Car Selling Woes
Discussion
I have a car for sale and had one guy contact me, lots of chatting back and forth, wanted loads more photos than were in the advert, I had already dropped the price by £1,500 the week previous and he says the obligatory, "whats you lowest price"?, so i tell him the selling price is my price. He comes back and asks me for loads more pictures of invoices, inside the car and under the bonnet, all good so far. He comes back with, "im going to make you an offer". So about 8 hours later he comes back and says ill give you £2000 less than i was asking, i told him no but why cant you come to look at it first then make me an offer, he said this is the way he wants to do it, so i said ok i could do £1000 less than my advertised price.
He tells me he will look at the train times and get a train to come pick it up, heard nothing for nearly a week, then this morning he tells me he will be bringing a trailer and picking the car up to take back home. I got back to him and said ok, so you wont be needing a test drive, as he had already agreed the price from his arm chair.
He threw his toys out of his pram and told me to forget the sale and that he wont be buying the car. FFS what is up with people, why couldnt he get off of his arse and come to look at it then negotiate and to not understand if he agrees a price, even over the phone, then thats it, he has bought it at that price, he doesnt then get a second bite at negotiating a lower price again when he gets here to see it.
He tells me he will look at the train times and get a train to come pick it up, heard nothing for nearly a week, then this morning he tells me he will be bringing a trailer and picking the car up to take back home. I got back to him and said ok, so you wont be needing a test drive, as he had already agreed the price from his arm chair.
He threw his toys out of his pram and told me to forget the sale and that he wont be buying the car. FFS what is up with people, why couldnt he get off of his arse and come to look at it then negotiate and to not understand if he agrees a price, even over the phone, then thats it, he has bought it at that price, he doesnt then get a second bite at negotiating a lower price again when he gets here to see it.
Moderator edit: no advertising
It's why WBAC do so well.
Honestly the part ex price for my old car was a joke but I took it because not doing so may have made me miss out on the car I was buying plus I just can't be dealing with hassle like you described. I've sold privately in the past but these days it hardly seems worth it.
Honestly the part ex price for my old car was a joke but I took it because not doing so may have made me miss out on the car I was buying plus I just can't be dealing with hassle like you described. I've sold privately in the past but these days it hardly seems worth it.
ChrisH72 said:
It's why WBAC do so well.
Honestly the part ex price for my old car was a joke but I took it because not doing so may have made me miss out on the car I was buying plus I just can't be dealing with hassle like you described. I've sold privately in the past but these days it hardly seems worth it.
Yes i can see what you mean, however this is basically a 2007 car and with a company like WBAC would probably only offer me about 25% of its actual worth so it has to be sold privately.Honestly the part ex price for my old car was a joke but I took it because not doing so may have made me miss out on the car I was buying plus I just can't be dealing with hassle like you described. I've sold privately in the past but these days it hardly seems worth it.
Im quite sure the right person will come along soon and snap it up.
Any "best price" tosser will try and negotiate even lower once thery are there.
Anyone wanting a forensic inspection by proxy is most likely not going to buy.
The remedies,
"The price is negotiable, but only in person."
"There's <many> photos on the advert. If you want a closer look, come and see it."
The car being 200 miles (or whatever) from them is THEIR problem, not yours. And what it shows is they can't get better or cheaper, closer.
These people take niceness as weakness. Be slightly less nice.
Anyone wanting a forensic inspection by proxy is most likely not going to buy.
The remedies,
"The price is negotiable, but only in person."
"There's <many> photos on the advert. If you want a closer look, come and see it."
The car being 200 miles (or whatever) from them is THEIR problem, not yours. And what it shows is they can't get better or cheaper, closer.
These people take niceness as weakness. Be slightly less nice.
shtu said:
Any "best price" tosser will try and negotiate even lower once thery are there.
Anyone wanting a forensic inspection by proxy is most likely not going to buy.
The remedies,
"The price is negotiable, but only in person."
"There's <many> photos on the advert. If you want a closer look, come and see it."
The car being 200 miles (or whatever) from them is THEIR problem, not yours. And what it shows is they can't get better or cheaper, closer.
These people take niceness as weakness. Be slightly less nice.
Thanks for that shtu, ill use that next time i get a, "whats your lowest?"Anyone wanting a forensic inspection by proxy is most likely not going to buy.
The remedies,
"The price is negotiable, but only in person."
"There's <many> photos on the advert. If you want a closer look, come and see it."
The car being 200 miles (or whatever) from them is THEIR problem, not yours. And what it shows is they can't get better or cheaper, closer.
These people take niceness as weakness. Be slightly less nice.
I had this year’s ago when I sold a mint e46 imola red m3 (wish I hadn’t!) low miles, pretty spotless. Had some chap emailing back and forth, eventually he came and walking around with a f
king clip board, he was at my house hours…
He was on this forum and I saw a post from him stating that he had been to look at a red one but will find better, lo and behold about 6 months later he’s still looking.
Trouble was he had come from a brand new company car and couldn’t get his head around buying a 9 year old car, it wouldn’t be perfect, but it was damn near..
king clip board, he was at my house hours…He was on this forum and I saw a post from him stating that he had been to look at a red one but will find better, lo and behold about 6 months later he’s still looking.
Trouble was he had come from a brand new company car and couldn’t get his head around buying a 9 year old car, it wouldn’t be perfect, but it was damn near..
Recently sold my car, £8-10k bracket, after about 3 months of it being advertised and having been reduced in price twice to find its level, I suppose.
I didn’t entertain any enquiries that wanted to discuss price negotiations until they were at my house in person. Eventually someone arranged to come over and look at it without discussing the price, and we were both happy to negotiate on the driveway, and they drove off in it shortly after.
I think I was lucky in the end as I got the right buyer, and hopefully they feel they got the right seller. I got about £750-1000 more privately than trade was offering, which for some people still wouldn’t be worth the hassle. I get that.
Ultimately I would just not engage further with anyone wanting to negotiate who hasn’t come to see the car. Depends how desperate you are to sell quickly as well.
I didn’t entertain any enquiries that wanted to discuss price negotiations until they were at my house in person. Eventually someone arranged to come over and look at it without discussing the price, and we were both happy to negotiate on the driveway, and they drove off in it shortly after.
I think I was lucky in the end as I got the right buyer, and hopefully they feel they got the right seller. I got about £750-1000 more privately than trade was offering, which for some people still wouldn’t be worth the hassle. I get that.
Ultimately I would just not engage further with anyone wanting to negotiate who hasn’t come to see the car. Depends how desperate you are to sell quickly as well.
The op agreed a price with the buyer who intended collecting the car with a trailer. Why refuse a test drive before completing the deal? What did the op have to hide?
Selling anything is difficult especially cars, so what I do is to answer every question no matter how stupid, respond to price negotiations and follow through until the car is sold and collected .
The op had a buyer and lost a buyer. Good luck next time.
Selling anything is difficult especially cars, so what I do is to answer every question no matter how stupid, respond to price negotiations and follow through until the car is sold and collected .
The op had a buyer and lost a buyer. Good luck next time.
Whilst the buyer sounds like an idiot i'm not sure saying he won't need a test drive is the right thing either. I would have stuck by my position that the price is agreed but I still think its reasonable for a test drive to take place to make sure the car is as described and it doesn't drop all it's fluids on the road after five minutes.
maz8062 said:
The op agreed a price with the buyer who intended collecting the car with a trailer. Why refuse a test drive before completing the deal? What did the op have to hide?
Selling anything is difficult especially cars, so what I do is to answer every question no matter how stupid, respond to price negotiations and follow through until the car is sold and collected .
The op had a buyer and lost a buyer. Good luck next time.
Rest assured the OP has saved himself a whole load of pain not selling to that bloke.Selling anything is difficult especially cars, so what I do is to answer every question no matter how stupid, respond to price negotiations and follow through until the car is sold and collected .
The op had a buyer and lost a buyer. Good luck next time.
I wonder if he had arranged for someone else to collect it on a trailer for him, Shiply or similar, where the collection is arranged via a 3rd party.
I've bought cars from 2-300 miles away and even another country (if Wales counts as another country...), I've tried to get as much info / photos / videos as possible and agree a price, that's acceptable to both of us, based on the condition etc of the car. Nothing worse than wasting a day (and cost) or so on a 500ish miles roundtrip...
I can see both sides but so many are timewasters, its sifting through those timewasters that's the problem
I've bought cars from 2-300 miles away and even another country (if Wales counts as another country...), I've tried to get as much info / photos / videos as possible and agree a price, that's acceptable to both of us, based on the condition etc of the car. Nothing worse than wasting a day (and cost) or so on a 500ish miles roundtrip...
I can see both sides but so many are timewasters, its sifting through those timewasters that's the problem
shtu said:
Any "best price" tosser will try and negotiate even lower once thery are there.
Not true I do it all the time. Can't be bothered with backwards and forwards negotiation but if they come back with what I consider a reasonable number I'll go and buy it. If not I just say OK thanks and don't waste anymore of their time.
maz8062 said:
The op agreed a price with the buyer who intended collecting the car with a trailer. Why refuse a test drive before completing the deal? What did the op have to hide?
Hmm. I think in the OP's head that the deal was done, price agreed, therefore a test drive was pointless.
However, I can see that the buyer would want to drive it from a making-sure-it-stops-and-steers perspective, rather than a negotiating-further-on-price perspective.
ChocolateFrog said:
shtu said:
Any "best price" tosser will try and negotiate even lower once they are there.
Not true I do it all the time. Can't be bothered with backwards and forwards negotiation but if they come back with what I consider a reasonable number I'll go and buy it. bad company said:
I sold my last car CarWow. The dealer/buyer made a weak attempt to chip the price but I held my ground and they paid up and drove the car away.
Yes I may have got a bit more from a private buyer but can’t deal with the Mr A R Soles like the op’s ‘buyer’.
Yes I may have got a bit more from a private buyer but can’t deal with the Mr A R Soles like the op’s ‘buyer’.
Far too many jokers, who get upset in the end.I'm looking at selling my car privately in the next few months. It's a rarer car in the ~£20k range, and I'm absolutely dreading it to be honest. Every time I've sold a car privately in the past its been the usual rubbish of scammers, people wanting 50% off and then people moaning because a 10 year old car has a few stone chips.
Unfortunately because it is a rarer/specialised car, the likes of WeBuyAnyCar aren't interested in the slightest and most dealers don't even know what it is to part-ex it.
Unfortunately because it is a rarer/specialised car, the likes of WeBuyAnyCar aren't interested in the slightest and most dealers don't even know what it is to part-ex it.
phumy said:
I have a car for sale and had one guy contact me, lots of chatting back and forth, wanted loads more photos than were in the advert, I had already dropped the price by £1,500 the week previous and he says the obligatory, "whats you lowest price"?, so i tell him the selling price is my price. He comes back and asks me for loads more pictures of invoices, inside the car and under the bonnet, all good so far. He comes back with, "im going to make you an offer". So about 8 hours later he comes back and says ill give you £2000 less than i was asking, i told him no but why cant you come to look at it first then make me an offer, he said this is the way he wants to do it, so i said ok i could do £1000 less than my advertised price.
He tells me he will look at the train times and get a train to come pick it up, heard nothing for nearly a week, then this morning he tells me he will be bringing a trailer and picking the car up to take back home. I got back to him and said ok, so you wont be needing a test drive, as he had already agreed the price from his arm chair.
He threw his toys out of his pram and told me to forget the sale and that he wont be buying the car. FFS what is up with people, why couldnt he get off of his arse and come to look at it then negotiate and to not understand if he agrees a price, even over the phone, then thats it, he has bought it at that price, he doesnt then get a second bite at negotiating a lower price again when he gets here to see it.
You indulged him.He tells me he will look at the train times and get a train to come pick it up, heard nothing for nearly a week, then this morning he tells me he will be bringing a trailer and picking the car up to take back home. I got back to him and said ok, so you wont be needing a test drive, as he had already agreed the price from his arm chair.
He threw his toys out of his pram and told me to forget the sale and that he wont be buying the car. FFS what is up with people, why couldnt he get off of his arse and come to look at it then negotiate and to not understand if he agrees a price, even over the phone, then thats it, he has bought it at that price, he doesnt then get a second bite at negotiating a lower price again when he gets here to see it.
Moderator edit: no advertising
"The price is the price unless someone is in front of me trying to get a deal done"
That said, the last car I sold was done entirely remotely. A poor example of a 20 year old sports car. I had priced it with a fair amount of wiggle room expecting I'd get chipped down even further due to the condition (which was honestly described in the advert). A breaker sent me an offer a little lower than I ideally wanted to accept, but with a detailed description of why it was worth no more than that to him and a polite 'take it or leave it'. I decided it wasn't worth passing on for the sake of a couple of hundred quid. He paid me in advance sight unseen, and then got a friend of his to collect the car and drive it several hundred miles back to his place. I never heard anything more. Very smooth transaction.
You can normally tell who is a serious buyer and who is a fantasist with no intent to buy the car for anything more than a fraction of its sales price. At the first whiff of BS, stick to the line of "you're welcome to view the car in person, but I won't negotiate remotely" and get on with your life. It took me about 6 weeks to sell mine, and there were all sorts of excuses around people not being able to sell their car, being called in to work at the last minute, etc. etc. You have to be the type of person who's willing to wade through a lot of messers in order to reach a genuine buyer. I completely understand why people take the hit and sell to WBAC or similar - it's a crap process selling a car privately and not for everyone.
I’ve sold a few cars, the last a couple of months ago. It’s tough out there and one has to be wary of scammers and those trying to dream up unorthodox approaches to the buying process. All that said, I treat every enquiry as a blank canvass and try my best not to judge anyone unless they’re making silly offers or planning on turning up with lots of people to intimidate me.
For the last 3 out of my last 4 sales, the person that I thought was a time waster, a scammer, clueless and was tempted to abuse or block their numbers, they’re the ones that bought the car in the end and didn’t stress me after the event.
The op lost a sale because they thought the deal had been done before any form of payment had been made, the V5 completed and the buyer happy as is. Until a buyer has paid and the funds cleared the process is still in the negotiation phase, even when selling to WBAC, CARWOW etc.
Some don’t like the negotiation phase because it can be confrontational and the buyer may try to haggle, but that’s their prerogative.
For the last 3 out of my last 4 sales, the person that I thought was a time waster, a scammer, clueless and was tempted to abuse or block their numbers, they’re the ones that bought the car in the end and didn’t stress me after the event.
The op lost a sale because they thought the deal had been done before any form of payment had been made, the V5 completed and the buyer happy as is. Until a buyer has paid and the funds cleared the process is still in the negotiation phase, even when selling to WBAC, CARWOW etc.
Some don’t like the negotiation phase because it can be confrontational and the buyer may try to haggle, but that’s their prerogative.
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