Stories of strange selling experiences
Discussion
Years ago I sold an Alfa 147 through PH - nice car c£2.5k.
A chap rang up, asked all the right questions, said he wanted it and then I asked where are you coming from? He said near Inverness, now bearing in mind I'm in Berkshire I said oh don't bother there must be loads between here and there, it's not special and a very long journey for those reasons.
Then he asked if I would accept full payment in Scottish currency. I said er..OK but if the bank don't take them I'll report it stolen.
He turned up a couple of days later having done an overnight sleeper with a wad of cash and drove off very happy with it.
A chap rang up, asked all the right questions, said he wanted it and then I asked where are you coming from? He said near Inverness, now bearing in mind I'm in Berkshire I said oh don't bother there must be loads between here and there, it's not special and a very long journey for those reasons.
Then he asked if I would accept full payment in Scottish currency. I said er..OK but if the bank don't take them I'll report it stolen.
He turned up a couple of days later having done an overnight sleeper with a wad of cash and drove off very happy with it.
andymc said:
vever understood people saying they can buy it cheaper elsewhere, just do it then
Funnily enough I did just this years ago. An "Approved Used" car was at the local franchise dealer. The same model car, same age, same miles was available from another franchise dealer (different chain) in the next town over for £1000 less (10% off). I went to my local dealer and said I would prefer to buy locally, but they'd have to budge on price to get close to the other franchise. They refused to knock off even a penny ... so I took the £5 train 40 miles and bought from that dealer instead.
Never figured that one out - I didn't even ask for a price match, just a bit of flexibility.
Tim16V said:
Years ago I sold an Alfa 147 through PH - nice car c£2.5k.
A chap rang up, asked all the right questions, said he wanted it and then I asked where are you coming from? He said near Inverness, now bearing in mind I'm in Berkshire I said oh don't bother there must be loads between here and there, it's not special and a very long journey for those reasons.
Then he asked if I would accept full payment in Scottish currency. I said er..OK but if the bank don't take them I'll report it stolen.
He turned up a couple of days later having done an overnight sleeper with a wad of cash and drove off very happy with it.
Im in Inverness too. I personally have bought 2x cars from Norfolk/Manchester, 1x from South Wales/London/Birmingham.A chap rang up, asked all the right questions, said he wanted it and then I asked where are you coming from? He said near Inverness, now bearing in mind I'm in Berkshire I said oh don't bother there must be loads between here and there, it's not special and a very long journey for those reasons.
Then he asked if I would accept full payment in Scottish currency. I said er..OK but if the bank don't take them I'll report it stolen.
He turned up a couple of days later having done an overnight sleeper with a wad of cash and drove off very happy with it.
The further south the car is the less rust. Have a look at my E46 which I bought from up here, looks like it was left in the sea for a while.
Im not the only one to do this either, have a few friends who travel south for cars too.
Slow said:
Tim16V said:
Years ago I sold an Alfa 147 through PH - nice car c£2.5k.
A chap rang up, asked all the right questions, said he wanted it and then I asked where are you coming from? He said near Inverness, now bearing in mind I'm in Berkshire I said oh don't bother there must be loads between here and there, it's not special and a very long journey for those reasons.
Then he asked if I would accept full payment in Scottish currency. I said er..OK but if the bank don't take them I'll report it stolen.
He turned up a couple of days later having done an overnight sleeper with a wad of cash and drove off very happy with it.
Im in Inverness too. I personally have bought 2x cars from Norfolk/Manchester, 1x from South Wales/London/Birmingham.A chap rang up, asked all the right questions, said he wanted it and then I asked where are you coming from? He said near Inverness, now bearing in mind I'm in Berkshire I said oh don't bother there must be loads between here and there, it's not special and a very long journey for those reasons.
Then he asked if I would accept full payment in Scottish currency. I said er..OK but if the bank don't take them I'll report it stolen.
He turned up a couple of days later having done an overnight sleeper with a wad of cash and drove off very happy with it.
The further south the car is the less rust. Have a look at my E46 which I bought from up here, looks like it was left in the sea for a while.
Im not the only one to do this either, have a few friends who travel south for cars too.
Bought my first Synergie from a bloke in Salisbury, my second from Aberdeen, my latest from Blackburn; I'm just outside Edinburgh.
First one lasted 5 years with no rust issues at all, second was had the sills patched at the first mot I put it through, newest seems pretty solid.
Slow said:
Tim16V said:
Years ago I sold an Alfa 147 through PH - nice car c£2.5k.
A chap rang up, asked all the right questions, said he wanted it and then I asked where are you coming from? He said near Inverness, now bearing in mind I'm in Berkshire I said oh don't bother there must be loads between here and there, it's not special and a very long journey for those reasons.
Then he asked if I would accept full payment in Scottish currency. I said er..OK but if the bank don't take them I'll report it stolen.
He turned up a couple of days later having done an overnight sleeper with a wad of cash and drove off very happy with it.
Im in Inverness too. I personally have bought 2x cars from Norfolk/Manchester, 1x from South Wales/London/Birmingham.A chap rang up, asked all the right questions, said he wanted it and then I asked where are you coming from? He said near Inverness, now bearing in mind I'm in Berkshire I said oh don't bother there must be loads between here and there, it's not special and a very long journey for those reasons.
Then he asked if I would accept full payment in Scottish currency. I said er..OK but if the bank don't take them I'll report it stolen.
He turned up a couple of days later having done an overnight sleeper with a wad of cash and drove off very happy with it.
The further south the car is the less rust. Have a look at my E46 which I bought from up here, looks like it was left in the sea for a while.
Im not the only one to do this either, have a few friends who travel south for cars too.
Holy thread resurrection, Batman!
The car in question was a 2003 Audi A6 Allroad, 2.5TDI. I'd owned the car for a little under two years, not having covered much miles in it during that time. I'd advertised the car for sale as spares or repair as it had a water leak into the cabin, which had resulted in a very fetching OEM+ Genuine Audi Footspa, complete with the optional Algae. This had in turn caused some interesting electrical gremlins. So, the car was up for sale for £600 ono (fair considering I had spent £700 on a new clutch and flywheel the day after buying it).
I'd had a few enquiries, but nothing came to fruition. Until, that is, a chap messaged me on Facebook marketplace asking to buy it. HE wanted it there and then, no questions asked, for £350. At this stage, I wanted the hideous ecosystem-on-wheels off my drive and to become a distant fever-dream of a memory. So I agreed. This was at about 8.30pm on a Tuesday evening. After agreeing to the sale and getting the confidence-inspiring "omw m8" message, I proceeded to go out and pump up the tyres it's now about 9pm.
At this stage, I should mention that the car is being sold with no MOT, no Catalytic Converters (I'd sold them for scrap), and brakes that were as effective as a knitted condom. It needed to be recovered/trailered away at the very least.
Pumping up the tyres on my driveway at 9pm on a school night led to the inevitable neighbour complaint. I sheepishly turn off the compressor and drive it, with 3 deflated tyres and no downpipe, to the bottom of my estate to finish off pumping up the tyres, out of earshot.
It's now 10pm. Minus 2 degrees celsius and I'm waiting, on the corner of the street for a gentleman to arrive and buy an absolute s
tbox of an Audi. I'm questioning my life decisions and having a full blown existential crisis. I message the buyer back to say that in 5 mins, I'm going to bed. Message not delivered. Great. Red Flag number one.
At 10.15pm I limp the sorry excuse of a car back up to the top of my estate, back onto the drive and head into bed. Where, something niggles in the back of my head which urges me to go and block in the car. It's the spidey-sense of the car sale, some might say.
Whilst doing this, at 10.30pm, the buyer arrives as a passenger in his Mrs' Corsa, adorning the freshest stolen tracksuit and the most eloquent Welsh valleys accent you can think of ("Buy your own f*cking glue"). Red flag number 2!
Back down to the bottom of the estate we go, where I show him the car, he explains how he's getting it recovered to a unit of his mates etc. etc. However, the buyer was reticent to give me his real details for the receipt. Red flag number 3. At this stage, I told him all I needed was his name and an address so I could get rid of the logbook. So he gave me his name and an address, which I dutifully wrote down and walked back home after receiving the cash.
It's now about 11pm, I'm back home trying to update the DVLA online about the sale. I Google the address and, surprise surprise, it didn't exist. So, I thought I'd try a bit of Facebook and Google sleuthing to try and locate this specimen. That's where I discover an encyclopedic myriad of online news articles, detailing his antics over the past 5 years in South Wales. Everything from burglary, to TWOC, evading Police, failing to stop, videos of him ramming Police cars in a stolen Corsa B (I mean, who the feck steals a Corsa B since 1999?). Needless to say, this was the final, and cataclysmically the largest Red flag!
At 11.15 PM, I decided to give 101 a tinkle to inform them I've sold a car to someone who's given me false details and who, based on the previous online articles, might use it to Ram Raid a fish and chip shop for some leftover fruity curry and a bank bag of 2p coins. They take my details, as well as his, and give me a Crime Ref number. Off to bed I go, knowing it's now in the hands of Gwent Police's finest BiB.
Just as I'm dropping off, that familiar tripple-knock on the front door. CREE LED torch beams shining through the front windows and the crackle of a 2 way radio. It's half past midnight. 2 hours after selling the car to Welsh version of Tony Vercetti (GTA 5 joke there). I answer the door and, like some weird James Bond Villain, say to the officers "Ah, I've been expecting you". They didn't seem too clued up on what'd happened. So I make them aware of this evening's installment of "The Bill" and sing like a canary. They take my details and kindly inform me that the buyer had, yup, you guessed it, failed to stop for the Police and, after a short pursuit, had stacked the Audi in a nearby ditch. Unsurprising when the brakes were made from Dairyleigh and the flat-soptted tyres had all of aboit 9psi holding them up. Probably a nomination for "Wales' dumbest criminals"!
So, by my estimation, assuming it took the Police half an hour to trace my details and get to my address, the guy paid £350 for 90 mins of motoring. It would have been cheaper to go to Enterprise, and it might not have got him pulled!
Moral of the story? Listen to those spidy-senses when selling a car!
The car in question was a 2003 Audi A6 Allroad, 2.5TDI. I'd owned the car for a little under two years, not having covered much miles in it during that time. I'd advertised the car for sale as spares or repair as it had a water leak into the cabin, which had resulted in a very fetching OEM+ Genuine Audi Footspa, complete with the optional Algae. This had in turn caused some interesting electrical gremlins. So, the car was up for sale for £600 ono (fair considering I had spent £700 on a new clutch and flywheel the day after buying it).
I'd had a few enquiries, but nothing came to fruition. Until, that is, a chap messaged me on Facebook marketplace asking to buy it. HE wanted it there and then, no questions asked, for £350. At this stage, I wanted the hideous ecosystem-on-wheels off my drive and to become a distant fever-dream of a memory. So I agreed. This was at about 8.30pm on a Tuesday evening. After agreeing to the sale and getting the confidence-inspiring "omw m8" message, I proceeded to go out and pump up the tyres it's now about 9pm.
At this stage, I should mention that the car is being sold with no MOT, no Catalytic Converters (I'd sold them for scrap), and brakes that were as effective as a knitted condom. It needed to be recovered/trailered away at the very least.
Pumping up the tyres on my driveway at 9pm on a school night led to the inevitable neighbour complaint. I sheepishly turn off the compressor and drive it, with 3 deflated tyres and no downpipe, to the bottom of my estate to finish off pumping up the tyres, out of earshot.
It's now 10pm. Minus 2 degrees celsius and I'm waiting, on the corner of the street for a gentleman to arrive and buy an absolute s
tbox of an Audi. I'm questioning my life decisions and having a full blown existential crisis. I message the buyer back to say that in 5 mins, I'm going to bed. Message not delivered. Great. Red Flag number one. At 10.15pm I limp the sorry excuse of a car back up to the top of my estate, back onto the drive and head into bed. Where, something niggles in the back of my head which urges me to go and block in the car. It's the spidey-sense of the car sale, some might say.
Whilst doing this, at 10.30pm, the buyer arrives as a passenger in his Mrs' Corsa, adorning the freshest stolen tracksuit and the most eloquent Welsh valleys accent you can think of ("Buy your own f*cking glue"). Red flag number 2!
Back down to the bottom of the estate we go, where I show him the car, he explains how he's getting it recovered to a unit of his mates etc. etc. However, the buyer was reticent to give me his real details for the receipt. Red flag number 3. At this stage, I told him all I needed was his name and an address so I could get rid of the logbook. So he gave me his name and an address, which I dutifully wrote down and walked back home after receiving the cash.
It's now about 11pm, I'm back home trying to update the DVLA online about the sale. I Google the address and, surprise surprise, it didn't exist. So, I thought I'd try a bit of Facebook and Google sleuthing to try and locate this specimen. That's where I discover an encyclopedic myriad of online news articles, detailing his antics over the past 5 years in South Wales. Everything from burglary, to TWOC, evading Police, failing to stop, videos of him ramming Police cars in a stolen Corsa B (I mean, who the feck steals a Corsa B since 1999?). Needless to say, this was the final, and cataclysmically the largest Red flag!
At 11.15 PM, I decided to give 101 a tinkle to inform them I've sold a car to someone who's given me false details and who, based on the previous online articles, might use it to Ram Raid a fish and chip shop for some leftover fruity curry and a bank bag of 2p coins. They take my details, as well as his, and give me a Crime Ref number. Off to bed I go, knowing it's now in the hands of Gwent Police's finest BiB.
Just as I'm dropping off, that familiar tripple-knock on the front door. CREE LED torch beams shining through the front windows and the crackle of a 2 way radio. It's half past midnight. 2 hours after selling the car to Welsh version of Tony Vercetti (GTA 5 joke there). I answer the door and, like some weird James Bond Villain, say to the officers "Ah, I've been expecting you". They didn't seem too clued up on what'd happened. So I make them aware of this evening's installment of "The Bill" and sing like a canary. They take my details and kindly inform me that the buyer had, yup, you guessed it, failed to stop for the Police and, after a short pursuit, had stacked the Audi in a nearby ditch. Unsurprising when the brakes were made from Dairyleigh and the flat-soptted tyres had all of aboit 9psi holding them up. Probably a nomination for "Wales' dumbest criminals"!
So, by my estimation, assuming it took the Police half an hour to trace my details and get to my address, the guy paid £350 for 90 mins of motoring. It would have been cheaper to go to Enterprise, and it might not have got him pulled!
Moral of the story? Listen to those spidy-senses when selling a car!
Unfortunately, I've recently had the worst experience so far of private sales...
Some people came to view and explained they were buying to export to their Dad in another country on video call (?!) and it all went downhill from there.
We went for a test drive, no seatbelts, 60 in a 30... when we started understeering round blind bends I had to tell the driver to pack it in.
They spent the entire time negging the car:
They like the faults, but because of all the faults, they want 40% off (!).
I told them if that was their offer they might as well get back in the car and leave...
Later got an angry phone call having wasted their time coming all the way to view the car, if I wasn't interested in negotiating!
Another buyer came the next day and bought the car without even test driving it...
Some people came to view and explained they were buying to export to their Dad in another country on video call (?!) and it all went downhill from there.
We went for a test drive, no seatbelts, 60 in a 30... when we started understeering round blind bends I had to tell the driver to pack it in.
They spent the entire time negging the car:
- The engine was a grubby - "that's an oil leak"
- Based on driving the car (i.e. no visual inspection) that the brakes weren't very good, worn out and needed replacing - I pointed out the front pads, discs and fluid were changed 100 miles ago with a clean MOT pass as well - "must be the rear ones then"
- Complained the automatic gearbox was faulty and not changing when they expected - I explained it's been serviced, that when cold it will deliberately slur the changes, and that I've got the same engine+gearbox in another car and it drives better than that, not interested.
They like the faults, but because of all the faults, they want 40% off (!).
I told them if that was their offer they might as well get back in the car and leave...
Later got an angry phone call having wasted their time coming all the way to view the car, if I wasn't interested in negotiating!
Another buyer came the next day and bought the car without even test driving it...
Reading back through this thread has reminded my of another unusual selling experience
Around 2000, I was selling a Mk6 Escort TD. Not a bad car, but getting very little interest despite advertising it for a decent price.
Once day, while i was at work, i got a call asking if they could come and look now. I wasn't intending to sell it while i was at work since i needed it to get home, but with the lack of interest it was something i could live with.
I tell them where to meet me and to call me when they arrived. When i got the call, i took a quick look of of the window and could see a small crowd around my car (guess they figured it was going to be parked in the car park across from the office). I went down to be met by some 20 travellers, it was impossible to work out who actually wanted to buy it!
The elder(?) decided that we would strike a deal by tossing a coin, if they win they pay £500 less and if i win, they pay me £500 extra. I'm not a gambling man, but at this point i had a load of large blokes surrounding me and the mood was 'unpleasant'.
Trying to act like i wasn't intimidated (yeah, right!) i told them we were going to use one of my coins. I won the toss, he shook my hand and paid the extra £500!
After they all disappeared (and they literally vanished as soon as i won the toss), a policeman from the station opposite came over and asked me if i was okay. So why didn't you come over instead of watching it all go down ?
Around 2000, I was selling a Mk6 Escort TD. Not a bad car, but getting very little interest despite advertising it for a decent price.
Once day, while i was at work, i got a call asking if they could come and look now. I wasn't intending to sell it while i was at work since i needed it to get home, but with the lack of interest it was something i could live with.
I tell them where to meet me and to call me when they arrived. When i got the call, i took a quick look of of the window and could see a small crowd around my car (guess they figured it was going to be parked in the car park across from the office). I went down to be met by some 20 travellers, it was impossible to work out who actually wanted to buy it!
The elder(?) decided that we would strike a deal by tossing a coin, if they win they pay £500 less and if i win, they pay me £500 extra. I'm not a gambling man, but at this point i had a load of large blokes surrounding me and the mood was 'unpleasant'.
Trying to act like i wasn't intimidated (yeah, right!) i told them we were going to use one of my coins. I won the toss, he shook my hand and paid the extra £500!
After they all disappeared (and they literally vanished as soon as i won the toss), a policeman from the station opposite came over and asked me if i was okay. So why didn't you come over instead of watching it all go down ?
I recently sold a car to a car company that's named after a type of road. One could say, I sold my car their way.
Their "sale" price was pretty close to what you'd pay privately. Gotcha, I thought, the more you buy, the closer you can bring your profit margins in.
Until they had an "adjuster" come round. The car had scratches all over, they said, so the best they could offer was £1,100 less than their sale price.
I wasn't impressed. I asked them to show me the scratches, as they had all of the photos. No response. Asked again. No response.
They called me 6 times in the next 7 days to ask if I wanted to proceed with the sale. I missed all but the last two - my note of "I work night shifts" wasn't read.
Eventually I spoke to the most bored-sounding person I've spoken to, reading off a script she clearly had no idea about. My "brake damages" and "scratched bodywork" were queried. The replies went between "yes, it's damaged" to "when do you want to agree a sale" - over and over.
I hung up and told them I'd sold the car via a competitor. Their response was "will they come and pick it up?" My reply of "well, how else does someone drive a car?" was met with an ended call.
Through all of this, the car had one single scratch on it. Less than 20,000 miles on a 9 year old car. But, management have to make their mark, so off they go making a mess.
Moral of the story - sell your car, your own fking way. I won't N&S this outfit but I would not recommend them to anybody.
Their "sale" price was pretty close to what you'd pay privately. Gotcha, I thought, the more you buy, the closer you can bring your profit margins in.
Until they had an "adjuster" come round. The car had scratches all over, they said, so the best they could offer was £1,100 less than their sale price.
I wasn't impressed. I asked them to show me the scratches, as they had all of the photos. No response. Asked again. No response.
They called me 6 times in the next 7 days to ask if I wanted to proceed with the sale. I missed all but the last two - my note of "I work night shifts" wasn't read.
Eventually I spoke to the most bored-sounding person I've spoken to, reading off a script she clearly had no idea about. My "brake damages" and "scratched bodywork" were queried. The replies went between "yes, it's damaged" to "when do you want to agree a sale" - over and over.
I hung up and told them I'd sold the car via a competitor. Their response was "will they come and pick it up?" My reply of "well, how else does someone drive a car?" was met with an ended call.
Through all of this, the car had one single scratch on it. Less than 20,000 miles on a 9 year old car. But, management have to make their mark, so off they go making a mess.
Moral of the story - sell your car, your own f
king way. I won't N&S this outfit but I would not recommend them to anybody. Second Best said:
I recently sold a car to a car company that's named after a type of road. One could say, I sold my car their way.
Their "sale" price was pretty close to what you'd pay privately. Gotcha, I thought, the more you buy, the closer you can bring your profit margins in.
Until they had an "adjuster" come round. The car had scratches all over, they said, so the best they could offer was £1,100 less than their sale price.
I wasn't impressed. I asked them to show me the scratches, as they had all of the photos. No response. Asked again. No response.
They called me 6 times in the next 7 days to ask if I wanted to proceed with the sale. I missed all but the last two - my note of "I work night shifts" wasn't read.
Eventually I spoke to the most bored-sounding person I've spoken to, reading off a script she clearly had no idea about. My "brake damages" and "scratched bodywork" were queried. The replies went between "yes, it's damaged" to "when do you want to agree a sale" - over and over.
I hung up and told them I'd sold the car via a competitor. Their response was "will they come and pick it up?" My reply of "well, how else does someone drive a car?" was met with an ended call.
Through all of this, the car had one single scratch on it. Less than 20,000 miles on a 9 year old car. But, management have to make their mark, so off they go making a mess.
Moral of the story - sell your car, your own fking way. I won't N&S this outfit but I would not recommend them to anybody.
To add balance, I sold my Volvo Xc90 through Motorway a couple of months ago. It couldn’t have been easier and smoother. Photos uploaded Friday, private auction on Saturday, I ended up with £5k more than the WBAC valuation, dealer who bought it contacted me Monday, arrived by train on Tuesday, I picked him up from the station, ten minutes later after driving back to my house, money was in my account and he was on his way.Their "sale" price was pretty close to what you'd pay privately. Gotcha, I thought, the more you buy, the closer you can bring your profit margins in.
Until they had an "adjuster" come round. The car had scratches all over, they said, so the best they could offer was £1,100 less than their sale price.
I wasn't impressed. I asked them to show me the scratches, as they had all of the photos. No response. Asked again. No response.
They called me 6 times in the next 7 days to ask if I wanted to proceed with the sale. I missed all but the last two - my note of "I work night shifts" wasn't read.
Eventually I spoke to the most bored-sounding person I've spoken to, reading off a script she clearly had no idea about. My "brake damages" and "scratched bodywork" were queried. The replies went between "yes, it's damaged" to "when do you want to agree a sale" - over and over.
I hung up and told them I'd sold the car via a competitor. Their response was "will they come and pick it up?" My reply of "well, how else does someone drive a car?" was met with an ended call.
Through all of this, the car had one single scratch on it. Less than 20,000 miles on a 9 year old car. But, management have to make their mark, so off they go making a mess.
Moral of the story - sell your car, your own f
king way. I won't N&S this outfit but I would not recommend them to anybody. Perhaps that counts as a strange selling experience!
Jakg said:
Unfortunately, I've recently had the worst experience so far of private sales...
Some people came to view and explained they were buying to export to their Dad in another country on video call (?!) and it all went downhill from there.
We went for a test drive, no seatbelts, 60 in a 30... when we started understeering round blind bends I had to tell the driver to pack it in.
They spent the entire time negging the car:
They like the faults, but because of all the faults, they want 40% off (!).
I told them if that was their offer they might as well get back in the car and leave...
Later got an angry phone call having wasted their time coming all the way to view the car, if I wasn't interested in negotiating!
Another buyer came the next day and bought the car without even test driving it...
Standard selling a car to someone who wasn't born in the UK antics. I would be very surprised if they had insurance to drive the car.Some people came to view and explained they were buying to export to their Dad in another country on video call (?!) and it all went downhill from there.
We went for a test drive, no seatbelts, 60 in a 30... when we started understeering round blind bends I had to tell the driver to pack it in.
They spent the entire time negging the car:
- The engine was a grubby - "that's an oil leak"
- Based on driving the car (i.e. no visual inspection) that the brakes weren't very good, worn out and needed replacing - I pointed out the front pads, discs and fluid were changed 100 miles ago with a clean MOT pass as well - "must be the rear ones then"
- Complained the automatic gearbox was faulty and not changing when they expected - I explained it's been serviced, that when cold it will deliberately slur the changes, and that I've got the same engine+gearbox in another car and it drives better than that, not interested.
They like the faults, but because of all the faults, they want 40% off (!).
I told them if that was their offer they might as well get back in the car and leave...
Later got an angry phone call having wasted their time coming all the way to view the car, if I wasn't interested in negotiating!
Another buyer came the next day and bought the car without even test driving it...
Also surprised they didn't put a bit of used engine oil in the header tank, dip their finger in it and proclaim "head gasket!"
I love the fact they phoned you back telling angry you had wasted their time when they were clearly trying to rip you off.
Jinba Ittai said:
To add balance, I sold my Volvo Xc90 through Motorway a couple of months ago. It couldn’t have been easier and smoother. Photos uploaded Friday, private auction on Saturday, I ended up with £5k more than the WBAC valuation, dealer who bought it contacted me Monday, arrived by train on Tuesday, I picked him up from the station, ten minutes later after driving back to my house, money was in my account and he was on his way.
Perhaps that counts as a strange selling experience!
Yep, I had a Merc R Class (fPerhaps that counts as a strange selling experience!
king horrific thing!) that for some reason went for about £600 more than auto trader. Dude collecting it on the flatbed actively ensured I got the quote, even completely disregarding a coil light that came on on start up after asking 'does it clear as the car warms up?' - he had a cuppa and waited for it to clear before taking pics of the dash. ThingsBehindTheSun said:
Standard selling a car to someone who wasn't born in the UK antics. I would be very surprised if they had insurance to drive the car.
I deliberately avoid making any reference to nationality - but you've guessed it correctly. Romania.ThingsBehindTheSun said:
Also surprised they didn't put a bit of used engine oil in the header tank, dip their finger in it and proclaim "head gasket!"
I deliberately positioned myself in front of the bonnet when opened just in case... or in case they just got in and drove off.Jakg said:
I deliberately avoid making any reference to nationality - but you've guessed it correctly. Romania.
I knew it as soon as I started reading the post. I have had the exact same experience in the past except they turned up mob handed, one got me to the back of the car and one squirted oil in the header.The guy then drove exactly like you said, told me how rubbish the car was and once we got back tried to tell me the head gasket had gone (but interestingly they still wanted it, but for scrap value)
I knew I was being scammed so I just kept repeating I would just get it scrapped instead and eventually they left.
I cleaned out the floating oil with a turkey baster and all was fine.
Like you, a lovely couple came and viewed the car the next day and paid me what I was asking.
I will not even entertain selling a car to anyone who has an EE accent now.
Had a guy come to look at a BMW automatic and had never driven an automatic in his life. He had no clue about the car or what it was, so it was a bit strange he came to see it. The test drive ended up being a free driving lesson and then he disappeared.
After a few other experiences I only sell to people with a British passport.
After a few other experiences I only sell to people with a British passport.
Gericho said:
Had a guy come to look at a BMW automatic and had never driven an automatic in his life. He had no clue about the car or what it was, so it was a bit strange he came to see it. The test drive ended up being a free driving lesson and then he disappeared.
After a few other experiences I only sell to people with a British passport.
British Passport.After a few other experiences I only sell to people with a British passport.
https://youtu.be/pp8aW78zxNE?si=YV8OHb_Xwo0s8tss
Not a car, but we had a tow behind quad bike mower for sale on Facebook Marketplace a few weeks ago.
We had it on at £750 as in my opinion it needed an engine rebuild, and we made it clear it wasn’t running properly in the listing. A working one is about £1000 in similar condition.
We didn’t have any interest other than an Irish guy who was having his neighbour come to a horse sale for him in Stoke on Trent at the weekend and asked if he could pick the mower up at some point Saturday. We said this was fine and didn’t bother with a deposit as we had had no other interest.
Saturday comes and no one shows up, I’m a bit miffed as I needed to take the tractor to mums to do some mowing (the guy subletting the farm land off mum had let it get in a right state) but I’d kept it to help load. My wife messages the guy who is supposed to be collecting and hears nothing, she then calls him only to be cut off after a garbled answer. She then gets a message from him saying he has been stuck all day without signal and won’t be able to collect the mower until the next day.
We wait in all Sunday, only for him to not show up again and for us to miss my son’s swimming lesson. My wife messages the original guy saying his guy hasn’t been to collect at all and we haven’t heard anything from him at all. He messages back almost straight away very apologetically and it turned out that not only has his neighbour not collected our mower, he hadn’t even left Ireland!
Because he felt he had messed us around so much he tried to get a courier to collect it, only to fail. So then he says he is going to come over from Ireland to Derby and collect it with his Nissan Navarra pickup. We profusely tell him it doesn’t matter and he doesn’t need to come all the way from Ireland for a tatty mower but he isn’t having any of it.
We then get a text the next day to say he has managed to find a courier, but they won’t be with us until 10pm on that day. They will have a forklift though. Great, I thought, I can take the tractor to mums finally. I screw the mower to a pallet and take the tractor over to mums.
The lorry driver doesn’t turn up until 11:30pm at night, and to be fair was a lovely guy (he is going to bring his kids to see the alpacas all the way from Ireland!). Turns out the forklift is actually two massive telehandlers on the trailer and the mower is going behind them, so I have to take it off the pallet, reassemble it and then reverse it up the ramps with the quad bike.
It all went fine, but why put so much effort into a tatty tow behind mower?! We haven’t heard from him since, I hope he is happy with it!
We had it on at £750 as in my opinion it needed an engine rebuild, and we made it clear it wasn’t running properly in the listing. A working one is about £1000 in similar condition.
We didn’t have any interest other than an Irish guy who was having his neighbour come to a horse sale for him in Stoke on Trent at the weekend and asked if he could pick the mower up at some point Saturday. We said this was fine and didn’t bother with a deposit as we had had no other interest.
Saturday comes and no one shows up, I’m a bit miffed as I needed to take the tractor to mums to do some mowing (the guy subletting the farm land off mum had let it get in a right state) but I’d kept it to help load. My wife messages the guy who is supposed to be collecting and hears nothing, she then calls him only to be cut off after a garbled answer. She then gets a message from him saying he has been stuck all day without signal and won’t be able to collect the mower until the next day.
We wait in all Sunday, only for him to not show up again and for us to miss my son’s swimming lesson. My wife messages the original guy saying his guy hasn’t been to collect at all and we haven’t heard anything from him at all. He messages back almost straight away very apologetically and it turned out that not only has his neighbour not collected our mower, he hadn’t even left Ireland!
Because he felt he had messed us around so much he tried to get a courier to collect it, only to fail. So then he says he is going to come over from Ireland to Derby and collect it with his Nissan Navarra pickup. We profusely tell him it doesn’t matter and he doesn’t need to come all the way from Ireland for a tatty mower but he isn’t having any of it.
We then get a text the next day to say he has managed to find a courier, but they won’t be with us until 10pm on that day. They will have a forklift though. Great, I thought, I can take the tractor to mums finally. I screw the mower to a pallet and take the tractor over to mums.
The lorry driver doesn’t turn up until 11:30pm at night, and to be fair was a lovely guy (he is going to bring his kids to see the alpacas all the way from Ireland!). Turns out the forklift is actually two massive telehandlers on the trailer and the mower is going behind them, so I have to take it off the pallet, reassemble it and then reverse it up the ramps with the quad bike.
It all went fine, but why put so much effort into a tatty tow behind mower?! We haven’t heard from him since, I hope he is happy with it!
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