I'm losing my patience with the process of selling cars

Thought selling the M3 was going to be easy.  I had a few people contact me on it and I don't have it listed for sale anywhere.  This past Monday one came out to look at it, spent 2-3 hours going over the car, driving it, etc.  Said he needed to sleep on it, but he was basically going to buy it.

Then he said he was concerned that it had 6 owners, including me.  On a 20 year old car!  I know 4 of the 5 previous owners btw, all local enthusiasts.  Then he decided he needed to go look at another M3 locally that's bone stock.  Cheaper than mine but you couldn't replicate my car for the cost differential.  Probably couldn't replicate mine for 2x the cost differential, closer to 3x. 

Sent me an email last night saying he can't decide what to do.  Sigh.  Thanks for wasting my time, you're clearly a tire kicker.  This after he told me he didn't want to waste my time at first, then called me back to say he was moving things around financially so he could buy my car right away and could he come look/drive it.

Now I have to decide whether to keep the car or list it for sale and deal with many, many more people like this guy.  Ugh.

It can really be a pain to sell a modified car. I had my last 240SX listed for a long time, and it was a nice car at a really good deal. Also could never have been duplicated for anything close to the price. I had people low-balling me by a ridiculous amount. Finally a guy showed up who didn't seem to know anything about the cars and bought it for my asking price after about two minutes of poking around and a 100-foot drive.  So, you never know...

In reply to docwyte :

Get ready for a lot more of those people when you do list it.  At least this guy showed up and was interested in it.   

Sound like the buyer might have cash issues.  Explain to the buyer that credit unions like PenFed will actually finance the purchase of older cars.  

Previous posts on this topic... 

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/learn-me-sub-10k-car-loans/138496/page1/

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/buying-used-vehicles-car-loan-timeline/126896/page1/

In reply to John Welsh :

Guy's a financial advisor!  I'd hope that he understands what it takes to buy a car. 

turtl631, if I decide to list it I'll probably put the sweat equity into it to make it as stock as possible.  So pull my high dollar suspension, BBK's, put the interior back to stock, take out the track pipe, etc, etc.  I'm just feeling lazy, I'd rather not have to do that and let the buyer decide which cool parts they want to stay on the car...

Doc - Your car is a pretty good model for what I may be shopping for in the future if this Lemons effort fizzles out.  I'd be curious to know what your asking prices are with parts and without.  Feel free to PM me if you prefer.

Sent you a message Matt.  Car is an all original paint/panel car.  108k miles on the chassis, 88k miles on the motor.  Head gasket replaced last summer/fall, ARP head studs and Schrick 256/264 cams installed at the same time, head got rebuilt, no damage to the head, wasn't warped at all.

I had a pretty good experience selling the Civic. Of course it was a cheap car and I wasn't trying to turn a profit on it or anything. When I finally actually got serious about selling it, it went to the first person that contacted me and I had ten others in line behind him. 

Good luck getting yours gone.

docwyte said:

Thought selling the M3 was going to be easy.  I had a few people contact me on it and I don't have it listed for sale anywhere.  This past Monday one came out to look at it, spent 2-3 hours going over the car, driving it, etc.  Said he needed to sleep on it, but he was basically going to buy it.

Then he said he was concerned that it had 6 owners, including me.  On a 20 year old car!  I know 4 of the 5 previous owners btw, all local enthusiasts.  Then he decided he needed to go look at another M3 locally that's bone stock.  Cheaper than mine but you couldn't replicate my car for the cost differential.  Probably couldn't replicate mine for 2x the cost differential, closer to 3x. 

Sent me an email last night saying he can't decide what to do.  Sigh.  Thanks for wasting my time, you're clearly a tire kicker.  This after he told me he didn't want to waste my time at first, then called me back to say he was moving things around financially so he could buy my car right away and could he come look/drive it.

Now I have to decide whether to keep the car or list it for sale and deal with many, many more people like this guy.  Ugh.

I have never had this experience selling an enthusiast car to another enthusiast.  Where did you list it for sale? 

I don’t understand...

You don’t have it listed, but you’re frustrated with the selling process??

Doesn't sound like the fault of “the process”, nor of the one buyer you had by dumb luck. 

In reply to SVreX :

Wasn't dumb luck.  I posted on my Facebook that I was thinking about selling the car.  I was contacted immediately by a friend of mine, who referred this guy to me. 

He just called, basically backed out, sounds like he's not ready to buy anything right now.

This is emblematic of the selling process period tho.  I know when I do list it I'll deal with far more tire kickers than I just did with someone who knew what I have and understands the value of it.

Tyler, I didn't list it for sale, this guy came to me wanting the car...

Now I have to decide if I want to spend a bunch of time pulling the car apart to get it ready for sale, or list it as is, or just decide to keep it. 

In reply to docwyte :

Ok, but ranting about “the process of selling” implies that you are making an effort to sell. 

You got a referral from a friend because you “might be selling”. And you got a guy who “might be buying”. 

That’s not anything wrong with the selling process. You haven’t actually tried yet. 

docwyte said:

In reply to SVreX :

Wasn't dumb luck.  I posted on my Facebook that I was thinking about selling the car.  I was contacted immediately by a friend of mine, who referred this guy to me. 

He just called, basically backed out, sounds like he's not ready to buy anything right now.

This is emblematic of the selling process period tho.  I know when I do list it I'll deal with far more tire kickers than I just did with someone who knew what I have and understands the value of it.

Tyler, I didn't list it for sale, this guy came to me wanting the car...

Now I have to decide if I want to spend a bunch of time pulling the car apart to get it ready for sale, or list it as is, or just decide to keep it. 

If you got a serious buyer off a rumor you might be selling, then I think you'll have no problem once you actually list it.  Once prospective buyers perceive they may have to compete for the car, they'll be more decisive.  Don't get me wrong, you'll still have idiotic inquiries...but it won't take long to get a good buyer for an M3.  

An anecdote from my recent 330i experience:  I had one guy ask me for detailed add'l info (even though I listed a very thorough ad for the car.)  After 14 emails, he lowballed me.  Like 30% off my very fair asking price.  I told him I wasn't going to counter his offer.  He came back 2 days later offering to pay above my asking price.  Nope, not worth it.

The PO and fellow GRMer, dyintorace, bought the car back.  I knew it would be an effortless transaction.  Took maybe 2 weeks to sell the car and not much time invested, beyond writing a thorough ad.

Selling a modified E36 M3 is not easy, it took me 6 months to sell mine. You're looking for a very specific buyer, and most people who would buy this type of car are very cautious (probably rightly so). 

I had one guy tell me the stitching in the seats was coming out, so he just couldn't do it. This was in a 20 year old car! He came up with all of this nit picky stuff.

People want them to be showroom clean. They get anal and weird. Like a hypochondriac. "What was that noise?!" "Did you smell that?!" "I don't know, I think the clutch feels weird. Let me sleep on it." 

When I sell something, usually on ebay, I resign myself to the fact that it's only worth what someone's willing to pay for it, so I set a low starting price. Selling a car in the driveway is a bit different but the message is the same: It's worth what it's worth and that's the end of it. So yeah, you can either lower your price, or stand firm and be prepared to wait, maybe a long time.

It's not good or bad, it just "is."

Were you not running DE's & TT's in this car, reliably and with good results? If so, that's the best advertising and audience you can ask for. No messing around trying to put it back to stock either.

I had similar concerns when I decided to sell a highly modified/specialized track car a few years ago. Put it up on the the regional TT club board only, while dreading the next step (Craigs List, etc) if nobody bit. I was pleasantly surprised to have a line 3 deep as soon as it hit the board. It went instantly for asking price. The potential buyers knew the car on sight and needed no prodding. 

So I suggest;

• Target your peers
• Use your network
• Price it fairly

It will sell. 

In reply to Dashpot :

Yes indeed.  The car is well known in my local area, it's passed through several local enthusiasts hands.  My first ad will definitely be on the SCCA and NASA sites.

In fact, another local TT'er pinged me on it just a little bit ago, so maybe that'll work out.

Granted I haven't dealt with trying to sell an older car in nearly a decade, but with newer stuff, it's why I don't mind losing a bit to trade it in and be done with it vs dealing with stuff like that.

In reply to z31maniac :

Have you been able to trade in a track prepared 20 year old car, and not practically give it away?

So thru the grapevine another BMW Club member is coming to look at it tomorrow.  We'll see how this goes...

I'm having some of the same issues with the R63. I've talked to a lot of guys who want to be the kind of guy who buys an R63, but they're terrified of actually owning one. 

Well, since these people are BMW club members and track hounds, they should know what they're getting into...

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

That guy that bought Fergus was a real pain is the ass too!  

Well, they came by yesterday.  Guy, his wife and his Dad.  Look the car over, take it for a drive, like it.  Then tell me they're not sure if they're looking for a DE/TT/Street car like mine, or a full out race car.  Um, they're not even the same thing, how can you not know?

So, more time wasted.  What kills me is that all these people are BMW enthusiasts who found out about my car from word of mouth.  They should know exactly what it is and what they want before coming to check my car out...

At this point I've listed it on the local NASA website, SCCA website and pointed Facebook groups.  Supposedly another local guy who's an auto broker is going to see it this week.  I'm sure I'll be getting more of a wholesale offer from him tho.

I'm really leaning towards making it more of a street car and just keeping it.

I feel your pain.

i adore 80s-90s BMWs, and have owned five or six of them. But having just sold a beautiful cosmos 99 M3, and putting up with yet ANOTHER batch of flaky buyer/broke dreaming teenager/baller on a budget/etc, I think I'm done with them.

​​​​​​I love driving them, and don't think there's a better car that suits my driving style at track days than the e36 M3, but I've encountered dozens of idiot buyers when it came time to sell them. More than any other make or vehicle type. 

They maybe the only vehicle where the experience of selling them has ruined my desire to own any more of them.