guaranteed they'd try and take me to court for emotional distress if it needed a new indicator bulb 12 months down the line, so I had to be blunt and say that if they were looking for vans with full service history and habitation checks, they were in the wrong place looking at the wrong vans.

 

 

[sierraman]

15 minutes ago, cobblers said:

When I was selling my old, fairly modified T25 about ten years ago a couple came to look at it and they "really liked it" but then they started asking questions about the service history 🙄, I knew they were gonna be trouble.

"I'm just worried that it's got no service history since 2002, and not a lot before that.. it's done a lot of miles"

150k miles for a 30 year old van. It'd been off the road stored in workshop since 2003, and changed the engine for one out of a golf gti engine anyway.

"Has it had a habitation check?" Get a grip woman it's a fucking van with a sink in it!!

 

I wouldn't have sold this van to these people for £2000 over asking price. 100% guaranteed they'd try and take me to court for emotional distress if it needed a new indicator bulb 12 months down the line, so I had to be blunt and say that if they were looking for vans with full service history and habitation checks, they were in the wrong place looking at the wrong vans.

 

 

People that usually bring someone ‘knowledgeable’ eg their dad. You often find though he knows square root of shit as well and asks ridiculous questions like ‘is it genuine mileage’. 

[sierraman]

1 hour ago, Imhotep said:

£400 1.25 Fiesta mk6 I had for a bit. Think I told almost everyone messaging me to fuck off about that one. Highlight was someone getting really offended I wouldn’t give the car to her because she was disabled. I’m sorry but sympathy doesn’t pay my electricity bill. 

Mondeo Ghia X 2.0, someone wanted me to guarantee the air con would work and wanted me to go and top up the (perfectly functional) air con, and then he’d be happy to pay me £200 under asking (it was for sale for £500).

There’s some* very sensible people on here that know the score when you buy a car at that price. Unfortunately in the wider world you’ve to consider the individual that has £500 to spend and is quibbling about trim or whatever is not the sort you want on your premises.
 

I know, I know you can’t say that about everyone but how many sensible rational people that are going to give you no hassle do you know that go round looking for £500 cars? Or is it that you get people that think in their head they’re going to get for less than scrap value then piss you about with every query under the sun or bullshit stories about bad luck? I’d wager you would keep people of this thought process at absolute arms length. 

[Verysleepyboy]

Sold a car once to someone in about 2012 I really wish I hadn't.....

2000 ish Mk4 Astra hatch 1.6 16V - decent enough condition, no mechanical issues but nothing spectacular, and at that time seemingly every fourth car on the road was a Mk4 Astra of some kind.

Had it up for £500 I think with short MOT so very much at bargain banger price for the time. A lad with a Liverpool accent phoned up one evening and asked to come and look at the car, fair enough, then turned up an hour later with a group of around 5 "mates", all mostly smoking their herbal cigarettes, which I wasn't impressed with as I had my young kids in the house at the time. 

He ended up buying the car for £400 as I wanted to get rid of him, before trying to demand another £30 back to pay for petrol as he was now skint.

Long story for another time, but it ended up with a series of abusive phone calls wanting his money back as the car had broken down on the way home, the police questioning me the following  day as to why my car had driven off from a petrol station without paying that evening, followed by him turning back up at the house threatening to hospitalise me before burning it down with me and my family in it. The scroat in question did end up doing time at Her Majesty's Pleasure for this and other related incidents though.

A thoroughly unpleasant experience, and one I would never want to repeat. Should not have sold the car to him......

[Tenmil Socket]

29 minutes ago, sierraman said:

People that usually bring someone ‘knowledgeable’ eg their dad. You often find though he knows square root of shit as well and asks ridiculous questions like ‘is it genuine mileage’. 

Pointing out things such as ‘the cable ties to hold on the wheel trims are missing’.

[delux]

Back in the day had a K11 micra. Mot'd recently serviced. Few dents and scratches and rear wiper motor had resigned.

Guy came to view it, explained he wanted to buy it for one of his clients! Spent 45 minutes sniffing round it, then asked to see it on the ramp. Spent another 30 minutes interrogating the underside.

'Ok, I think its worth £450, cash ok?' He proclaimed!

'If you are gonna spend an hour looking over a £500 car I can only see this as the start of a saga. The car is for sale but not to you!' I stated.

Another time, I had a Jimny for sale. Was washing it outside my house. Some obviously drunk guy told me it looked great and was just what he was after. To get him to 'move on' I said if he gave me a £500 deposit I'd take the signs off and let him sort out the rest.

Then I went out, when I returned Mrs Delux handed me an envelope with a phone number scrawled on it. 'Sandy dropped that off, he could barely talk, dunno who he is or what its for.' £500!

I took the signs off the Jimny. Waited 24 hours then phoned 'Sandy'. Number not in use! Jimny sat in my drive for 3 months, never saw drunk Sandy again. After 3 months we moved and I sold the Jimny to someone more sober.

Sorry Sandy! 😄

[sierraman]

59 minutes ago, Tenmil Socket said:

Pointing out things such as ‘the cable ties to hold on the wheel trims are missing’.

I did once have someone complain the paint finish wasn’t bang on for the bumper. On a £300 car. He reckoned it’d cost him £150 to get the bumper sprayed. I’ll not repeat my response, it doesn’t take much imagination. 

[Markeh]

I deliberately tried not to send more info on the Meriva to a friend who was interested, because I knew they wer ethe sort of person who would complain if anything went wrong. Fortunately before they chased for more info it had sold!

I have definitely withheld selling laptops and other tech to people though. Normally completely non-technical people who are trying to buy something that obviously won't do what they need it to do (e.g. people expecting a £50 desktop to run demanding games, people buying stuff on older/unsupported OSs that won't do the task they need it to - a popular one for this is people buying ancient tablets for kids not knowing they're too old to run the latest YouTube app). I have had at least one or two cases where the person wanting to buy it has learning difficulties, and while I could easily just take the money for it and know they likely wouldn't come back, I know that the moral thing to do is just not take advantage and sell them something that clearly won't do what they're wanting it to do.

[HillmanImp]

Muppet tries knocking price of cheap car down after agreeing price the day before.

[New POD]

1 hour ago, sierraman said:

People that usually bring someone ‘knowledgeable’ eg their dad. You often find though he knows square root of shit as well and asks ridiculous questions like ‘is it genuine mileage’. 

I had someone come to view a house for rent with their Dad.  He was like an unqualified Surveyor, who'd been tasked with buying a new house for an angry Russian with a gun. 

I had time say. Look there's a gas safety certificate, an electrical certificate and an energy certificate. If there's a problem, the tenant phones me and we agree how urgent it is and I get it fixed. Is your daughter employed ? No? Well she's not going to pass referencing? Are you happy to pay the rent? Are you going to be a guarantor? I don't usually rent to tenants who need a guarantor. I have 15 more people viewing today and 15 more who have expressed an interest. Perhaps she should stay living with you for now. 

[sierraman]

1 hour ago, New POD said:

I had someone come to view a house for rent with their Dad.  He was like an unqualified Surveyor, who'd been tasked with buying a new house for an angry Russian with a gun. 

I had time say. Look there's a gas safety certificate, an electrical certificate and an energy certificate. If there's a problem, the tenant phones me and we agree how urgent it is and I get it fixed. Is your daughter employed ? No? Well she's not going to pass referencing? Are you happy to pay the rent? Are you going to be a guarantor? I don't usually rent to tenants who need a guarantor. I have 15 more people viewing today and 15 more who have expressed an interest. Perhaps she should stay living with you for now. 

I’ve noticed as well there’s always a sob story, why they should be considered… I think this comes from these bloody programs on the television where they’re fucking shit at singing, talentless fools. But their dog died four months ago so you really ought to let them through to the next round… 

[Dobloseven]

31 minutes ago, sierraman said:

I’ve noticed as well there’s always a sob story, why they should be considered… I think this comes from these bloody programs on the television where they’re fucking shit at singing, talentless fools. But their dog died four months ago so you really ought to let them through to the next round… 

Remember that spoof  talent show Peter Kay did a few years ago? Can't think what it was called,but his winning character was Geraldine McQueen.

[eddyramrod]

3 minutes ago, Dobloseven said:

Remember that spoof  talent show Peter Kay did a few years ago? Can't think what it was called,but his winning character was Geraldine McQueen.

Didn't he have a hit record in-character?

[comfortablynumb]

4 hours ago, BritChod said:

Almost 20 years ago. A 'police pursuit driver', as he billed himself, who drove so dangerously that I told him to pull over and get out of my car.

One of my many jobs was a quad bike instructor. On a ' arrive and drive' event, a couple of older blokes turned up and wanted a go.

One got the hang of it pretty quickly. The other couldn't ride to save his life , hanging off the bike all over the place, over or under steering through corners, couldn't use a thumb throttle.

His mate was falling about laughing at him.

Then he told me the reason he found it so funny was that Mr incompetent was an advanced police driver! 😱

[delux]

I dont like to sell cars to people I know.

Not because Im dodgy but when they buy a car they take on some sort of legally binding 'free lifetime full warranty'! One that you, as the seller dont fully understand.

The first, newish, more expensive fixer upper I bought to sell was a 4 year old Suzuki vitara from copart. Someone drove it into something pointy that pierced the front bumper/grille, thru the aircon/radiator into the timing belt cover. A big harpoon/fencepost or something!

I fixed it with ebay parts and it turned out...as nice as any vitara could! Sold it to Mrs Delux's mate. She had it for 10 years, drove it terribly for close on 60,000 miles. But everytime something went wrong or wore out or was advised on an MOT she would be on the phone using phrases like '...but you did say it was a good car...' or '...I thought that part had been replaced before...' or the killer '...I dont expect it to be fixed for free but surely you can do mates rates, after all you are the one who sold me it!'

By the time she sold it I was ready to torch it!

'...I sold it to one of the junior nurses at work. I passed your number on as you looked after it while I had it. You know how my new car is a hybrid thing? One of my colleagues has the same car but she always gets better range than me. Could you just have a...'

Piss off Gillian! 😡

[bezzabsa]

4 people turned up to look at my (hateful) Mk2 espace.....spent ages looking for rust......even complained it needed new outer arches....

I then proceeded to bang the f*ck out of the wings - showering the floor with dirt..

Then I had the fun job of telling him to FRO as it was a Galv chassis with a fibre glass body... only metal was the petrol flap..

He then went on a rant about HIS espace not being fibreglass and paying for welding on the body for last MOT....

Got to the point my Then at the time wife, told the woman to take the guy away and not to come back...

an hour later she came back on her own and offered asking price + £50 for the aggro of listening to the twat. Turned out he had some Mitsubishi thing and not an espace, 

[lisbon_road]

I have sold a car that I've looked after and been in decent condition and gently declined to sell it to a friend.

Like anyone, I get the bit about 'once it has gone, it has gone' and you can't be worrying about it - just let it go and move on.

But I didn't want to see it every weekend gradually falling to bits so gently discouraged friend from buying it.

 

[Bren]

I have really only sold cars on ebay. My ads are polite - but firm.

I reply to genuine messages - I ignore any that have come from a shitgibbon.

I have never refused to sell - when I sold our 15 year old 150k passat pd estate somebody enquired if it would pull a caravan? ( it did have a tow bar).

I pointed out the age and mileage and there was nothing in the history to suggest it had had a new clutch.

Because if you say "yes" and it breaks down they are banging on your door. Those with the least money generally expect the most.

I sold my immaculate audi A6 - ten minutes later new owner is back - handbrake fault on dash - I offered a full refund. The new owner refused saying he loved the car - I gave him £100 back and he was happy.

[Amelia]

I've often talked people out of buying a car when I kind of got pangs of guilt while discussing it by message or phone, but never in person. 

I did try to talk the young woman who bought my pink Metro out of it a few years ago, because I knew she wasn't a old car type of person, but she was adamant she wanted it. It was scrapped within 6 months of sale. 🤨

[RustyNuts]

Yeah obviously the safrane - I've had one or two people stop by and ask if it was for sale, told them no.

Had a CRV on Facebook a few years ago, had to tell quite a lot of people I wasn't interested in their offer and no, they couldn't come and see it. Had several still asking, they offered less than half of what I advertised it at and were still demanding to come and look after I said no! Nutters.

[Lord Sterling]

Not had one directly, but....

A mate who asked me to help when he was selling his Astra. Had a couple of chancers try and haggle over the smallest thing. In the end I told my mate that they were chances and told them to do one. 

Another time, I once placed a car I had on eBay as I needed the money quickly, it sold and was duly picked up. The car was at a unit run by a chancer called 'Steve' who I used to know, he claimed to be trying to repair the car after it broke down on me and I mistakenly decided to send it to him for repairs.

When the other guy who bought the car came and picked it up, Steve was pissed off and banging on about how he should have the car and that I "owed" him for storage and repairs (despite the fact that the car was parked outside someone else's unit and he hadn't repaired it or even touched it) me and the buyer just looked at each other and rolled our eyes and got on with money and paper exchanges and the car was towed off. I told Steve to f*ck off, he was a right chancer who used people to run around and sell his cars for him and not pay them.

[Split_Pin]

I think most people can spot a tyre kicker as soon as they open the door. Humourless and moon-mouthed. Here are questions or statements which get a nil response:

1) "It'll cost me £x to have this or that fixed". It's an old, cheap car, the condition was described in the advert and most importantly I don't give a fuck.

2) "Such-and-such is goosed/worn/making a noise". See above.

..and the below scenario goes like....

3) If you ask me what's the lowest I'll take over the phone/text, I will tell you but if you come and 'hope to make an offer', I will take the keys, tell you this is not the car for you and close the front door. At this point I'll refuse to sell you the car, even if you offer the asking price. This happened before with a spares and repairs Bini.

4) 2 people max turning up, any more and the car stays locked as does my front door.

[sierraman]

A family day out to buy a car does seem to be increasingly common. Come alone or don’t come at all!! 🤣

[RoverFolkUs]

On 10/01/2025 at 10:27, sierraman said:

People that usually bring someone ‘knowledgeable’ eg their dad. You often find though he knows square root of shit as well and asks ridiculous questions like ‘is it genuine mileage’. 

I had one before "do the carpets get wet?" 

I did inform him that they aren't magical hydrophobic carpets to the best of my knowledge, so yes they will get wet. 

Obviously I knew what he meant, but it was a £900 car

[sierraman]

7 minutes ago, RoverFolkUs said:

I had one before "do the carpets get wet?" 

I did inform him that they aren't magical hydrophobic carpets to the best of my knowledge, so yes they will get wet. 

Obviously I knew what he meant, but it was a £900 car

My father in law always asks ‘is it genuine mileage?’. I’m never quite sure what answer he is expecting… ‘No, about an hour before you arrived I knocked 30,000 off it’

[grizz]

Having that fight right now. 
 

 

See screenshots below. 
 

 

If you recognise any of the people in the messages…… keep it to yourself please. 
 

 

I had a super shite experience years ago selling a 7k mile fully loaded, immaculate Honda Africa Twin. 
 

Often buyers don’t realise that I would rather set a car alight than deal with them or their shit. 
 

 

Please note…… first interest shown in August 2023. 
I actually declined a potential buyer as he was so serious. 

[Sheefag]

Always ask for nudes.
If they send them, they're clearly serious. But if they end up being timewasters, at least you've got something to show for it.
Of course, a Vicar will already know this.