Private buyers - errgh!!!

[Papa Hotel]

james_gt3rs said:

Lot of effort for a Fiat Panda!

Oh right.

[Wacky Racer]

The golden rule when selling privately in never stay at home especially for them to turn up...arrange a viewing time (in daylight) when you would have been at home anyway, so if they don't show you have not wasted your time.

Been there, done than several times....never again.

[Ved]

The last four cars I've sold have been hassle free and sold to the first person in under two weeks so this is just new and annoying. There is little chance he will come on Friday and I'm not changing my plans again for them. If they want to see it a bit of effort and courtesy are in order.

[dave_s13]

I've sold maybe 8 or 9 cars (and 1 bike) privately over the years using a combination of Ebay, autotrader and here. Never had a problem....cool starry bra and all that.

[C.A.R.]

Agree with others, don't make time for them, they want to buy the car from you - so they can meet you at a suitable time. As soon as you start arranging to meet them or take time off work for them then you've lost.

I was once trying to sell an old old vw polo - crap it was, in poor condition, bought as a stop-gap and advertised for just £350 - sod all effectively. Matey boy comes along telling me all these stories about vw show cars he has made and how this polo will be his next project etc. I put up with half an hour of it and then tell him I'm going out and he is out of time...

He wasn't going to buy it in a million years!

[Rushmore]

But what do you think was his motive to meet you??

[Brigand]

I advertised an MX-5 a few years ago, with a clear shot of the tan interior.

A bloke comes along, looks at the car for 30secs, then announces that the interior is the wrong colour and he's not interested.

WTF? It's a bleedin' soft top, how could you possibly have not seen what colour the interior was in the pictures supplied in the ad??

[anonymous-user]

It's the ones that turn up expecting a car to be in brand new condition for a second hand price that annoy me!

[Eighteeteewhy]

Ved said:

I from a guy on the Isle of Wight

.

Never trust anyone from a place where they still point at aeroplanes.

[ChunkyloverSV]

Went to see a car today. Loved the car however there was a rumble coming from the front end. Told the guy get the problem sorted and i would make him an offer.

Few hours later chap called back saying he had sorted it. He insisted he drive to meet me. Took if for its third test drive. We haggled and i have bought it.

Picking her up tomorrow

[Jasandjules]

That's part of the reason why dealers can bid you so low.......

[Negative Creep]

St John Smythe said:

It's the ones that turn up expecting a car to be in brand new condition for a second hand price that annoy me!

I almost managed to sell my £500, 26 year old Bluebird until the guy decided against it because it didn't have full service history. It's no wonder so many decent cars get scrapped since the owners cannot be bothered to deal with this st

[JQ]

Papa Hotel said:

I advertised my Panda on eBay, got a message from a guy in Luton (car in Edinburgh), said he'd fly up for the car. He did.

I'm not doing it right, am I?

Me neither. My advert went live at 9:45pm last Saturday, had a sale agreed for full asking price by 10pm. Seller picked up the car today, handed over the cash and didn't bother test driving. Exactly happened last time I sold my car, although that did take 24hrs to sell it.

[Daniel1]

I'm a terrible buyer. I can't haggle for toffee and if I like the look of it, I'll buy it. I've had some good ones, lucky ones and some real lemons lol.

[alfabadass]

eBay is the future.

Saw a BMW X3 I liked last mont so stuck it on watch on a saturday. Listed my Audi TT the same day. A local guy saw the ad and came down on Monday and test drove it and bought it for what I wanted.

X3 Auction ended the same day and I won it despite the seller refusing to end early. Ended up costing me £50 extra but that would have covered the guys fees.

Got a train to Edinburgh a few days later and met his wife at the trainstation. Final inspection to see it was as described and paid up.

It's not all doom and gloom!

[POORCARDEALER]

alfabadass said:

eBay is the future.

Saw a BMW X3 I liked last mont so stuck it on watch on a saturday. Listed my Audi TT the same day. A local guy saw the ad and came down on Monday and test drove it and bought it for what I wanted.

X3 Auction ended the same day and I won it despite the seller refusing to end early. Ended up costing me £50 extra but that would have covered the guys fees.

Got a train to Edinburgh a few days later and met his wife at the trainstation. Final inspection to see it was as described and paid up.

It's not all doom and gloom!

You are very fortunate.

We find 35 % of ebay transactions don't complete . ( part exchanges, the 35 % just never turn up)

[HTP99]

Reading this thread is hilarious as its exactly what I have to put up with on a daily basis.

People not showing then ignoring calls.
People lying about why they couldn't make it "the car broke down on the way to you", yeah course!
People expecting a brand new car at used money.
"I don't like the colour" you knew what colour it was before you came down to look at it, moron!
Liars
Dreamers.

Generally being pissed about.

Edited by HTP99 on Sunday 30th September 20:38

[Fireblade69]

Never even crossed my mind to waste my time arsing about looking at a/haggling on a car with no intention of buying. That said, if I want to buy it you'd best get the kettle on and be prepared for some proper gold medal winning haggling. Once had a Chinese bloke in a jewellery shop in Tianjin almost in tears over a necklace for the missus.

My theory is that when someone sees a car they like for sale then they get 4 or 5 mates all to phone up and dick about with viewings and, "I'll buy it cash tomorrow" and not turn up type stuff and then the buyer comes along with a genuine offer some 30% less and by that time the seller is so fked off with all the grief that he sells it to them.

[treehack]

Try selling a tuned Subaru, some of the moronic texts I got were unreadable and the phone calls pure comedy gold. I had a folder with nearly every reciept for stuff that was done by the previous owner and myself but 1 guy tried to argue with me that it couldn't have 800cc injectors and based his decision not view it on that. Then why the fk call me!!
Eventually sold it to a guy from Bolton ( I live in Herts ), he rang me one night, talked about the car and I gave him honstanswers, said he'd come view next day which suited me. Was on time, agreed a price and gave me a deposit and arranged to pick up at the weekend. Phoned me the following night at 8pm to ask if he could come pick it up that night, said he could get his mate to give him a lift from Bolton!!! Arrived just before 11, deal done cash in hand and he was on his merry way. He even sent me a few texts over the next few days sayin how pleased he was with the car.

Edited by treehack on Sunday 30th September 21:29

[Ved]

When ebay UK have a free listings weekend I'll put it up on there and see how that goes. At the very least it's entertaining responding to 'will yoo tek 3grand cash?' questions.