Man, are used manual-trans cars really THAT hard to sell?

All the cars I have sold have had manual transmissions and 200k+ miles but all were Subarus/Hondas/VWs/Mazdas with enthusiast followings even at $2k on craigslist. Sold pretty quickly. With lots of scammer emails too of course.

This time, with a 192k mile 2003 Vibe GT priced at $2k...in 2 weeks I have had exactly one inquiry, that did come see the car, seemed to love it but went and bought a $5k Mazda3 instead so I am not sure why he was cross-shopping a friggin' Vibe. But anyway. Not one other inquiry. Zero scammers.

Bad time of year? Manual trans? Did craigslist etiquette change in the last 8 months and no-one contacts ads without a phone number anymore? Price way too high? Running, driving, no current issues, inspected + reinspectable has gotta be worth the $1900ish I want to get, right?

Something grossly wrong with my ad? (I don't know if it's kosher to post the ad here but I made a thread with a link in the $2017 forum a few weeks ago if you want to see)

My guess is yes, they can be harder to sell.

A year ago I bought my 5 speed Focus because I liked the car and the price. The price had been reduced several times over the four months that it languished on the dealer lot.

It's holiday season, everyone is going to be broke (and craigslist will be slow) until tax time.

Also yes, give them a phone number- everybody wants to text now.

EDIT: Found the ad, drop your price to an even $2000. That extra $100 is losing you people who search with a $2000 cap.

What percent of the driving public can drive a stick-shift? 5%? What percent of those choose to drive one daily? I always joke that the best theft-protection system for a car is a manual transmission.

But yes. Harder to sell. Unless it happens to be a BMW wagon with a stick-shift. Then people will beat a path to your door.

I won't contact without a phone number.

Alright alright I put a phone number up.

What I really need is more space. Would gladly keep miles off the Maz3 by commuting in this thing until something breaks and then dumping it for $1k. We have 5 vehicles and only...well...5 parking spaces. But my wife doesn't agree with that logic.

I've noticed that people are more prone to communicate by text and phone calls more than email these days. If it has more than 140 characters fughabeabout..

Could you throw up a link to your ad? Maybe another set of eyes looking at it would be beneficial.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ wrote: EDIT: Found the ad, drop your price to an even $2000. That extra $100 is losing you people who search with a $2000 cap.

Done. (I actually had started at $2500 figuring everyone plans on offering half and getting it for 75% these days. I certainly search for cars $1k above what I plan to pay.)

In reply to 92dxman:

http://allentown.craigslist.org/cto/5884510797.html

I assume not many are looking for Pontiacs, and not many are searching Toyota Matrix. I'd change the title to Cheap Toyota and see what happens.

I contact the no number CL sellers after 20 days hoping they're desperate to sell at that point. I always put my cell right in the ad. Get some crazies that how else would I have stories to tell my friends?

I would think it's generally hard to sell a 192k mile Pontiac Vibe more so than a manual car.

Try "Cheap winter beater, runs well, inspected, $1999"

RedGT wrote: Alright alright I put a phone number up.

also make sure you check your spam folder in your email. it seems like every 5th email i get for a craigslist posting goes to my spam for some reason. But yes a # always seems to make it easier.

and maybe its just me but i dont think its due to 'selling a manual car' as much as it might be ' selling a manual Vibe'. I feel like the kind of people who are shopping for a car and looking at Vibe's are probably not the kind of people wanting a manual. Not to say there arent people who would want it, there's just less.

How far are you from Arkansas?

I see manual 'rollas for practically nothing.

Pontiac name + manual trans + 200k miles = no way in hell the sheeple would look.

Yes.

92dxman wrote: I've noticed that people are more prone to communicate by text and phone calls more than email these days. If it has more than 140 characters fughabeabout..

I think part of that is because of the number of scams on CL with nonexisting cars etc. Most of those are email-only...

I usually put "contact me by email or text, I'll call you back as soon as I can" in my ads as I can't always take a phone call during the day.

The ad looks pretty good to me. I'm about an hour south of you in the Lansdale area. My dad had a Vibe of the similar vintage and it was a fantastic car.

Funny how I look at a manual trans as a highly sought-after upgrade or option.

I'd say it's more the time of year than anything. Then maybe people don't realize it's a Toyota and third, no one knows how to drive it with a manual or doesn't want to.

I would be curious to see a venn diagram of people who prefer the sportiness of a manual transmission and are interested in a Pontiac Vibe. Probably a very slim overlap.

NEALSMO wrote: I would be curious to see a venn diagram of people who prefer the sportiness of a manual transmission and are interested in a Pontiac Vibe. Probably a very slim overlap.

Just me, huh? If they were still making them I'd be interested in a newer one. Instead we bought a manual Fiesta and next will be a manual Focus which is...pretty much the same thing IMO.

6 spd. 180 hp with VTEC-y stuff. Competent handling. Power everything. Enough room inside for 16 (no E36 M3) tires or a whole washing machine/dishwasher/anything else that fits through a household doorway. I didn't think it looked bad either.

Those have a 2ZZ-GE, basically the sportiest engine Toyota was making at the time. My mom had a normal Vibe with the 1ZZ, and it was a reasonably fun car. I think a big reason for the lack of interest is probably the Pontiac badge, unfortunately. I might include the engine designation in case someone's looking for a donor, honestly.

Good luck with it. They are amazingly useful vehicles.

I would love to get a hold of that but am broke and PA is a little far. I know that doesn't help but just thought I would let you know that we exist!

I would have jumped on it when I was car shopping.

Looks like a lot of car for $2k to me?

I was actually just in a manual Vibe a couple weeks ago. Seemed like it would be a decent DD.

The no phone number thing seems legit, I think that was hurting my case with the Camaro when I was trying to sell it before it was wrecked. Put my number in the part out ad for it and the response has been a lot better than when I did my last cleanout of spare garage junk sans phone number.