BHM

You must have the patience of a saint. I mentally cannot tolerate greedy fussy buyers with over ambitious expectations so as they say on Dragon’s Den, I’m out! Don’t waste your time - the greedy thicko punters see only one thing (the price). I’ve just sold a 4x4 double cab Ranger that came in for pennies, I clearly advertised it as battered & bruised but I MOTed & serviced it then priced it at the bottom end of the market at 2.5K. The phone was red hot for over a week with absolute f***ing morons thinking I was selling a new truck. The fact my adverts all clearly state “No texts” is no deterrent to idiots who can’t afford a phone call. Honestly Arfur, if you saw some of the emails with offers & ridiculous questions you’d be embarrassed by how stupid & greedy our fellow man is!!

God knows, we need to be inside the mind of the tester to answer this. Yep, some looking for work, some covering their arses and some fussy failed spiteful mechanics.

Well, the mechanic turned up & to be fair he appeared to be very thorough & went through just about everything on the car (the punter had paid £120 for the best inspection). Unfortunately I don’t get a copy of the inspection but he told me what he’d written (no doubt with a few issues added) so I guess I’ll be none the wiser unless the punter chooses to contact me. Now I’ve never had a claim under Manheim Surecheck but he said when things ‘go wrong’ on an assured car, if the assessors decide to repair it’s clickmechanic.com’s mechanics that execute the repairs.

Here’s what to say; ”Hello Mr. XXXXX, Sorry but you are mistaken, the warranty was for 6 months, it’s on your paperwork. I’m afraid I cannot help you, it’s your car & you are responsible for it. Thanks & goodbye” The end.

Sorry, no. It’s was down to 113.9ppl in Asda today.

She sounds a right cow & fancy that, a fussy VW buyer

WRONG. You have to prove the fault wasn’t there at the point of sale - very different. Whether or not you refund is up to you but in theory all they have to allege is a specified fault & reject. The best thing I’ve found is to f*** them off - it works 99% of the time.

Correct. If you don’t want the slim chance of ending up before the judge then do not retail anything to retail consumers.

As with any small car the only way to sell it is sell it f***ing cheap. There’s no way I’d want a forecourt full of 10year old C1/107/Aygos priced at £1999 and dealing with young punters & parents messing about & sweating over a bumper graze. What I do not understand is WHY ON EARTH DO ALL OF THESE SMALL CAR LOONS EXPECT A DISCOUNT BECAUSE THEY CAN’T AFFORD THEIR INSURANCE!?!!!! Why don’t they ask the insurers for a discount instead???? 6 months ago ‘my’ mechanic had a relatives battered Aygo for sale, 86K, drove lovely but a mark/ripple/dimple on every panel. He sells the odd 1 or 2 by word of mouth but was sick of the sight of it!!! “Give me £450 for it, that gets me a drink & covers my relatives bill that he can’t afford”. Anyhow two hours later it was back at my place, photoed as it was, advertised at £999 “Plenty of marks - all for free”. My phone nearly melted but even at £999 the first punter was umming & ahhhing and wanted to come back with his daughter - I refused his test drive on the grounds he wasn’t buying now (this nutter thought I’d hold it until his daughter meandered along “sometime today or tomorrow”). 20 minutes later it sold but that’s the only way with them small car/small pocket punters - sell cheap, sell fast & get the greedy bastards off the premises! I have no idea how you lads who sell small cars retain your sanity.

See TRADEX’s posting “Are Golf owners wired differently?”

Anyone had any experience of ClickMechanic.com? In all of my years of trading I’ve heard punters mention “professional mechanical inspections” but they have never paid for one. Voila! A text comes through & I’ve got one tomorrow. An hour or so ago an eBay punter phoned about one of my cars & asked if I’d object. I said “No, spend what you like, just get them to arrange it with me”. He stated that he wants a good car for his daughter. He then asked “Do I need to know anything else?”. I said “No, it’s all in the advert. Just read it top to bottom. Have you read it?” To which he mumbled some nonsense. The best thing about this? THE F***ING CAR IS BEING SOLD FOR REPAIRS!!!! I’m happy for some nutter to give a local mechanic an hours work but the moral of this story is READ THE BLOODY ADVERT.

I’m with grant8064 about 80% on this, although my vehicles are a bit cheaper being up to £4K max with plenty in the £1500-3000 bracket. eBay - works ok for me. FB - I’m not on it & have no intention of dealing with punters wanting their egos massaged. Gumtree - The cars section is FULL of dodgy traders masquerading as private sellers. I’ll use it next time I have an old washing machine I can’t be bothered taking to the tip. Motors - seems to be dying. Pistonheads - if you want to attract the biggest know-all, dreaming bellends then this is THE place to attract them. Local newspapers/freesheets - advertising was dead a decade ago for small retailers. A/T - at £2K+ per month I won’t be bothering them with my business anytime soon as I’m not looking to increase business. However as RHTrading correctly pointed out, the devil’s in the details & his mathematics clearly tells him we’re his money goes & why he puts it there. A/T may not be for me as I’m as busy as I want to be but he likes it & based on his figures I agree 100% with him. Finally, +1 to below! sick of these posts.

As I wrote yesterday I’ve yet to see an engineers report. By the sounds of it you aren’t going to see one either! The sort of punter buying 15yr old hatchbacks is not the sort of person prepared to spend money on engineers reports. Your customer is clearly a pillock. Do not enter into phone discussions. Do not communicate by text. Letters only. Do not communicate with the boyfriend - he has f.a. to do with the purchase. The punter stinks of being a penniless twat & by the sound of it this saga has virtually ended because they’ve tripped themselves up a few times. Tbh if they phoned me they’d be told “Letters only, now f.o. & don’t try taking the piss. Goodbye, do your best”.

He won’t of. It’s just shite spewing from an emailer’s fingertips. He’ll be hoping to be offered a few quid compensation. Clowns. Years ago I had one try to bill me for a train - I had phoned him to say “sorry, the car’s gone” and he was on the train. Not a happy bunny, we exchanged ‘pleasantries’ I’ve the phone, gave him the email brush off & when he sent me the ticket I ripped it up & posted it back to him. It’s a hard world and this game has taught me to ignore the talk and deal on a first come, first served basis.

It’ll be interesting to see if the alleged inspection report materialises. I’ve never seen one in my life - punters will normally say anything & the once I saw “something” in writing it was clearly by a friend & one phone call to the garage on the letterhead confirmed it. Why oh why are you wasting time PDIing 15yr old bangers? (Sorry, but a 15yr old Mini is a banger in my book). They’re clearly of little use to you because whether or not you have PDIed them it doesn’t stop a punter complaining. You can do as much prep as you want but a bellend customer will always be a bellend and you can’t PDI your way out of that.

Firstly, I’m making the assumption the car was straight & you’re not a chancer. Do nowt until you’ve received something in writing/email & take it from there. At the moment the ball’s in their court. After 2 months of motoring the customer hears a rubbing sound & then gets it checked out. To my mind the customer has clearly stated to you the alleged problem has only just arisen - you need to get that in writing if the matter progresses. At that point you should be in the clear, forget mileage & all that nonsense, it only takes 6” to smash over a kerb. From your version of events I smell a penniless chancer who’s had his fun in an old knacker Mini & now can’t afford to run it????

I assumed it was weak clutch springs cos they feel little better than the clutches I’ve had removed. They do a job but I personally found they don’t improve so even I spend a couple of quid more & I'm greedy.

I think it’s the general public’s use of the internet that’s flawed, not the auction system per se. Ebaymotorspro only for me, it’s a bargain and I and many others I know sell purely from that platform. I think it’s fair to say you have to either be keen on pricing or have “rare” stock but as for the bottom dollar brigade just delete the email or send them a standard response along the lines of “I don’t discount, blah blah blah” - a couple of times a month it works and the punter stumps up. Horses for courses, I feel another AT mass debate approaching......

True BUT an emailer arsehole hiding behind a computer who chipped £3000 due to those faults won’t up their bid by £3000. Mind you, I sell some shite but not at £11K. tbh I wouldn’t expect a punter on an £11K car to be presented with such defects.

Yep, and it won’t be the last. Like many in this industry full of big talk - why on earth would anyone believe they’d be pumping £25Million into advertising? It surprises me the number of seasoned professionals in this game who are taken in by a salesman’s bull.

+1. It may be blunt but that works for me because I really do not have the patience to deal with indecisive punters.

Couple 1 were probably spending every last penny & couple 2 probably weren’t. It’s usually the greedy penniless bar-stewards who are fussy. As for punters with ridiculous expectations it’s getting crazy at the moment with more & more expecting the earth for a few grand. I’ve started telling them to look at the condition first & if they don’t like what they see we’ll stop there. They only get a test drive when they confirm they’re happy with the condition.

Reviews aren’t worth a w**k in my opinion.

They’d also want free delivery. Here’s my first email; Hi would you take a trade bid on this Ranger I’m a home trader in Cheshire and need one to pull my trailer as my last one got lifted? Please call me on XXXXXXXXXXX can collect either today or tomorrow for cash Wants a discount, can’t be bothered to phone and when I googled his phone no. his trade seems to be gardening.

Bankers drafts are a thing of the past & anyway I stopped taking them when a bank cashier told they weren’t infallible & could be bounced. I couldn’t believe it then a colleague of hers also confirmed it - apparently they are no ‘safer’ than a cheque.