Drove a round trip of 300 miles today to look at an ancient but low mileage Rav-4 for my wife. Got there to find a heap of glass and a stove in rear door! We'd forgotten to switch the mobile on! Seems they'd tried to tell us the sad news which happened just after we departed. Car was crap anyway. Never believe a seller.
My wife was so upset (more that I was trying to palm her off with a crappy car, I suspect), and I was so pink fluffy diced off with journeying around the country looking at rubbish, that I took her straight to the local Toyota dealer, slapped down the 5000 quid I had in my pocket, and bought her an overpriced nearly new one. She went home smiling. Now I'm wondering how to pay for it! In my youth ladies had large bicycles with a straw thing for the groceries - biggest expense was broken chain.
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"and a stove in rear door"
Was the stove gas, electric or solid fuel?
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Roger. (Costa del Sol, España)
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Stick the balance on an interest free credit card - look for one that offers super balance transfers - i.e. one to current accounts - some do such as MBNA others do not - such as Capital One - make sure you pay it off before the interest free period.
I just bought a new car for SWMBO with much of it on a Capital One card for 18 months interest free - persuaded the dealer to accept another credit card for the element we did not have cash for then cleared that with the C1 card - that was after he more then matched the best internet price on a VW would you believe!
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Just sold my Focus and had some chap ring up 2 days before and arrange a viewing - forgot to ask for a number as was half asleep and his number was withheld on my mobile. Sold the car the morning that this guy was due to come and view and had no way of telling him.
About 20 minutes before he got here he called to say that they were "on the last leg of their journey and he should be here in 20 minutes". I gave him the good news and the guy exploded down the phone at me... turns out he'd driven 120 miles to come and see it.
Know if it was me that I'd make sure it was still available before setting off - mainly because it happened to me once!
Anyway, next time will know to ask for all phone numbers!
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Lol, I did phone just before we set off to check. Told it was just back from the carwash. Seems a spliffed hangover drove into it after we left. I owe him a drink.
Far as the cash is concerned my new colour laser is churning out the £50's as I speak.....well, it sort of justifies the toner prices.
As for your appalling treatment of the potential buyer, I have little to say except that I, personally, would not move on to the next buyer if I'd given one the OK. I fully realise that the many years of a certain government have persuaded people that promises are there to be broken but it's not for me. I'll stick to printing my own 50's thank you.
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>>As for your appalling treatment of the potential buyer, I have little to say except that I, personally, would not move on to the next buyer if I'd given one the OK.
Really cannot agree with you. You get a lot of timewasters who don't turn up. People try to be polite & make vague promises to come to see it when they've been put off by, for instance, your accent on the telephone (too posh, too estuary, too xxx). Jolly difficult to get in touch with somebody who hasn't given you their phone number!
I like the plan put by somebody on this form a few months back which was to tell all viewers that the first one to turn up with the cash gets it.
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I actually had this problem when I sold my car a couple of weeks ago.
First guy that rang sounded utterly genuine, was willing to pay what I wanted and arranged to drive a round trip of 300 miles to see and buy it next day.
Second guy to phone turned out to live half a mile from me. He was keen to buy it too at the price.
Third guy to phone wanted to come up from London (500 mile round trip) to buy it.
If there had been a race there would be only one winner! Anyway, I felt the first guy had preferance. He came and bought it.
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I'd had several people phone up, only 3 of which turned up, so I was quite keen to sell to whoever wanted it. The fact that 3 people view it but didn't buy meant for me whoever stumped up the cash could have it.
The problem is a viewing is not a guaranteed purchase.
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I think I have to side with Mapmaker. I have sold (and bought) a handful of cars privately, and even if you get a call from someone sounding sincere and eager to buy, it doesn't follow that he won't change his mind when he sees it - or maybe his wife won't like the colour. And when buying, you really can't agree to buy unseen, and have to take the risk that someone else gets there first (or the car gets pranged).
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I have recently sold a fairly new highish value car privately, and I would start by saying that the eventual buyer turned out to be a top guy to deal with.
However during the advertising process I was absolutely plagued by canvassers such as Cardata etc etc. I got so anoyed with them in the end that I began telling them to pink fluffy dice !!
Another annoyance was the e-mail scammers trying to con me out of my car by trying to get me to accept a cheque for way above the value of the car saying the residue of the cash was for shipping to an overseas destination. I contacted our local Police car-crime unit about these.
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"As for your appalling treatment of the potential buyer, I have little to say except that I, personally, would not move on to the next buyer if I'd given one the OK."
I might have stalled a bit for the second buyer, but I haven't too much sympathy with a first who withheld his phone number. I tend to treat any like that as a cold call and put the phone by the radio to keep their machinery occupied...
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I, too, have had these calls. 'Have you sold it yet' - the heart rises only to sink when some (sorry Dynamic Dave) pink fluffy dice gives me the sales pitch for their incredible service. I am told there is a box somewhere on Autotrader that you can tick to prevent this but I didn't see it nor am I going back to look for it!
{That's alright, but next time I'll just delete, rather than editing in pfd, as it's a lot easier. DD}
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Now if I suggest that you shouldn't buy a car that has pink fluffy dice hanging from the mirror, what will DD alter that to?
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