Similar to another thread, does anyone have any stories or experiences buying and selling cars over the internet?
Were you a seller that got stood up somewhere, or were you a buyer that travelled a long way to see a pile of pink fluffy dice? Or did the transaction go as planned? Or are there any amusing stories?
I sold my 1968 Morris Oxford by creating a simple website linked it to the free advert sites, chased it through search engines etc and waited.
Received a number of enquiries, one from as far away as California. I eventually ended up selling to a chap from the Irish Republic.
I had to drive it from Devon to Bristol Airport where he duly arrived slightly later than planned due to a delayed flight.
He looked it up and down and drove it around the car park and was happy enough to pay the agreed price.
All went well in the end. I caught the train back and by that night I was tucked up safely in bed minus car but richer!
Trick is if you're selling and are asked to go somewhere is, make sure you are meeting up in day time in a populated area. Get as much info as you can about the person you're meeting up with. Keep this until you've done the deal incase anything goes wrong. Also play safe. Don't meet up in an unpopulated area or at night. And take other safety measures.
In addition, I asked for enough money to be sent in advance to fill the car up with petrol. 2 reasons:- 1, if there was a no show, the return journey would not have left me out of pocket, and his willingness demonstrated a level of commitment.
As a result, I was happy to answer his intelligent questions, all of which he comfortably verified when he saw the car.
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Mark RLBS bought my Brother's Daihatsu Fourtrak from the classifieds here.
I've sold a trailor and bought a motorcycle from the web. Both without hitch and both top quality & bargains. (Ie. the trailor I sold cheap and the bike I bought cheap)
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These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads.
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>>Mark RLBS bought my Brother's Daihatsu Fourtrak from the classifieds here.
Which just passed its MOT by the way. Although it did need a new brake light bulb for which I will be suing your brother.
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>>Mark RLBS bought my Brother's Daihatsu Fourtrak from the classifieds here.
Which just passed its MOT by the way. Although it did need a new brake light bulb for which I will be suing your brother.
Did it need an MOT so soon? Thought it had 12 months.
It's always stressful selling to people you know - I'd have looked like a crook if it had fallen apart on the way home.
Your father obviously stamps too hard on the brake pedal er, forcing too much electricity into the the relay and bursting the bulb.
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These are my own opinions, and not necessarily those of all Toads.
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No, def. November.
And as for the bulb, Toad you know nothing.
You know how the wire has a litttle rubber sleeve over it just at the spade connector ? Well, that is weaker than the rest of the wire casing and its \'specially put there so that if you put your foot too hard on the brake and force too much electricity down, then that bit will swell and the electricity builds up there rather than bursting the bulb.
That\'s why the brake lights stay on a little longer because it has to use up all the electricity squeezed into the bulb.
Of course, if you push really, really hard then the elastic in the bit of rubber expands and pushes a little lever like a cistern ballcock. This causes the electricity to rush back down the wire and come out of the release valve on the brake pedal.
That\'s why under heavy braking you feel that juddering through the brake pedal - its the Amazing Ballcock System (ABS) letting off the excess electricity.
So clearly the bulb was already defective and its not excess brake pedal pressure. The CC summons is in the post. I demand compensation.
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Mark, did you have to turn off the swear filter for for your last post :-) ?
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interestingly *I* don't need to. Although it is rare for me to use bad language anyway.
Just another benefit of the glorious and rewarding life of a Moderator at large.
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And as for the bulb, Toad you know nothing.
Pot/kettle kettle/pot
You\'ve been suckered into this \'electricity\' con, haven\'t you? It all works with smoke. What you call wires are actually tiny little tubes that carry the hot smoke around. This is why power supplies get hot -- they are the smoke generators. It is also why bulbs go black on the inside -- smoke leakage. Surely you\'ve noticed that if an \'electronic\' device lets the smoke out it doesn\'t work any more. As for your brake light bulb, the smoke is generated by the frictional heat of the brake pads, so Toad is right -- too heavy braking.
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For a start, any note containing the words "Toad is right" without squeezing the word "not" in there somewhere is clearly written by a deeply misguided individual.
And anyway, clearly your "smoke" story is nonsense, otherwise my head would light up when I have a cigarette.
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Deeply misguided? Pah! Anyway, it's your brain that lights up when you smoke. Doesn't the first cigarette in the morning make you feel light headed? QED.
Don't take my word for it, though. My brother-in-law, who works for Lucas, is the expert. After all, Lucas have many years experience of 'letting the smoke out'. Incidentally, he tells me that they have had many magnificent achievements in their glorious history including:
1903: Joe Lucas invents the short circuit.
1920: The intermittent windscreen wiper
1936: Lucas introduce the 3-position headlight switch (off, dim and flickering)
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I've had some experience with buying and selling cars over the Net in a variety of ways over the last year.
My first purchase was a 1984 Audi 80 quattro on Yahoo! auctions (sadly no longer in operation - a shame because they were totally free!). The car initially looked too good to be true - 1 owner, 51k with full VAGsh, 12 months' ticket, looked mint in the pictures - for an opening bid for £300. Various e-mails went back and forth between the seller and myself to ascertain the car was genuine before I put in a bid. I was lucky enough to win the auction - the chap had 500 pageviews but only one bidder (me).
When time came to sell, I advertised the car on both eBay and the Audi Owners Club website, using a full description and lots of pictures (most car club websites have a "classifieds" section). A chap from the Audi OC rang up one Friday morning and I had the full asking price in my hand a mere hour later. However, I then had to explain to the auction bidders that the car had been sold. Be careful here because bids are legally binding, and you can get into trouble if the car gets sold in the meantime - luckily my bidders were understanding.
The next car, a 1985 BMW 528i, was bought via the BMW Car Club website classifieds. No pictures but a full description and the seller sounded knowledgeable on the phone. I was not disappointed when I saw the car and bought it on the spot. I then had to sell a couple of months later when I accepted a job overseas, but my job was made easier by the BMW CC magazine ads not being in sync with the website - the original ads appeared in the club mag exactly when I wanted to sell, so the previous owner passed all enquiries to me. I also set up a website with a full description and pictures of the car, and it was this that clinched the sale. A few hassles with the guy coming to collect the car (he was relying on a lift from Cambridge to Newbury, which fell through a couple of times), but again the full asking price and both parties happy.
Finally, for my final month in the UK I needed cheap transport, so set my sights on the cheapest roadworthy car possible. Using eBay I ended up with a 1978 Fiesta 1.1L with 20k on the clock, 8 months MOT and 2 months tax for £100, only a few miles away in Oxford.
I would say that buying and selling using the Internet has worked for me, and that the auctions (eBay etc) are a good way of picking up a bargain, but make sure you know what you're getting into before you bid (which is legally binding by the way, but I don't know exactly how this is enforced) - always e-mail the seller and ask the important questions, be wary of auctions without photos and check the location of the seller.
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Ah yes I remember it well from the Lucas equipped Britsh Cars/Bikes I have owned
He wasn't known as Joe Lucas Prince of Darkness for nothing
as always
Mark
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So that's why the pedals have rubber (insulating) covers eh !
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