Did I sell the car?

I've been stuff professionally (not a serious wheeler-dealer, just semi-niche vintage motorcycles) and personally for probably 15 years now. Guitars, cars, bikes, etc. EVERY sale has been to a guy who doesn't ask a million questions or muck around with schedules - just says, "I'll be there at [x] o'clock," then he shows up and hands over cash. The only exception was an out of state fly-in-drive-out sale with my SVT Focus, and that involved 1 extra call to his bank to get funds wired to mine.

I think all the questions stem from the 'buyer' trying to rationalize the purchase to themselves, to either talk themselves into it or out of it. Either way, those questions a based on their own uncertainty, and they're the only ones that will change that, not the seller. Conversely, when somebody's made up their mind to buy, usually the only questions are about something that's not as advertised - which means the seller either missed it or was trying to gloss over a flaw. But most of the time, their only question is "Where do I sign?" If you want to preserve the possibility of a future sale (in a professional setting), you have to deal with the hem-and-hawers politely and answer their questions as if they're legitimate. But in personal sales settings, I've been getting more comfortable with just brushing these guys off, instead of wasting both of our time.

I'm guessing, Otto, you'll have a completed eBay transaction and never hear from this jackwagon again.

Glengarry, Glen Ross the movie:
"The people are insane. They just like talking to salesmen."
http://www.hark.com/clips/hqvcrjsdst-they-just-like-talking-to-salesmen

Your guy likely felt important for a day or two as he imagined (only) buying a Lexus.
He also liked that he seemed impressive to you with his ability to spend dollars on his wife shopping and dinning beforehand.
It is a strange world out there.

Zomby Woof wrote: In reply to DoctorBlade: That is the stupidest thing you could do. The idea is to SELL the car.

You're presuming this guy actually intends to show up with the agreed amount of cash. I don't think he is going to. Otto has an ebay auction going, I'll bet that winner can come up with the cash faster than this person.

I presumed nothing. You provided the hypothetical situation, and suggested not to sell the car. The sole purpose is to sell the car. Playing games, regardless of what he's done is good for nobody, and will only prolong this miserable exercise.

Zomby Woof wrote: I presumed nothing. You provided the hypothetical situation, and suggested not to sell the car. The sole purpose is to sell the car. Playing games, regardless of what he's done is good for nobody, and will only prolong this miserable exercise.

I'll agree this is a miserable exercise. I'm under the impression he's not under an obligation to sell it if this guy shows up. He hasn't (that we've heard of) yet, and made excuses right and left. That doesn't inspire confidence. I sure wouldn't accept a check from this guy.

Zomby Woof wrote: He's only wasting your time because you're letting him. In reply to DoctorBlade: That is the stupidest thing you could do. The idea is to SELL the car.

Car's gonna sell anyways. I'd tell him to pack his E36 M3 and get the berkeley outta here in a vain attempt to teach him a valuable life lesson.

Wouldn't do anything, but i'd sure feel good and manly about it.

Even if the car sells for $4100 on Ebay, i'd consider it be very worth the $100 loss to tell him to berkeley himself.

It may be misguided (for reals), but there's a part of me that agrees that not selling him the car (if he ever shows up with money) is the way to go.

Just some sort of attempt to guide society toward understanding that you don't get to berkeley around for days and still get what you want.

OTOH, if he actually showed up, cash in hand, didn't try to offer less... Pragmatism and being done with it would probably win out.

Re: Datsun1500's point; that's interesting. I always assumed (boy is that the right word) that all auctions on eBay were binding. Not that I'd expect people to never flake, but I didn't realize that all of eBay Motors was exempt. That is, after all, where 90% of my eBay time is spent...

If someone says to me" I'll buy it, can you hold it" I make them pay pal a non-refundable deposit.

I lost out of a really nice low mileage Camry recently because I didn't hand the man any money to hold it when I looked at it. This was at 5:00pm and nobody was coming to look at it after that. When I called the next morning at 8:00, "sorry, I sold it last night". He had sold it to another dealer sight unseen while he was attending car auction that night. It was my fault and I didn't whine or anything.

When I was at lunch, dude called and left me a message (I purposely didn't answer). Says he slept in this morning and he will see me after work today to get the car. Unreal. Dude sounded as relaxed as Bob Marley.

Last night, he said he could send a deposit. At that point, I basically told him to show up with all the money or forget it. No holding it for him.

I think he is playing you watching the auction. Figures he has time until the auction goes above his price. At this point, I'd tell him to go through ebay.

I wouldn't bother responding to him. If he shows up, cash in hand, fine. No sense "teaching him a lesson" there are thousands more just like him out there.

Otto it's not worth the grey hair. If he truly wanted it, he would have been there.

Move on. If someone doesn't have business ethics, you aren't going to teach them.

Dan

I've sold a bunch of stuff, and you can tell pretty quickly how serious someone is. This guy isn't serious at all...

If you were any closer I would buy it from you right now because I love the car and it would be awesome to have as a daily driver at that price. Plus it would be awesome for you to be able to tell him it sold. But almost 600 miles each way is a little rough for that.

Okay. Jackass calls me at 3:00 pm and says he is sitting in my driveway. I told him I'd be home in about 2.5 hours. Then I thought about it and realized my skittish 11 year old daughter was going to be walking home from school any minute and would be scared to death to find some stranger (with a room temperature IQ) sitting in front of our house. So, I hurried home.

Lo and behold, after the guy stared at the car for 30 minutes "inspecting" it, he handed over the full roll of hundred dollar bills.

Wow what a turn of events, never expected that guy to show up.

Wow.
Did he seem the type that understands he bought a car w/ 200k miles or the type that expects no repairs of maint for the next 3 years?

In reply to jrw1621:

He bought it to replace his '04 745i. He was tired of watching his bank account drain at a ridiculous pace while his wife drove her high mileage Lexus with nothing other than routine maintenance. Maybe she was tired of it. She seemed to be the one with the money.

Funny thing is, I bought the car with over 200K for $4300 and drove it for three years with nothing more than oil changes, new tires and a new battery. Other than that, I did zero to the car. The odds of him doing the same are pretty damn slim.

Good job on your own 3yr no real repair.
I have often considered similar with an Infinity Q45 but the mpg's scare me off for how I use a car.

Which Lexus was it? I've never been a huge fan of them as far as driver engagement goes... but just spent a week with the LS 460, and boy was it a pleasant place to be.

This exact one
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1998-Lexus-GS400-good-condition-all-records-NO-RESERVE-/300690517967?pt=US_Cars_Trucks&hash=item46028d2fcf

Nice. We just drove the new GS at Laguna Seca... it was, dare I say, almost sporty.