<rant>People don't know how to sell their cars

[A790]

So I'm currently looking for a new car under $13,000. Paying cash, etc.

I can't believe how many ads I find that:

• Say "PRICE IS FIRM, BLAH BLAH BLAH". I don't even bother calling these people, even if their price is a fair one (which it typically isn't).
• Say things like "Not in a rush to sell, so don't waste my time, blah blah". They just sound douchey, so I don't even call them.
• Take shitty, just awful, horrible photos. Like what? You can't hold a fucking camera so the pictures AREN'T upside down? What?
• Say things like "Car is mint" and then have a dent or something in the rear quarter panel. HINT: your dented car is not mint.

Some of these I've been guilty of in the past. Being on the other side now, I definitely won't repeat those mistakes.

What baffles me even more is the type of responses I'm getting from people when I e-mail them. My e-mail is:

***
Hi there,

I'm interested in viewing your car and would like to arrange a time to see it. Before I do, I'd like to know if:

1) Do you have the service history on the vehicle? If not complete, how far back do you have?
2) How many owners has the vehicle had?
3) Any major accidents or claims that I should be aware of?
4) Does it require anything to pass an inspection?
5) Any other information I should be aware of?

I am a serious buyer with cash in hand. I am looking forward to talking to you.
***

So, that's the e-mail. Pretty cut and dry.

Would you be surprised if I said that maybe 20% of responses I get actually address the questions I've asked? One guy replied with "everything is up to date", and so I said "okay. Can you please let me know about the questions I asked in my original e-mails?". He replied that it was annoying and I was wasting his time.

What the fuck? Seriously? You can't answer 5 basic questions but still expect me to hand you $13,000?

There needs to be a course on how to sell a vehicle, because this is just ridiculous.
</rant>

[G-ZUS]

People are just retarded and lie

Went to look at a BMW 3-series yesterday with a friend, the seller wouldn't let us test drive it without a deposit

[bjstare]

Originally posted by G-ZUS
People are just retarded and lie

Went to look at a BMW 3-series yesterday with a friend, the seller wouldn't let us test drive it without a deposit

That's ridiculous haha. The only time I've ever done that as a seller is when I sold motorcycles to noobs whom I was scared would crash the bike haha.

[G-ZUS]

Or when they schedule everyone to see it at once and try to get a bidding war going

[Moonracer]

People don't know how to sell anything. It's the same shit in every category.

[revelations]

Originally posted by G-ZUS
People are just retarded and lie

Went to look at a BMW 3-series yesterday with a friend, the seller wouldn't let us test drive it without a deposit

If I had a vehicle worth a few dollars, I'd certainly ask for the deductible amount for deposit.

In Vancouver this is the norm as there are far more drive-aways than here.



CAM - its seems that the buyer typically ends up doing the due diligence themselves. You can tell how much an owner cared for their vehicle if they cant answer basic questions like that. I've gone through 4-5 vehicles the last 5 years (bought and sold)

Each time I sell a vehicle I have to repeat myself or state "look at the ad" (where everything they asked was listed)

Each time I buy a vehicle, I generally get vague answers to specific questions so I just dont bother those ads.

[jacky4566]

Short answers are by far the worst.

My inquiry about a 2007 STI (asking 20k):

Hi there,
Is this car wrapped or has it been re-painted? (had an interesting paint colour)
How long have you owned the vehicle?
Do you have the full service history for the vehicle?

The repose I get:
"Its a dip and year"

Ok, buddy well I guess i'm not buying your car then.

[lilmira]

Haha I recently sold my car to an older couple. I had full record of services. I went through just about everything about the car with them when they picked up the car. I even typed up a couple pages of extra info for them. The lady was pretty impressed.

You got idiots on both sides though. I had a few paypal offers. I don't care if you are from Mars, send me CASH! You don't even need to show up, send your space pigeon or something, with Earth money!

[A790]

Saw an ad for a 2003 BMW 330 coupe. Mileage was alright, pictures looked ok, so I figured I'd go check it out.

I show up and the thing is clearly beat to hell, the interior is filthy, and it's a fricken rebuild (not mentioned in the ad). Drove across the damn city to look at that crap. Pissed me right off.

This is the ad:


Does it mention the poor body? No.

Rebuilt status? No.

It says "all maintenance recently done", and by that he means, "I haven't done anything other than the clutch. I have no service records. I have no idea how this has been maintained."

I can see why people just give up and go to a dealer.

[Thaco]

i always sell my stuff at a fair firm price, i don't want to fuck around, if you want it for the price i posted, come get it, otherwise, don't waste my time.


way too many tire kickers and "buyers" wasting the sellers time. Some sellers are just stupid, but for the most part they just dont take anybody seriously until they have cash in hand on the doorsteap because there's just so many bullshit "buyers" big talkers until it's time to show up with the money.

[Mitsu3000gt]

Haha, it's funny you mentioned the numbered list thing. It's one of my biggest pet peeves. Regularly for work, or when shopping like you are, etc. I will provide a short, clear, number item list of things I need answers to in order to be as clear as possible and make things as easy as possible. Pretty well exactly as you describe. Most of the time, people just don't answer the questions at all - so annoying!

Specifically related to car shopping, I find the biggest annoyance to be people's definitions of "mint", "excellent" condition, etc. 99% of the time it is nowhere near what they say, or you show up and their "mint" car is in fact their daily driver, filthy, garbage strewn about inside, etc.

I'm guilty of saying "firm" in my prices though. 9/10 times I sell it for that price, and very quickly, so it's been working for me as long as the price is fair or below market. I hate haggling of any kind.

[Swank]

Originally posted by A790

***
Hi there,

I'm interested in viewing your car and would like to arrange a time to see it. Before I do, I'd like to know if:

1) Do you have the service history on the vehicle? If not complete, how far back do you have?
2) How many owners has the vehicle had?
3) Any major accidents or claims that I should be aware of?
4) Does it require anything to pass an inspection?
5) Any other information I should be aware of?

I am a serious buyer with cash in hand. I am looking forward to talking to you.
***

IMO, this sounds too scripted and auto-generated. I'd imagine this being sent by your email bot to 1000 ads just to see if you get any easy bites. This sucks because you have a well thought out set of pertinent questions. Unfortunately a lot of scams and spam are very well laid out like this too. I'd recommend instead that you email them saying you're interested and arrange to call them to discuss the car, then ask all the questions. You're much less likely to be dismissed once you have them on the phone as it's more personal. I know that takes more time, there are as many bad sellers are the are bad buyers out there .

And yeah, dealers help eliminate the BS of private sales.

[A790]

Originally posted by Swank

IMO, this sounds too scripted and auto-generated. I'd imagine this being sent by your email bot to 1000 ads just to see if you get any easy bites. This sucks because you have a well thought out set of pertinent questions. Unfortunately a lot of scams and spam are very well laid out like this too. I'd recommend instead that you email them saying you're interested and arrange to call them to discuss the car, then ask all the questions. You're much less likely to be dismissed once you have them on the phone as it's more personal. I know that takes more time, there are as many bad sellers are the are bad buyers out there .

And yeah, dealers help eliminate the BS of private sales.

Very valid point. My counterpoint is that I like to have everything in writing, especially because I'm looking at multiple vehicles. Having it via e-mail ensures that I am able to reference the material when I need it.

I always make sure to include my phone number though, in part because I feel as if that tkes away from the potential of my e-mail being scripted.

But I see your point. Perhaps I'll reevaluate my e-mail.

[Thaco]

yeah i agree with above, maybe send a warm up email first, just so they know you're a real person.

[spikerS]

Originally posted by Swank

IMO, this sounds too scripted and auto-generated. I'd imagine this being sent by your email bot to 1000 ads just to see if you get any easy bites. This sucks because you have a well thought out set of pertinent questions. Unfortunately a lot of scams and spam are very well laid out like this too. I'd recommend instead that you email them saying you're interested and arrange to call them to discuss the car, then ask all the questions. You're much less likely to be dismissed once you have them on the phone as it's more personal. I know that takes more time, there are as many bad sellers are the are bad buyers out there .

And yeah, dealers help eliminate the BS of private sales.

I was going to say the same thing.

Reading that, I immediately thought "scam" and would auto delete it if it showed up in my inbox.

[A790]

Originally posted by Thaco
i always sell my stuff at a fair firm price, i don't want to fuck around, if you want it for the price i posted, come get it, otherwise, don't waste my time.

I don't mind a firm price assuming that it's:

A) Fair
B) Not surrounded by douchey text talking about wasting your time.

At the end of the day, people don't buy from people they don't like. If someone makes me feel like I'm hassling them before I've even called them, I don't want to buy from that person.. .ya know?

[A790]

Originally posted by spikerS


I was going to say the same thing.

Reading that, I immediately thought &quot;scam&quot; and would auto delete it if it showed up in my inbox.

Even though it's got my phone number on it?

[BrknFngrs]

Originally posted by spikerS


I was going to say the same thing.

Reading that, I immediately thought &quot;scam&quot; and would auto delete it if it showed up in my inbox.

Came to post the same thing as well.

Even adding something specific about the vehicle can be helpful.

[lamp_shade_2000]

I agree with the OP that people are horrible at answering questions, being on the other side and selling, you wouldn't believe how many BS emails you get with:
"Is it still for sale"
"I'll give you $XX CASH TODAY!!!" XX being half your asking price
"Cool car are you flexible on price?"

When you start getting multiple of these a day, you get pretty fed up and end up with the comments you mentioned. "Don't waste my time"

I always include is this a rebuilt status when sending my intro questions as well. I'm usually very blunt and to the point, if you can't answer my questions within 2 emails, I moe on.

[E46..sTyLez]

Originally posted by A790

I don't mind a firm price assuming that it's:

A) Fair
B) Not surrounded by douchey text talking about wasting your time.

At the end of the day, people don't buy from people they don't like. If someone makes me feel like I'm hassling them before I've even called them, I don't want to buy from that person.. .ya know?

Agree. Nothing wrong with having a firm price, low ballers are the worst. The "don't waste my time" part would make me not want to waste my time either.
Disclaimer: Low ballers still low ball on firm prices lol