I can understand why barely no one sells cars private anymore.
I got a call from a guy within an hour of my ad going live. He sounded genuine, asked the right questions and then proceeded to negotiate saying he's only got so much, and would have to borrow a bit to get my car etc etc…
He negotiated down a bit, I was hoping I'd sell the car quick so left a bit of wiggle room in the price. Guy lived 200 miles away but said he would come up tomorrow. I met him at the train station and it became apparent on the drive back he was not the same guy I spoke to on the phone. The guy I picked up said that the guy on the phone was his good friend who found him my car and now he's come to look at it and hopefully buy it.
He looks at the car for all of 2 minutes and says 'right, what's your bank details?"…..So I say that something isn't right here, no one buys a 22-23k car like this, without asking to see any paper work or go for a drive.
But whatever, he does look at some paperwork and then I give him my bank details and his mate on the phone does a transfer, his story is his mate on the phone is arranging the finance etc. At this point I'm fully expecting to call the bank and be told the money isn't there as I think I'm being scammed. However, bank assures me the money has gone through and cannot be reversed.
It's at this point where I realise what's happened. The money has been paid by a prestige car dealer and it's the car dealers name going on the registration form. So basically they've been lying to me the whole time pretending as though the guy collecting the car was buying it for himself. I said to the guy with me, 'this car is gonna be on the dealer's website next week isn't it?'….he said it won't be and assures me it's for him but it's BS.
So that was it, what a shitty way to do business. In hindisght, as soon as I realized they were lying I should have said, right I'm refunding your money and you can fuck off back down south on the train. I knew I would have sold the car to the next person, probably for more.
I know I've got my money but the way it happened just left me bitter. 10 years owning a car that I loved. I instantly regretted selling it and today wish I hadn't. No idea what to get now to be honest.
Although my car was expensive in terms of running costs, petrol/tax etc. It had lost all it's value and had stopped depreciating.
I paid £49k for it in 2007, I sold it for £22250 and no doubt the dealer will have it up at £25k+….. Of the 40 cars like mine that were up for sale when mine was, only 1 other was a private ad and it seems like the same thing for most cars upwards of £20k nowadays.
I got a call from a guy within an hour of my ad going live. He sounded genuine, asked the right questions and then proceeded to negotiate saying he's only got so much, and would have to borrow a bit to get my car etc etc…
He negotiated down a bit, I was hoping I'd sell the car quick so left a bit of wiggle room in the price. Guy lived 200 miles away but said he would come up tomorrow. I met him at the train station and it became apparent on the drive back he was not the same guy I spoke to on the phone. The guy I picked up said that the guy on the phone was his good friend who found him my car and now he's come to look at it and hopefully buy it.
He looks at the car for all of 2 minutes and says 'right, what's your bank details?"…..So I say that something isn't right here, no one buys a 22-23k car like this, without asking to see any paper work or go for a drive.
But whatever, he does look at some paperwork and then I give him my bank details and his mate on the phone does a transfer, his story is his mate on the phone is arranging the finance etc. At this point I'm fully expecting to call the bank and be told the money isn't there as I think I'm being scammed. However, bank assures me the money has gone through and cannot be reversed.
It's at this point where I realise what's happened. The money has been paid by a prestige car dealer and it's the car dealers name going on the registration form. So basically they've been lying to me the whole time pretending as though the guy collecting the car was buying it for himself. I said to the guy with me, 'this car is gonna be on the dealer's website next week isn't it?'….he said it won't be and assures me it's for him but it's BS.
So that was it, what a shitty way to do business. In hindisght, as soon as I realized they were lying I should have said, right I'm refunding your money and you can fuck off back down south on the train. I knew I would have sold the car to the next person, probably for more.
I know I've got my money but the way it happened just left me bitter. 10 years owning a car that I loved. I instantly regretted selling it and today wish I hadn't. No idea what to get now to be honest.
Although my car was expensive in terms of running costs, petrol/tax etc. It had lost all it's value and had stopped depreciating.
I paid £49k for it in 2007, I sold it for £22250 and no doubt the dealer will have it up at £25k+….. Of the 40 cars like mine that were up for sale when mine was, only 1 other was a private ad and it seems like the same thing for most cars upwards of £20k nowadays.