Why are some classic car sellers so stupid ?
Discussion
If I had five pence for each of the following categories of seller I'd be rich :-
"I've seen a similar one at auction and it went for £100k so mine must be worth close to that." Not taking into account that the auction car was immaculate one-owner and his is a botched up wreck !
A car that's advertised over and over again for a ridiculous price, eventually goes to auction and the owner is returned well below a figure he was prepared to sell privately. The most amazing thing is he seems ok with the result.
If it doesn't sell for my asking price I'll keep it and "do it up" - never happens.
Any I've missed ?
"I've seen a similar one at auction and it went for £100k so mine must be worth close to that." Not taking into account that the auction car was immaculate one-owner and his is a botched up wreck !
A car that's advertised over and over again for a ridiculous price, eventually goes to auction and the owner is returned well below a figure he was prepared to sell privately. The most amazing thing is he seems ok with the result.
If it doesn't sell for my asking price I'll keep it and "do it up" - never happens.
Any I've missed ?
The old favourite of "I'm only going to advertise it for a week and then put it back in the garage/lock up/barn etc". Having advertised a couple cars lately there are a lot of chancers out there wanting cars for next to nothing but you have to put up with that if you are advertising. I think the bottom line with the more obscure classics is that they are worth what someone is willing to pay for them. You advertise and the market decides the price! You can hang on as long as you want but sometimes the buyer just doesn't come along at the price you want. Similarly, buyers phone up and start haggling on price before they have even seen the car!!
Every other classic car for restoration is a *barn find* which gives the impression that 20 winters have been missed while this thing has been hidden snugly away, surrounded by hay and straw, dry as a bone, just waiting to be unearthed.
When in reality, they mean in some old lock up that leaks like a sieve, so rusty as anything ... EVERY barn cannot have these gems hidden away surely?
And they LOOK like they've lived outside in the elements half of them ... anything hidden away in the dry for 20 years would look half decent surely when given a wash.
When in reality, they mean in some old lock up that leaks like a sieve, so rusty as anything ... EVERY barn cannot have these gems hidden away surely?
And they LOOK like they've lived outside in the elements half of them ... anything hidden away in the dry for 20 years would look half decent surely when given a wash.
In the last 10 years I've had two Lynx D-types, both bought at what I thought, given the cost of building one today, was a reasonable price and one sold on in 18 months at a good - well I thought so - profit. Now the Lynx demonstrator, sold for about £120,000 (more than double what I paid by the way) a couple of years back is on the market at £225,000. I mean, is someone dreaming or what?
lowdrag said:
In the last 10 years I've had two Lynx D-types, both bought at what I thought, given the cost of building one today, was a reasonable price and one sold on in 18 months at a good - well I thought so - profit. Now the Lynx demonstrator, sold for about £120,000 (more than double what I paid by the way) a couple of years back is on the market at £225,000. I mean, is someone dreaming or what?
The seller could get lucky. Any rusty heap on ebay seems to be bid to over a grand and you can't blame sellers for chancing their arm. It goes all the way up the chain and you know things are silly when the majority of ads are POA. I sold two rusty Lancias and a Stag last year for vastly more than I would ever have paid for them but there is a silly fever about at the moment, In fact I sold all my classics bar a couple in the hope there'd be a crash this year and I could pile back in but it looks as if I'll have to wait a bit longer. Maybe until we get the rate rise and there are lots of repossessions.uk66fastback said:
Every other classic car for restoration is a *barn find* which gives the impression that 20 winters have been missed while this thing has been hidden snugly away, surrounded by hay and straw, dry as a bone, just waiting to be unearthed.
When in reality, they mean in some old lock up that leaks like a sieve, so rusty as anything ... EVERY barn cannot have these gems hidden away surely?
And they LOOK like they've lived outside in the elements half of them ... anything hidden away in the dry for 20 years would look half decent surely when given a wash.
Barn Find = been sat on my drive under a tarp for 15 yearsWhen in reality, they mean in some old lock up that leaks like a sieve, so rusty as anything ... EVERY barn cannot have these gems hidden away surely?
And they LOOK like they've lived outside in the elements half of them ... anything hidden away in the dry for 20 years would look half decent surely when given a wash.
Barn Find = been in leaking asbestos garage for 25 years
Barn Find = I bought this on eBay motors six years ago and it has sat on my drive under a tarp since
Barn Find = I was using this regularly until it failed its MOT three years ago
Barn Find = I found this in the garage I parked it in a while ago, it's knackered
I reckon in about 50 years we'll be using the word 'barnfind' to mean unroadworthy car. "Hey, Mike, do you want to buy my brother's 2040 Fiesta? It's barnfind because the battery's dead". "Sorry Jim, can't pick you up from the airport tomorrow, I mis-fueled the Lexus and it's barnfind".
Going back to the OP and the title of this thread, may I comment on "why are the purchasers of classic cars so stupid?". I mean, a Citroen Ami, not exactly a rare car and I wouldn't have considered it a collectable one in particular, sells for £30,000. As Simon de Burton comments in Octane, "The sale included a 1936 Alvis Speed 20 with fabulously elegant Charlesworth coachwork, which was hammered down for £30,000. The buyer clearly hadn't realised that for about the same money, he could have had himself a lovely Citroen Ami. I doubt he's too disappointed".
lowdrag said:
Going back to the OP and the title of this thread, may I comment on "why are the purchasers of classic cars so stupid?". I mean, a Citroen Ami, not exactly a rare car and I wouldn't have considered it a collectable one in particular...
According to how many left there are 78 of them taxed and 41 SORNd. Rare in my book.I haven't seen a right hand drive one for sale for a while.
£30,000 is a bit steep though! My parents had two of them at one point, one was used as a prop in a film and set on fire.
Shezbo said:
The ones that always make me smile are:
" full dealer service history....expect the last 5 "
"original throughout - recent respray to freshen up"
"totally immaculate - apart from...."then a long list of crap comes out ensuring the car is not immaculate.....
I actually bought a 1985 911 Carrera last year - not a mention apart from 'fairly good condition', it was cheap so I bought it on a whim (ebay)" full dealer service history....expect the last 5 "
"original throughout - recent respray to freshen up"
"totally immaculate - apart from...."then a long list of crap comes out ensuring the car is not immaculate.....
what the seller failed to mention was a full service history dating back to 1985, a mix of main Porsche dealer and VAG groups, the fact it had undergone an almost nut and bolt refurb five years previous and the two huge folders of history including notes from the factory whilst being made.
Had it valued the next day for over double what I paid so I was happy.
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