When enquiring about a car..

Status
This is not open for further replies. We close very old threads, and if this is the case, please start a new one on the same topic.

Eager

RMS Regular
Messages
19,625
Location
fields
Drives
broooooom
Anyone else find when your car shopping and find something worth enquiring about that once you have exchanged a few emails or texts and manage to give the idea that you know what's scrap and know what to look for, that the seller goes quiet and stops replying ? Is it because they know the car is scrap ?
 

PhilM

RMS Regular
Messages
3,154
Location
NI
also people like mugs,

they want easy painless sales, especially if they sell regularly they will have a threshold for queries.

unless the car is over seas i would work on the simple basis of,

  • ring first agree monies condition dependant
  • arrange visit
  • buy or dont buy
  • dont assume that twats dont own the car you want, give socialspastics abit of leeway incase they have your ideal vehicle tuck away in a nice dry garage and the pics are crap cause they were taken in 1999
id trust service books/visable condition of car over someones sales speel about it 'only being used in the dry' or 'driven sympathically' or 'never wanted for anything' stuff.

Phil
 

PhilM

RMS Regular
Messages
3,154
Location
NI
You try to agree a price without seeing the car? That's my pet hate.

granted i can understand why a seller would hate it but it would be the first thing id want established.

ive a price in mind that would be a good price in my book, and i want to spend it on a good car.

i know myself i wont pay more. so no point in going to see a car if the seller isnt interested in my money.

would only waste their time.

Phil
 

Conor

RMS Regular
Messages
7,910
Lol @Eager, last week when you enquired about my Passat with numerous texts, I responded with a load of photos and some very detailed texts answering your questions, when you asked how much and I replied with a price well below the budget you claimed to have I didn't hear from you again.

I didn't exactly lose sleep but you starting this thread is a tad rich.
 

Chris0

RMS Regular
Messages
2,559
Location
Belfast
I would generally text first ask a few questions then ring if theres anything I wanted to discuss more.

Never mention price unless its at the top of my budget or so id ask is there movement in the price and leave it at that.

when selling parts etc you get daft questions like what do these fit, can you meet halfway and they are at the other end of the country or the one I hate the most when they ask questions that are already answered in the add.

sold a few parts to the mainland as its easier to agree a price and post them.
 

Lostinspace

RMS Regular
Messages
885
Drives
FN2
Lol @Eager, last week when you enquired about my Passat with numerous texts, I responded with a load of photos and some very detailed texts answering your questions, when you asked how much and I replied with a price well below the budget you claimed to have I didn't hear from you again.

I didn't exactly lose sleep but you starting this thread is a tad rich.
Anchorman-well-that-escalated-quickly.jpg
 

Eager

RMS Regular
OP
E
Messages
19,625
Location
fields
Drives
broooooom
Buying a cheap runabout passat is bit different to buying a performance car. I got curious about your car nothing more Conor lol. I have a runabout and don't have a toy

Toy buying is taking first place.
 
Last edited:

Eager

RMS Regular
OP
E
Messages
19,625
Location
fields
Drives
broooooom
Yes the evo Andrew. Plus a few others.

I buy all my cars by text at first. Suits my working lifestyle. Easier to ask direct questions and get direct answers while some um and ah on the phone. Plus you have a text log to read through and compose questions
 

Con

RMS Regular
Messages
5,698
Location
Northern Ireland Again
Drives
JDM Honda Del So
Had a young fella ask me to drive the untaxed, uninsured car from Belfast to Derry and meet him half way to let him "have a look at her"

He couldn't get the simple fact that the car wasn't moving from my house until sold or test driven
 

andy_gdon

RMS Regular
Messages
14,639
Location
Jordanstown
Drives
GTi Polo
granted i can understand why a seller would hate it but it would be the first thing id want established.

ive a price in mind that would be a good price in my book, and i want to spend it on a good car.

i know myself i wont pay more. so no point in going to see a car if the seller isnt interested in my money.

would only waste their time.

Phil

You know what the seller is asking so it's fair to assume that they will take a sensible offer close to that. If I'm selling a car at 8,250, I'd expect to start in the 7's and get up to 8k when the potential buyer has actually inspected my car. This is dependant on condition etc etc, but for someone to start bidding low over a text is ridiculous.

NI car buying logic baffles me. Buyers will pay £100 less for a car in poorer condition than the minter up the road, cos it's cheaper. They then spend double that trying to fix issues, and probably still not have a car in a similar condition to the minter.
 

ace275

RMS Regular
Messages
4,964
Location
Belfast
Drives
Legacy SpecB
You know what the seller is asking so it's fair to assume that they will take a sensible offer close to that. If I'm selling a car at 8,250, I'd expect to start in the 7's and get up to 8k when the potential buyer has actually inspected my car. This is dependant on condition etc etc, but for someone to start bidding low over a text is ridiculous.

NI car buying logic baffles me. Buyers will pay £100 less for a car in poorer condition than the minter up the road, cos it's cheaper. They then spend double that trying to fix issues, and probably still not have a car in a similar condition to the minter.
But surely you give it a polish and a service, and now it is mint? (With age related dents as expected)
 

tomah

RMS Regular
Messages
4,275
Drives
Acura MDX
I'm with @PhilM

The last time I bought a car I had a strict budget in mind. I saw a car I thought I might like, but it was advertised nowhere near my budget. So I emailed and included that I have a strict budget, and politely made it clear to them that if I was well off the mark I completely understood.

It saved me a 90 minute round trip, and it saved them a pointless haggle which would satisfy no one.

However, I didn't expect a positive initial reply (or possibly any reply). My price might have been seen by some as insulting. However, a few days passed and the car obviously didn't move, and the guy was just looking to get rid of the car and get it out of the driveway and both of us ended up happy.

If you take the approach of most on here, thinking you're just going to get £200-500 off the advertised price, you'll never bag a bargain in your life.

With all that said, sometimes I'm not after a bargain. I'm after a specific car and I'll be less inclined to let the right car pass me by just because I didn't get a huge cut off the price. In those cases I'll be satisfied with a few hundred.
 

tomah

RMS Regular
Messages
4,275
Drives
Acura MDX
I have sold many,many cars but i never reply to texts. I always think if they cant afford the call they cant afford the car.

I hear that texts are ignored, but my texts are rarely ignored. I think it might be because in my texts the words are spelt correctly and generally have a bit of punctuation.

That seems to be novel enough nowadays to warrant a reply, lol

If I send, 'hey m8 hv u stl da car? 2k do?' I would understand why there would be no reply!! :laughing:
 
Status
This is not open for further replies. We close very old threads, and if this is the case, please start a new one on the same topic.
Top