Requirements when buying off the public?

[grant8064 219]

I don't handle the buying off the public but my partner is away for a few weeks.

Had a guy pop in a couple of weeks ago with a 2001 BMW 320 which I priced at £200 (it is horrible) and he went off never to be seen again which was fine as the car is a dog.

Then, today, he turns up wanting to sell it. I suspect he's a part time trader but the car has been owned by his wife for three years so maybe i'm just being overly suspicious.

Anyway, I took the V5, copy of his drivers license and copy of his council tax bill. All registered to the same address as the car and the hpi report is clear.

Anything else you guys do or is that usually enough?

For some reason it just doesn't sit right with me and I cannot work out why!

[Ocsltd 133]

Just now, grant8064 said:

I don't handle the buying off the public but my partner is away for a few weeks.

Had a guy pop in a couple of weeks ago with a 2001 BMW 320 which I priced at £200 (it is horrible) and he went off never to be seen again which was fine as the car is a dog.

Then, today, he turns up wanting to sell it. I suspect he's a part time trader but the car has been owned by his wife for three years so maybe i'm just being overly suspicious.

Anyway, I took the V5, copy of his drivers license and copy of his council tax bill. All registered to the same address as the car and the hpi report is clear.

Anything else you guys do or is that usually enough?

For some reason it just doesn't sit right with me and I cannot work out why!

If it doesn't sit right with you, why buy it?? Are you that desperate for stock that you need a £200 banger??

[grant8064 219]

4 minutes ago, Ocsltd said:

If it doesn't sit right with you, why buy it?? Are you that desperate for stock that you need a £200 banger??

Haha definitely not...

I honestly didn't want the car so shouted out a stupidly low bid on it just to get rid of him...I never expected that he would go away, have a think, and come back and accept it. Didn't really leave me a way out of it unfortunately. 

 

[russp 10]

Sounds like more of a headache than its worth to me.

[Ocsltd 133]

I agree with Russp, I would have just politely said to him, not for us thanks....

Sometimes I refuse part ex's and they seem shocked like I'm obliged to buy their car! 

[grant8064 219]

Yer I wish I had now...never expected him to come back which is what has made me suspicious.

Having done a HPI check, taken a copy of a council tax bill, copy of driving license and checked the address matches the V5 there's nothing actually wrong with the deal though is there???

The car is only going to go to one of the local banger racing guys so it's not like we're going to let it back onto the roads 

[umesh 336]

I buy a lot from the public, I always go with gut feeling - if it doesnt sit right regardless of price -I Walk away ! Can't beat that ' GUT FEELING' ! 

You've taken all the precautions with your suspicions ! 

As said I too have refused to buy or refused to take Part Exchanges , some customers do get shocked but why get into soothing which is going to be an issue/headache , this job is challenging enough at times  !

[grant8064 219]

19 minutes ago, umesh said:

I buy a lot from the public, I always go with gut feeling - if it doesnt sit right regardless of price -I Walk away ! Can't beat that ' GUT FEELING' ! 

You've taken all the precautions with your suspicions ! 

As said I too have refused to buy or refused to take Part Exchanges , some customers do get shocked but why get into soothing which is going to be an issue/headache , this job is challenging enough at times  !

Thanks for the reply Umesh and all others...

Normally I don't handle the buying from public (auction only for myself) so just wanted to check i'd done everything right. In hindsight I think there is probably nothing wrong with the deal, all addresses match, hpi clear etc...he wad just a bit of a weird guy and it all seemed a bit too easy!

[Steve92 80]

Yep go with your gut  although mine usually says feed me.

[M.J 35]

I hate buying off the public! Maybe i'm unlucky but my lot are usually worse than the auctions, lying bar**ards! 

Had one come in the other day to do a px, ''great car, no issues, no damage'' etc. He arrives and instead of pulling up outside my unit like everybody does he drives past does a u-turn and pulls up on the opposite side of the road with the drivers side wedged against a fence. First thing i do is squeeze into the drivers side and pull the car into a normal position so i can view it properly, what a surprise the side he was trying to hide had been resprayed, door out of alignment, etc.

Another one came in the next day, this time with a 4x4 as px, as we're working out a deal all he keeps repeating like a parrot is ''once you take my car no comebacks ok, no comebacks'' I swiftly declined his offer.

[Ocsltd 133]

33 minutes ago, M.J said:

I hate buying off the public! Maybe i'm unlucky but my lot are usually worse than the auctions, lying bar**ards! 

Had one come in the other day to do a px, ''great car, no issues, no damage'' etc. He arrives and instead of pulling up outside my unit like everybody does he drives past does a u-turn and pulls up on the opposite side of the road with the drivers side wedged against a fence. First thing i do is squeeze into the drivers side and pull the car into a normal position so i can view it properly, what a surprise the side he was trying to hide had been resprayed, door out of alignment, etc.

Another one came in the next day, this time with a 4x4 as px, as we're working out a deal all he keeps repeating like a parrot is ''once you take my car no comebacks ok, no comebacks'' I swiftly declined his offer.

This is why I tend to avoid part ex's! They usually want to palm them off for a reason, anything clean, low mileage, they'll happily sell privately. Or, probably won't need to change the car in the first place.

Funny how car dealers have a bad reputation, yet the public will happily try and stitch us up!!

[justina3 518]

I am going against the grain here, I love buying of the public had some amazing bargains over the years,

There are a lot of overseas students close to us who have large amounts of disposable cash and often buy nice cars, when there college course is over they return to there country of origin and always leave it to the last minute to sell there cars allowing me to low bid them.

 

Done a deal yesterday on a mini cooper off a very nice young Chinese couple who are returning to china on Tuesday and they leave it until Thursday to start thinking about selling there car.

 

Same old thing in the motor trade what works well for one is a disaster for another.

 

  

 

 

[Daylight 28]

Definitely go with your gut. Sometimes there's some real good stuff in the public domain, people think a car is worth nothing as they don't want it anymore so will accept a low bid, other times they think it's still worth what it was new.

Some people just want to shift their old sh*t on easily. I had a guy wanted to part ex his 04 A class in, he asked a rough value in part ex to which I told him £200-300 without seeing it, he baulked at that saying what a beautiful car it is. I told him he'd be best selling it himself then. He comes to view my car and I ask if he sold the A class, he said "Nah I put it in the auction as it had a few issues with it". Cheers, you were happy to drop it on me as a "beautiful" car a week ago though . People are liars

[Mat C 77]

All buyers are liars.

One of my very first bosses used to say to me...

"If the man comes in from outside and says its raining, check his coat and make sure its wet"

I have more stories about lying customers than i've had hot dinners ( and i've had a lot of them )

Check, check and check again.

They do it to us, one that gets me is when I advertise and tell all my customers my cars are HPI checked and I have the certificate etc... and then they still go and get a check done themselves. Thats basically just saying 'you're a lying bastard and I don't trust you one inch'

[Max Branning 149]

45 minutes ago, Mat C said:

All buyers are liars.

One of my very first bosses used to say to me...

"If the man comes in from outside and says its raining, check his coat and make sure its wet"

I have more stories about lying customers than i've had hot dinners ( and i've had a lot of them )

Check, check and check again.

They do it to us, one that gets me is when I advertise and tell all my customers my cars are HPI checked and I have the certificate etc... and then they still go and get a check done themselves. Thats basically just saying 'you're a lying bastard and I don't trust you one inch'

To be fair though i would not blame anyone for doing their own HPI check before parting with a lot of money, i am sure there are a lot of dealers that do not do a hpi check before selling especially if its been bought from auction as they just assume its already been checked. 

[Steve92 80]

I flew to Aberdeen yesterday to buy a 335i from a private sale and then drove the 480 miles back  

[Mat C 77]

56 minutes ago, Max Branning said:

To be fair though i would not blame anyone for doing their own HPI check before parting with a lot of money, i am sure there are a lot of dealers that do not do a hpi check before selling especially if its been bought from auction as they just assume its already been checked. 

I check every car, even before i've bought it!

I understand they're not buying a loaf of bread, but when I say, its HPI clear and then they go and check, its kinda annoying. 

[Max Branning 149]

24 minutes ago, Mat C said:

I check every car, even before i've bought it!

I understand they're not buying a loaf of bread, but when I say, its HPI clear and then they go and check, its kinda annoying. 

I would not blame a customer for doing their own checks before buying a car even if i have told them i have already done it. If i was buying a 10k car even from the most reputable dealer the first thing i would do is an HPI check !

[Mat C 77]

47 minutes ago, Max Branning said:

I would not blame a customer for doing their own checks before buying a car even if i have told them i have already done it. If i was buying a 10k car even from the most reputable dealer the first thing i would do is an HPI check !

To be honest, i'd probably do the same, so i'd annoy myself!! ha ha

Been a quiet day today!

[Tom 164]

On 21/10/2016 at 9:45 AM, justina3 said:

 

I am going against the grain here, I love buying of the public had some amazing bargains over the years,

 

Same here I offer a buying service and it works well, Recently bought  a BMW 645ci  way behind book and its lovely, nothing wrong with it. 

[metcars 394]

31 minutes ago, Tom said:

Same here I offer a buying service and it works well, Recently bought  a BMW 645ci  way behind book and its lovely, nothing wrong with it. 

To be fair, OP was offered a 'ratty' old 320 not a beautiful 645ci

[colnecarcentre 2]

We had a 'webuyanycar.com' office open up on the supermarket car park across from us. I ended up having some signs done for the Showroom windows and have bought quite a few over the past year, most have been crackers. I take V5, copy of drivers licence and a utility bill, plus all payments have to be made direct to the registered keepers bank account, or Finance company direct if needed. I now always check on the Vehicle information site first to ensure the V5 I have is current, just in case of a log book loan that hasn't been picked up on.

The webuyanycar office over the road closed a few months ago, not just had as much traffic since, but still get the odd one or two.

[Fixedgear 4]

On 22/10/2016 at 1:03 PM, Steve92 said:

I flew to Aberdeen yesterday to buy a 335i from a private sale and then drove the 480 miles back  

We do this a lot. 7 flights to Scotland and two to the IOM this year so far.

Am I the only one never to buy from auction? We source all our cars from public sellers. A lot of the time they approach us.

 

Perhaps because we are niche...

[Max Branning 149]

6 hours ago, Fixedgear said:

We do this a lot. 7 flights to Scotland and two to the IOM this year so far.

Am I the only one never to buy from auction? We source all our cars from public sellers. A lot of the time they approach us.

 

Perhaps because we are niche...

Yes in a niche market it works, at the sub 5k bread n butter market it would not work, nearly all the private sellers i have come across want more than i can retail for? Quote cap clean and they will piss themselves.

[thecarenthusiast 2]

On 05/11/2016 at 5:07 PM, colnecarcentre said:

We had a 'webuyanycar.com' office open up on the supermarket car park across from us. I ended up having some signs done for the Showroom windows and have bought quite a few over the past year, most have been crackers. I take V5, copy of drivers licence and a utility bill, plus all payments have to be made direct to the registered keepers bank account, or Finance company direct if needed. I now always check on the Vehicle information site first to ensure the V5 I have is current, just in case of a log book loan that hasn't been picked up on.

The webuyanycar office over the road closed a few months ago, not just had as much traffic since, but still get the odd one or two.

 

Which vehicle information site are you reffering to?