Car Selling Dilemma...

[EEMO1]

Just had a call from mr rich, asking why I hadn't emailed his secretary. I said, truthfully, that I'd sent him an email, requesting he pay full in cash, not bank transfer. He said 'ok' and claims he'll get back to me. He's obviously serious. However, his tone was pretty aggressive...I didn't like it at all...as if I'd 'disobeyed' him by not emailing his secretary. He said he hadn't checked his email because he's been jetting between his homes.

I'd rather not sell to this guy. I don't like being spoken to as if I'm some kind of pond life. When he came over, he was very rude about his employees (I suggested he send one of them to pick up the car); 'they don't know how to look after things', 'they're not very clever'...

Considering he's not given me any cash, I don't think I'm obligated to sell to him. I'm sure I can back out. People aren't as litigation-mad in the UK as they are in the US, so I can't see an issue. I'm going to call the other guy and tell him if he's paid up by Friday he can have it. When mr rich calls, I'm just going to be straight, and say I didn't like the cut of his jib. F*ck him. You don't get rich by being nice, do you? 9/10 wealthy people I know are ruthless and soulless.

Justin

ok justin, fuuuuuuck that. Like it's your job to send e-mails to an assistant whoever to get cash for your car.

 

[okgb]

I hate serving people like that ,
did you get a chance to put a deadline on the deal ?

 

[thermionic]

Mr Rich says he's going to pick up the car on Monday and pay cash... The second guy has told me to notify him if I don't get paid... If I hadn't spent 2 months dealing with time wasters / vultures, I wouldn't have been so keen to take Rich's offer. Second guy claims he had cash with him when he saw car. I'm worried that, the way things are going, I could end up with no sale to anyone!

Not including the 2 'buyers' discussed so far, I've learnt there are some real scumbags out there. I think they go on the assumption that 1/10 people they approach will be in mortgage arrears / kids' school fees and will just take half the value out of desperation. Not nice. Beware.

Anyway - ask me again Monday...

J

 

[ruckus328]

Dude, you're a waaaaaay better man than I.  If it were me I'd call Mr Rich and tell him if he wants it, you need to come get it today.  You need the money now and you've already gotten a higher offer that is ready to pay you now, and this has drug on all week when it was supposed to be 2 days.  There's no reason in the world why he shouldn't have had the money the day he came to look at it, and if I went to buy something and forgot my check book, ya know what? - I'd run home and get it if I wanted to buy something that bad.  The fact he then pawned it off on you to have to call his secretary after the fact just shows how much of a priority it is for him.  You don't work for him.  He didn't get you the money that was promised in 2 days time like you both agreed.  So aggreement null and void.

 

[Ptownkid]

Dude, you're a waaaaaay better man than I.  If it were me I'd call Mr Rich and tell him if he wants it, you need to come get it today.  You need the money now and you've already gotten a higher offer that is ready to pay you now, and this has drug on all week when it was supposed to be 2 days.  There's no reason in the world why he shouldn't have had the money the day he came to look at it, and if I went to buy something and forgot my check book, ya know what? - I'd run home and get it if I wanted to buy something that bad.  The fact he then pawned it off on you to have to call his secretary after the fact just shows how much of a priority it is for him.  You don't work for him.  He didn't get you the money that was promised in 2 days time like you both agreed.  So aggreement null and void.

Quoted for extreme truth...Good luck Justin. I feel your pain, been trying to sell an inboard boat for the last 6 month...people are useless.

 

[gemini86]

I had just posted an add for a modded 991 mic for sale on Cl last weekend. First call I got was some idiot asking me if it came with all the required cables. I said I don't have a spare xlr but they're pretty cheap at guitar center. I then had to explain what an xlr was. Then he asked what I wanted for it. (This was in the ad). Then he offered 10 bucks less. I said no, I've already spent time doing the mod so I felt it was more than fair. He said "oh, its modded? " (also in the ad, in great detail). I then hung up.

 

[ppa]

He says to email his secretary and the money will be with me in 2 days.

if he did not pay within that 2 days like he have promised, than you can sell the car to the 2nd guy in my personal opinion. He had promised the money within 2 days, no money no car!

 

[thermionic]

This is just too traumatic for words. So many absolute c*nts out there. Why?

Anyway, it appears that my second buyer (who offered a thousand more) is a tyre kicker. He hasn't answered the message I left on his phone a few days ago.

What do you think of this: last night I'm walking along a busy road, traffic blaring. My phone goes. It's mr rich. He says he's coming over tonight, with cash in full. He seems genuine and starts asking if the car's been driven much and whether it'll be ok to be driven several hundred miles. He then asks me, knowing I'm driving back from Brighton, if I'm passing Gatwick airport... Stupidly, with traffic blaring in my ears, I say 'yes'... He then asks if I can meet him at Gatwick and take him to the car for sale, a-la monsieur chauffeur... I just didn't know what to say and agreed. I'm thinking, at least I've got him captive with his cash, right? I am passing Gatwick. I can call him, say I'm taking the train or suchlike and not pick him up. However, that means I'll be poncing around for him to turn up and I'm sh*t at lying (I know - it's a skill every car seller needs).

I never want to sell another car in my life.

Justin

 

[okgb]

Sorry to hear of your tales of woe
Mr cheap very well may have asked you to drop him off or buy him dinner
once you actually picked him up [ perhaps he's not so well off , or that's how he does it ]

Looks like you may not even have a bird in the hand , but it does seem hard to sell anything
these days no matter how small - unless it's very cheap or something cheap that is current
with lots of advertising behind it .

Can you piggy back on any other marketing or advertising of these cars , or vintage ones or ?
newsgrps ?

 

[thermionic]

Sold! I met mr rich at the airport (not exactly conventional car selling practice...), drove him back to my place. He paid cash and drove off, grinning from ear to ear. £6k is fair, considering the current climate. I can think of many, seemingly desirable classics that I've seen languishing in the classifieds for months. The second guy was playing games, I reckon.
After 19 yrs of ownership... I don't miss the parts dealers. Oh well... I'll get an Aurelia next time I can afford a classic - I just wish I had a few yrs  ago, when they were a fraction of the price they are now.
Justin

 

[sahib]

Congrats. Good stuff.

 

[JohnRoberts]

A good outcome and no handshakes were dishonored.

JR

 

[bobine]

Congrats. What stress!

did you ever say what kind of car it was?

 

[Mbira]

I just read this.  I believe (hindsight, I know) that the best thing would have been to call Mr. Rich when the second buyer was there and explain the situation and that $1000 is not a small amount of money to you.  I would have told him that I was willing to honor the agreement for $6000 but if he would understand that you could gt $7000 for it, he might understand (or even be willing to pay the difference).  Anyway, that's just my thought-then no dishonor would occur.

 

[okgb]

Sometimes , you call and it's gone
you can only count on the first guy who shows up with the cash !
I missed a ton of great stuff , but the merceneries jump on it
they're ready to deal

 

[analag]

Having played both sides of the coin...what is right or wrong depends on how you feel at the moment. Therefore the concept of right and wrong is continually redefined. If both dudes guaranteed a sale, but the difference was the 1000 whatever and it was critical enough to you...guess what. Ya would've done what ya had to do. I get stiffed everyday. That's life.

 

[mata_haze]

Sorry,
have you REALLY sold a Lancia Aurelia for 6K?

Mattia.

 

[kato]

The Wreckless Eric song "Take the KASH" popped into my head after reading the first post.

Perhaps I'm an asshole american but I would've sold to buyer #2 on the spot, without feeling any guilt. And if rich dude called back and said, "hey why'd you sell it? we had a deal?" I'd just say, "He gave my asking price."

So anyway Justin, tell us the car. We're dying to know.

 

[thermionic]

If anyone comes across an Aurelia for £6k let me know about it! I remember when you saw them for about twice that, they're now approaching 100k Euros for a good B20. I mentioned the Aurelia because that's my fantasy classic. A Mk4 or 5 model.

I've attached a shot of the car. It's a rare car, so if you know what it is, keep it to yourself as I don't really want it coming up in Google (I still have a lot of spares to sell, so I don't want to alienate Lanc_i_a owners).

Oh yeah - it's got 40k on the clock and is one of the last series-2 models (not to be confused with the inferior S1 model). It'll probably be worth twice what he paid in a couple of years...

And yeah - I know I should've replaced the no. plate...

J

 

[kato]

Oh sorry. I don't wanna risk blowing your cover. For all we know google has software to take half a car image and translate it to the car model. (Just kidding. Sort of.) 

I figured out the car. Thanks. IMO way cooler than an Auralia. 8)


Disregard the rest; my daughter wants to insert some smileys.

  :-[  8)