The joys of selling a car privately.
Discussion
9mm said:
Things get tricky when the car you are buying/selling is less commonplace. The price guides don't necessarily mean a thing and in those cases perceptions of the value between seller and buyer can be very far apart. I wouldn't think twice about offering someone £5K for £10K (asking price) car if I thought the £10K was without merit. It's not insulting and not meant to be insulting, just one of those things. I could just as easily offer the full asking price if I thought the car was a bargain and the next person along would buy it. Equally I don't care what people offer me for a car I'm selling. Why wouldn't they try and get the car for the lowest possible price? Dealers do it all the time.
When I sell cars one thing I try to do is leave the potential buyer to inspect the car on his or her own as it can wind me up to listen to them trying to talk the car down. The other thing, if you don't want a low offer, is to say so before someone even turns up, or put no offers in your ad. That will put off a lot of viewers though.
Exactly, only Hank Hill pays sticker price. When I sell cars one thing I try to do is leave the potential buyer to inspect the car on his or her own as it can wind me up to listen to them trying to talk the car down. The other thing, if you don't want a low offer, is to say so before someone even turns up, or put no offers in your ad. That will put off a lot of viewers though.
KM666 said:
9mm said:
Things get tricky when the car you are buying/selling is less commonplace. The price guides don't necessarily mean a thing and in those cases perceptions of the value between seller and buyer can be very far apart. I wouldn't think twice about offering someone £5K for £10K (asking price) car if I thought the £10K was without merit. It's not insulting and not meant to be insulting, just one of those things. I could just as easily offer the full asking price if I thought the car was a bargain and the next person along would buy it. Equally I don't care what people offer me for a car I'm selling. Why wouldn't they try and get the car for the lowest possible price? Dealers do it all the time.
When I sell cars one thing I try to do is leave the potential buyer to inspect the car on his or her own as it can wind me up to listen to them trying to talk the car down. The other thing, if you don't want a low offer, is to say so before someone even turns up, or put no offers in your ad. That will put off a lot of viewers though.
Exactly, only Hank Hill pays sticker price. When I sell cars one thing I try to do is leave the potential buyer to inspect the car on his or her own as it can wind me up to listen to them trying to talk the car down. The other thing, if you don't want a low offer, is to say so before someone even turns up, or put no offers in your ad. That will put off a lot of viewers though.
I've just bought a car from a dealer, something that I don't often do, but the price was right, the spec right, and it was local.
There were 4 things that nearly stopped me buying it.
FSH did not include any invoices, so yes I can see all the main dealer stamps in the book, but I've always considered FSH to be a file with a copy of every bill, for everything ever spent (including tyres and wiper blades) ........But apparently I'm being Pedantic according to my wife.
Damaged Wing mirror. Not badly, but some tape in it. Cry's out to me "The owner doesn't care"
Paint Blemish on the bumper.... It's been repaired at some point but has a strange but trivial reaction, which is like a minor rash. My wife did not notice...Even when I pointed it out, she still thought me pedantic. I would live with it, but at the price I could find one without the issue.
Front tyres are 2 brands I've never heard of, but they are legal... Dealer tried to fob me off, with "Well it's a 12 year old car blah blah blah etc" ...Wife thinks I'm pedantic....
Passenger seat does not recline.
Had it been a private sale, I would have just used these points to haggle with, but I went for them fixing the paint, mirror and seat, which eventually delayed the purchase by 11 days.
My haggling was limited to, "I don't care what you say about the tyres, I'm going to spend £150 within the first month replacing them, but this is the first car we've seen, and there are plenty more for sale, so what's your best price"
Having got the car home, and polished it, I've noted a few stone chips on the bonnet, that require the purchase of a paint pen.
Thing is, buying from a dealer is different from buying privately.
If I'm buying privately, I very quickly decide whether the car is "good enough". I won't point out a list of faults if I decide I'm not buying it. I just apologise for wasting their time, and run away.
If it is "good enough", I'm expecting a few faults, so I'll make a mental list, and pick the most expensive to fix, and just haggle on those. If the advert paints a picture of it being perfect (for the age) and it's not, it's just an excuse to drive the price.
There were 4 things that nearly stopped me buying it.
FSH did not include any invoices, so yes I can see all the main dealer stamps in the book, but I've always considered FSH to be a file with a copy of every bill, for everything ever spent (including tyres and wiper blades) ........But apparently I'm being Pedantic according to my wife.
Damaged Wing mirror. Not badly, but some tape in it. Cry's out to me "The owner doesn't care"
Paint Blemish on the bumper.... It's been repaired at some point but has a strange but trivial reaction, which is like a minor rash. My wife did not notice...Even when I pointed it out, she still thought me pedantic. I would live with it, but at the price I could find one without the issue.
Front tyres are 2 brands I've never heard of, but they are legal... Dealer tried to fob me off, with "Well it's a 12 year old car blah blah blah etc" ...Wife thinks I'm pedantic....
Passenger seat does not recline.
Had it been a private sale, I would have just used these points to haggle with, but I went for them fixing the paint, mirror and seat, which eventually delayed the purchase by 11 days.
My haggling was limited to, "I don't care what you say about the tyres, I'm going to spend £150 within the first month replacing them, but this is the first car we've seen, and there are plenty more for sale, so what's your best price"
Having got the car home, and polished it, I've noted a few stone chips on the bonnet, that require the purchase of a paint pen.
Thing is, buying from a dealer is different from buying privately.
If I'm buying privately, I very quickly decide whether the car is "good enough". I won't point out a list of faults if I decide I'm not buying it. I just apologise for wasting their time, and run away.
If it is "good enough", I'm expecting a few faults, so I'll make a mental list, and pick the most expensive to fix, and just haggle on those. If the advert paints a picture of it being perfect (for the age) and it's not, it's just an excuse to drive the price.
Me and my mum had a lovely time buying my e46 318i, bought it off a couple who needed something smaller.
I recently bought a 525i over here in canada and again it was a good experience, although the phone calls leading t the purchase were very hit and miss as I was in contact with the blokes father, who was by the sounds of it, very old.
I recently bought a 525i over here in canada and again it was a good experience, although the phone calls leading t the purchase were very hit and miss as I was in contact with the blokes father, who was by the sounds of it, very old.
A few of my recent experiences.
52 Plate Saxo Furio, I advertised for £750, loads of the usual "is it still for sale mate?" text messages, a courteous reply of yes and would you like to view it was sent back, and got no replies, the people who did actually manage to come, picked out every dent on the car and tried haggling down on price, yet the car was mechanically sound, sounded sweet and had recently had a new exhaust on there, and even came with VTR alloys with good tyres. As foolish as it was, on one visit one of the brake lamp bulbs had just blown and the guy tried knocking off £30 for it, to which I couldn't believe and told him I had a bulb in the garage I could fit right away.
Finally managed to offload it to a young mum who's car had recently been written off, she bought a friend who was a mechanic and he was happy, ended up taking £720 just to see it gone.
X reg Corolla, advertised for £1k, phone rang off the hook, not wanting to sound racist but not one of them could string a good full sentence of English together, 1 guy even had somebody that sounded like his young son on the phone offering me £400 for the car and he would come right away. On that occasion I wasn't that polite and simply said your wasting my time please do one. Phone call again 10 minutes later, "OK, OK £600" I just said no thanks and hung up.
Ended up selling to someone who came to view it and left a £250 deposit and paid the rest on collection, knocked him £50 because when he came to view it the bonnet cable snapped so he would need to get it repaired.
Both of the above were advertised on Gumtree which is a right pain for hagglers or people who really want something for nothing, or expect a 10 year old+ car to be in similar condition to that of a 2 year old car.
Put a Lupo on eBay, had the usual silly questions, even though the advert quite clearly answered them, but in the end a trader from about 20 miles won the auction, he picked it up that weekend, I wanted to show him the car and the marks I had mentioned and the rattling tensioner, he paid me the money up front, had a quick look around, as in a 30 second glance, then simply got in said seeya and drove off into the sunset.
Alot of it actually relies on the kind of car it is, to what sort of idiot or genuine folk it does.
Working in a dealership though we do get all kinds of people trying there luck on the older cars wanting them to look immaculate, yet they are well priced for the condition the car stands in. With that I don't mean heavy damage being repair, silly things like scratches behind the door handle or a tiny nick in an alloy wheel, yet their usual part/ex has rusty arches, peppered with supermarket dints, bumper scuffs and usually stinks of dog, smoke, or to put it politely...poo.
52 Plate Saxo Furio, I advertised for £750, loads of the usual "is it still for sale mate?" text messages, a courteous reply of yes and would you like to view it was sent back, and got no replies, the people who did actually manage to come, picked out every dent on the car and tried haggling down on price, yet the car was mechanically sound, sounded sweet and had recently had a new exhaust on there, and even came with VTR alloys with good tyres. As foolish as it was, on one visit one of the brake lamp bulbs had just blown and the guy tried knocking off £30 for it, to which I couldn't believe and told him I had a bulb in the garage I could fit right away.
Finally managed to offload it to a young mum who's car had recently been written off, she bought a friend who was a mechanic and he was happy, ended up taking £720 just to see it gone.
X reg Corolla, advertised for £1k, phone rang off the hook, not wanting to sound racist but not one of them could string a good full sentence of English together, 1 guy even had somebody that sounded like his young son on the phone offering me £400 for the car and he would come right away. On that occasion I wasn't that polite and simply said your wasting my time please do one. Phone call again 10 minutes later, "OK, OK £600" I just said no thanks and hung up.
Ended up selling to someone who came to view it and left a £250 deposit and paid the rest on collection, knocked him £50 because when he came to view it the bonnet cable snapped so he would need to get it repaired.
Both of the above were advertised on Gumtree which is a right pain for hagglers or people who really want something for nothing, or expect a 10 year old+ car to be in similar condition to that of a 2 year old car.
Put a Lupo on eBay, had the usual silly questions, even though the advert quite clearly answered them, but in the end a trader from about 20 miles won the auction, he picked it up that weekend, I wanted to show him the car and the marks I had mentioned and the rattling tensioner, he paid me the money up front, had a quick look around, as in a 30 second glance, then simply got in said seeya and drove off into the sunset.
Alot of it actually relies on the kind of car it is, to what sort of idiot or genuine folk it does.
Working in a dealership though we do get all kinds of people trying there luck on the older cars wanting them to look immaculate, yet they are well priced for the condition the car stands in. With that I don't mean heavy damage being repair, silly things like scratches behind the door handle or a tiny nick in an alloy wheel, yet their usual part/ex has rusty arches, peppered with supermarket dints, bumper scuffs and usually stinks of dog, smoke, or to put it politely...poo.
Edited by Matt_L on Thursday 16th May 01:32
philmots said:
Skifledanabit said:
As a buyer, i would do as much as i could to save some of my money. If that includes pointing out every single dent, scratch and chip and it saves me a few extra £, im all for it. I agree it is annoying but when it comes to selling, its just something i expect.
You must be one of these who want a 5 year old car to be like it's come straight out of the showroom.You'd be wasting your time pointing stuff out to me. I'd be like 'yeh i know'
Skifledanabit said:
As a buyer, i would do as much as i could to save some of my money. If that includes pointing out every single dent, scratch and chip and it saves me a few extra £, im all for it. I agree it is annoying but when it comes to selling, its just something i expect.
Two can play the time wasters game. If some annoying twunt did that I would suddenly decide the car was no longer for sale, or that the price had suddenly doubled.Mr2Mike said:
Skifledanabit said:
As a buyer, i would do as much as i could to save some of my money. If that includes pointing out every single dent, scratch and chip and it saves me a few extra £, im all for it. I agree it is annoying but when it comes to selling, its just something i expect.
Two can play the time wasters game. If some annoying twunt did that I would suddenly decide the car was no longer for sale, or that the price had suddenly doubled.9mm said:
Mr2Mike said:
Skifledanabit said:
As a buyer, i would do as much as i could to save some of my money. If that includes pointing out every single dent, scratch and chip and it saves me a few extra £, im all for it. I agree it is annoying but when it comes to selling, its just something i expect.
Two can play the time wasters game. If some annoying twunt did that I would suddenly decide the car was no longer for sale, or that the price had suddenly doubled.I had a mate who would once had a potential buyer offer £250 quid less, and so his next offer was £250 more.
I think the conversation went.
So how much would you take for the car?
Advert says £1000 no offers.
I'll give you £750.
I can let you have it for £1250.
Pardon?
Well you obviously didn't understand what no offers means.
Well I can come up to £800.
I can come down to £1200 then
£900? Would you take that ?
£1100 would you pay that?
£950?
how about £1050
Look I'll give you £1000 if you throw in the Haynes manual.
I'll let you have it for £1000, with the manual if you give me your shirt.
I like this shirt.
I'm joking. £1000 it is, I was going to leave the manual in the glove box anyway.
Deal.
Ive sold almost every car I have ever owned to the first person who looked at it. I cannot abide people so go to lengths to describe everything in depth to avoid all this kind of s
t. I am the opposite of a salesperson and can make the most pristine car sound like a heap of st. I prefer to sell cheaply than deal with tossers.
t. I am the opposite of a salesperson and can make the most pristine car sound like a heap of st. I prefer to sell cheaply than deal with tossers.New POD said:
FSH did not include any invoices, so yes I can see all the main dealer stamps in the book, but I've always considered FSH to be a file with a copy of every bill, for everything ever spent (including tyres and wiper blades) ........But apparently I'm being Pedantic according to my wife.
If the car has been serviced on any sort of service plan then you almost never get an invoice - it's sent to whoever is paying the bill and they won't give you a copy as the rates are half what the public pay.When we p/x'd wifey's car I had all the old MOTs and other paperwork. The dealer took the current MOT and put everyhting else to one side, and I was left with the distinct impression it was only to spare my feelings that he didn't drop it straight into the bin.
New POD said:
Paint Blemish on the bumper.... It's been repaired at some point but has a strange but trivial reaction, which is like a minor rash.
SMART repairs often seem to do that after 2-3 years.I've sold shed loads of cars over the years.. All private. I like changing my cars.
Never really had any issues to be fair. Can only think of 2 occasions where people have come to view and not left a deposit or driven the car away.
Once was a Honda CRX 1.6 16v. Absolutely immaculate in and out bar bubbling on one of the rear arches. Was a young lad that wanted to buy it and came with his dad and a mate. None of them were insured for the car so I offered to take one of them out for a drive. The Dad insisted it would be him. Made me perform all sorts of manoeuvres. Never really said much. Got back, looking under the bonnet he chirps up that it's been in a front end accident. He did try to point out evidence to me but I couldn't see what he was. Something about the welding when it looked factory to me. The 3 of them said they would think about it and retreated to the car they came in.
About an hour later after I assumed they had left, the young lad knocks on the door asking if I would drop the price a few hundred. I said no. He left. Never heard from them again and sold it to someone else a few days later.
The other time was my partners Fiat Stilo. I had photographed it on the drive and put it on ebay. One evening, a random knock at the door. A couple standing there asking to have a look. They had seen it on ebay, recognised the road and thought they would just pop round...
Spent about half hour showing them round, test drive etc. but they walked because it wasn't the right diesel engine (clearly stated in the ad which one it was)
Was not happy.
Never really had any issues to be fair. Can only think of 2 occasions where people have come to view and not left a deposit or driven the car away.
Once was a Honda CRX 1.6 16v. Absolutely immaculate in and out bar bubbling on one of the rear arches. Was a young lad that wanted to buy it and came with his dad and a mate. None of them were insured for the car so I offered to take one of them out for a drive. The Dad insisted it would be him. Made me perform all sorts of manoeuvres. Never really said much. Got back, looking under the bonnet he chirps up that it's been in a front end accident. He did try to point out evidence to me but I couldn't see what he was. Something about the welding when it looked factory to me. The 3 of them said they would think about it and retreated to the car they came in.
About an hour later after I assumed they had left, the young lad knocks on the door asking if I would drop the price a few hundred. I said no. He left. Never heard from them again and sold it to someone else a few days later.
The other time was my partners Fiat Stilo. I had photographed it on the drive and put it on ebay. One evening, a random knock at the door. A couple standing there asking to have a look. They had seen it on ebay, recognised the road and thought they would just pop round...
Spent about half hour showing them round, test drive etc. but they walked because it wasn't the right diesel engine (clearly stated in the ad which one it was)
Was not happy.I did a thread like this recently.
I won't state the criteria here, but I've adopted a strict filering criteria which has saved me from some real idiots I suspect.
For example, if I wanted 3 generations of the family turning up to view - accompanied by 3 brothers - I would have asked my friend to come around a draw a fking family tree for their records. My filtering mechanism gets rid of idiots like these!
Might take longer to sell, but far less stress.
I won't state the criteria here, but I've adopted a strict filering criteria which has saved me from some real idiots I suspect.
For example, if I wanted 3 generations of the family turning up to view - accompanied by 3 brothers - I would have asked my friend to come around a draw a f
king family tree for their records. My filtering mechanism gets rid of idiots like these!Might take longer to sell, but far less stress.
Mr2Mike said:
Skifledanabit said:
As a buyer, i would do as much as i could to save some of my money. If that includes pointing out every single dent, scratch and chip and it saves me a few extra £, im all for it. I agree it is annoying but when it comes to selling, its just something i expect.
Two can play the time wasters game. If some annoying twunt did that I would suddenly decide the car was no longer for sale, or that the price had suddenly doubled.Tell them it's not the car for them and end the conversation.
In 2001 i was selling my trusty diesel Escort. Got a ton of calls a few hours after the advert appeared in the local freeads (remember those?), with one particular woman wanting to get in first and see it ASAP
Arranged to meet outside my work in my lunch hour - lunchtime comes and it appears that the entire clan of a traveler family are here to look as well. After they had a nose round the car and finding nothing to fault, i had 3 generations huddled around me, trying to beat me down on price. Nothing aggressive but certainly persistent, bit of a verbal mugging tbh!
In the end (and I'm not sure how), they've persuaded me to knock some money off on the toss of a coin with the idea being that if they win, i drop by £250 and if i win they pay the asking price plus an additional £250. I even get to use my own coin in case i didn't trust them!
One coin toss later, he's counting out my cash from a roll of notes that would block a toilet. Asking price plus the 300 quid he promised me. Strangely, i found the V5 afterwards screwed up in a ball near where I'd given it to them....Guess they forgot to take it with them.
Arranged to meet outside my work in my lunch hour - lunchtime comes and it appears that the entire clan of a traveler family are here to look as well. After they had a nose round the car and finding nothing to fault, i had 3 generations huddled around me, trying to beat me down on price. Nothing aggressive but certainly persistent, bit of a verbal mugging tbh!
In the end (and I'm not sure how), they've persuaded me to knock some money off on the toss of a coin with the idea being that if they win, i drop by £250 and if i win they pay the asking price plus an additional £250. I even get to use my own coin in case i didn't trust them!
One coin toss later, he's counting out my cash from a roll of notes that would block a toilet. Asking price plus the 300 quid he promised me. Strangely, i found the V5 afterwards screwed up in a ball near where I'd given it to them....Guess they forgot to take it with them.
steve singh said:
I did a thread like this recently.
I won't state the criteria here, but I've adopted a strict filering criteria which has saved me from some real idiots I suspect.
For example, if I wanted 3 generations of the family turning up to view - accompanied by 3 brothers - I would have asked my friend to come around a draw a fking family tree for their records. My filtering mechanism gets rid of idiots like these!
Might take longer to sell, but far less stress.
I've had that. The entire family pitching up, mum included. I then had the son trying to be aggresive as I wouldn't take 60% of the asking price. Despite the fact I'd told him on the phone earlier my lowest price if he came. I was disrespecting him apparently. I told him he'd watched too many bad channel 4 films.I won't state the criteria here, but I've adopted a strict filering criteria which has saved me from some real idiots I suspect.
For example, if I wanted 3 generations of the family turning up to view - accompanied by 3 brothers - I would have asked my friend to come around a draw a f
king family tree for their records. My filtering mechanism gets rid of idiots like these!Might take longer to sell, but far less stress.
It was a fair few years ago now but I still get an odd mix of anger and laughter looking back on it.
I think it might also have been them I caught trying to nick the service book out the glove box. Lovely experience. Not.
I've had both extremes, no phone calls at all, and (with a different car) so many calls I couldn't keep up with them - as soon as I rung off, another one would call.
The best one of those was in about 2005 where I advertised a popular long-running model as "Y Reg". It would have been very cheap for a 4-year old and the phone went red hot.
An old boy came round with the cash and almost dumped the money in my hand, in exchange for the keys, not really looking at the car.
I don't think he noticed that the "Y" was at the wrong end of the number plates.
The best one of those was in about 2005 where I advertised a popular long-running model as "Y Reg". It would have been very cheap for a 4-year old and the phone went red hot.
An old boy came round with the cash and almost dumped the money in my hand, in exchange for the keys, not really looking at the car.
I don't think he noticed that the "Y" was at the wrong end of the number plates.
I had my Lotus up for sale, guy calls me and asks how much, I state that the Ad clearly tells you how much. He said I am going to buy it but I only have $30k. I explain the $30k is not the advertised $45k. He said 'that's all I got', I explained that if you cannot afford to buy it, you sure as hell can't afford to run it. He got a bit nasty so I hung up
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