I Hate Selling Vehicles

I hate selling vehicles. I tried to sell my truck (tow vehicle) and one of my bikes and came in contact with "interesting" people. I am not talking about the typical scammers. I mean people who generally would buy my vehicles, but would consistently low ball me, stating they would pay cash. Uh, what else would I accept, blankets and beads? Are these people for real? Rant mode off. I just had to vent.

I think that the whole "will pay right now in cash" comes from the TV auto reality shows.

If they say they have cash tell them you only accept payment in hash coins

How about the folks who won't even come look at it but send a text with "What's your bottom dollar price? I have cash right now." I take $0.01 off the price I advertised and tell them if they can't be bothered to even look at it I can't be bothered to negotiate any lower...

My business partner loves selling stuff on CL. The last couple vehicles I've sold I give him a bottom dollar and 10% of whatever he sells it for. It's worth the 10% to not have to deal with the idiots.

secretariata wrote: How about the folks who won't even come look at it but send a text with "What's your bottom dollar price? I have cash right now." I take $0.01 off the price I advertised and tell them if they can't be bothered to even look at it I can't be bothered to negotiate any lower...

When I was selling my 350Z I would get E36 M3 like that all the time and it was always in text messages.

One of them the person insisted that I should give a lower price because he has "cash money". As if it were a rule or something.

Just dealt with this. 4 months to sell a $2k car. Most people wouldn't buy it because it wasn't in show room condition.

Had one guy verbally assault me because the weather stripping was loose and the cap wasn't on the AC high side port.

People are funny. Don't go into retail if your sense of humor does not cover this E36 M3.

My favorite is the guy who shows up but "Only brought some amount of money lower than what you want." That move pretty much closes the door on any transaction.

If I happen to negotiate a price by text I don't change even if I was willing to take less. I have been known to price higher than asking.

Me, too. I hate those "I'll give you half your asking price" people who then get offended when you tell them to berkeley off.

I'm about to find out if taking the $2k hit of selling the Evo to Carmax would be worth it from a sanity point of view compared trying to sell it myself.

A good friend actually had a guy pull a wad of bills out of his pocket and say: "I'll give you this!

How much is it? I see some ones.

It's a lot of cash. Do we have a deal?"

By the time I am "selling" a car it is "done". I was asking a scrap metal price of our 1999 Audi A6 Avant and the buyer still brought his laptop with the factory software to review the ECU.

I know he got the car running, registered it in his name and the last time I saw the car he had a 6cyl in the back. Nice to know that it's still earning its keep.

The read on the ECU reminded me that the HVAC system was marginal. Those OBDII systems store way to much information. But not my problem.

Tried to sell a set of wheels on CL a while back. Goober texts me, "wheels for sale?" yep, they're 200$. They're racingharts. They're not getting cheaper. He replies "150" not even "Will you take... " just 150. Nope, 200 "Come on man, I still have to buy tires. It is not my problem. If you need tires, don't buy 17" aftermarket wheels.

My brother in law agreed to buy some headers from me, then assumed he'd get a special family bro deal after I took them off the market for him. So I gave them to the guy who bought the engine instead. Ass.

I had a guy agree to buy an MG, then drove the 8 hours from Durango to Grand Junction to pick it up. After we had it on the trailer, he said he had been planning to negotiate down further but after seeing the car he was willing to pay my asking price. Seriously? You'll drive 8 hours one way and then try to get the price knocked down? He would have gone home empty handed if he'd tried. I was only asking $800!

So much drama.

I had a guy try to negotiate payments on a $15 part.

I recently had a guy offer me $14,000 for my tool truck. The ad says $17,900 and I know it's the nicest one out there. He said there was another in my city for only $15,000 so he'll buy that one instead. I told him WHY that was a bad idea and then told him to stop and see my when he was in the area, whether he bought the other truck or not. He claimed $14,000 was all he could get a loan for. Then the next week he said $15k. Nope. The next week was $16k. Nuh-uh. This last week he offered $17k and still hadn't seen the truck in person (but I'm assuming he saw plenty of other turds in the meantime). I countered with $17,500 and he said no deal. I have a semi-firm deal for asking price, so my next counter offer will be $18,000. I can't wait to see if he texts me back again this Monday.

On the flip side, I recently bought a 92 S-10 for $1500. Asking price was $1600 and I told the guy my budget was $1500 including tags and anything the truck needed (like tires and tie-rods). My friend that came with me was disappointed I paid the full $1500 and didn't haggle more. The thing is it was nicer than any of the trucks I looked at AND the guy went out of his way to get the paperwork done that day, including driving 20 miles to find a notary on a Sunday. I still feel like I got a fair deal, and had no problems paying what I did.

In reply to Junkyard_Dog:

I was asking $10,500 for my truck. Not a dent, not rust. Besides towing my autocross car and small aluminum boat, it is used as a family car, not a work vehicle. It is in really nice shape. If someone saw it and said $10,000, I would probably have gone for it, but I had people offer $7,500 unseen. The usual line was: " I have cash and can buy it today." Why is it that people assume that when someone is trying to sell a vehicle they are desperate for money and will take nearly anything to get cash?

Few years ago I was selling my red Shelby Dakota. I listed it on CL $4,000 or best offer. It was in nice shape (new paint and graphics), but had high miles and the p/o did not treat it very nicely. Sight unseen I had teens calling me if I would take $1,000 of $1,500. Really, I am asking $4,000 and you want a 75% discount. They did have cash, however. I eventually sold it for $3,700 to a very nice guy who had another Shelby that was too far gone to restore. I was happy to cut $300 from the price to know it was going to a good home. He wanted my white Shelby. I will NEVER sell it.

I also had my 71 Suzuki T250 for sale. I lovingly out her bank together and rebuilt the engine from the crank up. I was asking $1,500 for her. I actually had people come and offer me what I was asking, but I refused after person after person said they wanted to buy it to have a bike they can beat on. I did not put all that work into it (many, many hours) to have some buffoon beat the crap out of it. There are plenty of beater bikes out there for less than I was asking for the T250.

In reply to Junkyard_Dog:

I think you were right to do what you did.

I love buying and selling vehicles. Everything posted in this thread is just part of the game. You gotta roll with it.

My 335I is up for sale currently and has brought a handful of gems. Thus far two paypal scammers, one offer of a trader for a beat 05 EVO, and a guy who text messaged me an offer of what the bank would loan him which was 2500 under my asking price. Love it.

In reply to NGTD:

I used to. It's gotten old fast.

Parting out cars is the same. I'd say for every 50 people who contact me, I sell parts to 1. It's us the same story. Have people offering 1/2 the value through text message.

I am looking a buying a real truck to tow/haul to events. I am not in a hurry but I have a neighbor with a Dodge 3500 4x4 V10 5speed dully. He is asking $6500 for the truck, 180K with peeling clear coat and drooping head liner. The oil leaks in the front end of the motor are an indication of a know V10 issue, when asked about changes of the differential fluid his response was "never done".

My offer was $3000. If he tracks me down my next offer is $2500. Educating sellers is never fun.