Why is it so hard to buy a car?!??!
Discussion
Or yet another private seller rant....... I need to buy a car for work, it's nothing too special but we need to baseline some existing models etc. so as long as it's about right for its age then anything will do.
Found one on PH, it was sensibly priced and relatively local. Contact made, explained it was a sale to a business and that we weren't going to knock him on price if it was as described and he was in a position to complete a sale this week. Had a chat about Pistonheads, my Porsche and few other bits. All good right? Easiest car sale ever? ........ Absolutely not - between being asked to email finance his bank details and this afternoon (with a load of f
king around in the middle) he's convinced himself it's somehow a scam, I don't exist and/or am three different people, the company doesn't exist and I'm trying to rip him off..... oh and apparently he's reported us to action fraud for good measure.
I know car sales can be a nightmare these days but Jesus titty fking Christ what is wrong with some people! It's not like I have a dodgy accent, am calling from an indian mobile number or trying to swap it for dogs/dagz!
Moral of the story? If you're in a rush don't try and buy a car for asking price - even if it is a grand cheaper than a dealer sale and you're just trying to be nice/lazy by not haggling because some people are so utterly bat st mental they'll decide it's a scam 
Anyway found one at 5PM at a dealer 40 miles away, deal done over the phone and it's getting dropped off tomorrow but FFS.
Now over to my learned PH brethren to complain this rant didn't have enough swearing, didn't contain frozen sausages or throwing redbull and also explain how this was all my fault
Found one on PH, it was sensibly priced and relatively local. Contact made, explained it was a sale to a business and that we weren't going to knock him on price if it was as described and he was in a position to complete a sale this week. Had a chat about Pistonheads, my Porsche and few other bits. All good right? Easiest car sale ever? ........ Absolutely not - between being asked to email finance his bank details and this afternoon (with a load of f
king around in the middle) he's convinced himself it's somehow a scam, I don't exist and/or am three different people, the company doesn't exist and I'm trying to rip him off..... oh and apparently he's reported us to action fraud for good measure.I know car sales can be a nightmare these days but Jesus titty f
king Christ what is wrong with some people! It's not like I have a dodgy accent, am calling from an indian mobile number or trying to swap it for dogs/dagz! Moral of the story? If you're in a rush don't try and buy a car for asking price - even if it is a grand cheaper than a dealer sale and you're just trying to be nice/lazy by not haggling because some people are so utterly bat s
t mental they'll decide it's a scam Anyway found one at 5PM at a dealer 40 miles away, deal done over the phone and it's getting dropped off tomorrow but FFS.
Now over to my learned PH brethren to complain this rant didn't have enough swearing, didn't contain frozen sausages or throwing redbull and also explain how this was all my fault
Old addage isn't it?
If it sounds too good to be true it probably is. Probably being the operative word.
A few searches on Companies house could have alleviated some fears as could other ways. Some people are just jittery as there ARE a lot of scammers out there.
His loss, not yours. Move on.
If it sounds too good to be true it probably is. Probably being the operative word.
A few searches on Companies house could have alleviated some fears as could other ways. Some people are just jittery as there ARE a lot of scammers out there.
His loss, not yours. Move on.
I've found it to be one extreme to the other.
Of late, I bought my Volvo from a chap in South Wales... old school chap, not interested in social media or emails "ring me and we'll talk" so I did and having asked some more details about the cars, announced that I'd be driving down from Scotland with an old shed of a Volvo he could basically have and that I'd be driving away in his assuming it was all as described. "No worries" he said and with that shunned any further requests from others to view / buy the car and put blind faith in the fact some random bloke was going to drive a 900 mile round trip the following weekend and buy it. But I did.
Conversely, tried to buy a couple of older Volvos prior to that and one in Hull where I emailed the chap (refused to take a call) and said that I'd be happy to buy the car, would arrange for it to be collected as travel wasn't viable and that I'd send him a deposit today and the balance when the transport company arrived to collect but that was too risky for him and he wanted me to hand him cash. That one never happened but a second one where it was for sale, I told the chap I'd be on the train the following day (Edinburgh to York) and would take it only to be branded a dreamer, time waster and such like. He withdrew the sale then relisted a week later, so again I tried and this time he reluctantly agreed. To be honest I wish I hadn't bothered.
People are strange, but I've learned if they're too suspicious or unwilling to discuss like gentleman... just walk away.
Of late, I bought my Volvo from a chap in South Wales... old school chap, not interested in social media or emails "ring me and we'll talk" so I did and having asked some more details about the cars, announced that I'd be driving down from Scotland with an old shed of a Volvo he could basically have and that I'd be driving away in his assuming it was all as described. "No worries" he said and with that shunned any further requests from others to view / buy the car and put blind faith in the fact some random bloke was going to drive a 900 mile round trip the following weekend and buy it. But I did.
Conversely, tried to buy a couple of older Volvos prior to that and one in Hull where I emailed the chap (refused to take a call) and said that I'd be happy to buy the car, would arrange for it to be collected as travel wasn't viable and that I'd send him a deposit today and the balance when the transport company arrived to collect but that was too risky for him and he wanted me to hand him cash. That one never happened but a second one where it was for sale, I told the chap I'd be on the train the following day (Edinburgh to York) and would take it only to be branded a dreamer, time waster and such like. He withdrew the sale then relisted a week later, so again I tried and this time he reluctantly agreed. To be honest I wish I hadn't bothered.
People are strange, but I've learned if they're too suspicious or unwilling to discuss like gentleman... just walk away.
Davie said:
People are strange, but I've learned if they're too suspicious or unwilling to discuss like gentleman... just walk away.
You're absolutely right but what has confused me so much over this one was that it was a perfectly normal, rational conversation to begin with....... which then, all by himself, turned into the full mental. Anyway my comment about mobile numbers above came back to bite me pretty quicky - I think we can assume he's read this post:
And it's just started again
I tried to buy this last month
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SAAB-9-3-93-AERO-V6-247...
But the only way to get in touch was via ebay messages, and no one ever got back to me!
I ended up buying another one for a lot less.
Conversely last month I was trying to sell my F31 330D, a company called me up, offered me the asking price and then sent two people to come and collect it. When they got here they left their car in the middle of the road with loud music on, while one guy spoke to his boss on the phone really loudly pointing out scratches and dents (I said it wasn't perfect, it was a 6 year old car), some of which didn't exist. Then they just got in their car and drove off without saying everything. Because of that I'll not be bothering with any car buying service again, we were both totally weirded out.
It actually sold to a really nice guy who was in the raf in Cyprus. That sounded dodgy to begin with, but turned out perfect and everyone was happy.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SAAB-9-3-93-AERO-V6-247...
But the only way to get in touch was via ebay messages, and no one ever got back to me!
I ended up buying another one for a lot less.
Conversely last month I was trying to sell my F31 330D, a company called me up, offered me the asking price and then sent two people to come and collect it. When they got here they left their car in the middle of the road with loud music on, while one guy spoke to his boss on the phone really loudly pointing out scratches and dents (I said it wasn't perfect, it was a 6 year old car), some of which didn't exist. Then they just got in their car and drove off without saying everything. Because of that I'll not be bothering with any car buying service again, we were both totally weirded out.
It actually sold to a really nice guy who was in the raf in Cyprus. That sounded dodgy to begin with, but turned out perfect and everyone was happy.
Dont be too hard on the seller. This is fraud out there (cheapest price for cash, gov etc etc) and various other frauds which can happen.
So is somsone rocks up go offer the full price, now, without any questions, its fair to be suspicious. In this case, it was genuine. I imagine in many others, it wont be.
So is somsone rocks up go offer the full price, now, without any questions, its fair to be suspicious. In this case, it was genuine. I imagine in many others, it wont be.
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