I have covered this in part in another posting but here goes.
Me-Private buyer , not very knowledgeable about cars.
Looking for a reliable runabout.
Happened to see an ad for an Almera 1999 1.4 2 weeks back.
Him-Private seller,1999,1.4, second owner , 50000 miles
Condition of car=Average.
Went and saw the car last weekend (which involved a 2 hour drive!), offered 2800.This chap wanted 3000 for the car.His initial asking price was 3800 on the ad , which i told him was unrealistic for a car in this condition.
He then told me that he wants to wait for some more time to see if there are any better offers.
Said fine , gave him my number and came back.
Nothing happened for the next 5 days then on Friday recd a call asking me to some over on Saturday and that he had accepted my offer.
Accordingly withdrew the money and went over to his place with a friend.Phoned him to say that we would be arriving.He had wanted a bankers cheque initially.Took the bankers cheque.Then he phones saying that he wants cash instead.Had to run around around borrowing money since Saturday afternoon and cash machines dont permit withdrawal > £400.
Anyway when i reach there and ring him to say that I have arrived, he seems to have suddenly changed his mind.
"Look John Im busy today, youll have to come back some other day"
This despite him asking me to come.
What does one do .I was too surprised even to rebuke him.
Queries
Is it worth phoning this chap again.
Are these cars ie Almera easily available
Any other alternatives to this car ,average budget =£3000.
Thanks in advance.
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John
You've really been given the run around here!
A polite phone call to enquire if there is a problem with him selling the car to you at this moment would not go amiss.
I suspect that he's not keen to accept your offer after all. He's a fool unto himself. If he couldn't sell the car for £3K before and contacted you, what makes him think he's going to get £3K for it now. Your keen haggling may have upset him, but that's his problem not yours. If he didn't want to sell to you he should have been upfront.
You know this idiot better than the rest of us, suggest you go with your gut feeling.
I have let cars go for less that I would have liked before now. The most recent example was my aunt's J reg metro. Despite seeing similar for sale at £650 or so and putting it on the paper at this price, the only offer I got was £500.
On the basis that I had no other calls for it whatsoever, i decided to accept. Initially I thought I'd been trimmed but later came to realise I actually got a good price for it, The chap who bought it obviously thought he got a good deal and that was fine with me. I could have hung onto it for another £50 or so, but I had no inclination to keep it for another week for that money.
At no point did I even think about backing out of the deal though.
H
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Phone him and explain that if he decides to accept your offer you will buy it if he delivers the car to you.
Alan
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This guy doesn't really want to sell you the car....so let him keep it. There are plenty of other sellers out there who will bite your hand off for £3k and not give you the runaround like this idiot.
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Simple really. If you want *this* car put up with the hastle. Your experience in this has taught you that people wont buy this car at the price he wants, hence there will be others around at the price you want to pay (if you follow my drift)
Personally I think the bloke sounds unreliable, therefore I wouldnt trust him or the car and hence if he phoned me up again I would tell him to poke the car where the sun etc.............
There are plenty of others around, probably in better nick too.
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Forget him & his car! He's fooling himself, acting this way.
At this price range, you'll find plenty of cars to choose from.
Have you a British Car Auction nearby? Depending on your location, nationwide they have 65 Almera in the AuctionView (link on this site somewhere??) database, so could be the one for you at a sensible price, not too far away!
VB
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John
Listen to the Universe; this is not the car for you. The seller is not the sort of guy you or I or any other sensible person would do business with.
Walk away and give your dosh to someone more reasonable.
Hawkeye
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Stranger in a strange land
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Agreed. It's a buyer's market out there and there's nothing special about the car or the deal. If he calls you, suggest he treats the next potential buyer with a degree of basic courtesy.
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Thanks for the advise , which is unanimously to tell him to buzz off!
One option perhaps as Alan mentioned is to call him and tell him that if he would like to accept my offer then he would have to deliver the car to me.
Hugo I think the reason why he has probably backed out within a few hours of phoning me , is maybe because he has got someone else coming to view the car??Which seems possible, given his sudden change in temperament.
Next option now , as Hawkeye suggested is to look out for one at an auction.
Actually im not particularly hellbent on an Almera.Its just that there has been a new facelift model since 2000 with a low model image + reliability + very low insurance.Which means there is less demand for the pre facelift models ie 1999 .All of which would keep both the buying and the subsequent running costs down.Plus its a reasonably sized vehicle.Most cars with low insurance groups arent.
I couldnt care less about the image , just dont want something that has the least probability of breaking down.Im in healthcare and need to shuttle between hospitals with just the right amount of time to travel and just make it.A breakdown at that time would be disastrous.
Think its time to start looking at some other cars , possibly
a Corolla or something else.
BTW rented a Nissan Micra 1.2 (new shape)over this weekend.Not what one would call a manly car , but really good even on the motorways and scarcely consumes fuel.Think it gives >55 mpg!! on long runs.Too costly though :(
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