Selling a Porsche Cayenne

This is not a classified ad. I am actually selling an '05 Porsche Cayenne, but not here. The car has a few cosmetic issues (cracked clear-bra on the front and a dented rear hatch), regular wear from age, and a rebuilt title from a minor rear end collision. That considered, I expect to sell it for half of what it would sell for with a clean title and no cosmetic issues. My asking price on Craigslist is $4,200 obo.

I listed it yesterday and had four replies that progressed to a discussion, along with some of the usual Craigslist junk replies.

One buyer was very interested, but wanted to trade his Toyota FJ for it with me paying the difference in value. Nice, but no... I don't want the Toyota.

Another buyer lives about three hours away and sounded very interested in it. In emails I gave him as much detail about the condition as I could; Maintenance I have done, the cracked clear-bra, the dents in the hatch, and that the LCD info screen in the instrument cluster fades when it warms up (as it does in almost every other 1st generation Cayenne).

When he made plans to come see it, we started texting. Here's how the conversation went:

Ugh... You lasted longer than I did.  The moment I saw his math, I would have been done.  

This is the new culture today.  Unless something is completely perfect and 20% under typical retail people are E36 M3'y.  

Let it roll off your back. 

It takes less than 10 minutes to read those words. I know it takes longer to write them and wait for the response to roll in. But, in summary, it's just one 10 minute conversation. 

You are right, someone better will come along. 

In your first sentence you stated you are not trying to sell this here at GRM. 

Why not? 

This would be very appropriate for the Open Classified section of GRM and this place has a lot of people looking for something that can tow 7k lbs in comfort. 

I'm having the same issue selling an RX 7 that is less than perfect.  Have had more than a dozen contact me, yet no one has even asked to come see it.  Four people  texted to see if was still available  and when I replied yes, never heard from them again. Two more flaked after the yes reply and answering what the best price, my answer was come look at the car and we can negotiate.  A few others have asked what seems like reasonable questions a serious buyer would ask, none seemed overly concerned  about the known issues the car has. I understand the car is an oddball and I expected some usual BS but have been surprised at how many people just seem to contact me just because they have nothing else to do and have no real interest in the car. A very interesting sociology lesson.  There is some one out there who wants it, just have to be patient, at least that is what I keep telling myself,  GLWS

I dunno, i think $4200 is all the money for something with cosmetic, electrical, and title issues.  Lowball bro was pretty low at $1500, but the high 2s would be a reasonable price.  Clean title early Cayenne S's are $3500-5k, but most are 150k miles or so.  Clean title means an awful lot.  I have had 1 car with a rebuilt title,  never again.  I don't keep cars forever so it doesn't make sense to buy something thats hard to sell.  

Either way, no sense complaining about it.    Recently, I have been countering the "whats your best price" with "I already gave you the best price for me, now its your turn to make an offer."

Try posting at Facebook Marketplace? It has been more reasonable there vs CL as of late

I do think your vehicle is kinda overpriced but his offer was stupid low. I wouldn't of replied after reading his text with his lowball-justifying math. I don't price my cars based on what the buyer has to spend after they buy it. You're a lot nicer than me. 

I can’t believe we’re seriously sitting here discussing running driving Porsches that are worth 5% of their new price. 

Complete Accident! 

I went to give a thumbs up to Angry's comment and accidentally hit the delete button. 

I have no way to repost or fix this accident. Please repost if you want/can.

"Would have done $3000, but chose to insult you, instead. "

"Had you offered three grand from the get-go, you'd likely be driving a Cayenne tomorrow. Good day. "

"But..."

John Welsh said:

Complete Accident! 

I went to give a thumbs up to Angry's comment and accidentally hit the delete button. 

I have no way to repost or fix this accident. Please repost if you want/can.

John Welsh said:

Complete Accident! 

I went to give a thumbs up to Angry's comment and accidentally hit the delete button. 

I have no way to repost or fix this accident. Please repost if you want/can.

I still had it on my phone from checking the thread earlier. Priceless:

Edit... I see you beat me to it.

I have now successfully "thumbed up" 

Sometimes I like to imagine myself as Eric Cartman, rolling around in a pile of cash (nekkid, of course), responding to low-ball offers with a low-ball offer of my own.  Kinda like this: 

I still have a couple 'buyers' interested and talking like they will come see it when they get a chance. Either that, or they just like to keep tabs on me to see when I plan to be out of town.

The $4,200 is not a firm price at all, but more a matter of the most I'd want to pay if I was looking. Easy to drop the price, but hard to talk it up once it's published. Two people asked why I was selling so cheap. I've had a sign on it for $4k for a few days (since before I posted the ad) driving around town, but haven't parked it anywhere that people will really see it.

Here's the total text from a couple emails that didn't go anywhere:

"Can you do less like do we have any obo" ...I think this one was automated.

"Hello, If you decide you can sell your Cayenne much cheaper I would be interested in buying it today, Thanks and take care"    ...Polite and to the point. Resulted in a $1,400 cash offer unseen.

"4000"    ...no words, just an un-punctuated number (That's not really an offer).

"Will you sell just rims"    ...I actually have a spare set of wheels, but no, it didn't lead to a sale.

Now I'm waiting to hear from a guy that wants to meet. I know better than to get myself into this trap... He asked if I could meet him half way between where we live. I told him that if he has cash in hand and is prepared to buy it, I'd meet. Now I've been waiting about two hours for him to tell me WHEN he wants to meet.

I've had some Craigslist sales and buys go easy and smooth, others have been terrible. The worst buy I went on was looking at a motorhome. I drove an hour, then waited at a gas station to meet a guy. The wait turned into over an hour while they called every 20 minutes to say they were looking for the title, but almost there. They showed up in a beat up Suburban with about ten dirty kids in the back, and told me to follow them to the motorhome. A 20 minute drive down dirt roads into the woods. I think I heard banjos playing. When we got there it was getting dark.

The motorhome didn't look much like the pictures. I wouldn't have got out of the car, but I had already wasted hours. Might as well get the tour. Trees were growing around it. Animals had been living inside. I quickly retreated. My wife stayed in the car the whole time with our 100 lb German Shepherd. To this day, I'm still not sure they weren't some sort of thieves or cannibals.

That didn't go well. He finally confirmed a time. 4:30 pm. I left home about 3:50 with my wife following in her Element. Less than 10 minutes from the destination, I get this:

Well, maybe they need a new car even more urgently now..?

"Where you stay" is ghetto talk.  Hood rats "stay" places but they don't "live" anywhere.  He's a jerkoff, so insist to meet this one at local Police Department.

AAZCD said:

Now I'm waiting to hear from a guy that wants to meet. I know better than to get myself into this trap... He asked if I could meet him half way between where we live. I told him that if he has cash in hand and is prepared to buy it, I'd meet. Now I've been waiting about two hours for him to tell me WHEN he wants to meet.

I've had some Craigslist sales and buys go easy and smooth, others have been terrible. The worst buy I went on was looking at a motorhome. I drove an hour, then waited at a gas station to meet a guy. The wait turned into over an hour while they called every 20 minutes to say they were looking for the title, but almost there. They showed up in a beat up Suburban with about ten dirty kids in the back, and told me to follow them to the motorhome. A 20 minute drive down dirt roads into the woods. I think I heard banjos playing. When we got there it was getting dark.

The motorhome didn't look much like the pictures. I wouldn't have got out of the car, but I had already wasted hours. Might as well get the tour. Trees were growing around it. Animals had been living inside. I quickly retreated. My wife stayed in the car the whole time with our 100 lb German Shepherd. To this day, I'm still not sure they weren't some sort of thieves or cannibals.

Literally sounds like my worst nightmare

AngryCorvair said:

"Where you stay" is ghetto talk.  Hood rats "stay" places but they don't "live" anywhere.  He's a jerkoff, so insist to meet this one at local Police Department.

Damn, I say that. Y'all making me feel a certain type of way today. 

What's a 2010 Camry Sport Edition like? Grocery hauler? I think it's an automatic.

At first, I ignored this email: "I’m very interested in your car and I have a 2010 Toyota Camry sport edition plus cash." Asking me to reply directly to a Gmail email address. Then he emailed again asking me to call a phone number.

I called and they seem serious. I have an '05 Corolla, loaned out to my son, but I never really drove it or cared much for it. I know nothing about 2010 Camrys. Not that I want another car, but ...I never don't want another car. I'm gonna check this out and see where it goes.

yupididit said:

AngryCorvair said:

"Where you stay" is ghetto talk.  Hood rats "stay" places but they don't "live" anywhere.  He's a jerkoff, so insist to meet this one at local Police Department.

 

Damn, I say that. Y'all making me feel a certain type of way today. 

Yeah, but you're not a jerkoff, so he can't mean you.

AAZCD said:

What's a 2010 Camry Sport Edition like? Grocery hauler? I think it's an automatic.

At first, I ignored this email: "I’m very interested in your car and I have a 2010 Toyota Camry sport edition plus cash." Asking me to reply directly to a Gmail email address. Then he emailed again asking me to call a phone number.

I called and they seem serious. I have an '05 Corolla, loaned out to my son, but I never really drove it or cared much for it. I know nothing about 2010 Camrys. Not that I want another car, but ...I never don't want another car. I'm gonna check this out and see where it goes.

Obviously it depends on mileage/condition/title status but a 2010 Camry in decent condition with 100k miles is worth a couple grand more than your $4200 asking price according to KBB. If he's offering the car + cash then that's either a very good deal for you, or there's something wrong

AAZCD said:

At first, I ignored this email: "I’m very interested in your car and I have a 2010 Toyota Camry sport edition plus cash." Asking me to reply directly to a Gmail email address. Then he emailed again asking me to call a phone number.

If nothing else, they know how to spell and to construct a sentence.  That's a good sign.