As some of you know, I'm selling our old Espace at the moment, and it's turning out to be a real trial of my patience.
I had the car on ebay which turned out to be total waste of my time and money. I had a lot of questions asked, all of which were already answered in my listing, and a number of people offering me other cars as a swap. Most of the cars offered as a swap were worth considerably more then the Espace, tempting offers but too good to be straight I thought.
The car's also on Autotrader, and I've had several no shows and a few tyre kickers turn up.
This weekend set the seal on it though, I had someone phone up at 7 on Friday evening, asking to see the car that evening. I asked if he could come on Saturday morning as it was getting on in the evening and my daughter was ill. Would be buyer assured me he would be there within half an hour for a quick look and if he liked the car he'd make a decision there and then. At 9 that night there was a knocking on the door, and WBB was there, with two "mates" demanding to see the car. One test drive and 30 minutes of talking he was still there - he offered me the selling price in cash there and then, but said he didn't have the time to sort out the V5, could I post it to him next day please if he texted me his address? Needless to say the answer was a definite No. He wasn't happy about this and repeatedly showed me a bundle of cash, saying he needed to take the car that evening. Eventually he got the message, promised to call me next morning, and left with his cash. Needless to say he's not called back.
Sunday morning another buyer turned up - looked over the car, started the engine, seemed happy, asked for a test drive, and showed me an insurance cert. I went with him - quite a shock. He pulled the car onto the main road, went a few yards along and without warning slammed the brakes on. "Brakes aren't very good are they" he said. Just pulling back onto our road he suddenly swung the wheel, swinging the car into middle of the road. "Steering pulls really bad" was his comment this time. I told him to stop the car outside our house and as soon as he got out took the keys back. He asked me for my best price - having been expecting this I quoted the price on the ad, to which he replied "you're ***** joking, brakes are shot, steering's *****, I'll give you £300. I told him I wasn't going to move far on the price, to which he replied "I've only got £350 on me, take it or leave it". I left it.
Anyhow, that sums up the selling experience so far. I've sold quite a few cars in my time, but I've never encountered anything like this. If this really is typical of car buyers today then people in the trade - I bought the new Espace from a dealer incidentally - do have my sympathy.
Edited by rtj70 on 04/11/2009 at 10:16
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I've heard a lot of similar experiences, but can't say I've ever had a nightmare like that myself.
What I have learned is that you can't judge a book by its cover. When we sold SWMBO's old Fiesta mkIV, this chap turned up sporting a skinhead, piercings, and tattoos everywhere. Spoke with that godawful inner city London "street" dialect as well. Looked around the car (clearly knowing what he was doing), drove it (sensibly, asked if he could open it up a bit in an appropriate place, which he did), picked up a few faults (which I knew were genuine), made a sensible offer, left a cash deposit, wired the funds next day into the bank, and picked up the car the following weekend. Lovely guy to deal with.
Conversely, one chap who came to look at our old Scenic, with his Gucci watch, Toni and Guy haircut, and Oakley shades turned out to be the biggest timewasting moron it has ever been my misfortune to meet. Didn't show twice, then turned up an hour late the third time with no apologies, took up loads of time, drove the car like a total prat, picked holes where there was no justification, and made a thoroughly insulting offer with a "take it or leave it" at the end. It was a nice example in very clean condition, with no major faults. I wanted to slap the idiot, but politely said "no thanks", whereupon he huffed into his private plated Audi RS4 and scorched off up the road. We sold the car four hours later to a lovely young family for very close to the asking price.
There are some muppets about. It's hard not to let them get to you.
Edited by DP on 04/11/2009 at 10:22
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Hows this
Printed out a for sale sign on the PC, with price and telephone number. Stuck it in the screen of Nicoles clio and left it on the drive.
Young teacher who works at the school at the bottom of the road, kncked on the door and asked to look at it. Husband came round next day amnd looked it over and offered the full asking price in cash.
Three days from start to finish with no expense.
It was a good car, at a fair price and I was confident enough in the car to sell it to someone who passed the door daily. Two years later it still does.
TBH I could sell a car a week from my "pitch"
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I've got a sign in the car - no feedback from it yet though, but the car's usually parked in our side road so it doesn't get much exposure. That said I'm using it more than the new Espace so it gets out and about a fair bit. Any chance of some space on your forecourt AE :)
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We sold an old Micra of my wife's some years ago by sticking a notice in the back window when it was parked outside the house saying old banger in good nick for sale with the price and a mobile number.
We got two calls and agreed to show it to the interested parties one after another on the same evening.
The first was a bloke who looked all over it in a "knowledgeable" fashion including holding up the MOT cert to the light. My wife gave up forging MOT certs for her cars some years back so I was offended by this. He wanted to offer silly money.
The second was a woman and her newly licenced daughter. They looked at the car and I drove them round the block a few times in it. We wanted the car to go to a good home and they got it. They wanted a few quid off but my wife had forgotten she was selling it and
filled the tank so they paid asking price.
I think we were just lucky.
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I've not done it for years, but I always found the best way to sell a cheap car, was to advertise in local post office/corner shop windows
MVP
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I remember selling on of my VW beetles years ago to a student.I felt sorry for her she had very little money.Sold it for half the price car was in good nick.I felt good about it she was overjoyed what goes round comes round.:)
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Don't tell me. You've now been married to her for 20 years? You old smoothie. ;-)
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A sensible asking price and a small ad in the local rag has never failed me yet.
Clk Sec
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You hear a lot of stories about aggressive buyers these days. I put some of it down to "Don't get done, get Dom". People seem to think they can offer silly money well below the asking price and because they don't have the faintest notion of how to negotiate they just copy the flash cockney geezer style of bargaining, but without any of the charm and skill of the original.
I wonder how they'd feel if their boss tried to bargain on their salary every month?
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I hadn't thought about a small ad in the local shop to be honest - I'll take a walk up there this afternoon.
I don't mind bargaining at all, I've done it as a buyer, but always politely and reasonably. It's the rude or aggressive manner so many people seem to adopt now that I find hard to deal with - I can't ever recall encountering it in the past. The car's priced very fairly as I wanted to sell it quickly, but it seems to be that the attitude of something for nothing is becoming the norm in society now.
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the best way to find a reliable car is to spot one that's not for sale, yet ... bear with me. One day back in the 80s, I looked out of office window and saw a two tone (cream/grey with brown vinyl roof) 4 door Ford Escort being parked opposite. By time I got down there the middle aged couple were walking away. "Excuse me, sorry to bother you...." Understandably, they were initially worried, but I explained that had been looking for such a car and was in no hurry. They relaxed, took my phone number. Five months later they rang to say they were selling it before they moved abroad. Only then I drove it: low mileage, full service history, perfect motor. Price agreed, sale done.
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You could try "suresell" AshT. I used them to sell a car last Spring. Painless really.
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Thanks for that Humph - I should have thought about that as we're only a few miles from BCA in Bridgwater. I'll look into it tomorrow and let you know how it goes.
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Second that AshT.
A friend sold a car only a few weeks ago using Suresell in Manchester. They told him a reserve figure and they beat it by a couple of hundred pounds which was a nice surprise - he was expecting a call to say that they had a best bid two hundred below.
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occupational hazard meeting idiots who know more than me
just brunt them out and always find a reason not to go for a test drive if you think they are timewasters
book people to a time via autotrader firm but friendly
i still think that if it wont sell in autotrader theres something wrong with the price, or your advert
put it this way you either want an espace type vehicle at such and such price or you dont so you look in autotrader not mr patels dirty side window as a buyer
if it was a fiesta/corsa type first car then mr patel is ok and very cheap too
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