Stupid car selling tactics that rub me the wrong way...

This is more of a rant than anything else, but anyway...

I was perusing another forum I frequent, and I came across a For Sale thread on a pretty rare car, but not something that commands serious money in the current market (HINT: I have one of these in my signature). The owner puts up some pics of the car on jack stands and with parts missing, but states that he has the parts, but doesn't have time to install them. It looks like a nice car, but it's in pieces. Then, he throws out a high price fitting of a running, driving, needs-nothing car, and gets offended when no one wants to buy it. He then pulls the "well, if no one wants to buy this thing for this price, I'm going to destroy it with a sledgehammer!" line, like he's holding the car for ransom, not selling it. Then, when people try and help the guy by suggesting he take the few hours it will take for the car to be put back together so someone will actually want to buy the thing, he tells them all that they are idiots and he doesn't have the time to do that. He goes on to belittle the forum members who were trying to help the guy. What an shiny happy person.

Not that I should really care, but that really made me angry. I've run across this before with a few other ads I've seen, but I just don't understand that mentality.

What sales tactics that you have seen that rub you the wrong way?

You mean the "I'D RATHER SCRAP IT THAN TAKE A PENNY LESS THAN FOUR TIMES THE SCRAP VALUE." people?

Kenny_McCormic wrote: You mean the "I'D RATHER SCRAP IT THAN TAKE A PENNY LESS THAN FOUR TIMES THE SCRAP VALUE." people?

Yes, those types of people. There is a special circle of Automotive Hell for these types of people. There, they will be forced to drive a gold, chain smoker-owned 1995 Toyota Camry 4-cylinder automatic with 3 misfiring cylinders and a broken radio for the rest of eternity.

Some people are just completely out of touch with reality

Also, when you show up to look at what was represented as a reasonably functional car, it's clearly hacked together and falling apart when you go inspect it, and the guy just kinda goes "uh, huh" as you start uncovering huge flaws and get more and more pissed you drove out there for nothing.

My peeve is when the ad says it runs and drives. I show up and the tires are flat or the battery is dead or the keys are missing or it stopped running yesterday.

Or "runs great, just needs a head gasket". That's not a great running car.

DrBoost wrote: Or "runs great, just needs a head gasket". That's not a great running car.

"Only needs HG which is only $35 at Autozone"

"Car runs great, but engine isn't working right now."

I saw that exact line in an ad yesterday.

To the OP, those are people that think that everyone is out to screw them, and have no real idea of the condition of the car. The fact the guy doesn't want to fix it, tells me he doesn't know how to fix it from my experience.

"if i don't sell it by tomorrow at 5:34, the price goes up."

i love those ads..

fanfoy wrote: "Car runs great, but engine isn't working right now." I saw that exact line in an ad yesterday. To the OP, those are people that think that everyone is out to screw them, and have no real idea of the condition of the car. The fact the guy doesn't want to fix it, tells me he doesn't know how to fix it from my experience.

In this case, the guy removed the brake calipers for powdercoating. He doesn't want to re-install them. That's just lazy. If he could figure out how to remove them, I'm sure he can take the half hour of his time to re-install them.

Head gaskets. I love all the non-running, self diagnosed cars with bad head gaskets.

In reply to octavious:

Those are the best. My friend got a $500 Merkur with a "blown headgasket". Turns out it was an old radiator hose at the rear of the engine had sprung a leak. Awesome running car now.

"Must sell today"...and the ad is renewed on CL every day for 3 months.

"I just bought this truck from you for $500xx and replaced the brakes that still don't work. My wife has cancer so I can't afford it. Will you buy it back from me for $800xx?"

Sorry, that wasn't an ad. That was my dumbass neighbor.

Some people eat bugs.

Sounds normal.

Klayfish wrote: "Must sell today"...and the ad is renewed on CL every day for 3 months.

I had one of these. I was mad that the Carmax offer was lower than it was a few weeks back and had an ad something like "xxx cash by tomorrow morning 9 AM or it's going to Carmax, get it out of my driveway" I had 15 calls and two buyers ready, the first one showed up with green paper and left with it that morning. He paid about $900 more than Carmax was going to. It actually worked perfectly.

Priced as a running car but "just needs a (insert trivial part here - starter, battery, ignition switch)." Great condition - with rust showing in the pics or more annoying, not showing the rust until you go see it.

Sine_Qua_Non wrote: My peeve is when the ad says it runs and drives. I show up and the tires are flat or the battery is dead or the keys are missing or it stopped running yesterday.

This happened to me when I flew across the country to get my '69 SAAB. We were at a small shop in Bountiful, UT, 1700 miles from home, and see my car with a flat tire and very little oil in the crankcase. It was a great feeling.

Powar wrote:

Sine_Qua_Non wrote: My peeve is when the ad says it runs and drives. I show up and the tires are flat or the battery is dead or the keys are missing or it stopped running yesterday.

This happened to me when I flew across the country to get my '69 SAAB. We were at a small shop in Bountiful, UT, 1700 miles from home, and see my car with a flat tire and very little oil in the crankcase. It was a great feeling.

That would have pissed me off immeasurably. I think if I ever were to try and do a really long-distance purchase I'd have to find someone locally to go look it over for me ahead of time to ensure I wasn't walking into a complete berkfest of a car.

One of my favorites is, "I know what I've got here, so don't try and lowball me!" when the price is clearly several times what anyone with half a functioning brain would pay for the car.

In reply to SilverFleet:

I attacked a Shelby Z turbo that way.....the local turbo mopar people are all flakey broke asses. Never call one of my bluffs, one guy did....he recieved pictures of us cutting the roof off with a saw and other scenes of destruction, I personally hope he cried.

The funny thing was, I still made money on that car when it went to the scrapper with a free turbo newyorker pancaked on top of it.

Another:
"Some damage to passenger side...".

Only one photo. Of course, showing driver's side.

Adz that wer ritten in sumthin other then desentlee propar englesh and tawk about how kewl it is becauz its slamed and has custem paint yo.

I bought a 01 Suzuki esteem for what I thought was a great deal, a month later the front sub frame broke because it was rusted. I could not find a front sub frame anywhere, so I was forced to sell it. It was a frustrating sale, because I felt that the previous owner and mechanic shop that owned it were not forth write, but again it was my fault for not looking (I guess that is why they made me pick it up). The car otherwise it excellent condition. Although I wanted to take a sledgehammer to it, because it was a frustrating situation I ended up selling it to a guy that was going to fix it. It had a clean title and he picked it up, I am sure I could have gotten a few more bucks at the scrap yard, but it had a clean title, I just think it would have been a waste. I lost some money, but at least someone got a good deal and was able to fix it and drive it.