SAGA : Selling a nice 2003

[boxfix]

I just have to rant a little. I have a great 2003 in great mechanical and cosmetic condition. I have it on the market for a fair price.

Lots of interest, but some potential buyers are amazing.

I had a young lady and her male friend look at it 2 days in a row and take a test drive and ask all kinds of questions etc.. I have all records, Car Fax, service log and more....IMS replaced fresh transmission....even has 2 working keys!!!

Price is firm and stated so many times......... not negotiable. And AS IS!

She calls me with an offer of 25% below my firm price, AND she has scheduled a PPI for next week and she plans to deduct anything found from her offer price!

I told her I was sorry that she could not afford the car.

Is it me? Or.....there are some strange people out there.

[husker boxster]

Originally Posted by boxfix

Is it me? Or.....there are some strange people out there.

The latter.

Besides the people who think they can buy something worth $20 with the $12 they have in their pocket, these are the items that I always run into:

1. No concept of the English language.
They ask you in their first email or txt what your bottom $ is. OK, let's just cut to the chase. I always have a bottom $, so I'll respond with $X. Next email or txt - will you take $Y? (Where $Y is usually $X-2K). What part of BOTTOM don't you understand?

2. Scammers.
There are 2 scams currently in vogue. First one responds to your CL ad and says they're trying to contact you but having trouble. Please email their addr directly. Yeah, right. If you're having trouble with CL, just call the # in my ad. Second one is they ask if the car has a clean history. You answer back, then they answer back saying they don't trust CarFax and please buy a history report from the link they provide. Surrrrrre. Why should I buy a report for my car and give them the report? All they want is my CC info.

3. Odd trade offers.
Without fail I get offers for land or a motorcycle for trade. It seems KC is where I get most of my land offers. I could be a sizable slum lord by now with all the offers I've received.

4. Dealers wanting cars.
I get emails from dealers who are looking to build their inventory and will pay top $. Never fails all they'll offer is wholesale. When I had my 08 base Box a few yrs ago, I took it across town to a new Toyota dealership. They looked it over and low balled me. I told the lady who sent me the email that she wasted my time, gas, and put unneeded miles on my car to get that as their offer? She emailed me 2 wks later with the same request and again a cpl wks after that. Either she's stupid or thought maybe I'd changed my mind (except the text of the email was the same boilerplate).

[boxfix]

YES

I had them ask for me to buy their version of CarFax.......

This one was annoying because they were very nice and looked at the car 2 days in a row and never seemed to question that the price was firm and non-negotiable. I even have a CA smog certificate that is good for 3 months so they know it will not be a problem to pass smog. THEY LOVED THE CAR.........

[particlewave]

That's just negotiating. Counter with your original "bottom dollar" or an even higher price.

When I bought mine 7 years ago, I offered 75% of his bottom dollar, in cash, and he accepted. I also used the bald tires and cracked windshield as leverage to get that 75%...and I LOVED THE CAR.
This is all normal in the world of private sales.

[seningen]

Originally Posted by boxfix

YES

I had them ask for me to buy their version of CarFax.......

This one was annoying because they were very nice and looked at the car 2 days in a row and never seemed to question that the price was firm and non-negotiable. I even have a CA smog certificate that is good for 3 months so they know it will not be a problem to pass smog. THEY LOVED THE CAR.........

You can follow-up with them that your offer still stands.

If they go find a cheaper car -- they will still end up paying $x to get it as good as this one ... and you will have the time and energy to have spent doing that (and not enjoying the car at the time).

You want a good solid car -- then buy mine at this price -- otherwise call me back when you've looked at and passed on the rest of the junk cars out there -- then pay my price if its still available.

M

[boxfix]

Originally Posted by seningen

You can follow-up with them that your offer still stands.

If they go find a cheaper car -- they will still end up paying $x to get it as good as this one ... and you will have the time and energy to have spent doing that (and not enjoying the car at the time).

You want a good solid car -- then buy mine at this price -- otherwise call me back when you've looked at and passed on the rest of the junk cars out there -- then pay my price if its still available.

M

you hit it spot on. I represented a really sorted out car with perfect paint, new tires, new battery tons of recent work, and I thought they soaked it all in.

I will have no problem selling it to someone who really gets it.

[coreseller]

Don't take it personal, the buyers are just trying to part with as little as possible, just like the seller is looking to get as much as possible. Be patient, if that doesn't work dropping the price is a consideration.

I personally never lowball people out of respect, I do however have some friends that have scored ridiculous deal doing just that, GLWS!!

P.S. When I sold my Boxster I took $1000 less than my bottom dollar price since I stumbled upon a heckuva deal on a 911 and bought it while the Boxster was still for sale, I changed my perspective since the circumstances changed. I also had to keep the Mrs. happy, that is a MAJOR factor lol. Just an example of how a hard / firm stance can change based on unseen outside influences.

[boxfix]

Originally Posted by particlewave

That's just negotiating. Counter with your original "bottom dollar" or an even higher price.

When I bought mine 7 years ago, I offered 75% of his bottom dollar, in cash, and he accepted. I also used the bald tires and cracked windshield as leverage to get that 75%...and I LOVED THE CAR.
This is all normal in the world of private sales.

That is what I did......I just upped the price another 1000.

Maybe I should not have fixed everything!!! IMS, TRANS, TIRES, BATTERY, window operator, o2 sensors, silicon vacuum lines, brass barb fittings, MAF, filters, solenoids, fuel float assy., etc etc.

[maytag]

?

I think what I had written here may have seemed a little harsh.
I really prefer communicating in person, haha. :: sigh::

[BRAN]

Corny rule: under no circumstances expose your intensions ("I really need to sell" or "I really want to buy").
Personally I don't like haggling like on a turkish bazaar. Out of fun maybe, but that always wastes someone's time.

The market will always determine a pareto optimal price, people can live with. IMO sales ethics are important, too. Not only on a professional level, but on a private level as well.
If someone wants to rip you off...he/she gets treated like that, always on a gentlemen's level. That includes speeding up negotioations with a friendly "NO, thank you".

Some people are strange, some want to be smart, some are inexperienced, etc...that is life, nothing personal. Just speed up negotiations.

P.S.: Concerning that young Lady; Making an offer is okay, even on a "not negotinable" invitation to buy. But she hopefully will learn, what opens doors and what closes them.

[pidj]

Originally Posted by BRAN

.... But she hopefully will learn, what opens doors and what closes them.

Well stated!!

[itsnotanova]

I find there's a group of people who just like to haggle. They have no real intentions on buying something. Those are usually people who only text you. I find people who call you or come and look have greater intentions of buying something. I'll usually ignore people who's first text is a low ball offer. Giving me a story how you don't have much money yet you own a Porsche is another reason for me to ignore you. Haggling on vehicles unfortunately is part of the game. I hate it and generally don't do it when I'm buying something but expect it when selling. That's why I always ask a little bit more.

[10/10ths]

I sold cars for five years and now train sales consultants.

Everybody lies.

Buyers are liars.

Buying a car is SCARY for folks. it's the most expensive thing most people will ever buy. They are terrified.

Also, in this age of 5,000 different picker and house hunting and car buying shows on cable television, everybody has been trained to haggle and low ball.

With a specialty item like a decade old, generally unloved model Porsche, you just have to exclude average folks and list your car on Porsche specific sites and only deal with "True Believers" who know what the car is about.

Dealing with the public in retail sales is THE most annoying job on the planet.

It's not for the faint of heart.

Watch "Glen Gary Glenn Ross" sometime for the sales meeting with Alec Baldwin.

[MWS]

I suppose it's fair to plagiarize myself (lol)...I posted this in a different thread. It's just my opinion of price and why I am constantly astounded by buyers who want to haggle.

"Price (at least to me) has always been subjective. If you like the car, and it's a price you can afford, who really cares what someone else has paid? It a given you will lose money in depreciation and maintenance, and in far larger amounts than the differences in list prices. I'm not advocating writing a blank check or personally financing a vacation for the salesman, but if KBB or NADA didn't exist, would you think this is a fair price to pay for what you are getting? In the end, a sale is nothing more than a seller and buyer agreeing on a price, and that agreement means both parties are happy (or happy-ish)...if your happy, don't worry about the person that posts they bought the same car for $5000...tomorrow they might have a bill for another $5000 in service."

[dav9515]

for me i have a much different approach based on the seller and i ALWAYS prefer to speak to them in person or on the phone. If i have a real intention on purchasing the car i will make the effort.

Buying: i speak to the seller, i do my homework on every car i buy so i know all the common issues, needed repairs, anticipated repairs, how hard the work is, and what it costs to do it all.

Knowledgeable Seller: if the seller knows the car and really knows the ins and outs, has historical records, active forum member etc. and the car is priced fairly, do NOT expect to offer 70% of asking and have them accept it. They know their car, know the value and have priced it accordingly. In most of those cases i'd say they have roughly 10% wiggle room unless it is a "dire" situation or they have another car already purchased and need to move the car fast.

Clueless Seller: if they know nothing of the car, nothing of the history, trust a local mechanic without doing any research of their own these are the places you get the best deals. You can pick on all "the work" the car needs or will need and quote the prices to fix. Saying cars that have all that work done are $XXXX price so you need to get their car for $YYYY price for it to make sense. The last thing they want is for someone to buy the car and have major issues then come back and try to get money back or sue them so you assure them you understand and accept all the risk but to do that you need to get the car at your price. This works A LOT of the time.

showing with cash always helps the negotiations as well, but bring a friend and NEVER tell the seller you will be showing up with cash in hand. my 97 boxster has 51k miles and was listed for $10k by seller, i saw the car it drove great but had a leak from a spark plug tube, the water pump was seeping, and the tires had some dry rot. After pointing this all out to the seller he was happy to take my $6,500 for the car and i was happy to pay it. love the car and dont regret the purchase. I did need to put some money into it but overall i am still at a very comfortable price on the car.