What would PH do?
Discussion
I’m selling my car and have had a rush of interest this evening.
I had two full price sight unseen offers. I accepted the offer from the guy that committed first. No deposit taken, but I said “I’ll hold it for you until Sunday”.
I had another query an hour later and informed them it was sold. They came back with a higher offer (6%).
I would feel uncomfortable going back to the other guy and asking if he can match it, but it’s quite a bit of cash.
Am I being soft, or are my morals on point?
I had two full price sight unseen offers. I accepted the offer from the guy that committed first. No deposit taken, but I said “I’ll hold it for you until Sunday”.
I had another query an hour later and informed them it was sold. They came back with a higher offer (6%).
I would feel uncomfortable going back to the other guy and asking if he can match it, but it’s quite a bit of cash.
Am I being soft, or are my morals on point?
eltax91 said:
Sell to the first person on your doorstep with funds. Tell the other guy sorry once it s sold.
This is always the right answer. Now you've said you'll hold though I would. When he fails to turn up/goes silent/turns up and starts bartering you can then go back to the first method though.I’ve had this situation this week.
I wouldn’t normally hold a car but the first enquiry seemed a genuine person so I agreed to do so for a couple of days.
amongst various further enquiries was someone saying they’d pay more but couldn’t get over until the weekend.
I didn’t want to go back on my word though, even if I was regretting saying I’d hold it so the first person came, saw the car was a good one and bought it.
Morals over money. You’ve said you’ll hold it until Sunday so do that.
I wouldn’t normally hold a car but the first enquiry seemed a genuine person so I agreed to do so for a couple of days.
amongst various further enquiries was someone saying they’d pay more but couldn’t get over until the weekend.
I didn’t want to go back on my word though, even if I was regretting saying I’d hold it so the first person came, saw the car was a good one and bought it.
Morals over money. You’ve said you’ll hold it until Sunday so do that.
Nickp82 said:
I ve had this situation this week.
I wouldn t normally hold a car but the first enquiry seemed a genuine person so I agreed to do so for a couple of days.
amongst various further enquiries was someone saying they d pay more but couldn t get over until the weekend.
I didn t want to go back on my word though, even if I was regretting saying I d hold it so the first person came, saw the car was a good one and bought it.
Morals over money. You ve said you ll hold it until Sunday so do that.
I think I'll end up doing this. He's genuine and asking loads of questions. I've told him there's no movement on the price because of other offers so no worries about haggling on the day. I wouldn t normally hold a car but the first enquiry seemed a genuine person so I agreed to do so for a couple of days.
amongst various further enquiries was someone saying they d pay more but couldn t get over until the weekend.
I didn t want to go back on my word though, even if I was regretting saying I d hold it so the first person came, saw the car was a good one and bought it.
Morals over money. You ve said you ll hold it until Sunday so do that.
I'll write it down to experience.
Richard-D said:
This is always the right answer. Now you've said you'll hold though I would. When he fails to turn up/goes silent/turns up and starts bartering you can then go back to the first method though.
This ^. If you want it holding then I need £200 bank transfer from you which is non-returnable nor refundable and an agreed date by which you will pay the balance or your deposit is gone and the car is re-advertised. No monies paid, it stays for sale on a first come first served basis.No deposit = 99% guaranteed that you will get messed around then radio silence. And 99.99999999999% of people making offers before they've even seen the car are masssssssssssive time-wasters or scammers wanting to pay by Paypal / download a car history report from their website.
eltax91 said:
Sell to the first person on your doorstep with funds. Tell the other guy sorry once it s sold.
This. If you're a private seller I'd never, ever, ever sell a car to the first person that pops up and says "I'll have it". First person handing you the cash/transferring it into your account gets the car.Once you've agreed to hold the car, you should feel committed.
Arguably you shouldn't agree to that in the first place, but sometimes you have to give and take.
If you want people to travel to view your car, then you encourage them to do so by holding the car until they can arrive. That might mean a few hours, or a day or two. It's a matter of judging whether they are the right person to buy the car. The person who really wants your car and will pay the right price won't travel four hours on the off-chance of it still being available. The person who turns up quicker is probably going to make you an offer.
Selling an expensive classic bike, I did well waiting for the right person to make it down from 'the North'. While waiting from him, I collected details from a couple of other potential buyers. Flogging a Hausfrau Golf for a grand, I wouldn't expect people to travel far and I wouldn't negotiate except face to face after they've seen the car.
Last time I bought a car which I couldn't view immediately, the seller kindly agreed to hold it until late the next day. I was happy to pay his price.
Arguably you shouldn't agree to that in the first place, but sometimes you have to give and take.
If you want people to travel to view your car, then you encourage them to do so by holding the car until they can arrive. That might mean a few hours, or a day or two. It's a matter of judging whether they are the right person to buy the car. The person who really wants your car and will pay the right price won't travel four hours on the off-chance of it still being available. The person who turns up quicker is probably going to make you an offer.
Selling an expensive classic bike, I did well waiting for the right person to make it down from 'the North'. While waiting from him, I collected details from a couple of other potential buyers. Flogging a Hausfrau Golf for a grand, I wouldn't expect people to travel far and I wouldn't negotiate except face to face after they've seen the car.
Last time I bought a car which I couldn't view immediately, the seller kindly agreed to hold it until late the next day. I was happy to pay his price.
Tighnamara said:
ZX10R NIN said:
Ring the first person & ask for a deposit if they don't want to do this then sell to the first person to turn up with the money.
The OP states the first person offered a deposit but he didn t take it. If the seller and buyer make the judgement that the deal will happen, then it's reasonable for the seller to hold the car for a while or the buyer.
If either party isn't sure, then it's fair enough for the car not to be reserved.
I've been on both sides of this both ways, if I'm not sure I'll buy the car, or if the seller isn't willing to hold the car, that's fine, I'd just ask them to let me know if it's sold to avoid a wasted journey and wish them luck. If someone else buys a car I'm interested in, then at least I know it wasn't grossly over-priced.
As a seller, I've had keen enquiries from completely unsuitable buyers and from 'buyers' you know are going to offer a really low price on the drive.
Form a judgement of the person and act on it.
It all helps explain why people just take a low price as trade in or WBAC.
Or get dealers to sell their vehicles on a commission.
OutInTheShed said:
It's sometimes no help taking a deposit, because the buyer can always demand it back, they just have to say the car isn't as described, pointing out some fault that's not in the advert.
.
A buyer can demand it back but they can't obligate you to give it back. And a deposit is somewhat meaningless if its refundable. If you do buckle and give it back, a seller is perfectly entitled to deduct reasonable costs - for example the cost of having to advertise it again, if relevant..
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