When enquiring about a car..

[Laundrymike]

I remember a time 10-15 years ago now mind, when If you weren't at the shop buying the Autotrader at 7am ish, scanning through it to find the gems - which took some time, as It used to be about 50mm thick! Then once you'd decided which to phone about, if you weren't fortunate enough to make the first call to the seller to arrange actually viewing it, rather than asking inane questions you'd no hope of buying it. Anything advertised the following week still, you knew not to even bother with as it was either a lemon or to expensive

Times really have changed with regards to finding car buying

Reading all that back, I sound old

 

[Smurf.]

@Sharkman

Well i guess you dont hear much bs then. I work in the car trade and have for 20 years and find you can sort more in a 45 second call than 10 texts. Sure each to there own

 

[wes]

People feel more confident texting a question as apposed to talking to the person. Not always just think modern society at its work. Honestly if i get a sale or a buy i dont care what way it comes

 

[Nazor]

@Laundrymike

Haha i remember getting my first car like that. I bought the trader at 8:30am and i was too late. Was told the car was sold Got lucky with another one though haha

Back when D-turbos where thee yoke

 

[BobSpounge]

A sales a sale. I don't care if they text, call or email, they can even send a letter by post if they so desire. There will always be timewasters and knobs, hardly matters what way they contact you.

 

[Coog]

Aye but bigger percentage of the knobs prefer to torture via text!

 

[Nazor]

I think the problem is not necessarily with texts its the amount of texts sent when the person could simply give you a call and get information in 30 seconds of a phone call rather than answering 10 texts over a number of hours.

You can tell who is serious and who isnt from whatever form of communication but id rather someone waste my time via a phonecall that lasts 2 minutes than someone who is badgering me with text after text. Granted I dont sell many cars so kudos to you guys who work in the trade - i simply do not know how you manage to deal with people

Like others I would make contact initially via text but then if i am hearing the answers I want to hear I will take it to a phonecall to organise meeting up.

 

[hannakournikova]

I remember a time 10-15 years ago now mind, when If you weren't at the shop buying the Autotrader at 7am ish, scanning through it to find the gems - which took some time, as It used to be about 50mm thick! Then once you'd decided which to phone about, if you weren't fortunate enough to make the first call to the seller to arrange actually viewing it, rather than asking inane questions you'd no hope of buying it. Anything advertised the following week still, you knew not to even bother with as it was either a lemon or to expensive

Times really have changed with regards to finding car buying

Reading all that back, I sound old

this exactly, or on a wednesday morning getting the ads for free and seeing what was there.
remember picking up a £250 motorbike from bangor, paper at 9, rang straight away, said id buy it, landed at it his for when he got outta bed and int he back of the car. job done

 

[TheDaniel]

Some people need to learn the difference between time wasters & genuine questions.

So may people get so upset because people text with a question or 2 but don't buy their car! Maybe they asked appropriot questions to get the information they need, they got their answer from you and it confirm it's not what they were looking for.

People asking a million questions & aranging viewings & not showing up etc. that's timewasting.

I had a boy ring me about a Starlet I was selling and asked "Is it turbo'd". I said no, he hung up. = Genuine question. If I had of said yes & it was he might have bought it, but it wasn't what he was after, so he didn't waste his or my own time, which I can appreciate.

 

[gcon45]

Love hearing about lads turning up to view £1K cars wielding paint depth guns.

Everyone wants the best of the best but they want to pay scrap metal prices.

 

[Sharkman]

@Sharkman

Well i guess you dont hear much bs then. I work in the car trade and have for 20 years and find you can sort more in a 45 second call than 10 texts. Sure each to there own

My bubble is pretty much bs free I must be one of the lucky ones. I'm sure a 45 second call will sort more I'm not questioning that. I just think it's abit narrow minded to assume that some one can't afford a car cause they sent a text instead of calling. I actually bought my 2013 astra by texting the salesman first.

 

[BobSpounge]

Well I'll know all about it soon as I'm putting the wife's car up for sale

 

[wes]

I'm getting it all at the minute with mine and my dad's car up lol

 

[AIRFORCE1]

You probably just annoyed the guy texting him 50 questions in a row. I do this all the time when muppets decide to text me at 10pm asking stupid ass questions about what to add to there car to make it faster . Answer a couple and then I ignore them. If they persist I add them to the ios7 list

 

[mike150]

Love hearing about lads turning up to view £1K cars wielding paint depth guns.

Everyone wants the best of the best but they want to pay scrap metal prices.

I was selling an old Mondeo a few years back and the guy turned up with a diagnostic computer and proceeded to take most of the dash apart trying to find the plug, he gave up eventually and left with me angry but I had bit my tounge.

The SAME GUY turned up a month later and said 'I think ive been here before'. He went on to ask if he could test drive the 1500quid car to which I said only if you are going to buy it which I doubt you are (what I meant was F OFF), he got pissed at my attitude and told me to keep it. I got a text 5mins later telling me what a **** I was and that I lost a sale.

I was not one bit worried, he was a cock and I didn't like him plus it was only a 1500quid car with nothing wrong.

Irony was I sold it the following day to a very nice bloke who was easy to deal with.

 

[mikey]

Last motorbike I sold on Gumtree I got the usual 20 questions via text or drawn out calls that lead nowhere for a few days, until I answered an unknown number one evening to a child's voice asking to come and see the bike that night. Thinking a prank or a young fella with wishful/hopeful thinking I humoured him and said aye, come up now. Didn't expect to hear anything else but an hour later got another call saying he was in Waringstown looking directions to my house. Long story short, the 10 year old fella was a translator for his Latvian dad who couldn't speak any English, and they took the bike away that same evening. Moral, treat everyone as a potential buyer.

 

[Con]

People with speech impediments would prefer to txt from experience

 

[AIRFORCE1]

People with speech impediments would prefer to txt from experience

No **** Sherlock

 

[surprising_skoda]

Love hearing about lads turning up to view £1K cars wielding paint depth guns.

Everyone wants the best of the best but they want to pay scrap metal prices.

Some cars are concours examples at 1k prices. Might be cheap money to a lot of people, but to many others it isn't. It depends on the car whether that is silly or not.

My bubble is pretty much bs free I must be one of the lucky ones. I'm sure a 45 second call will sort more I'm not questioning that. I just think it's abit narrow minded to assume that some one can't afford a car cause they sent a text instead of calling. I actually bought my 2013 astra by texting the salesman first.

I have to agree.
if someone really, REALLY doesn't want to deal via text, just send one back saying 'ring for details'. Sorts it all out.
Assuming you haven't the money is ignorant. I've bought two classic cars this week, one entirely by forum messages and never met the guy, and the other a couple of texts, deposit down, flights over to england a month later, train, taxi, THEN another 150 miles and then paid in full and took car away. Never met him or dealt with him before either. I bought my last M3 entirely by text. and an M5...

People with speech impediments would prefer to txt from experience

I know a guy into his cars that is deaf and as such has difficulty speaking. This thread shows that the 'car enthusiast' community would:
a) not answer his text at all,
b) assume he has no means by which to pay,
c) call him a timewaster for asking more than one question.

 

[gcon45]

Some cars are concours examples at 1k prices. Might be cheap money to a lot of people, but to many others it isn't. It depends on the car whether that is silly or not.

Show me examples of "some cars" on the market for £1000 or under in Concours condition with a full report and trophy completed and presented by a certified Concours d'Elegance judge right now or admit you're talking out of your hole.

 

[AIRFORCE1]

Some cars are concours examples at 1k prices. Might be cheap money to a lot of people, but to many others it isn't. It depends on the car whether that is silly or not.


I have to agree.
if someone really, REALLY doesn't want to deal via text, just send one back saying 'ring for details'. Sorts it all out.
Assuming you haven't the money is ignorant. I've bought two classic cars this week, one entirely by forum messages and never met the guy, and the other a couple of texts, deposit down, flights over to england a month later, train, taxi, THEN another 150 miles and then paid in full and took car away. Never met him or dealt with him before either. I bought my last M3 entirely by text. and an M5...


I know a guy into his cars that is deaf and as such has difficulty speaking. This thread shows that the 'car enthusiast' community would:
a) not answer his text at all,
b) assume he has no means by which to pay,
c) call him a timewaster for asking more than one question.

I'd doubt it. I have a couple of deaf customers and I assume this guy Like them would simply explain this the first time he contacted me and say he just needs to text everything all the time.
Even when these guys are here for work I just use the notes section on phone and we take turn typing the convo to make it handy.

 

[Neil_M]

Call the person, it's much quicker and you can try and get an idea of what the owner is like.

If they aren't able to chat, arrange a time that suits both of you.

Easy peasy!

 

[surprising_skoda]

Show me examples of "some cars" on the market for £1000 or under in Concours condition with a full report and trophy completed and presented by a certified Concours d'Elegance judge right now or admit you're talking out of your hole.

Wise up. I'm not talking about a 1931 Bugatti here. Some cars are at their money at a grand, and you've completely missed that point that I was making.

 

[gcon45]

Yeah, at their money and to be accepted for what they are. IE, leave the paint depth gun at home.