Stories of strange selling experiences

[cj2013]

This ones going to be different for people who are in the trade, and those who aren't, but thought it was worth a mention.


Anyone had any really odd experiences when selling? I'm pretty boring when it comes to buying - I see something, make an arrangement to arrive, I turn up and then check for the common issues. I'm not really a fan of the "Mike Brewer" approach, and prefer to get a fair deal for both myself and the buyer, treat people like you like to be treated, kind of thing.

I do think people take advantage of a "nicer" person though - I've had some really bad experiences in the past, where it seemed quite obvious that someone had bought the car with the intent of pretending things had happened post sale, in order to try and extort money later (car was of shed value). This involved fake phone calls from the police and all sorts, it was just as weird as it sounds!

That was a few years ago, but has anyone had any strange experiences, buyer's remorse etc?

[cj2013]

The Spruce goose said:

A guy arranged to cone and see my car. I told him someone else was coming and if it was sold I would text him.

The other guy bought it so I text the guy to say it is sold.
About 2. hours later get a knock at the door.
In full business suit and a bike he explained his mobile battery had died and he had got the wrong stop on the train, so had cyclyed 20 miles to my house.
I did give him a lift back to the train station thou. Feltbpretty bad for him as he looked genuine and was buying for his family member.

Poor bloke

I always try and make sure that someone won't plan a long trip if someone else is viewing, but it doesn't exactly work and I've waited in all day for people to never turn up before.

[cj2013]

The Spruce goose said:

I never asked how far he lived away just thought it was a local guy.
I did feel pretty crap about it, as I am a honest seller usually sell cheaper than others.

Thinking about that, a fair while back I sold my car when I was living near Chester (which was the nearest station). I'd sold it on an eBay auction (with the correct location), and it didn't sell for much.

I waited for the buyer to turn up and time was ticking on - he rang me and said "I've got off the train, where are you?". I was sat outside the station, so asked him to describe his surroundings, which were nothing like where I was. He'd got off at a station called "Chester Road", which was supposed to be near the midlands somewhere. Several hours later he turned up and left happily, but it sounded like a stitch up for a while.

[cj2013]

bobtail4x4 said:

I sold some wheels, as I was going south the following weekend I offered to meet him,
we arranged to meet at Watford gap services,

I waited for a couple of hours, ringing the guys mum, it turned out he left London, got to Watford, and stopped at the first service station.

I think I know where the gap was!

[cj2013]

PistonBroker said:

Our eldest was only a few months old back then. I jacked in the trading for pocket money I'd been doing after that as the whole thing freaked me out!

Some people are just weird.

I've sold cars privately before now to people who expected an aftercare service similar to Lamborghini - for a car less than £4k.

I find it really hard to judge sometimes the really odd people from the con artists.

[cj2013]

Slow said:

These are my best stories of me being a idiot when buying cars. hopefully it will continue for a long time yet.

A great read, nonetheless!

I always take the view that caveat emptor applies when buying used, but I've very rarely been able to sell to a person who also takes that view.

Not that I have sold any dodgy cars, more like the sellers have tried to find faults and won't leave me alone afterwards.


Things like (M = me, B = buyer):

B: "The windows don't work"
M: "Have you got the ignition on?"
B: "Oops, got it - sorry, thanks!"
M: "No problem"

Same person, later that day

B: "Hi again - the heaters aren't blowing warm air, and I'm really not happy. I expected you to be honest and I am bringing the car back"
M: "Have you change the temperature on the climate display? With the buttons?"
B: "Works now, thanks"

The next day

B: "The radio doesn't have an aux socket - how am I supposed to play music from my iPod?"
M: "You'd need an aftermarket stereo. I have one in the garage. I'm happy to give it to you if you want it"
B: "Oh that'd be great thanks!"

Later that day

B: "Are you fitting this for me? I don't know about these things, so I'll return the car if not as it's not what I want if I can't play my ipod in there"



That's the kind of buyer I attract - I try and be nice an courteous, but some people just expect you to bleed for them. I'm not in the trade or anything, in case the buyer expectations lead to you think otherwise!

[cj2013]

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

[cj2013]

Toaster Pilot said:

"Halfords is that way"

I AM in the trade.

Maybe I'm too soft. People are really weird though and seem to expect too much if you try and be helpful.

At least in the trade you don't have to worry about some weirdo coming back to kick the door in at 10pm because a sidelight bulb needs replacing..

[cj2013]

juliethotel said:

Guy and his mate turned up to buy my motorhome, did a ten minutes test drive, he's happy. Gives me money, drives it away.

Phone call half hour later, he's really ill, has the ambulance out, throbbing headache, suspected CO poisoning, wants refund.

I should have ignored him at that point but I was intrigued and it turned out that he was actually really quite ill.

There was a minor exhaust leak, mentioned on the mot, which I forgot to tell him about and he also failed to read the mot cert. Because of this I took the van back(temporarily - didn't refund him) to get the exhaust leak sealed up.

He was convinced that the van was unsafe and a death trap, to the extent that he only took it back after going for a drive with a CO detector! It showed nothing at all and in the end we were both totally perplexed as to what had caused his ailments.

It sounds like an elaborate case of buyers remorse but I was shown pic of him with the ambulance guys.

Now that's a strange sale.

Did he have a taxpayer funded career?

[cj2013]

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.

[cj2013]

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.

Sometimes, though, it's like doing a rain dance to get someone to view.

[cj2013]

Jimmy Recard said:

I wouldn't have thought so. It was a completely WTF conversation. My brother was really pissed off about it too. I still haven't met her

She sounds like one of those people who use up valuable life-sustaining resources (like air) that she shouldn't be entitled to.

[cj2013]

Rubin215 said:

Another bike tale.

Selling a Suzuki Dragstar on ebay, buy it now or make best offer; a guy telephones me and asks that if he collects it today would I accept the buy it now price as his best offer...?

"Yes, of course I would!"
"Yeah, but it's going to take me a bit of time to get there; what happens if someone makes a better offer...?"
"Eh?"
"Well what if someone offers you £200 more?"
"I'm pretty sure they wont."
"Yeah, but someone might. Can I pay you a deposit by paypal right now so I know you'll keep it for me?"
"Yes, of course you can. I'll even end the listing on ebay for you."
"Will you? That's fantastic mate, I really appreciate it!"

Guy arrived two hours later with the remainder in cash, looked the bike over and was happier than a dog with two of everything.
Glowing feedback on ebay that night too.

No one else had even been in touch over the three weeks it had been listed!

To each their own - probably just bad experience with being gazumped.

I've had it happen to me before.

[cj2013]

Alex_225 said:

There are some truly bizarre stories on here.

I've never really had any overly strange incidents when selling a car. Although I recall selling my first Clio 172 to a chap who was a couple of hours drive away. He came and looked at the car, agreed it was mint (2 years old/15k on the clock) and we agreed a price. Following weekend he came and picked it up.

It had a set of aftermarket wheels but included in the price were the OEM ones which he readily took as well.

A bout a month later I had a missed cal from the guy and I text him asking if he was alright. I get, "No, these original wheels don't fit on the car!".

I replied that they fitted the car perfectly well as it came with them attached. Perhaps he should check that the spigot rings from the after market wheels aren't still on the hub. Surprisingly he went quiet, so I'll only assume he fitted the. The guy was a bit of a t*t anyway.

I've had that plenty of times before - sellers who go apest about something they're doing wrong (straight to 'rage'), but it usually continues on.

"Passenger window is ******d"
"Have you made sure the button isn't pressed on the driver's door" (the isolation switch)
then it'll be "I thought there were two keys [rage][ripped off][etc]", then they realise it's in with the documents (where they put it when you handed it to them).

Sometimes the more you answer, the more they'll keep coming back to you. I think I've had buyers before now that had no friends and were trying to befriend me through whining and complaining. Just like a crazy ex, you can only do so much before you just have to ignore them.

Some people will want a refund on something that was free, just the way nature made them.

[cj2013]

motoroller said:

I think my story is one of the strangest, see http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=163...

strange
streɪn(d)ʒ/Submit
adjective
1.
unusual or surprising; difficult to understand or explain.
"children have some strange ideas"

2.
not previously visited, seen, or encountered; unfamiliar or alien.



I'd suggest it's not strange at all - quite common, as people don't have much common sense when dealing with expensive purchases.

[cj2013]

Fastpedeller said:

Had my mk2 Fiesta 1100 up for sale (this is about 20 yrs ago) for £1300 in local "Loot" (remember it?like a latter-day E&M). Guy phones, says "how much will you take as your lowest? responded with £1200. G"I won't bother, it's too expensive, I've got 3 others to look at first" Me "Ok, fine". Next day he rings at 11:30 "I'll come and have a look, where are you?" Told me he was in Town A 4 miles away. He arrives, looks at it, doesn't want to start it, says "that's almost identical to my daughter's, same colour was written off last week, someone smacked into the back, she'd love that car - how much will you take?" Me "£1200 same as yesterday."
Off he goes - having offered £900. 2 hrs later a girl phones up "Have you still got the car?" Me "yes" G "Ok I'll come round, will be there in about 1/4 hour" I sensed the phone about to go dead so had to say "would you like to know where we are?". Came off phone laughing and said to OH "that's his daughter, I swear it". 20 mins later a knock at door "I've come to look at car" says girl with a support collar on her neck. I ignored it and showed her and her Nan the car. After a few mins I had to say IT "Oh, have you hurt your neck?" G"Car went into mine and wrote it off, this ones nice it's the same colour" Me "Oh dear, hey, didn't your dad come and look at this earlier?" I just couldn't help myself G "how much will you take" G&N "we've got £900, as it was my 18th last week so that's all we've got" N "she's had to borrow it from me" Me "I'll take £1200. They walk away. Next week I reduce the price in local LOOT to £1200. Someone rings "have you got the car still?" Me "yes, where did you see it" In last weeks Loot town B. That's handy thought I he saw it at £1300. 40 mins later he's at the door, buys it without as much as a drive, for £1300.
Next day Dad rings, "have you still got the car" Me "no sold it for £1300 yesterday"
You could hear the sigh of regret when he put the phone down.

There's a lesson to be learnt there!

I used to prefer the Quids In for looking at cars. I did labouring as a lad, and my boss loved nothing more than to sit on a roof with me looking through the motors section. Quite often we'd find an excuse to skive off and look at a car. I blame him for all the cars I've been through out of lust.

[cj2013]

surveyor said:

What lesson? To me it sounds like they were probably straight up and only had £900 to spend.. They obviously hoped like most people OP would negotiate, but no sirree in this instance.

The lesson is for the buyer: If you find something you really want, don't dwell on it or you'll miss the boat.

We did the same when we bought our house - had a look, loved it, offered full asking price on the doorstep. Sometimes a missed opportunity can be worth more than the money you're trying to save.

[cj2013]

Buster73 said:

In the late eighties a mate of mine went to look at a house in the NE which at the time was up for sale at £40k , he viewed it and offered £41k if they took it off the market which they did .

I asked why he'd paid over the odds for it , his reply was prompt, correct position for schooling , at the head of a cul de sac , west facing rear garden and good links for transport , added to which he worked for a bank and was on a cheap mortgage deal , I'm not going to lose a house I want for £1000 .

He was proved right.

Not too far off with us.

We saw it, booked a viewing, but it sold before we got to see it (within days). We looked at others in the area within the same budget, but they just didn't hold up - it was 500 yds from her parents, a pub, a GP, shop, takeaway, pharmacy and two schools.

I had email alerts with RightMove, and it came back up one day whilst I was on lunch, so I rang to book. We went round that very same day and agreed to buy it there and then. We could have saved a few quid with an offer, but we would have lost out on a good investment opportunity. We've done a bit to it (modernisation), but I reckon it's worth £25-30k more already, 18 months later. I doubt the other homes we looked at are.

[cj2013]

Rubin215 said:

I always fix things up to as well as I can get them before advertising, I always describe things as well as I can and include as many photo's as possible, I always encourage a buyer to come back to me if there are any issues in the first week.

I sell cars or bike that I genuinely own myself, and always from my home address; the last thing I want is getting my head stove in while I'm down the pub or my windows put in at 3am because some fanny thinks I've ripped him off.

If you can come and view one of my bikes or cars and find a fault I don't know about, you're making it up.

You could sell a £10k car for 50p and someone would still accuse you of ripping them off.

If there's one thing I've learnt, it's that dishonest sellers are also dishonest buyers. Once the car is in their hands, many will still try and extort some of the cash back through aggression, intimidation or pure fiction, regardless of how mint the car might be.