Do people on craigslist NOT want to sell cars?

I'm going to have to agree with original post, found a GTO on there I like, e-mailed the guy like 4 or 5 times and no response. Doesn't have a phone number or anything either.

mad_machine wrote: stupid people.. best to leave them be and hope they do not breed

Hope is cheap. Indulge yourself.

I have some nutty Craiglist stories too.

JFX001 wrote: Not that I am a member of the grammar squad, but....if you are trying to sell the car that you own, please try to spell it correctly. Maybe take a look at the Title for a clue....or go out and look at the side of the car.Google it.Whatever. Ex: Camero

I couldn't agree more. LOL. I actually used to spell Camaro like that: Camero.

How do you spell Z3?

I swear I'm going to sucker-punch the next idiot selling his Cougar RX7...

Another good one is "price reduced for quick sale", which seems to mean "I know its a POS but im going to ask 3x what its worth anyway".

Travis_K wrote: Another good one is "price reduced for quick sale", which seems to mean "I know its a POS but im going to ask 3x what its worth anyway".

A variant of that I love is when they say "ill take 800 but if it doesnt sell by friday its going back up to 1200"

Morons.

JFX001 wrote: Not that I am a member of the grammar squad, but....if you are trying to sell the car that you own, please try to spell it correctly. Maybe take a look at the Title for a clue....or go out and look at the side of the car.Google it.Whatever.

This E36 M3s me greatly. Especially when someone's trying to persuade me to part with my money for an 'Alpha Romero'. It's surprising just how common that blatant misspelling actually is.

people on CL do not want to sell their cars - true.

i emailed/called about a thunderbird and asked the mileage. this was the first week of the year. i got an email back yesterday stating the miles on the car and that it was still available. not to mention they just put "1989 thunderbird $500" and did not bother putting in the ad that is was a super coupe.

My favorite craigslist ads go something like "BMW, $3,500, runs" and that's it.

However, when I was trying to sell the P5 I wrote up a beautiful ad with the service history, a very detailed description of the car, detailed photos of everything, and got almost no response. Then I posted it with a generic photo, almost no description, and got lowball offers galore.

Luke wrote: This E36 M3s me greatly. Especially when someone's trying to persuade me to part with my money for an 'Alpha Romero'. It's surprising just how common that blatant misspelling actually is.

I see that misspelling a lot in the local paper too...

another one I hate it "bumber" instead of bumper

John Brown wrote:

friedgreencorrado wrote: I once discovered that a Mk.2 VW Golf on CL Atlanta ... and asked him if it was a "manual" transmission. He said yes. When I pointed out that it was an auto, he replied "..well, they said it was automatic, but you have to move this stick in the floor to get it moving.."

I love that story, it has everything, nouns, verbs and morons.

We should all get together and write a book. Might get enough to buy a couple o' sets of Panasports out of it..

I just got an email today in response to my MG on craigslist. All it said was "whats the least you will take?" I thought of this thread and responded with "whats the most you will pay?" I don't expect to hear back from them.

I can't believe how widespread the "Camero" thing is. It's everywhere.

I've bought a Camaro (no really, he knew what it was) with a few spare LS1 parts off CL, as well as a trailer. For the same price, coincidentally. One was a box on wheels, the other has over 300 hp. Hmm, never thought about that.

Anyway, in both cases, the seller was an adult. Not just adult age, but a contributing member of society. The Camaro seller was an American Iron racer with a killer GTO :) No idiocy, good communication, sellers who went out of their way to help me out, fair prices without dumb haggling - it's not all the trailer park of the resale world.

Meanwhile, I sold my GTX rolling chassis to Nigeria for $30,000.

When I had the WR400 on Craigslist locally, I got 4 or 5 calls where they'd say 'I'm calling about your bike' and i's say 'still got it' then they would say 'I'll give you (half what I am asking) right now'. I just said 'Nope' and that would be the end of the conversation.

The guy who bought it paid about $200 under asking price, about what I wanted. He did it the old fashioned way, set a time to come look at it, test rode etc. then came back the next day with cash.

The wife is thinking about selling her salt water aquarium on Craigslist, when she wanted to buy it we went through the CL listings first and I keep reminding her what that was like, people had some real misleading ads: they show a fully set up tank and when you get there it's been sitting in the storage room for a year.

My favorote craigslist add ever went something like this "fully restored 1970 dodge challenger $30k. Selling for money for my girl to spend on her beauty, buy my car so i can have a big boob girl" ( I think my version is spelled a bit better though).

Anoter interestting story, I was looking for a turbo dodge, and I was told about a nice lebaron gts with that had a blown turbo for $600. I went and loooked at it and it was in pretty good shape otherwise, so I decided to make aggrangements for a traier and go back the next week and get it, While I was talking to the seller I found out that they had paid $800 for it in running condition several months before, then the turbo had died so they parked it. When I called back and told them I would take it, they said well lets talk about price first, and I said well it said $600 in the add, that sounds fair to me. They then said, no, i need to get $800 for it becasue I cant afford to lose that much money, and there is also a $100 parking ticket you will ned to pay. I said well I guess you can keep it then, goodbye.

Clay wrote: When I see several adds from the same person listed under "for sale by owner" I flag them. Sometimes you can even see the other cars lined up in a makeshift car lot in the background of the pics. At least spread the adds out so they don't stick out when someone searches. No offense to those individuals who sell lots of cars, but I consider them dealers (as does the state). I posted a warning about this on CL to help others avoid such covert dealers, but it got flagged down pretty quickly.

You know that dealers are allowed to advertise on CL as long as they register as a dealer, right?

If you look at the search parameters you can exclude for sale by dealers on the search.

Datsun1500 wrote: Why does it seem like people on craigslist make it hard to buy a car they are selling? I am not talking about the ones that never respond, I am talking about the ones that don't post information or photos, then when you ask, they respond, but don't answer what you asked. Ex: 1999 Audi A4 - $4500/BO That was the entire ad. I happen to be looking for one so I ask: Do you still have the car? How many miles? Quattro or FWD? Stick or Automatic? What shape is it in? Color? I even sent him my cell number. 2 days later I get. I still have the car. No number, no info, nothing. Does the guy just not want to sell it?

Sorry to harken back to the original post but there's one question nobody asks, especially when talking to these de facto "dealers:"

Whose name is on the title?

If something goes really wrong with the sale or its immediate aftermath, you have no legal recourse because the person selling it to you is not the owner of record. I'm not talking about some guy helping his brother-in-law out with selling his car, I'm talking about someone selling a car that has no connection to the person selling it.

If asking that question brings a lot of hemming and hawing or a really lame-o excuse, you can either walk away or use it as a huge bargaining point. Many of the sellers on Craigslist have no connection to the owners of record. If the seller has no connection, they don't really know anything about the car so you have to check those out like you're studying the Dead Sea Scrolls.

John, I know dealers can advertise on CL. I was talking about dealers who are advertising in the "For sale by Owner" section of the Cars and Trucks. Obviously a dealer advertising as a dealer is A OK with me.

good point on making sure the seller is the owner. My R/T had traded hands a few times before it got to me, I think it went from the owner to a shop then to the seller. I looked at it at night, then paid cash the next night.

Then got burned on repairs. But It sure is a blast to drive

derekshannon wrote: He then got even more pissed off and told me he was going to come beat me up.

Excellent. What an idiot. This made me laugh so much I am having a coughing attack.

pete240z wrote:

derekshannon wrote: He then got even more pissed off and told me he was going to come beat me up.

Excellent. What an idiot. This made me laugh so much I am having a coughing attack.

I'm dealing with one of those almost to the "T" right now.... except it's a punk on a forum parting out a car. He won't ship anything, he won't meet me halfway, but he'll drive down to kick my ass because i won't buy a 200k mile head for $200.

BBsGarage wrote: What do you expect for nothing? A professional ad?

Gotta agree with this. The flake factor on CL goes up 10 fold selling or buying. I do not make special arrangments to be availible to show something becuase 7/10 times they won't show. I never ask for special arragments to look at anything. "When will you be home?" and then call again before leave the house.

You have to understand its a free service, and not only are the folks on there not gearheads, 70% + of this country aren't gear heads, and half of the ones who are are aren't that bright either (Right here!)

Venting is cool, and helps but yeah, peaple are stupid. Bet on that and you will find your frustration goes down quite a bit, and every now and again you willbe surprised.

I emailed about a car the day it was listed (1/31). I got an email back saying that the seller was working that day but that I could come look at it another day.

So, I've tried to contact the seller off and on since then to set up a time to go look at the car with no answer and no call back.

A couple days ago the seller updated the ad and lowered the price.

I was willing to pay the initial amount for the car.

Seller still won't return emails or phone calls.

Hmm... Ever try to buy a used computer on CL? Flake job city.

Tell you what, call me when you stop using that 6 year old Pentium as a wheel chock and we'll talk, dufus.

Appleseed wrote: Hmm... Ever try to buy a used computer on CL? Flake job city. Tell you what, call me when you stop using that 6 year old Pentium as a wheel chock and we'll talk, dufus.

Top of the line gaming rig! $2400 obo!

Specs:

P4 processor ATi Radeon 9700pro 1 gig pc2700 ddr ram Asrock mobo Custom drag beige case And i'll even throw in a 15" lcd monitor for FREE!!!