What would PH do?
Discussion
I’m selling my car and have had a rush of interest this evening.
I had two full price sight unseen offers. I accepted the offer from the guy that committed first. No deposit taken, but I said “I’ll hold it for you until Sunday”.
I had another query an hour later and informed them it was sold. They came back with a higher offer (6%).
I would feel uncomfortable going back to the other guy and asking if he can match it, but it’s quite a bit of cash.
Am I being soft, or are my morals on point?
I had two full price sight unseen offers. I accepted the offer from the guy that committed first. No deposit taken, but I said “I’ll hold it for you until Sunday”.
I had another query an hour later and informed them it was sold. They came back with a higher offer (6%).
I would feel uncomfortable going back to the other guy and asking if he can match it, but it’s quite a bit of cash.
Am I being soft, or are my morals on point?
eltax91 said:
Sell to the first person on your doorstep with funds. Tell the other guy sorry once it s sold.
This is always the right answer. Now you've said you'll hold though I would. When he fails to turn up/goes silent/turns up and starts bartering you can then go back to the first method though.I’ve had this situation this week.
I wouldn’t normally hold a car but the first enquiry seemed a genuine person so I agreed to do so for a couple of days.
amongst various further enquiries was someone saying they’d pay more but couldn’t get over until the weekend.
I didn’t want to go back on my word though, even if I was regretting saying I’d hold it so the first person came, saw the car was a good one and bought it.
Morals over money. You’ve said you’ll hold it until Sunday so do that.
I wouldn’t normally hold a car but the first enquiry seemed a genuine person so I agreed to do so for a couple of days.
amongst various further enquiries was someone saying they’d pay more but couldn’t get over until the weekend.
I didn’t want to go back on my word though, even if I was regretting saying I’d hold it so the first person came, saw the car was a good one and bought it.
Morals over money. You’ve said you’ll hold it until Sunday so do that.
Nickp82 said:
I ve had this situation this week.
I wouldn t normally hold a car but the first enquiry seemed a genuine person so I agreed to do so for a couple of days.
amongst various further enquiries was someone saying they d pay more but couldn t get over until the weekend.
I didn t want to go back on my word though, even if I was regretting saying I d hold it so the first person came, saw the car was a good one and bought it.
Morals over money. You ve said you ll hold it until Sunday so do that.
I think I'll end up doing this. He's genuine and asking loads of questions. I've told him there's no movement on the price because of other offers so no worries about haggling on the day. I wouldn t normally hold a car but the first enquiry seemed a genuine person so I agreed to do so for a couple of days.
amongst various further enquiries was someone saying they d pay more but couldn t get over until the weekend.
I didn t want to go back on my word though, even if I was regretting saying I d hold it so the first person came, saw the car was a good one and bought it.
Morals over money. You ve said you ll hold it until Sunday so do that.
I'll write it down to experience.
Richard-D said:
This is always the right answer. Now you've said you'll hold though I would. When he fails to turn up/goes silent/turns up and starts bartering you can then go back to the first method though.
This ^. If you want it holding then I need £200 bank transfer from you which is non-returnable nor refundable and an agreed date by which you will pay the balance or your deposit is gone and the car is re-advertised. No monies paid, it stays for sale on a first come first served basis.No deposit = 99% guaranteed that you will get messed around then radio silence. And 99.99999999999% of people making offers before they've even seen the car are masssssssssssive time-wasters or scammers wanting to pay by Paypal / download a car history report from their website.
eltax91 said:
Sell to the first person on your doorstep with funds. Tell the other guy sorry once it s sold.
This. If you're a private seller I'd never, ever, ever sell a car to the first person that pops up and says "I'll have it". First person handing you the cash/transferring it into your account gets the car.Once you've agreed to hold the car, you should feel committed.
Arguably you shouldn't agree to that in the first place, but sometimes you have to give and take.
If you want people to travel to view your car, then you encourage them to do so by holding the car until they can arrive. That might mean a few hours, or a day or two. It's a matter of judging whether they are the right person to buy the car. The person who really wants your car and will pay the right price won't travel four hours on the off-chance of it still being available. The person who turns up quicker is probably going to make you an offer.
Selling an expensive classic bike, I did well waiting for the right person to make it down from 'the North'. While waiting from him, I collected details from a couple of other potential buyers. Flogging a Hausfrau Golf for a grand, I wouldn't expect people to travel far and I wouldn't negotiate except face to face after they've seen the car.
Last time I bought a car which I couldn't view immediately, the seller kindly agreed to hold it until late the next day. I was happy to pay his price.
Arguably you shouldn't agree to that in the first place, but sometimes you have to give and take.
If you want people to travel to view your car, then you encourage them to do so by holding the car until they can arrive. That might mean a few hours, or a day or two. It's a matter of judging whether they are the right person to buy the car. The person who really wants your car and will pay the right price won't travel four hours on the off-chance of it still being available. The person who turns up quicker is probably going to make you an offer.
Selling an expensive classic bike, I did well waiting for the right person to make it down from 'the North'. While waiting from him, I collected details from a couple of other potential buyers. Flogging a Hausfrau Golf for a grand, I wouldn't expect people to travel far and I wouldn't negotiate except face to face after they've seen the car.
Last time I bought a car which I couldn't view immediately, the seller kindly agreed to hold it until late the next day. I was happy to pay his price.
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