Bad experiences with private car sellers

1DayAAT

adrian - mine weren't lined up simultaneously and not sure why you thought that. any viewers i have are respectfully prioritised to view the car in order of who asked first, and car would not be sold to anyone if someone else had arranged to come - until they had come and had first refusal..
if they don't want it ,i can contact the second person who enquired who would have already been told that someone would be seeing it first but that I would let them know if the car still is for sale as soon as possible.

1DayAAT

and yes, i have lost buyers and time this way, but have remained consistent,fair and respectful which means more to me.

colino

I find the tales of chivalry interesting, but hardly wise. You can plan viewings until your blue in the face, get names and call back numbers and still half of the callers will be wasters playing an Autotrader fantasy game.
First buyer with cash in their hand takes it away and then you can call back those pretend numbers that have been left for you. Some of those will escalate their dream even further by saying they'd have given what you asked, because it was just what they were looking for. Dream on and never tell the sale price of a car that is already down the road.

AdrianC

1DayAAT wrote: »

any viewers i have are respectfully prioritised to view the car in order of who asked first

So the first person to call can't come until the weekend. They turn out to be a waster. You call the second person back. They can't come until the following weekend. They turn out to be a waster. Before you know it, you've lost a month, and the people you're calling back have bought somebody else's car.

1DayAAT wrote: »

and yes, i have lost buyers and time this way, but have remained consistent,fair and respectful which means more to me.

Sure, don't pee people about. That's just rude. But I thought the whole point of advertising the car was to sell the flippin' car...?

1DayAAT

Maybe I've just been lucky but it's never taken me longer than 7 days from ad going live, to selling the car (and have sold privately in the double-figures) and the whole process has never involved anyone getting mucked about ( from my side. )
And this includes fielding off all the time wasting emails and no-shows.

[Deleted User]

I replied to an advert on Gumtree once for a cheapie car, arranged to go and view it there and then etc. Then just before I was about to set off (about 5 miles away) I got a text saying it had just been sold.

You get timewasting buyers and you get timewasting sellers.

fivetide

colino wrote: »

fivetide (and others) you do realise that most three year olds coming in to independents probably looked like that when they were bought from auction or other source before they were made ready for sale? You've got to look through the grime to get the potential out of them.

Yes.

But, I know what I'm looking at and I can tell a pup when I see one.

A lease car that had bombed up and down the motorway, no problem, but the car mentioned above was clearly a pool car. One owner, thousands of less than careful drivers.

EdGasket

I've generally had good experiences buying privately. You can screen out a lot of dodgy sellers by asking careful questions e.g.
1) I'm calling about the car "Which one"? Forget it he's a trader
2) Do you have the V5 in your name at the address you are selling it from? "Actually I am selling it for my brother-in-law" Year right forget it; either stolen or another trader
3) What is the minimum you'll take? £1050 - great I've knocked £200 off the price before even looking at it.
4) Why are you selling it? Does the reason sound plausible
5) Are there any faults? I find people surprisingly honest in answering this question but if you don't ask you'll never know.
6) How many keys are there and if applicable, do you have the master key (very important on some models; do your research)

My bad experiences:
1) Car described as good condition; - it was only fit for scrapping
2) Spotless car but unfortunately being sold by someone who looked like he was wanted on Police5 and peered cautiously round the curtain before opening the door.

Prothet_of_Doom

In 2010, I really really really wanted to buy a classic mini. A sort of midlife crisis, with rose tinted specs, based on owning 3 mini's 20 years ago.

I phoned up about 25. I viewed 8. I had an offer accepted on one, and went away to sort out the insurance, coming back 4 days later, to find the owner had driven it into a wall. At that point I greatly regret not making a new offer, and taking it away and fixing it. It was the best car I'd seen.
I then phoned up about 15 others, and went to view 3, buying the last one.
After a year of ownership, I advertised it on pistonheads, told the truth, and had at least 5 people wanting to come, and sold it for £25 loss.

There were a number of interesting discussions where I said "Why did you Lie to me on the phone?"
And "So this cover has been bolted in place by the previous owner, but how do you check the oil?"
and "This is a hole, when did it pass the MOT and was the tester taking drugs?"
and "The brakes are firm, because the pistons are siezed, they don't actually slow the car.
and "where are the tyres which were on the car when it was MOT'd"
and "it's not a 1275, it's an 850"
and "that looks like dog sick on your imaculate interior"
and "Removing the air filter completely won't make it faster"
and "my !!!! is too big for these bucket seats"
and "a respray using 3 cans from Halfords on a wet day, isn't a full restoration"

Stoke

Prothet_of_Doom wrote: »

In 2010, I really really really wanted to buy a classic mini. A sort of midlife crisis, with rose tinted specs, based on owning 3 mini's 20 years ago.

I phoned up about 25. I viewed 8. I had an offer accepted on one, and went away to sort out the insurance, coming back 4 days later, to find the owner had driven it into a wall. At that point I greatly regret not making a new offer, and taking it away and fixing it. It was the best car I'd seen.
I then phoned up about 15 others, and went to view 3, buying the last one.
After a year of ownership, I advertised it on pistonheads, told the truth, and had at least 5 people wanting to come, and sold it for £25 loss.

There were a number of interesting discussions where I said "Why did you Lie to me on the phone?"
And "So this cover has been bolted in place by the previous owner, but how do you check the oil?"
and "This is a hole, when did it pass the MOT and was the tester taking drugs?"
and "The brakes are firm, because the pistons are siezed, they don't actually slow the car.
and "where are the tyres which were on the car when it was MOT'd"
and "it's not a 1275, it's an 850"
and "that looks like dog sick on your imaculate interior"
and "Removing the air filter completely won't make it faster"
and "my !!!! is too big for these bucket seats"
and "a respray using 3 cans from Halfords on a wet day, isn't a full restoration"

Sounds like you had a fun time, and actually reminds me of one I forgot to mention earlier. I took my girlfriend to see a Ford Ka in a town near Lichfield in Staffordshire. A fair trek from Stoke. The car was described as immaculate, drive away, a beauty, in the Gumtree ad, passed an MOT with no issues and nothing to report and was listed at a bargain price of just £795.

Rather than going on with the rest of the story, I'll format the conversation I had with the seller in the style you have, so here are some phrases I used that day:
"The rear bumper has been rattlecanned, has no clear lacquer, which is why it's peeling and has no bolts holding it in. Look, I can almost lift it off"
And "It's running on slicks at the front, those tyres are bald"
And "No, I don't want two part worns out of your garage"
And "You said it passed the MOT with nothing to report, I think FIVE advisories is something to report... especially movement in the McPherson strut, corrosion to the underbody, and play in the steering rack"
And "Why is the dipstick way under the lowest marker"
And "The sills are rotting, look, they're crumbling away (runs finger down), it'll never pass an MOT again like that"

and probably a few more that I can't remember.

Edit: Additionally

And "You do realize this is a Cat-C vehicle, you never mentioned that before"