Why advertise a car and not reply when someone enquires?!

[gizlaroc]

I am getting sick and tired of enquiring about cars I have seen and getting no reply!!

I have now left texts, voice messages and emails on 6 different allroads and none of them have bothered getting back to me apart from 2 sellers.

One of which replied to my questions....

Has it got full history??
Any history of the air suspension being replaced or any signs it may be leaking?
Any problems with the front arms or other areas where they tend to go??

Reply...

Still for sale.




Well thanks for that!!




And the other one I do love but he is 8 hours away and not sure if I can get enough time off to go and collect it.


If you're going to advertise a car, at least have the decency to blip a reply, even if it says "thanks but sold" or remove the advert.

[Merlot]

Likewise. Sent two emails and left one voicemail. Even asked for a reply even if it was sold. Nothing, nada. Advert is still live on PH.

[Vic Cooper]

I just can't understand when a car's been sold, why the ad is still fkin' there in classifieds?! Same st.

I was so fkin' disappointed, when I've rang the fella and he said: Sold, two days ago.

Thanks ahole...

[Johnny Drama]

It isn't just private sellers - main dealers are just as bad.

[Johnny Drama]

It isn't just private sellers - main dealers are just as bad.

[Small Car]

I have a car for sale at the moment and have had two texts from the same guy asking if the car is for sale. TBH, if the guy cannot be arsed to pick up the phone and speak then he is not going to have the enthusiasm or maybe the readies to buy the motor IMHO. So it has to be either sheer laziness on the seller or a judgement that you are not serious, and you are wasting time speaking to a buyer.

If I want a car I call about it. Maybe email if you have some questions, but that is in the full knowledge that the transaction will take twice as long.

[Merlot]

Small Car said:

I have a car for sale at the moment and have had two texts from the same guy asking if the car is for sale. TBH, if the guy cannot be arsed to pick up the phone and speak then he is not going to have the enthusiasm or maybe the readies to buy the motor IMHO. So it has to be either sheer laziness on the seller or a judgement that you are not serious, and you are wasting time speaking to a buyer.

If I want a car I call about it. Maybe email if you have some questions, but that is in the full knowledge that the transaction will take twice as long.

I'd never text, but I always Email first to ask the questions and then telephone to arrange to meet.

I always like to have a copy of the questions and responses so if anything appears to be amiss or the seller has clearly lied, I have a black and white copy of what he/she said to which they cannot retort with a "I didn't say that".

When I bought my Mazda, the seller and I communicated several times by Email and the print out was about 8 pages long.

[Deluded]

Enquired about buying a Mazda 323 on ebay the other week. Was listed as having full service history.

Emailed asking if he could elaborate on what service the car had and did it have receipts to back up any stamps.

He emailed back simply saying "If you bid, you will buy the car regardless whether it has receipts and history or not."

No thanks.

[gizlaroc]

Small Car said:

I have a car for sale at the moment and have had two texts from the same guy asking if the car is for sale. TBH, if the guy cannot be arsed to pick up the phone and speak then he is not going to have the enthusiasm or maybe the readies to buy the motor IMHO.

I take it you don't work in the sale industry then!
So you are trying to sell something, you have had an enquiry from someone....twice! And you have chosen not to give him a reply??
That's it, you show him you're not falling for his games!!

I have sold 23 cars over the last 10 years and all pretty nice metal, this is private sales and up to £38,000, and with every single one of those sales first communication was made through email or a text.

People are more likely to blip a quick mail over to make first contact than they are making a call, people are busy these days and a lot of the time in work where you can't pick up the phone and babble about cars, you also don't have to listen to the waffle that the seller is giving you, you can get straight to the facts.
Once I know it is still for sale I make the call and judge the seller as best I can.

[Vetch]

gizlaroc said:

Small Car said:

I have a car for sale at the moment and have had two texts from the same guy asking if the car is for sale. TBH, if the guy cannot be arsed to pick up the phone and speak then he is not going to have the enthusiasm or maybe the readies to buy the motor IMHO.

I take it you don't work in the sale industry then!
So you are trying to sell something, you have had an enquiry from someone....twice! And you have chosen not to give him a reply??
That's it, you show him you're not falling for his games!!

I have sold 23 cars over the last 10 years and all pretty nice metal, this is private sales and up to £38,000, and with every single one of those sales first communication was made through email or a text.

People are more likely to blip a quick mail over to make first contact than they are making a call, people are busy these days and a lot of the time in work where you can't pick up the phone and babble about cars, you also don't have to listen to the waffle that the seller is giving you, you can get straight to the facts.
Once I know it is still for sale I make the call and judge the seller as best I can.

As above.

When selling, I respond to all queries regardless of the method of communication.

When buying, I always text or email first.

[xr287]

Small Car said:

I have a car for sale at the moment and have had two texts from the same guy asking if the car is for sale. TBH, if the guy cannot be arsed to pick up the phone and speak then he is not going to have the enthusiasm or maybe the readies to buy the motor IMHO. So it has to be either sheer laziness on the seller or a judgement that you are not serious, and you are wasting time speaking to a buyer.

If I want a car I call about it. Maybe email if you have some questions, but that is in the full knowledge that the transaction will take twice as long.

What a strange attitude! Seems completely illogical to me.

With the amount of "live" ads that are actually sold you can see why someone might not want to waste their time preparing a list of questions to ask and phoning up only to be told it is sold.

[Deva Link]

gizlaroc said:

I am getting sick and tired of enquiring about cars I have seen and getting no reply!!

I have now left texts, voice messages and emails on 6 different allroads and none of them have bothered getting back to me apart from 2 sellers.

One of which replied to my questions....

Has it got full history??
Any history of the air suspension being replaced or any signs it may be leaking?
Any problems with the front arms or other areas where they tend to go??

Trouble is that if buyers ask a load of detailed questions then they sound like they're going to be trouble - they're going to come and pick holes in the car and moan that it's got a stone chip when it's 5yrs old and done 80K miles.

[gizlaroc]

Yeah, feck anyone who wants to know if it has been serviced on time, or anyone who asks if the known parts are working or have been replaced. We don't want no trouble makers round here!! :P

[gizlaroc]

I totally understand the difference between a car that needs some work doing and a good price and one that is mint and has a price tag to match.

But when a car is 8 hours away and I am going to ask the basics.

For example, an allroad for sale at £3.5k at the moment, blipped an email and told it has all documentation and it looks like a 60k mile car, not a 130k mile car.
However, before travelling I did ask him again, about the history and the air suspension, turns out the full documentation is MOTs to verify mileage but last service was four and a half years ago and 50k miles ago, and the air suspension doesn't work at all, stuck on the low setting.

Which is fine, but after sitting down working out the costs to get it right and what the negative hit would be due to lack of service history means it is worth more like £2.7k to me. Which I asked if he would take for it if I came over, he said yeah he would.
Now if I had travelled over there thinking it was running perfectly and had a full service history and got there to find out it didn't I would have walked away, not even made an offer as I would have been jarred off and not have time to get on line and work out costs to rectify the problem.

Always be honest about a car and speak to people, I always sell my cars with 14 days, most within 5 days, but I list everything and point out every little fault so people can decide if that is what they want ot not.

[Deva Link]

gizlaroc said:

I totally understand the difference between a car that needs some work doing and a good price and one that is mint and has a price tag to match.

But when a car is 8 hours away and I am going to ask the basics.

For example, an allroad for sale at £3.5k at the moment, blipped an email and told it has all documentation and it looks like a 60k mile car, not a 130k mile car.
However, before travelling I did ask him again, about the history and the air suspension, turns out the full documentation is MOTs to verify mileage but last service was four and a half years ago and 50k miles ago, and the air suspension doesn't work at all, stuck on the low setting.

Which is fine, but after sitting down working out the costs to get it right and what the negative hit would be due to lack of service history means it is worth more like £2.7k to me. Which I asked if he would take for it if I came over, he said yeah he would.
Now if I had travelled over there thinking it was running perfectly and had a full service history and got there to find out it didn't I would have walked away, not even made an offer as I would have been jarred off and not have time to get on line and work out costs to rectify the problem.

Always be honest about a car and speak to people, I always sell my cars with 14 days, most within 5 days, but I list everything and point out every little fault so people can decide if that is what they want ot not.

The thing is, you're expecting the impossible. A £3.5K / 130K mile AllRoad is going to be pretty near to the end of its economic life. Really, the car is worthless, as the slightest thing will render it an economic write off, unless you're an Audi technician and you can nick the parts.

[gizlaroc]

Not at all, as long as you know what needs doing you can weigh it up. But that wasn't really the point of the thread, the point was you can't even get half of the people selling cars to reply to you, let alone go through what needs doing!!

[Deva Link]

gizlaroc said:

Not at all, as long as you know what needs doing you can weigh it up. But that wasn't really the point of the thread, the point was you can't even get half of the people selling cars to reply to you, let alone go through what needs doing!!

I know you're trying to avoid travelling to look at a pup, but the point is that they're all likely to have a whole bunch of issues, which the owners aren't going to want to get in to. Hence they're not replying.

I think you just have to go and look at them and assess them as presented.

[gizlaroc]

I do agree and think that you need to be aware of these things, but just got an email from someone regarding their 2.7T and it turns out the compressor and all four spring shocks were replaced by Audi under warranty less than 5000 miles and 4 months ago, no mention on the advert, but that is a massive selling point, they have also put 'The car also has full service history, all done at Stanstead Audi, and last one 5000 miles ago in December, cambelt and tensioner was also replaced at the same time. Didn't put this as I presumed it would be a given. And could happily meet up with you one evening half way between you and I so you can see it and take it down the road."

Now that car sounds like it is worth a journey to see and makes me feel more confident, of course it could be a clocked 300k mile stter, but initial feelings seem more positive.

[gizlaroc]

Having said all that, i have just been out in our A6 3.2 avant today and thinking "Why am I getting out of something I know is mint to get into something that could cost me thousands??!!"