At car boots, do people haggle over every last penny...?

qazitory

stevew8975 wrote: »

I don't do car boots or markets, but on ebay nothing says "put me on your BBL" clearer than somebody offering a stupidly low price, or making offers on listings where I do not have Best Offer enabled.

From my own experience, the buyers who go to the most trouble and effort to get "a bargain", are often the ones that cause most issue after the sale as well, paying the least but demanding the most.

Likewise when I sold one of my cars recently, it was priced to sell quick - 4 months MOT, 3 months tax, full history and spotless, low mileage and I had it advertised at CAP Trade Clean (what a dealer would pay as part ex on the vehicle). which was £500 less than the guide retail price.

I had one guy ring me from Glasgow asked a few questions and said he would come down to look at it the next morning. He turned up with his extended family, went on about how much in fuel it had cost him, and that the car better be good. He started picking up issues like condensation under the bonnet, the fact that the Vauxhall logo was worn on the mats, that the engine bay looked too clean - what was I hiding, the spare wheel had been used (twice for a total 3 days in the last 3 years!) - he then asked for me to MOT it for the full 12 months, wanted some money off for the issues he had found, and then the cheeky 'tard asked me to deduct the cost of his petrol for the return trip down from Glasgow.

I'm not ashamed to say "I created a bit of scene"....

I once had a guy who took a train then a taxi to see a car I was selling. When he decided he didn't want it, he asked if we could give him a lift home lol It was only a £500 Vectra!!! We told him where the bus stop was lol

The weirdest car boot moments was when someone offered us money to buy our car! When we said it wasn't for sale, he still give his number over lol

Dizzie77

The last car boot I did, a couple arrived in a taxi - complete with pasting tables and boxes of stuff - the taxi dropped them and their stuff off and then
drove off.....
The first time I've seen someone do a car boot sale without a car...!!

Crowqueen

Dizzie77 wrote: »

The last car boot I did, a couple arrived in a taxi - complete with pasting tables and boxes of stuff - the taxi dropped them and their stuff off and then
drove off.....
The first time I've seen someone do a car boot sale without a car...!!

That's rather optimistic about the amount they were hoping to sell.

Not having a car is one of the reasons the joys of car boot sales are denied to me. There is a local one somewhere up beyond the nearby A33 bypass, but I've never been myself. Crossing a dual carriageway on foot isn't fun. I love flea markets in other countries - remember wading around in the mud in Russia looking at 1920s Leninist propaganda posters priced at over 100 dollars each - but the ones with the great stuff are often too dangerous for tourists to go to. The flea market in Warsaw was also full of people trying to sell fake CDs and DVDs despite huge notices saying that pirates would be prosecuted.

Compared to that the average British carboot is rather tame.

Valanita

I have seen people doing car boot sales without a car, specially as in one case the car boot venue is close to a housing estate. They bring their items in bags & they use a shopper or several on wheels.

mushypeaman

I love car boots; they used to be a lot of fun. I've sold stuff on hundreds of boots over the years, but not any more. The hagglers are not only getting cheekier (which I don't mind), they are getting nastier.

By the way, a simple way to deal with the 'early bird' dealers is this: when they ask the price of an item, tell them a price that's at least treble what you really want for it, because they make offers based on your starting price usually, rather than what it's actually worth. That way, even if they make a really silly offer, you can often end up with a higher price than you actually wanted. They think they've won, but you've had the last laugh!