The joys of selling a car privately.

[Mr2Mike]

Chainguy said:

Despite the fact I'd told him on the phone earlier my lowest price if he came. I was disrespecting him apparently.

Any youth that uses that phrase requires battering to a bloody pulp IMO.

[9mm]

The ones that do annoy me are the buyers that want a FMDSH on a ten year old car worth ££2K-£5K. It seems even more important to them when the cost of maintaining said car at a main dealer would be plain stupid (eg Jag, Merc, BMW).

I've never been able to get inside their heads sufficiently to understand why they have that expectation. I've even tried asking them where they get their cars serviced. The answer is usually "me" or "a mate of mine" so clearly the importance of MDSH doesn't apply to cars in their ownership.

I suppose it's like going to the supermarket or using public transport. You are forced into contact with people you would far rather avoid.

[jimmyone]

i was selling a car once , cleaned it ,polished it, had it valleted,it was mint !!!.....: a bloke came , looked it over, and said...
"Sorry mate, its too good !!!!"
true

[carreauchompeur]

jimmyone said:

i was selling a car once , cleaned it ,polished it, had it valleted,it was mint !!!.....: a bloke came , looked it over, and said...
"Sorry mate, its too good !!!!"
true

"I can't afford it and was hoping to knock some money off for stupid faults"

[richb77]

I deal with the "Want a bargain, Wots your best price M8" rubbish emails and texts by adding 10% to the asking price.

I tend to think if i was buying (which i do quite a bit) I would A) have to be really interested in the car....Enough to make the call! and B) speaking like a human being and not a lab trained chimp.

[Skifledanabit]

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'

Not at all, but if I'm going to be spending my hard earned cash on your car, I want to try and save as much of it as possible. Wouldn't you?

[TA14]

Skifledanabit said:

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'

Not at all, but if I'm going to be spending my hard earned cash on your car, I want to try and save as much of it as possible. Wouldn't you?

Yes but your strategy is just as likely, if not more likely, to annoy the seller and push up the price at which you can do a deal. You need a different strategy to achieve your aim.

[StottyZr]

richb77 said:

I deal with the "Want a bargain, Wots your best price M8" rubbish emails and texts by adding 10% to the asking price.

Money is the same whoever it comes from, be it a "wots ur best price mate" or an enthusiast.

I'm not sure why you'd take this angle if you want to sell your car.

[Emeye]

StottyZr said:

richb77 said:

I deal with the "Want a bargain, Wots your best price M8" rubbish emails and texts by adding 10% to the asking price.

Money is the same whoever it comes from, be it a "wots ur best price mate" or an enthusiast.

I'm not sure why you'd take this angle if you want to sell your car.

I suppose it depends how desperate you want to sell your car. I had to get rid of my old Freelander in a hurry, it wasn't in bad nick, but not that many people were interested. In the end some Nigerian guy who lived the other side of Manchester got in contact. His English wasn't great and he was trying every trick in the book, saying he couldn't afford it, offering stupid money over the phone and then messing me around when it came to viewing. I didn't have much option but to deal with him, and when he turned up to pay, a £100 suddenly appeared which he had "forgot" to put in the pile of cash he gave me to pay.

I almost told him to get stuffed, but I needed to sell. It wasn't a pleasant experience, so if possible I avoid dealing with anyone, British or immigrant, who wants to play games or try and exert high pressure on me to reduce the price. I'm not a natural salesperson.

I may get flamed for this, but I like the Mike Brewer approach of a friendly deal where both parties end up satisfied!

[StottyZr]

Emeye said:

I may get flamed for this, but I like the Mike Brewer approach of a friendly deal where both parties end up satisfied!

Who doesn't!

But in the end you got your money so job well done

[Emeye]

StottyZr said:

Emeye said:

I may get flamed for this, but I like the Mike Brewer approach of a friendly deal where both parties end up satisfied!

Who doesn't!

But in the end you got your money so job well done

I was thinking more of getting flamed for liking Mike Brewer.

[anonymous-user]

Emeye said:

I may get flamed for this, but I like the Mike Brewer approach of a friendly deal where both parties end up satisfied!

He rapes sellers, that Boxster he bought,he buy got it for 1k, didn't he?

Edited by The Spruce goose on Wednesday 22 May 07:07

[Emeye]

The Spruce goose said:

Emeye said:

I may get flamed for this, but I like the Mike Brewer approach of a friendly deal where both parties end up satisfied!

he rapes sellers, that boxster buy got a 1k didn't he?

Obviously, I don't like him THAT much.

[carreauchompeur]

Emeye said:

The Spruce goose said:

Emeye said:

I may get flamed for this, but I like the Mike Brewer approach of a friendly deal where both parties end up satisfied!

he rapes sellers, that boxster buy got a 1k didn't he?

Obviously, I don't like him THAT much.

"'Old out yeer 'aaaaaand"

"Thwunk!"

Dear God, no!

[Birdster]

New POD said:

It's a fine line. If the car is "Good enough" then haggle on the top 2 faults.

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.

[Tc24]

To add another...

Other half has bought a new car to replace her 14 year old, rather rusty Fiesta. It's got a couple of years life left in it yet, so instead of her scrapping it, I agreed to deal with selling it on Scumtree for her.

Only put it on for around the £300 mark on Monday night. Had texts within the hour so arranged a couple of viewings for yesterday. Despite asking in the ad that noone calls me before 6pm, 1 number had persistently called me throughout the day while I was at work. Having been unable to answer, I called him back when I got home to explain I had some viewings arranged, but he was more than welcome to look once they'd viewed.

Didn't get as far as this - before I was able to explain anything, the moron shouted something along the lines of "I call you all day to buy car, and you don't answer. fk you" in a thick indian accent before hanging up.

Of course, I took great pleasure about an hour later after a nice chap had turned up and paid the full amount for it, in telling the shouty man that it had been sold. He kept trying to call back after that which was mildly irritating, so I blocked his number

[gtidriver]

I had a lovely Nigerian chap phone me in the early hours of the morning asking if my espace was still for sale. Well it was but not to him for half price. I kept his number and kept phoning him at all hours of the day and night, I can't remember for how long but it might have been over a year. I'm looking to sell my car soon, I might just trade it and save myself the stress of a private sale.

[PaulG40]

I remember selling one of my cars once to a lad in Guernsey. I sent him loads of pictures due to the distance he was planning to travel to get to me so it wouldn't be a wasted journey. Literally a day before he was due, he messaged me saying 'his trusted car mechanic' mate reckons it's got different shade of paint on the offside door and rear quarter and that it's been sprayed meaning it had a crash and I was trying to do him over. He got quite arsey, when I told him it had not and I had already told him that the bonnet had been resprayed to remove stone chips when I had colour coded the bumpers etc, so that was all has been done. He still came down regardless and after being arsey on the phone, he turned out to be ok and was blown away by it, bought it on the spot and drove it back to Guernsey where it still lives now.

[Cerberus90]

gtidriver said:

I had a lovely Nigerian chap phone me in the early hours of the morning asking if my espace was still for sale. Well it was but not to him for half price. I kept his number and kept phoning him at all hours of the day and night, I can't remember for how long but it might have been over a year. I'm looking to sell my car soon, I might just trade it and save myself the stress of a private sale.

[Moose of Death]

My father was a greasy car salesman. Recalling all of the people he screwed over the years...I suffer a near nervous breakdown if I ever have to sell a car. I'd much rather part it out or give it away.