jerks who call on your cars you have for sale....

I had a guy pay me full asking price $1600 cash for an old travel trailer. He told me he'd be back the next day with his truck to pick it up. I didn't get his name or phone number or have anyway to get in touch with him. He didn't come back for 2 months! I was debating whether to put it back up for sale. He just showed up one day out of the blue to pick it up. He'd been in jail!

I'm a lot more careful now about getting reciepts, contact info, non-refundable deposits etc. I also keep a backup list of offers,names and phone numbers in case the buyer that leaves a deposit flakes out.

 

I fimrmly believe in karma and it will come back to bite people in the ass. Years ago I found a 'barn-fresh' 39 Ford standard four door. $200. and for an extra $50 I could get the Model A sport coupe body sitting on the ground next to it. This was on a Tuesday. The only person I told was my dad and brother. Told the old guy I would be back cash in hand on Saturday. My brother mentions this to a guy he works with, and this guy scoops me on the cars. He sold the 39 for something like $2g and the A for about half that. I made it a point of telling his wife when they were getting a divorce to get an appraiser out to their place to look at his 'junk' cars, including a 28 Buick doctors coupe and one of those Minneapolis Moline tractors with the truck looking cabs:

There also was a clown from Saskatoon who buys and sells old stuff, usually by ripping off unsuspecting farmers and then dragging the stuff out and selling it ridiculously high. He came and looked at 5 of my cars out in the stash, said he'd give me my price on them, and promised he'd be back in two weeks to pick them up. After close to four months passed, I listed one in the local bargain hunter paper and said it would be at the local swap meet. Said clown phones me and says not to take it to the swap meet. Again a no show. To make a long story short, I sold two of the cars here on HAMB, one I parted on Epay and made huge money on it, one is still in the snowbank and the one he really wanted I thinnki I will keep. Just picked up a motor and trans here in October for it.

I take cash also........Too many horror storiess about cancelled cheques.....

 

lots of people don't know how to buy a non running car. I had a 49 chevy coupe some guy shows up and offers $500.00 for it, (it was a pretty shitty car)

I told him no since he wasn't showing me any cash. if he'd whipped out $500.00 and said he could be back in an hour with a truck and trailer I'd have done it. ended up selling for $700.00 later.

same thing..different outcome. 67 lincoln listed for $500.00. dude drives an hour with his truck and trailer and cash. offers me $300.00, I counter with $400.00 and he accepts. if he'd had turned to leave I'd have taken the $300.00 just to be done with the deal, and I bet if I'd have stuck with $500.00 he'd have paid it. I only wanted $400.00 anyways so it worked out well.

that lincoln was on Craigs list for two hours and it was gone. I wish they could all go like that. car went to the destruction derby

 

I was trying to sell a '66 Dodge Dart once. The guy took it for a test drive and never brought it back. I found it the next day, parked and took the distributor rotor out so it wouldn't start. I figured I'd get it later. The guy called me and told me he just tried to start the car and something was wrong. The guy turned out to have been just released from a mental hospital. They should of kept him a little longer.

20 years ago, I had an old Chrysler I was trying to sell out of the front yard for $500. This strange looking guy stopped and said he wanted the car but would only pay $100. So I said sorry, but I can't sell it for that. I sold the car later that week and he showed up again and asked about the car.. I told him I sold it and he left... he stopped again a couple weeks later during the day... my wife (now ex) walked out on the porch and told him I wasn't there... he said yep and smiled...he just kept coming until she opened the door and let the dogs earn their pay.

 

My story isnt about a car, its about tools. I had a garage sale about ten years ago to get rid of a bunch of excees stuff I've accumulated down thru the years. The stuff went quick,everything was priced reasonable, nobody really argued much over price. One piece was a Ridgid brand pipe vise.It was marked 30 bucks. 3 guys showed up and started looking everything over. They spotted the pipe vise and went apeshit. One of them said to the other "You've been looking for one of these for years." The other guy starts in, Would I take 10 bucks etc. I told him no. 30 bucks or nothing. His buddy said "You must be nuts' youll never get one this cheap, just give him the 30 bucks". Dickhead gets pissed at this and says to me that he'll come back at the end of the day and maybe I'll be more reasonable then. At this point I told the guy I was going to give it to him for free. I picked it up, walked around the side of the garage and pitched it into my pond in the backyard. I told him " If you can get it out you can have it. It's 14 feet deep". He was stunned.The look on his face was piceless. His buddies were laying on the ground laughing. He stomped off. When his one friend quit laughing, he pulled 30 bucks out of his wallet and gave it to me. He said it was worth the look on Dickheads face when I pitched it. He said they would never let him forget it. I told him if he wanted I'd get him a grappling hook and he could try to get it out. He came back later by himself and did just that. He told me when he got it out he was going to bolt it down in his garage so his cheap friend would have to see it every time he came over.

 

Strange how this SAME SUBJECT - with one slight change - happens a lot too.

... jerks who call on your PARTS you have for sale...

Last week on ebay, a MALLORY Flat head - V8 - distributor CAP - NOS - was up OVER $200.00!!

I had just mentioned on another forum that I had a couple of them for sale; (just moments before the ebay ad had appeared) and MY PRICE was $35.00 EACH!
I was flooded with emails from JERKS asking if I would sell MINE CHEAPER!! than $35.00!!
Even though I mentioned that I was aware of the price on ebay!
(it sold for something like $220.00!!)
One even admitted he wanted to "roll it" - mine - and see if HE could get $200.00!!

Well ... they are still sitting on the shelf; I'll wait a year, and see what they will be going for then!!

 

On the other side of the coin... My son and I had looked at an old Dodge truck. He was 17 and looking for something like that. It was for sale on the side of the road and no one was home at the time. It looked pretty good for $500 so we stopped on the way back and this time there was someone home. There was also a group of guys looking at it when we pulled up and it was running.

The seller approached me and asked if we had stopped about the truck. I said yes, we were interested. He said "will you take it for $300 right now?" I asked if it drove OK and he said "yes, drives great". So I said "sure.. we'll take it"

The guy walked over told the other guys I just bought the truck and they could leave now.

It seems these guys had been there before and were now trying to get him to take payments. He told me he was sick of people jerking him around and decided he would make a deal with the first guy that pulled up that looked like he could pay for it.

The truck turned out to be great. He drove it for about a year and handed it down to his brother who drove it for a while too and then sold it.

 

I actually fell off the chair reading this one I was laughing so hard.

These are some real good stories.

Keep them coming.

 

LMFAO!!

 

This has to be one of the best stories I have read here.

 

I had listed a 12 year old car for sale, and had accepted a deposit from a friend when he found out I was selling it. Next day I got a call from a second guy, asks if it the car still for sale. I told him someone put a deposit down and was buying it friday. So the 2nd guy asked if he could put a refundable deposit on it also to secure him as the 2nd in line, then asks if I would take less money and would I call him before selling it to the 1st guy. I asked why would I do any of that, and he says he could have his money ready by Friday also. I remind him he has never seen this car to even think about how much he would want to pay for it, besides someone else was in front of him. And why mess around with a deposit when I got one from this other guy. So I hang up.

Guy calls back on thursday, asking if I would sell him the car at his lower asking price. He still has never seen it. harasses me until I take his phone number to let him know if the first deal falls through. At that point I might have sold it to the first guy for the deposit money just to tell this moron I sold the car. Luckily the deal with the 1st guy went through.

 

Then you have the idiot sellers. I drove just over 70 mi one way to look at a car today. Called him about 10:30 this morning and was told he had someone coming at 11, ok so I call again at noon, nope the other guy didn't show. I told him I couldn't get there until at least 1:30 was he going to be home. Yes he'd be there wasn't going anywhere the roads were bad. I get there and he's gone, get him on the cell and he claims he's tied up in a town 30 mi away and doesn't know when he'll be back. If that's the way he does things I'm sure he'll have that car a long time. There is no shortage of IDIOTS in todays world.

 

That is such an awsome story that I hope it is true.. the christmas card is awsome as well.. I have helped out alot of folks but don't get christmas cards from them.

 

A mate was selling a late 50's chev here in Bris, he advertised it as is ,with a six etc .A running, lowered ,custom painted car it was worth the $5000 asking price. After the 20th call asking what size V8 it had ,he bought a worn out 283 and dropped that in.Advertised it for $15,000 and sold it to the first caller...yeah the idiots are out there alright.

 

I love it when some asshole wants to trade you the same thing you are trying to sell. It sounds something like "I see your selling your truck why is that, you say I am having a baby and need a car he says can I trade you my truck that is a couple years older and $10 bucks."

 

How can anyone bitch about a 100.00 ride? It's the same price as a tank gas!

 

ive been on and off trying to sell a 67 dart 2 dr sedan strip project i started a few years ago, and the a-holes have dome out of the wood work. i have 6500 in parts and if you add it up its clear as day, i was hoping to get about 4 grand for it becasue it is a basket case and its not for everyone. ive had people offer me 500 through emails and over the phone deals. im glad it was never face to face. be realistic it has a brand new dana 60 with 35 spline spool 4.30s and 35 spline mosers, and brand niew street slicks and skinnys. ill crush it before i let it go for that. tomorrow a couple guy are coming to look at it, im sure they are going to try to insult me with a low ball.

 

Years ago I had a POS 85 S-15 GMC Jimmy 4x4 2.8 V6, it was nothing but a money pit. I sold it to a kid for $800 bucks and I'm happy as a clam to sell it. 10:30 pm that night the kid calls and said it broke down (this truck would start and stop running for no reason, never could figure it out) So I have the kid to meet me at a shopping center and I'll refund his cash back (I know all sales final but he was a kid). I drive the thing home and it runs great no problems then a mile before I'm home it starts it stalling no run shit again. So I limp it home and open the hood to fix it and something just snapped and I slammed the hood and said fuck it I'm tired of working on this POS. I put a ad in the local paper for $500 bucks for next Sat and Sun at 05:30 Sat morning a guy calls me and gives me this story about he wants to look at it before work and he wants it for his wife. He gets to my house at 07:00 and asks if he can drive it around the block I told him no I'll drive you around the block because the last time I let a guy drive a car I was selling he took me for a Mr Toad's wild ride so I never let anybody drive. As were going around the block he's trying to knock down the price on me, so I got pissed and told him look buddy I got two guys on the holding pattern (more calls) now if you don't want it. He gives me $20 bucks to hold it and he'll be back later, he calls me a bunch of times that day to make sure I still had it. Then he calls me and says if I have any of the manuals and paperwork to throw those in with the deal, I told him yeah I have the manuals and paperwork but I'm keeping them. He calls me back again and asks if I can drive it to his house (about 15 miles away) I said nope you drive it and hung up. He calls me back again and asks if it can make it to his house, I told him I wouldn't trust it so he says he'll get a tow truck. In the meanwhile he's telling me about how happy his wife will be and she won't have to bum rides to work (sob story). So he show up at my house with a tow truck and pays me the money at the end of Sat.
Fast forward one week and I'm reading the car ads and there it is for sale but for $1500 bucks, guess the wife isn't bumming rides anymore. Now fast forward 7 years, I'm driving down to get the Sunday morning paper and there it is the POS Jimmy I sold driving down the road ! my jaw dropped. Now fast forward 2 months and I get a notice in the mail the POS Jimmy (which is still in my name) was impounded by the cops and the storage fee has to be paid or they are selling it. Moral of the story is always send in your release to DMV (which I always do) that POS Jimmy would not leave me alone. It turns out the guy who bought it off me was the king of the car flippers in my area and I'll bet more then a few people are looking for his ass to kick and as for karma I just gave away a old 4x4 (stripped ) to a guy that just made his day he couldn't thank me enough. Great Posts here form everybody.

 

About 20 years ago, I sold a '53 Dodge pickup to a guy that just wanted to use it to haul building material from a lumber yard to the house he was building which was about a 2-mile jaunt. The lower end was making a lot of noise and I told him to keep it under 30mph and it MIGHT last for several trips. I got $700 for it. and he slapped dealer plates on it and off he went

About an hour after he left, he called me and said the truck "stopped running and there is black, oily stuff under the engine, where 'something' is sticking out". Come to find out, he was on the Expressway and had been doing (or trying to do) 65 mph and threw a rod! I fixed him up with a guy that had a running slant 6 and would install it for $250 total. I refunded the $250 for the job, since I felt sorry for the dumb shit, but he cashed the check and never followed up on the engine replacement.

I'll NEVER sell an old vehicle to a non-car guy again.

 

In this time of "only the bottom line counts" it is very refreshing to hear a story likke this. Makes you wonder what this world would be like if there were more people like you. God bless you. I hope others are inspired by your good deed. Fred

 

I sold an ot suburban on ebay for a buddy of mine that moved out of the country. The winning bidder was suposed to pick up the truck on friday night. Call comes that they want to know if I could meet them at a truck stop about an hours away on sunday evening. Cant make it on friday cause the brake line broke in the truck their driving. Now, this truck is not mine, has no insurance, and expired tags, not to mention that it is sunday evening- family evening. So I obviously decline. He is cool about it and says they will fix the brakes and be there saturday afternoon. The phone rings saturday afternoon and they are just leaving! Yahoo maps calls it a 5+ hour drive! Well, at 1am I give up cause I have to get up at 5am cause Littleman likes to be the early worm at the swapmeet....hahahah I figure the guys truck broke again or the snow storm sent him back. Well, the phone rang at 3:40am this mourning and he is in front of my house to pick up the suburban! I felt sorry for the kid......almost 9hour ride cause of the weather....so we were really early for the swap meet this time!

 

The tool story earlier in this thread got me thinking about something funny that my dad saw years ago at a swap meet.

He was standing next to a guy at some vendor's table, which was loaded with small parts/trim/etc., when he sees this guy snatch up something off the table, which he apparently needed badly, as it was an EXTREMELY hard to find item. Not only was it RARE, it was super cheap... Something like a 5 dollars...

So, the guy asks the seller, "Will you take $3 for it?"... The old guy selling it walks over and says: "Well, let me see it."... He takes it in his hand, turns it over, scrutinizing it, keeps looking at it, and then finally looks at the potential buyer and slowly says "You know, I think I'll just KEEP this one!!!"... He walks over to his van, and stashes it away for safe keeping. The guy who was looking for a $2 discount was just stunned, but at that point, there was obviously nothing he could do.

I always think of this story BEFORE I attempt to negotiate a lower price... If it's RARE, and it's already priced right, NEVER attempt to squeeze the seller for a better deal.

 

Worst buyers are Corvette dickheads. Rudest bunch of assholes I've ever dealt with. I've had several Vettes over the years and usually price them at the cheaper end of the market. Makes no difference to them, as they always want it cheaper and most don't have the cash anyways. Had a 65 converible for sale, most calls wanted to know if it was a Split window. Finally I said sure, soon as you give a deposit I'll cut for you with a razorknife. One guy looked at the firing order on the intake manfold and said Yup, it's matching numbers.

 

Call me next time

 

Bwahahaha !!! That's great !

 

If that guy happens to be on this board, I have a numbers matching 1978 350 Chevy for a 1983 Vette.

 

Man, there are a lot of those 18436572 blocks out there, huh?!

Classic!

Nick

 

What? Like the busted open knuckle doesnt show them you're seriouse?

 

nice money clip there mr.moneybags!

 

Some may cringe but a few years back my dad had a complete flathead out his model A roadster that he decided to sell very very reasonably (I think it was a $100). Most of the callers were restorer types and tighter than bark on a tree, making low ball offers, or nitpicking the condition on how complete it was. After dealing with too many of these guys he took his frustation out on the motor with a hammer and breaking the heads and block to pieces and taking it in for scrap.