When did selling a car privately become so painful?
Discussion
I have sold about 20 cars privately over the last 20 years. Never had an issue until now.
Selling my cheap runaround stop gap car, which is worth about £500-750 I was selling it as spares or repair. As I finished with it and I didn t fancy messing around getting a fresh MOT. It still had a month and half s MOT to run. In fact it was exactly how I purchased the car three years earlier (it broke down the next morning after I purchased it). I used the months MOT to find out what was wrong and fix it and got a fresh MOT
I had seen a thread on here and people where saying that they had good success with selling on eBay so thought I d give it a go. So listed at £1 and no reserve and just let it run its course . What amazed me is no one came to look over the car during the auctions
Winning bidder 1 contacted me the night he won the auction. Asked for my number and had chat on the phone. Which normally means there showing commitment and not just communicating over messages. He say he needs to get a train to pick the car up and would pick it up 13 days after auction end. I had stated on the listing 14 days to pick up, so fair enough. My mess up was not taking deposit but as the car had sold for just over £500 I didn t think there was much point. Few more phone calls from buyer over the first week all looked good
Day 12 arrives I get a text message saying his daughter doesn't want that model of car anymore. Which pissed me off a tad. Phoned him up and all he could do is blame his daughter and tell me how he was out of pocket for the train ticket .
Pissed off I looked at just scrapping the car. But it still had plenty of life left in and seemed a waste. I offered it to a guy on the owners club forum. He had offered me £250 a month ago. He then didn t commit to buying. Also eBay will only let you relist the item. No refund of listing fees at £15. So I relisted two days after waiting for commitment from forum guy. Two hours after relisting it on eBay he says he wants it now. I didn t think he was interested.
Winning bidder 2. He s asked a couple of general question about the car. Then won it for a little over £400. Far enough as listed again for £1 with no reserve. Contacts over messager say he ll pick it up in two days at midday. I get a call at 8:30am saying he was an hour away. Arrives at 9am luckily I could take a break from work to sort out the sale. He then says he s driving it straight to get it MOT. I thought a little strange but it s his car he can do as he likes. Pays and off he goes. 1 hour later call from buyer that the low oil warning had gone off. Bit strange as I had topped off the oil a couple of days before. But being a 23 year old car that not been driven for a month they can throw the odd spurious fault. 3 hours later I get a text it s failed it s MOT. The lists the stuff it had failed on. Checked MOT checker on the internet and it had a fail on emission and weak handbrake a couple of advisorys. I ignore this as car has been clearly listed on the listing a spares or repair and needed work for MOT. Another hour goes buy and I get a message that he wants to return the car as it s not as described. So then had to tell him it was sold as spares or repair and sold as seen. I d even done a receipt I had him sign stating this.
I have a feeling it s not over yet. He has been told there is nothing more to discuss the car was listed as spare or repair and sold as seen.
I apologise for the long rant, but what has happened to some people in this country.
Selling my cheap runaround stop gap car, which is worth about £500-750 I was selling it as spares or repair. As I finished with it and I didn t fancy messing around getting a fresh MOT. It still had a month and half s MOT to run. In fact it was exactly how I purchased the car three years earlier (it broke down the next morning after I purchased it). I used the months MOT to find out what was wrong and fix it and got a fresh MOT
I had seen a thread on here and people where saying that they had good success with selling on eBay so thought I d give it a go. So listed at £1 and no reserve and just let it run its course . What amazed me is no one came to look over the car during the auctions
Winning bidder 1 contacted me the night he won the auction. Asked for my number and had chat on the phone. Which normally means there showing commitment and not just communicating over messages. He say he needs to get a train to pick the car up and would pick it up 13 days after auction end. I had stated on the listing 14 days to pick up, so fair enough. My mess up was not taking deposit but as the car had sold for just over £500 I didn t think there was much point. Few more phone calls from buyer over the first week all looked good
Day 12 arrives I get a text message saying his daughter doesn't want that model of car anymore. Which pissed me off a tad. Phoned him up and all he could do is blame his daughter and tell me how he was out of pocket for the train ticket .
Pissed off I looked at just scrapping the car. But it still had plenty of life left in and seemed a waste. I offered it to a guy on the owners club forum. He had offered me £250 a month ago. He then didn t commit to buying. Also eBay will only let you relist the item. No refund of listing fees at £15. So I relisted two days after waiting for commitment from forum guy. Two hours after relisting it on eBay he says he wants it now. I didn t think he was interested.
Winning bidder 2. He s asked a couple of general question about the car. Then won it for a little over £400. Far enough as listed again for £1 with no reserve. Contacts over messager say he ll pick it up in two days at midday. I get a call at 8:30am saying he was an hour away. Arrives at 9am luckily I could take a break from work to sort out the sale. He then says he s driving it straight to get it MOT. I thought a little strange but it s his car he can do as he likes. Pays and off he goes. 1 hour later call from buyer that the low oil warning had gone off. Bit strange as I had topped off the oil a couple of days before. But being a 23 year old car that not been driven for a month they can throw the odd spurious fault. 3 hours later I get a text it s failed it s MOT. The lists the stuff it had failed on. Checked MOT checker on the internet and it had a fail on emission and weak handbrake a couple of advisorys. I ignore this as car has been clearly listed on the listing a spares or repair and needed work for MOT. Another hour goes buy and I get a message that he wants to return the car as it s not as described. So then had to tell him it was sold as spares or repair and sold as seen. I d even done a receipt I had him sign stating this.
I have a feeling it s not over yet. He has been told there is nothing more to discuss the car was listed as spare or repair and sold as seen.
I apologise for the long rant, but what has happened to some people in this country.
Edited by TVR Tommy on Wednesday 26th November 06:37
king nightmare...normalbloke said:
Just sell it on Marketplace or Gumtree. You ll be guaranteed a seamless,pleasurable genuine selling experience every time
My daily old banger has started costing me more than it’s worth so I go looking for a cheap car on Facebook Marketplace. I see a Fiesta for £1200 and thought that’ll do if it’s basically checks out alright.The messaging went something like this
Me: Hi there, is the car still for sale?”
Seller : Yes
Me: can I view it tomorrow?
Seller: yes
Me: In the morning?
Seller: yes
Me: What time?
Seller: Between 10 and 11
Me: 10.30?
Seller: yes
Me: Where exactly are you?
Seller: CB*****
Me: ok, see you in the morning
Go to see the car, see it parked up, looked ok but no show from seller. Messaged him three times, no reply.
This viewing was arranged Sunday just gone. Monday I get a message from him, the car’s sold, someone’s picking up Thursday.
Fortunately it was only five miles from me but still I’ve got better things to do with my time than wasting it on some prat like him.
M138 said:
My daily old banger has started costing me more than it s worth so I go looking for a cheap car on Facebook Marketplace. I see a Fiesta for £1200 and thought that ll do if it s basically checks out alright.
The messaging went something like this
Me: Hi there, is the car still for sale?
Seller : Yes
Me: can I view it tomorrow?
Seller: yes
Me: In the morning?
Seller: yes
Me: What time?
Seller: Between 10 and 11
Me: 10.30?
Seller: yes
Me: Where exactly are you?
Seller: CB*****
Me: ok, see you in the morning
Go to see the car, see it parked up, looked ok but no show from seller. Messaged him three times, no reply.
This viewing was arranged Sunday just gone. Monday I get a message from him, the car s sold, someone s picking up Thursday.
Fortunately it was only five miles from me but still I ve got better things to do with my time than wasting it on some prat like him.
Message him back saying you'll give him 1500 and pick it up next weekend. Then just don't!The messaging went something like this
Me: Hi there, is the car still for sale?
Seller : Yes
Me: can I view it tomorrow?
Seller: yes
Me: In the morning?
Seller: yes
Me: What time?
Seller: Between 10 and 11
Me: 10.30?
Seller: yes
Me: Where exactly are you?
Seller: CB*****
Me: ok, see you in the morning
Go to see the car, see it parked up, looked ok but no show from seller. Messaged him three times, no reply.
This viewing was arranged Sunday just gone. Monday I get a message from him, the car s sold, someone s picking up Thursday.
Fortunately it was only five miles from me but still I ve got better things to do with my time than wasting it on some prat like him.
Two can play at that game.
TVR Tommy said:
I apologise for the long rant, but what has happened to some people in this country.
It has always been that way. Maybe amplified now by the fact you can advertise a car effectively across the whole world in a few clicks but selling (and buying) has always had its fair share of muppets, timewasters and the downright weird. Don't think anything has changed recently. Sold 2 cars privately recently
1st - 2010 Smart fortwo CDI
Listed on Fb Mktplace on the Friday, ignored the nonsense messages. Got a nice message from a man who was interested, - we exchanged phone number, had a chat, agreed a time to view. Came next day, car was as described, price was agreed - cash changed hands
2nd - 2017 Dacia Logan Diesel
Listed on FB marketplace, no time for nonsense messages, was contacted by a guy 30 minutes away who wanted for a taxi - exchanged number - had a chat, he came to view, car was as described, price agreed - cash changed hands.
For me the key is to list car well, faults / damage / etc too - set a fair price. First thing I d on any enquiry is arrange to speak on the phone - if they dont want to speak - i block them.
Works for me!
1st - 2010 Smart fortwo CDI
Listed on Fb Mktplace on the Friday, ignored the nonsense messages. Got a nice message from a man who was interested, - we exchanged phone number, had a chat, agreed a time to view. Came next day, car was as described, price was agreed - cash changed hands
2nd - 2017 Dacia Logan Diesel
Listed on FB marketplace, no time for nonsense messages, was contacted by a guy 30 minutes away who wanted for a taxi - exchanged number - had a chat, he came to view, car was as described, price agreed - cash changed hands.
For me the key is to list car well, faults / damage / etc too - set a fair price. First thing I d on any enquiry is arrange to speak on the phone - if they dont want to speak - i block them.
Works for me!
Franco5 said:
Let s state the obvious that dealing with the type of people that have to buy <£1000 cars is unlikely to be an enjoyable experience. There are plenty of personality/behaviour/intelligence reasons that they are only able to afford these cars.
This. These are the sort of people who think they are buying a brand new car for £1000 and if there are any issues with it subsequently or if they change their mind they will demand their money back or you fix it.The chances of getting someone nice from the Joy of running an old shed thread who understand what they are doing is negligable.
The other thing is they always have a sob story about why you should let them have the car cheap, over the years I have heard them all.
1)I wrote off my car this morning and I need to get my disabled children to school
2)My dad is in hospital in Manchester and I need a car to see him
3)My children live with their mother in Glasgow and I need a car to visit them
4)I am a key worker and don't have much money, would you take £500?
eBay auctions is a complete waste of time, either the winning bidder will ghost you, or keep making excuse after excuse for a couple of weeks before telling you their mums dog had to go to the vets so they can no longer buy the car.
Then when you relist it all the other time wasters will come out of the woodwork with "I thought this was sold, what happened" messages. These are the ones who emailed you a massive list of questions beforehand as if they were buying a £200K Ferrari and replied with "I have a few to look at" when you wasted you time replying. The sort of people who will ask you if the advisory for a orange bulb back in 2016 was chaged at a main dealer and do you have the receipt.
Just thinking about the process makes me want to smash my head against a wall, I personally would rather just scrap it than even have to read a single time wasting mesage from these people.
Oh and as for your £25, if you open a case in eBay you should get it back. One thing I have learned is never sell a car via eBay auction, only through classified ad if you have to. The propert time wasters are allergic to picking up the phone and talking to a real person, or heaven forbid getting up off their sofa and actually viewing a car.
A friend and precision engineer is a Saab fan. He parks near his home in a suburban village with a clear and professionally presented list on the windscreen: ‘What’s good about it? What’s less good.’ He had sold a few this way with minimal hassle although it is, of course, something of a niche market.
its been a nightmare selling cars for a long time, you have just been lucky
they guy who bought my sisters MX5 spent 5 hours at the house umming over it, after an hour i left him outside to go over the car, he did pay the asking price in the end but what a nightmare
why all my cars go to online sites or dealers if they match the online price, just not worth the ball ache
they guy who bought my sisters MX5 spent 5 hours at the house umming over it, after an hour i left him outside to go over the car, he did pay the asking price in the end but what a nightmare
why all my cars go to online sites or dealers if they match the online price, just not worth the ball ache
I’ve sold some cheap cars previously
Couple of Skoda Fabias for £500
Volvo v50 £1k
No real problem baring one of the Skodas having some Eastern Europeans turn up mob handed and pulled the car to bits and then tried to short change me on the price agreed on just before they handed over the cash. The next Skoda sold to another Eastern European who was pleasant chap.
The bit that annoys me is the car was clearly listed as spares or repair. And then to have two people that made the selling so painful.
The car had done what I needed, I didn’t fancy messing about with it, getting another years MOT put on it. If I had have done that I may have sold it for £1200.
Just wanted shot. So it failed on emissions (could be down to a blowing exhaust that was mentioned on the listing) handbrake being weak. Car was parked on a hill and handbrake held car, so didn’t list that as wasn’t aware.
If I had purchased it for £400 I’d be happy sorting out just those issues. When I purchased it I paid £750 for it and another £300 sorting it out ready for MOT.
Couple of Skoda Fabias for £500
Volvo v50 £1k
No real problem baring one of the Skodas having some Eastern Europeans turn up mob handed and pulled the car to bits and then tried to short change me on the price agreed on just before they handed over the cash. The next Skoda sold to another Eastern European who was pleasant chap.
The bit that annoys me is the car was clearly listed as spares or repair. And then to have two people that made the selling so painful.
The car had done what I needed, I didn’t fancy messing about with it, getting another years MOT put on it. If I had have done that I may have sold it for £1200.
Just wanted shot. So it failed on emissions (could be down to a blowing exhaust that was mentioned on the listing) handbrake being weak. Car was parked on a hill and handbrake held car, so didn’t list that as wasn’t aware.
If I had purchased it for £400 I’d be happy sorting out just those issues. When I purchased it I paid £750 for it and another £300 sorting it out ready for MOT.
TVR Tommy said:
No real problem baring one of the Skodas having some Eastern Europeans turn up mob handed and pulled the car to bits and then tried to short change me on the price agreed on just before they handed over the cash.
Don't even get me started on the EEs who turn up mob handed, squirt some used oil in the header tank and up the exhaust and then try and convince you the head gsaket has gone. Often unclip a sensor to trigger an engine light for good measure.Had this happen to me, what a pain in the arse for a £800 car.
Whenever there's a gap between agreeing to buy something and collection something nearly always seems to go wrong.
So many times I'll get a message saying someone wants something I'm selling on FB but they can't collect until X+n day. I'd never delist or mark something as sold now until it's gone and certainly wouldn't hold anything for anyone.
The ones that contact and want to collect that day are usually much more reliable.
So many times I'll get a message saying someone wants something I'm selling on FB but they can't collect until X+n day. I'd never delist or mark something as sold now until it's gone and certainly wouldn't hold anything for anyone.
The ones that contact and want to collect that day are usually much more reliable.
I've got an add on gumtree for an old Jazz. low miles, full history, good nick.
Most people interested are those who can sell it on for more than they bought it. They don't even cover their tracks, one guy had sold 12 vehicles on his profile.
I did have an old fella and his missus look over it, they seemed genuine as wanted an upgrade for their 25 year old Yaris. He spent an hour looking over it then turned around and said "what do you want for it". I said "its up for £2k (as you know ffs) and I've already implied there might be some wiggle room, make me an offer." "No, what do you want for it? "err make me an offer" and so it went on.
He never did make an offer but his parting words were "if someone offers you silly money, give me a call" .
I understand how some genuine car salesman might feel now :-)
Most people interested are those who can sell it on for more than they bought it. They don't even cover their tracks, one guy had sold 12 vehicles on his profile.
I did have an old fella and his missus look over it, they seemed genuine as wanted an upgrade for their 25 year old Yaris. He spent an hour looking over it then turned around and said "what do you want for it". I said "its up for £2k (as you know ffs) and I've already implied there might be some wiggle room, make me an offer." "No, what do you want for it? "err make me an offer" and so it went on.
He never did make an offer but his parting words were "if someone offers you silly money, give me a call" .
I understand how some genuine car salesman might feel now :-)
It's the scam messages, texts and calls that piss me off (slightly) more than the buyers. As I recently ranted about in the TTAYB thread, never put a mobile number on the ad otherwise you'll be in for a world of pain with scammers trying to con you into buying a vehicle inspection report or wanting to set up paypal payment.
90% of the buyers on FBMP, Gumtree and Ebay auctions are driveway traders trying to source stock from desperate sellers to flip. Anything with good bodywork and FSH they are all over it like a rash.
90% of the buyers on FBMP, Gumtree and Ebay auctions are driveway traders trying to source stock from desperate sellers to flip. Anything with good bodywork and FSH they are all over it like a rash.
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