Selling a car - I don't understand this scam...

Supersonos

I'm selling my car via eBay and Auto Trader.  Within an hour of it going online, I'd had about seven calls from different people all asking how long I'd owned it and if I'd knock a few thousand off the price.  When I said no, they'd hang up.

What's the scam here?  Why is knowing how long I've owned it (not how old it is, ad clearly states I bought it used) important?  And why is getting £2-3k off the price important when there's clearly something dodgy going on?

missile

It is common practice to negotiate on price and asking how long you have owned it.

marlot

Asking how long you've owned it is people trying to work out if you're a private seller or a dealer.
And then they're trying to find out if you're really desperate to sell.

Supersonos

marlot said:

Asking how long you've owned it is people trying to work out if you're a private seller or a dealer.
And then they're trying to find out if you're really desperate to sell.

Ah, ok.  That makes sense.  And is their intention to somehow steal the car?  Or is this a known way of trying to get a good deal on a car?

Goudy

It's all part of the headache of selling a car privately.
A lot of dealers/chancers will keep an eye out for what they think are private sales listings and then make contact with a few simple questions to work out if you're actually are a private seller or not before asking if you'd be prepared to sell it off far cheaper than advertised.
They don't want the hassle of driving out to view it if there's little or no hope of a profit in it for them.

You'll find some are more persistent than others, particularly if you repeatedly advertise it week after week and it looks like it's not selling.  

The_Rainmaker

The vast majority of private sellers think their car is special and worth more than the next one.   They are sadly mistaken and if yours is not the cheapest then it is probably overpriced and you will struggle to sell more so in these difficult times.

motorguy

The_Rainmaker said:

The vast majority of private sellers think their car is special and worth more than the next one.   They are sadly mistaken and if yours is not the cheapest then it is probably overpriced and you will struggle to sell more so in these difficult times.

What has given you any indication thats the case here?

The fact the phone is ringing at all suggests its priced in the right ballpark.  Cars priced wrongly are just ignored.

As has been pointed out - its simply people trying to gauge if you're a dealer masquerading as a private seller and how much room for negotation there is.

It wouldnt matter if your car was the cheapest of its type in the whole of the UK, you will always get people chancing their arm and offering you a few thousand less.

Scrapit

no scam here, just "the art of the deal"

Penelopa.Pitstop

Recently saw old Rav4 for £3100 private sale. Two days later, the same photos, trader in different location selling it for £4900 and it was sold quickly. Seems like original owner priced it too low.

motorguy

Penelopa.Pitstop said:

Recently saw old Rav4 for £3100 private sale. Two days later, the same photos, trader in different location selling it for £4900 and it was sold quickly. Seems like original owner priced it too low.

Yes when i was trading we scanned the new adverts dairly - sometimes several times a day - to find cars that were under priced and we'd then buy to resell.

Quite a common practice.

MinuteNoodles

Supersonos said:

marlot said:

Asking how long you've owned it is people trying to work out if you're a private seller or a dealer.
And then they're trying to find out if you're really desperate to sell.

Ah, ok.  That makes sense.  And is their intention to somehow steal the car?

No. When I'm looking at a car one of the things I look for is the number of former keepers and how long the current owner has had it. A car that has had very few owners and an owner that has had it a long time is much more likely to have been looked after, maintained and serviced than one which is passing through another set of hands every few months where nobody gives a stuff because they've no intention of keeping it any length of time so why bother getting it fixed. Also someone who is selling a car within a few months of buying it rings the "did they find an expensive problem and are looking to get shut of it" alarm bell.