Is this guy genuine, or trying it on..... (Buyer)

[Jasandjules]

I'd inform him that the deposit is non-refundable unless there is an issue with the car which you have been hiding/did not disclose. Agreeing to return the deposit if "he's not happy" is foolish IMHO. I'd tell him if it isn't in your account by 8pm tonight (and I'd want a bank to bank tranfer done as well so it is there in an hour and can't be clawed back) that you will have no choice but to inform the other purchaser that the car is still for sale.

[900T-R]

Concur with the former posters - if someone wants me to hold the car for them I'd expect them to drive up to the next ATM and get the couple hundred quid's worth of deposit right away. From the moment I have the cash in hand, I'd consider the car 'taken'.

[limpsfield]

VolvoT5 said:

Yes, nothing wrong with that at all....... As I bet you don't say 'I will just nip to the cash point, be back in 10 with a deposit,

You reminded me - I had this two years ago. Really odd. Then they called me 30 minutes later to say they didn't want it as it wasn't what they were really looking for.

People are odd when it comes to buying cars. Like you say I don't know why they can't just say I am not interested. it's not like they are asking for anyone's hand in marriage.

They should all be like me and just buy the first one they see. What could go wrong.

[Strawman]

limpsfield said:

They should all be like me and just buy the first one they see. What could go wrong.

The only times I've not bought the car I've gone to see is when there is someone with me to persuade me that the car should not be bought. Usually the seller is really surprised how quickly I agree to buy the car.

[Ean218]

How can you agree a price if the vehicle is also subject to an inspection, which will always throw up a fault you were unaawre of?

My view has always been, yes sure you can arrange an inspection, but the car is currently for sale and if someone else buys it before you get around to inspecting it and agreeing a final sale price, tough luck.

A refundable deposit is also a contradiction in terms when it comes to car sales.

[Snowboy]

Ean218 said:

How can you agree a price if the vehicle is also subject to an inspection, which will always throw up a fault you were unaawre of?

It makes sense to me.

A price agreed pending a ‘clear’ inspection.

The inspection might throw up something deal breaking.
Depending on the level of the inspection, perhaps a warped Chassis, a knackered piston, a temporal anomaly in the flux capacitor.

In which case the buyer would expect their deposit back and walk away.

In all other cases the deal goes ahead as planned.
It’s just one final check for the buyer to not end up with a big expensive lemon.

[nickg123]

Ean218 said:

How can you agree a price if the vehicle is also subject to an inspection, which will always throw up a fault you were unaawre of?

My view has always been, yes sure you can arrange an inspection, but the car is currently for sale and if someone else buys it before you get around to inspecting it and agreeing a final sale price, tough luck.

A refundable deposit is also a contradiction in terms when it comes to car sales.

I think you leave a deposit to make sure you don't lose it, then if anything bad comes up or that you're not happy with on the inspection (That you've paid for) then the deposit can be refunded.

I honestly don't believe anything will come up, it's only just had the MOT, Tyres, Brakes, 39k accident free miles, serviced and maintained by Ray Northway who is doing the inspection so if he finds anything I will be very surprised!!

[nickg123]

• **********UPDATE**************

You won't be surprised but this is the Msg I just got:

"Hi mate, I write this with my heart in my mouth but please don't take the car for the inspection, I am having to pull out. I genuinely cannot get insurance below £1k per year - That's Manchester for you. With the loan to borrow, garage rental costss, proper maintenance costs, road tax I can't afford to run. I thought Insurance would be way lower and garage rental fell through so it's £80 a month within city centre and I couldn't leave it outside as it would be a target here. I have just had a break from work and done all the maths but I don't want to mess you about any further. I am gutted and so so so sorry to mess you about, i am 100% genuine and just need to be honest. This isn't me trying to move the price down, in reality i just need to save more - I really want the car but can't take it if I can't look after it properly."

[66comanche]

Everyone has alreadu said it, but your first mistake was rebuffing the other buyer when the car hadn't been sold, recently sold mine and even after I'd taken a deposit I was still taking details of other potential buyers/leaving ads up until I had the balance. Your second mistake was accepting a paypal payment for the deposit, appreciate cash is tricky in your circumstance but a direct bank transfer is the way to go, not paypal and the potential crap that comes with it.

Third mistake is saying the deposit is refundable, you've given him the advantage in the negotations now as even the tiniest thing coming out of the inspection and he'll want to knock the price down and if you're reticent, he'll just ask for the deposit back and carry on his quest for the holy grail that is a Boxster - 13 cars WTF, a serial timewaster if ever there was one. Fourth mistake is letting him piss you around this long, you should have had the other buyer come look at it by now and told him a cash deposit secures.

ETA - Just seen your update, what a fknugget that bloke is!!! Bet you're fuming!

[Davel]

And he had to look at thirteen cars to find this out?

Don't even bother responding.

I take it the £250 didn't materialise then.....

[SMcP114]

Some timewasters may not like the car, some may like the car but hold out for a better one, but a true timewaster views a car without even knowing if he can afford it or not.

[nickg123]

Davel said:

And he had to look at thirteen cars to find this out?

Don't even bother responding.

I take it the £250 didn't materialise then.....

Nope!!!

Just glad we didn't make the trip over to Northway tonight now as that was the plan,

You try and do the right thing but people always let you down - Seriously annoyed that he hadn't checked out all this stuff before looking at 13 different cars!!!!!!!!!!

Wasted his own time as much as anything but not to worry, I've already Emailed the other chap so we'll see what comes of it.

Thanks for all the advice, at least my instints were right that something wasn't right.

[MonkeyHanger]

nickg123 said:

************UPDATE**************

You won't be surprised but this is the Msg I just got:

"Hi mate, I write this with my heart in my mouth but please don't take the car for the inspection, I am having to pull out. I genuinely cannot get insurance below £1k per year - That's Manchester for you. With the loan to borrow, garage rental costss, proper maintenance costs, road tax I can't afford to run. I thought Insurance would be way lower and garage rental fell through so it's £80 a month within city centre and I couldn't leave it outside as it would be a target here. I have just had a break from work and done all the maths but I don't want to mess you about any further. I am gutted and so so so sorry to mess you about, i am 100% genuine and just need to be honest. This isn't me trying to move the price down, in reality i just need to save more - I really want the car but can't take it if I can't look after it properly."

The bits in bold are the real story. He was waiting for a decision from the bank but the computer said no.

[anonymous-user]

I find all this hard to believe, my current car (owned for 18 months), saw advert on PH one Friday, called seller for long chat about condition, history etc, went to see on Monday, deal done and £500 cash left with him, balance sent by BACS when I got home (car was 100 miles away), I collected Thursday.

I wouldn't have even called if I had nowhere to put it, couldn't afford it, couldn't afford to insure it etc. and we are talking about a car I paid over £30k for!

Just what is wrong with people? I have four rare Mercedes wheels I want to sell (original R129 Silver Arrow Alberios with stainless rims intact) and I'm dreading putting them on eBay purely because of horror stories like this, maybe I'll just take the rims off as spares and scrap them.

[OldSkoolRS]

VolvoT5 said:

I think it is ironic that the (probable) reason people do this is to avoid being seen as a timewaster for viewing a car (or house) and not immediately wanting to go any further for whatever reason..... so they make lame excuses to leave / vague promises about sorting out the cash and then never show up again.

Would be a lot easier for everyone involved if people would just say "sorry, not for me" or "need time to have a think, i'll get back to you if I'm interested".

Another view as a (recent) buyer:

I recently looked at 8 used Z3s, to be fair the high number was partly due to my poor questioning before setting off in some cases (plus being a bit out of practice of buying used cars) and also seller's opinion on what is 'mint'. At first I felt a bit embarassed to say the car wasn't for me, so left with positive comments about 'being in touch', even when the cars were complete sheds.

However, one dealer had completely overhyped a rather badly resprayed, near bald (mismatched) tyred (and generally tired) example. I simply said "sorry, not for me" as VolvoT5 says, then the guy wants to know why as if I'd questioned his parentage or something! Although he was about 2 foot taller than me (which isn't hard to be fair ) I was a bit annoyed about my wasted journey and then his attitude, so I mentioed the respray concerned me (even the door handle was covered in overspray FFS) and he tried to tell me it was original paint. I started to feel a bit threatened with his attitude, so just made my excuses and left. I'd asked quite a few specific questions about the paintwork, the tyres and general condition, all of which he'd just lied about. He was dealing from home, so all he'd had to do was open his door to me, hardly putting him out and I'd arrived within the hour of calling as I'd told him I would, so AFAIK I hadn't put him out. It was almost a 'first to see WILL buy' as in I'd have no choice, even though it was rough...

Basically, after this viewing, I just told every seller that I'd be back, just to avoid this kind of confrontation. It may be cowardly, but not an experience I'd want to repeat.

Back on topic, I can just imagine this buyer will use the tiniest point raised in the inspection to try to lever the price down. I'd still be actively marketing the car and ringing the other buyer (though be prepared to be rejected as they might see YOU as the timewaster unfortunately). I've had people ask for deposits back even though they have simply changed their mind, but fear of reprisals meant that I just gave it back (with a piece of my mind on the rare occasion it was someone more my size ).

EDIT: Took so long typing this I missed the update. DOH! At least it's a conversation piece with the next viewer 'have you had an insurance quote yet?'.

Edited by OldSkoolRS on Monday 16th April 17:09

[All that jazz]

SMcP114 said:

Until the cash is either in your hand, or your account, the car is not sold.

From experience, you should never put a prospective buyer off because someone else has given you their 'word'. 90% of the time they will promise you the sun, moon and the stars, then you'll never hear from them again.

This ^.

Up until the end of last year I dabbled in buying and selling cars and small vans and I used to be just like you are Nick, giving them the benefit of the doubt, accepting their "word" etc. Out of around 30 sales I think I only had 2 buyers that were true to their word and like someone else said further up the thread I could have sold a lot of the motors many times over from all the "promises". You quickly come to realise that 90% of car buyers are time-wasters and/or dreamers. Be firm but polite with them : if you want to secure the vehicle then you want a 10% of sale value non-returnable deposit (up to £2500 value then £250 deposit thereafter) in cash or direct bank transfer immediately which will secure the vehicle for 1 week; after that it will be re-advertised. No immediate deposit = still for sale on a first come (with cash), first served basis. No ifs, no buts, no Paypal, no excuses.. those are the terms. You'll quickly find out who are genuine buyers and who are time-wasters/dreamers.

On a related note, when they make arrangements with you to come and view it, always get them to ring you as they're setting off "to make sure I'm in" (insert any other plausible excuse here). From experience I've found this to be an excellent way of saving my time from being wasted. The serious buyers will be ringing you at the crack of dawn telling you they're just setting off from (insert place name from other end of country here) and expect to be there around 10am or whatever, whereas the time-wasters/dreamers you won't be hearing from at all, nor seeing at the pre-arranged viewing time.

Good luck with the sale!

Edited by All that jazz on Monday 16th April 17:22

[limpsfield]

nickg123 said:

************UPDATE**************

You won't be surprised but this is the Msg I just got:

What a tosser. So he has been to see 753 Boxsters and never bothered checking insurance costs...a likely story.

Bad luck.

Karma - you will sell it within a week for more than he was going to pay.

[Butter Face]

I deal with people like this every day, it seems people just forget their sense when it comes to buying cars.

[carreauchompeur]

Aaargh, but a lesson learnt. Until you have cash in hand, it's not sold. I'd have loved to do all sorts of inspections, etc on my current car but knew that, at the price it was, in the condition it was, it would have sold to the next viewer so I did the deal there and then. Cash- Sold.

[rallycross]

No surprise lots Of utter time wasting Porsche 'buyers' out there - it must be some kind of hobby for losers.

Never show a Porsche on a Sunday it's almost guaranteed to be a timewastimg 'expert'.