Stories of strange selling experiences
Discussion
wack said:
I've had one or two bizarre car sales over the years.
I had an old V8 JAGUAR for sale £2500
Guy with a deep African accent rings up
IS THE JAGUAR STILL FOR SALE
yes
GIVE ME YOUR ADDRESS
2 hours goes by and nothing so I ring him back , by this time it's noon on a Saturday
AH YES THE JAGUAR , WHERE ARE YOU
Warrington
WHERE IS WARRINGTON
er , in Cheshire, where are you
I AM NEAR THE AIRPORT
which airport
LONDON CITY AIRPORT
you're 200 miles away
IT IS NOT A PROBLEM TEXT ME YOUR ADDRESS
phone goes dead
4 hours later to my surprise a car stops outside the house and this African couple get out , I take him out in the car , less than a mile and he says it's ok take me back
While he's looking at the car I start chatting to his mate sat in the car they came in , then he says I WILL TAKE IT ,when he starts reeling off £50 notes to the driver it suddenly dawns on me he's come all the way from London in a taxi £500
I get the V5c out and ask him to fill it in , then he tells me he's exporting to to Tanzania , I have no idea what to put on the v5 so he gets on the phone and comes up with an address so I think f
k it
He signs with a word in front of his name I've never seen ,It translated as one born to rule.
His final parting blow was he put it in drive hit the gas and it shot off that fast I'm surprised the wheels weren't spinning , 20m down the road he stops dead, opens the window and beacons me over
DO YOU HAVE INSURANCE FOR ME TO DRIVE THIS VEHICLE
Er , no
IT IS NO MATTER I WILL SORT IT OUT
he sits there on the phone for 5 minutes with me expecting a knock on the door then does his Wacky races takeoff again
I checked a few months later and it had been exported
I had an old V8 JAGUAR for sale £2500
Guy with a deep African accent rings up
IS THE JAGUAR STILL FOR SALE
yes
GIVE ME YOUR ADDRESS
2 hours goes by and nothing so I ring him back , by this time it's noon on a Saturday
AH YES THE JAGUAR , WHERE ARE YOU
Warrington
WHERE IS WARRINGTON
er , in Cheshire, where are you
I AM NEAR THE AIRPORT
which airport
LONDON CITY AIRPORT
you're 200 miles away
IT IS NOT A PROBLEM TEXT ME YOUR ADDRESS
phone goes dead
4 hours later to my surprise a car stops outside the house and this African couple get out , I take him out in the car , less than a mile and he says it's ok take me back
While he's looking at the car I start chatting to his mate sat in the car they came in , then he says I WILL TAKE IT ,when he starts reeling off £50 notes to the driver it suddenly dawns on me he's come all the way from London in a taxi £500
I get the V5c out and ask him to fill it in , then he tells me he's exporting to to Tanzania , I have no idea what to put on the v5 so he gets on the phone and comes up with an address so I think f
k it He signs with a word in front of his name I've never seen ,It translated as one born to rule.
His final parting blow was he put it in drive hit the gas and it shot off that fast I'm surprised the wheels weren't spinning , 20m down the road he stops dead, opens the window and beacons me over
DO YOU HAVE INSURANCE FOR ME TO DRIVE THIS VEHICLE
Er , no
IT IS NO MATTER I WILL SORT IT OUT
he sits there on the phone for 5 minutes with me expecting a knock on the door then does his Wacky races takeoff again
I checked a few months later and it had been exported
"WHERE IS WARRINGTON, SEMMI?"
God so many:
Micra bubble taken in p/ex year ago....takeaway boys all got one, put it on the internet as its a nice old car for £995.
Get a call off an old chap, car for his grand daughter, then asks where we are, hes in penzance, im in yorkshire, end of convo.
3 days later im locking garage at 630pm a car pulls up, old guy gets out, its the man from penzance with grand daughter in tow, hes 87, taken him 8 hours to get here, hadnt rung to see if its sold or not...hands me the money without seeing the car...he was going to set off back driving, put him up in local hotel over night, dont think he could have physically drove all that way without sleep.
Ferrari for sale, bloke rings up 830pm,asks no questions, can i come and see it...my own car at home in garage...wants to come now....I say ok, taxi turns up, out he gets, take him in the garage, chips £1K on price and gets a carrier bag out from up his jumper and gives me nearly 6 figures in cash and drives off. Strange.
POORCARDEALER said:
Ferrari for sale, bloke rings up 830pm,asks no questions, can i come and see it...my own car at home in garage...wants to come now....I say ok, taxi turns up, out he gets, take him in the garage, chips £1K on price and gets a carrier bag out from up his jumper and gives me nearly 6 figures in cash and drives off. Strange.
I'm assuming that this is because money launderers aren't to choosy ? Probably chipped £1k off in an attempt to make it 'look' genuine !I mean. Seriously. Who has £100k of legit cash stuffed up their jumper ?
OddCat said:
POORCARDEALER said:
Ferrari for sale, bloke rings up 830pm,asks no questions, can i come and see it...my own car at home in garage...wants to come now....I say ok, taxi turns up, out he gets, take him in the garage, chips £1K on price and gets a carrier bag out from up his jumper and gives me nearly 6 figures in cash and drives off. Strange.
I'm assuming that this is because money launderers aren't to choosy ? Probably chipped £1k off in an attempt to make it 'look' genuine !I mean. Seriously. Who has £100k of legit cash stuffed up their jumper ?
not me, but my neighbour. He was given a 90's granada scorpio. which I think was a 2.5 or 3.0 l V6. A runner, some test on it, but overheating problems. Doesn't want it so sticks it up for sale. £150. the engine would have been worth something like that alone.
this weird, dirty, rat faced bloke turns up in a battered fiesta. parks it up: loves the granada and buys it.
transfers all his stuff- clothes, sleeping bags and so on into the granada.
"Hang on mate- what's going on here".
"well I'm going to live in it, thats why I want it, its bigger than my fiesta."
"what about the fiesta- yr not leaving it on the road"
"no no- er I'm getting a mate to come for it". Clearly he's living in this car and plans to abandon it.
deal done, he drives off. My mate/neighbour then has to go out.
the next thing is my neighbour's wife is on the phone to me, panicking, as this rat boy has come back, demanding his money back. her husband is out (its pre- mobile phone days)
rat boy has driven off, put £40 of fuel in. after an hr of driving the car is overheating (as he was told)
he hangs about with me keeping in him in check.
my mate gets back, refunds him his 150 and some of the fuel money. he swaps his junk back to the fiesta, goes away.
the conclusion, then is the granada gets sold to some kit car builder who wants the V6 lump.
where I/we used to live, was on a on a private road, with an unmade track. 8 houses, with only 6 owning the road/track and land. one woman was very indifferent to this and would happily park on the track partially blocking it/or at least making access a pain.
the kit car builder/buyer of the granada turns up with a landrover towing a great trailer. manages to back down the road missing her car. granada gets loaded.
he sets off at some speed and drags his trailer down the side of her "illegally parked" car. sods off. neither me or my mate care to be honest. we've had years of this selfish cow and her parking.
an hour or two later, her latest boyfriend is pounding on my mates door and starts threatening him about the damage.
now he's some streak of p, with long hair, some poncy goatee.
whereas my neighbour is 6'3" and a very good rugby player- a fit healthy strong one, player of the year awards and so on- not one of the fat ones that think they can play. Hands like shovels and if he hits you, you're going down.
in no uncertain terms, said streak of P is told what he can do. he skulks off thinking far better of his actions. these days he'd probably be platting his beard and re-arranging his man bun.
this weird, dirty, rat faced bloke turns up in a battered fiesta. parks it up: loves the granada and buys it.
transfers all his stuff- clothes, sleeping bags and so on into the granada.
"Hang on mate- what's going on here".
"well I'm going to live in it, thats why I want it, its bigger than my fiesta."
"what about the fiesta- yr not leaving it on the road"
"no no- er I'm getting a mate to come for it". Clearly he's living in this car and plans to abandon it.
deal done, he drives off. My mate/neighbour then has to go out.
the next thing is my neighbour's wife is on the phone to me, panicking, as this rat boy has come back, demanding his money back. her husband is out (its pre- mobile phone days)
rat boy has driven off, put £40 of fuel in. after an hr of driving the car is overheating (as he was told)
he hangs about with me keeping in him in check.
my mate gets back, refunds him his 150 and some of the fuel money. he swaps his junk back to the fiesta, goes away.
the conclusion, then is the granada gets sold to some kit car builder who wants the V6 lump.
where I/we used to live, was on a on a private road, with an unmade track. 8 houses, with only 6 owning the road/track and land. one woman was very indifferent to this and would happily park on the track partially blocking it/or at least making access a pain.
the kit car builder/buyer of the granada turns up with a landrover towing a great trailer. manages to back down the road missing her car. granada gets loaded.
he sets off at some speed and drags his trailer down the side of her "illegally parked" car. sods off. neither me or my mate care to be honest. we've had years of this selfish cow and her parking.
an hour or two later, her latest boyfriend is pounding on my mates door and starts threatening him about the damage.
now he's some streak of p, with long hair, some poncy goatee.
whereas my neighbour is 6'3" and a very good rugby player- a fit healthy strong one, player of the year awards and so on- not one of the fat ones that think they can play. Hands like shovels and if he hits you, you're going down.
in no uncertain terms, said streak of P is told what he can do. he skulks off thinking far better of his actions. these days he'd probably be platting his beard and re-arranging his man bun.
I was selling an Impreza Turbo bugeye, it was only about 9 months old and totally immaculate and not messed with. Advertised as such and made it clear that the price advertised was not up for negotiation. Got a call from some bloke who was interested and said he would pop down that weekend to see it, I again reiterated that the price was non negotiable and that if he had any plans as such then don't bother coming. Weekend arrives and we arrange to meet in a local car park (near Andover), guy and his mate arrive from Birmingham. Take a look around the car and make me an offer £1K below advertised. They had not even asked for a drive or looked inside the car. I said asking price or nothing, so they got back in their car and drove back to Birmingham. I sold it a week later for the full asking price over the phone to some guy in Newark, drove up and dropped it off with no hassle. People are strange.
CoolHands said:
my favourite one is that readers cars thread on here where someone buys a (merc?) for a grand and ends up selling it for a gold ring and 50 quid or something stupid! Anyone know the thread?
Yes, it was my car initially. I was rather bemused by what went on afterwards i must admit. It ended up in a demolition derby apparently. Even more bizarre was the guy i bought it off then turned up wanting to buy it back 6 months later.
My first car was a Fiesta 1.1L. Sold it with 120k on the clock and a whining gearbox expecting my advertised price to be negotiated down a bit. Bloke was buying it for his daughter, and was obviously trying to get her to do the talking, but she was being a bit shy and didn't seem to want to negotiate. I offered a test drive but they didn't take me up on it, but as it was parked at the back of the drive he did drive it the length of the drive (about 2 car lengths) to get it to a point they could walk around it. Paid me the full asking price and headed off happy.
I felt a bit guilty about not pointing out the gearbox whine, but in hindsight I was a poor new grad selling a car for what I thought was ok money, and he was buying a shed cheaply for his daughter who didn't want to negotiate.
Strange/impressive buying experience. I bought a bike exhaust on e-bay, paid with paypal including postage which was a few quid as it was a reasonably bulky 1 in to 2 system. Seller got in touch saying he'd seen I lived in Farnborough, and he was going up to London at the weekend so if I fancied meeting him somewhere near the motorway it'd be easier than posting it. Met up with him and his mrs and he gave the exhaust and a fiver as he'd saved on postage
I felt a bit guilty about not pointing out the gearbox whine, but in hindsight I was a poor new grad selling a car for what I thought was ok money, and he was buying a shed cheaply for his daughter who didn't want to negotiate.
Strange/impressive buying experience. I bought a bike exhaust on e-bay, paid with paypal including postage which was a few quid as it was a reasonably bulky 1 in to 2 system. Seller got in touch saying he'd seen I lived in Farnborough, and he was going up to London at the weekend so if I fancied meeting him somewhere near the motorway it'd be easier than posting it. Met up with him and his mrs and he gave the exhaust and a fiver as he'd saved on postage
RizzoTheRat said:
My first car was a Fiesta 1.1L. Sold it with 120k on the clock and a whining gearbox expecting my advertised price to be negotiated down a bit. Bloke was buying it for his daughter, and was obviously trying to get her to do the talking, but she was being a bit shy and didn't seem to want to negotiate. I offered a test drive but they didn't take me up on it, but as it was parked at the back of the drive he did drive it the length of the drive (about 2 car lengths) to get it to a point they could walk around it. Paid me the full asking price and headed off happy.
I felt a bit guilty about not pointing out the gearbox whine, but in hindsight I was a poor new grad selling a car for what I thought was ok money, and he was buying a shed cheaply for his daughter who didn't want to negotiate.
Strange/impressive buying experience. I bought a bike exhaust on e-bay, paid with paypal including postage which was a few quid as it was a reasonably bulky 1 in to 2 system. Seller got in touch saying he'd seen I lived in Farnborough, and he was going up to London at the weekend so if I fancied meeting him somewhere near the motorway it'd be easier than posting it. Met up with him and his mrs and he gave the exhaust and a fiver as he'd saved on postage
5 speed box? If so, aren't they the IB5? Thought they were bomb proof.I felt a bit guilty about not pointing out the gearbox whine, but in hindsight I was a poor new grad selling a car for what I thought was ok money, and he was buying a shed cheaply for his daughter who didn't want to negotiate.
Strange/impressive buying experience. I bought a bike exhaust on e-bay, paid with paypal including postage which was a few quid as it was a reasonably bulky 1 in to 2 system. Seller got in touch saying he'd seen I lived in Farnborough, and he was going up to London at the weekend so if I fancied meeting him somewhere near the motorway it'd be easier than posting it. Met up with him and his mrs and he gave the exhaust and a fiver as he'd saved on postage
Darryl247W said:
I advertised a small car trailer on Gumtree, a nice eastern European guy turned up, took a quick look, handed me the full price. I gave back a note. Everybody's happy.
A couple of hours later I got a call from a local guy looking to buy it.
"Sorry, it's sold"
"It's away is it?"
"Yes, a fellah came a couple of hours ago and took it."
"Where was he from?"
"I don't know, he was only here a minute or two, and took it."
"Did he pay the full price for it?'
"I don't think that's any of your business!"
(Sounding offended)"What?"
"I said I don't think that's any of your business!" (I hang up)
He rings me back.
I don't answer.
He texts me "ps off"
I had something really similar, sold a car on Autotrader and had a call after it had gone:A couple of hours later I got a call from a local guy looking to buy it.
"Sorry, it's sold"
"It's away is it?"
"Yes, a fellah came a couple of hours ago and took it."
"Where was he from?"
"I don't know, he was only here a minute or two, and took it."
"Did he pay the full price for it?'
"I don't think that's any of your business!"
(Sounding offended)"What?"
"I said I don't think that's any of your business!" (I hang up)
He rings me back.
I don't answer.
He texts me "p
s off"me - sorry, it's already sold
nutter - oh. Was it in good condition?
me (baffled) - yeees
nutter - oh. How much did it go for?
me (slightly exasperated to be discussing a car I can't sell twice, and therefore bulls
tting a bit) - I got the asking price for itnutter - oh. I would have given you more.
me - *laughs, hangs up*
I mean wtf? Honestly, why would you say that?
I sold my BMW R1150GSA a few months ago.
Put it on ebay for £4200.
Guy messages me, will I take £4k. Bike is very high spec, has all the BMW aluminium luggage, and a load of extras and spares, so £4k was slightly under value but I want the garage space so I agree.
The guy comes down from Edinburgh (I live near Gatwick), points out a few bits that he says need doing and tries to chip me on price further but I refuse.
He pays up, hops on the bike, and rides it back to Edinburgh.
I get text after text telling me how many hundreds of miles he's done and how much he likes it and how great it is.
A month later I get a text telling me his "mate" has looked at the bike and says it needs a new throttle body and new final drive bearings, and would I buy the bike back or give him the cost of the replacement parts.
He got told "No", and I haven't heard from him since.
Put it on ebay for £4200.
Guy messages me, will I take £4k. Bike is very high spec, has all the BMW aluminium luggage, and a load of extras and spares, so £4k was slightly under value but I want the garage space so I agree.
The guy comes down from Edinburgh (I live near Gatwick), points out a few bits that he says need doing and tries to chip me on price further but I refuse.
He pays up, hops on the bike, and rides it back to Edinburgh.
I get text after text telling me how many hundreds of miles he's done and how much he likes it and how great it is.
A month later I get a text telling me his "mate" has looked at the bike and says it needs a new throttle body and new final drive bearings, and would I buy the bike back or give him the cost of the replacement parts.
He got told "No", and I haven't heard from him since.
A chap I know who used to sell motors in his youth, would swap four speed gear knobs for 5 speed ones. He would let the prospective buyer run the car up and down the 100m of road outside his house by way of a test drive. Obviously they never went far enough to try out 5th gear. Cars were sold as seen.
Sold my classic Scooby 14yrs ago, had it in Autotrader for 2 weeks, after a week I'd had two calls, one of those came to view.
It was about 4pm at this time of year so getting dark, the chap walked around the car without really looking then we went for a test drive. Annoyed me as I'd just spent £500 bringing the bodywork up to 100% & fitted new (decent) tyres - he didn't even check!
He rang the following day to make an offer (the only offer I'd had, needed the money to fund my £9k stamp duty bill a few weeks later!) so I accepted.
It was about 4pm at this time of year so getting dark, the chap walked around the car without really looking then we went for a test drive. Annoyed me as I'd just spent £500 bringing the bodywork up to 100% & fitted new (decent) tyres - he didn't even check!
He rang the following day to make an offer (the only offer I'd had, needed the money to fund my £9k stamp duty bill a few weeks later!) so I accepted.
Not mine, but this has to be included. Very strange:
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
danzman1991 said:
Sold my last car to a rather odd chap - Peugeot 407 for £1200 - SO many phone calls / texts before he came to view - you know when you're too far in to give up...?
Never worked so hard to sell a car before!
Negotiation was mainly based around his cat being rather unwell haha!
I tend to look after my cars, and lose a lot on them (but it's more of a hobby to own/restore a car than anything else), and so the first to view normally will buy - it's been a long time (10 years+) since I had someone come and look at a car I was selling, and not walk away with a deal.Never worked so hard to sell a car before!
Negotiation was mainly based around his cat being rather unwell haha!
Sometimes, though, it's like doing a rain dance to get someone to view.
I had one chap try some heroically optimistic bargaining once. I live in Dorset, he was from Northern Ireland. We'd negotiated a price by phone after sending lots of pictures etc, he flew to Southampton and I picked him up from the airport. He had a check over the car near the airport, when he was happy I drove him to the bank in Ringwood (20-30 mile drive). In the bank he gets out wads of cash then tries to knock another £150 off, it's hard to imagine a much weaker negotiating position but all credit (and Irish stereotypes) for trying 
.
An amusing family car selling story: We were selling an old Audi 80 (original square one) for absolute shed money (<£300). My mother and I had to go out so my brother, probably about 14 at the time, was left in charge when a chap came to see it. The chap was American and turned out to have a broken leg in plaster, the car in question was a manual which was an issue on a couple of levels, the aforementioned leg and he didn't know how to drive one. My brother ended up explaining the basics of how to operate it, the chap bought the car and somehow went on his merry way albeit with not the smoothest of takeoffs. As a sidenote the only external door handle that worked was on the passenger side so getting in must have been an experience for him.
.An amusing family car selling story: We were selling an old Audi 80 (original square one) for absolute shed money (<£300). My mother and I had to go out so my brother, probably about 14 at the time, was left in charge when a chap came to see it. The chap was American and turned out to have a broken leg in plaster, the car in question was a manual which was an issue on a couple of levels, the aforementioned leg and he didn't know how to drive one. My brother ended up explaining the basics of how to operate it, the chap bought the car and somehow went on his merry way albeit with not the smoothest of takeoffs. As a sidenote the only external door handle that worked was on the passenger side so getting in must have been an experience for him.
Edited by TurboHatchback on Tuesday 13th December 13:44
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