Discouraging Offers and Low Ballers

[arslan2468 1]

I’ve had this quite a bit, I trade from home so only have limited stock, and when I get offers of nearly 2k less than asking price it is really discouraging and makes me stress that I’ve priced the vehicle wrongly and I’ll potentially take a huge loss on the car, it is really annoying, 

or when the customer asks £1500 less than asking as two tyres are wearing low but still In legal limit, 

[Dan W 57]

Had a beauty this week, we have a car up at £9995 and to be fair its been in stock a while maybe 10 months or so but its not over priced.

Customer says I notice its been in stock a while so I am prepared to offer you £6000...... I honestly started to laugh quite loudly on the phone and said classic, and before I could get to my next line the customers gets in a right huff and says wow you shouldn't  laugh at me !! I am a serious buyer !!!

so I think my new tactic for ultimate low ballers will be just a mighty chuckle.

[BHM 994]

1 hour ago, Dan W said:

so I think my new tactic for ultimate low ballers will be just a mighty chuckle.

I’ve been laughing out loud at the phone idiots for years & funnily enough never had a positive response. 

Unfortunately most of these parasitic/dreaming/skint idiots now clutter up the email inbox. Most are to be ignored but this week I thought I’d waste their time and answered FOUR back saying “Yes, but please don’t email back, just call when you’re cashed-up and ready to set off”. Needless to say, ZERO response.

[Dan W 57]

1 hour ago, tradex said:

now that is some chip, would you take a more sensible £6100 with new boots

....it may of been in stock 10 months but it may even be worth more, judging by the prices ATM

Haha, it is actually priced the cheapest for its age and mileage in the country, but couldn't even be bothered to tell the guy was rolling around laughing too much

[Arfur Dealy 823]

Delete the pond life.................. Buyers call

[BHM 994]

1 hour ago, Arfur Dealy said:

Delete the pond life.................. Buyers call

Absolutely true. Nowadays I do actually make sales to punters who’s initial contact was by email but they’ll then phone. 

Those punters messing about for days firing emails & then 24 hours later sending an email “??” because they haven’t had a response are cretins. They boil my piss.

[Grantlfc81 88]

I had a jag XF premium luxury priced at £8k and got offered £3500 the other day on eBay. I declined the offer and then got offered £3600. Lol

my answer to everything is, come down and view the car and we can talk about price then  

they never show up. Funny that.

[Scooby who 41]

Mmm...I had a Polish couple come look at a 14 Focus, had driven from quiet far away. Car had it all, a Titanium in nice blue with proper miles, nice wheels etc.

After the boyfriend/husband telling me the date on the window glass was different on some of the doors (something I didn't know was dated in my 25 years in the trade) and claiming it might have been crashed. Which it clearly wasn't! They both drove it for miles while they spoke in Polish ( which is my pet hate with foreigners) 

We returned from the test drive and they haggled on the price. I was anxious to move it, so dropped quiet a bit on the price. They agreed and we shook hands.

The lady then asked me how I wanted payment, I said card, cash or bank draft. They agreed on a bank draft from the local bank 10 mins away. I gave her directions and they checked the route on their phone. That was a 2pm on a Thursday in August, still waiting for them to return!

So from that day on I never ever let anyone away without some form of a deposit, whether it be cash, debit card, their jewellery, phone or spare wheel.

 

 

 

[Arfur Dealy 823]

1 hour ago, Scooby who said:

Mmm...I had a Polish couple come look at a 14 Focus, had driven from quiet far away. Car had it all, a Titanium in nice blue with proper miles, nice wheels etc.

After the boyfriend/husband telling me the date on the window glass was different on some of the doors (something I didn't know was dated in my 25 years in the trade) and claiming it might have been crashed. Which it clearly wasn't! They both drove it for miles while they spoke in Polish ( which is my pet hate with foreigners) 

We returned from the test drive and they haggled on the price. I was anxious to move it, so dropped quiet a bit on the price. They agreed and we shook hands.

The lady then asked me how I wanted payment, I said card, cash or bank draft. They agreed on a bank draft from the local bank 10 mins away. I gave her directions and they checked the route on their phone. That was a 2pm on a Thursday in August, still waiting for them to return!

So from that day on I never ever let anyone away without some form of a deposit, whether it be cash, debit card, their jewellery, phone or spare wheel.

 

 

 

Utter pond life !!

[metcars 397]

4 hours ago, Scooby who said:

Mmm...I had a Polish couple come look at a 14 Focus, had driven from quiet far away. Car had it all, a Titanium in nice blue with proper miles, nice wheels etc.

After the boyfriend/husband telling me the date on the window glass was different on some of the doors (something I didn't know was dated in my 25 years in the trade) and claiming it might have been crashed. Which it clearly wasn't! They both drove it for miles while they spoke in Polish ( which is my pet hate with foreigners) 

We returned from the test drive and they haggled on the price. I was anxious to move it, so dropped quiet a bit on the price. They agreed and we shook hands.

The lady then asked me how I wanted payment, I said card, cash or bank draft. They agreed on a bank draft from the local bank 10 mins away. I gave her directions and they checked the route on their phone. That was a 2pm on a Thursday in August, still waiting for them to return!

So from that day on I never ever let anyone away without some form of a deposit, whether it be cash, debit card, their jewellery, phone or spare wheel.

 

 

 

I usually try and take them to the bank when paying, it helps them stop having second thoughts

[BHM 994]

14 hours ago, met said:

I usually try and take them to the bank when paying, it helps them stop having second thoughts

Snap

[grant8064 219]

Do you guys all take bankers drafts?

Don't think I've ever taken or been offered one. Deposit is BACS, card or cash for us, if they haven't got one of those three available to them then they haven't come out to buy a car IMO

[BHM 994]

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.

[trade vet 702]

5 minutes ago, tradex said:

Taken one in my whole life as a trader, shat myself until cleared never again.....from a guy whom looked like an extra for Rise of the Footsolider, with a diamond in one front tooth and a liking for shotguns, even had a firearms license for a rifle....I remember it like yesterday, was a Cranberry Red XJ-40 3.2 Sport with Vanilla red piped skin, lovely cars. I kept a key back just in case, but had no issues.

..speaking from experience, we find it's the 'soup kitchen serving bible bashers' that usually pull the strokes around here.....no reverse in a E46 Compact.

Bankers drafts,are they still around ! They were dangerous,I recall if you received one,you had to verify it with the issuing bank.The problem was banks would only say that they had issued one to your customer and would not confirm the amount.So there were cases where people were buying bank drafts for e.g. £500,then using a forged one to buy an expensive car and disappearing.....The other problem was they were the treated as the same as cash,I recall winning a tender to buy some stock from a local authority.Payment was by bankers draft and because they were 200 miles away,we put it in the post.What happened,there was a postal strike and we could not cancel it,so we had to pay twice.Luckily when the strike ended,it turned up several weeks later,but we were sweating.....So if they are still around...beware.

[andymc1973 199]

whats the least you'll take? Me,  5 inches and hung up

[metcars 397]

On 17/02/2018 at 9:40 AM, arslan2468 said:

I’ve had this quite a bit, I trade from home so only have limited stock, and when I get offers of nearly 2k less than asking price it is really discouraging and makes me stress that I’ve priced the vehicle wrongly and I’ll potentially take a huge loss on the car, it is really annoying, 

or when the customer asks £1500 less than asking as two tyres are wearing low but still In legal limit, 

You have to try and remember that the internet encourages 'chancers' because of the anonymity if provides. It's fun for them to skim through the classifieds making ridiculous offers never really expecting any success. It never happened in the old days when someone would have to look you in the eye

[NOACROSS 414]

Do we like this one?

Just had (snipped) email as below on an 11 grand car that the client/punter/gentleman viewed at length Saturday. 

Very polite though so that was nice....

”....Good Evening. Have given the V70 some serious consideration I am genuinely interested.

The rear parking sensors could be a simple sensor or a replace so anything from 150-650. The front lip needs rescuing as it’s quite untidy and that depends  on the body shop options. The alarm service if it is the mass movement sensor is also 500 plus. 

I would like to offer you £7500-8000 for the car as it stands with the outstanding issues. I would genuinely keep it and cherish it.”

He was so nice I almost wanted to say yes. ;o) I often wonder how much the public thinks we buy them for...

[Dealer 54]

4 hours ago, NOACROSS said:

Do we like this one?

Just had (snipped) email as below on an 11 grand car that the client/punter/gentleman viewed at length Saturday. 

Very polite though so that was nice....

”....Good Evening. Have given the V70 some serious consideration I am genuinely interested.

The rear parking sensors could be a simple sensor or a replace so anything from 150-650. The front lip needs rescuing as it’s quite untidy and that depends  on the body shop options. The alarm service if it is the mass movement sensor is also 500 plus. 

I would like to offer you £7500-8000 for the car as it stands with the outstanding issues. I would genuinely keep it and cherish it.”

He was so nice I almost wanted to say yes. ;o) I often wonder how much the public thinks we buy them for...

Are you selling an 11k car with a front bumper that needs painting, parking sensors not working and an alarm system service message on the dash? Not having a go just interested to see if this is the case 

[justlooking 48]

1 hour ago, Dealer said:

Are you selling an 11k car with a front bumper that needs painting, parking sensors not working and an alarm system service message on the dash? Not having a go just interested to see if this is the case 

No problem sir, seeing as you’re polite, give me the £11k a week or so and I’ll get those things sorted for you.

Locate the duff and fit a new parking sensor, new lower valance and alarm service? I wouldn’t know about the latter.

Sounds fair

[BHM 994]

6 hours ago, justlooking said:

No problem sir, seeing as you’re polite, give me the £11k a week or so and I’ll get those things sorted for you.

Locate the duff and fit a new parking sensor, new lower valance and alarm service? I wouldn’t know about the latter.

Sounds fair

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.

[NOACROSS 414]

9 hours ago, Dealer said:

Are you selling an 11k car with a front bumper that needs painting, parking sensors not working and an alarm system service message on the dash? Not having a go just interested to see if this is the case 

Ha, no.  One of the sensors not working and it sayalarm system service required' on the dash at start up.  

The lower valence is slightly misaligned -according to the customer.

We would of course rectify this at the service and mot and said as much  

The car is lovely.

My issue was, even at his daft prices to fix- where did the 3-3500 chip come from/how does it make sense in his world !

 

[justlooking 48]

10 hours ago, NOACROSS said:

Ha, no.  One of the sensors not working and it sayalarm system service required' on the dash at start up.  

The lower valence is slightly misaligned -according to the customer.

We would of course rectify this at the service and mot and said as much  

The car is lovely.

My issue was, even at his daft prices to fix- where did the 3-3500 chip come from/how does it make sense in his world !

 

Yeah agree, it doesn’t make sense, not sure how he’s got to 3k but that’s why i’d call his bluff and tell him that you’ll spend the 3k in fixing the faults for him, as I assume that’s him saying it’ll cost £3k to fix them?

If he’s legit, and he wants the car, but just wants the faults rectified he’ll bite your hand off and think you’re a bloody top bloke for putting it right and offering him an awesome car at the listed price.

Now obviously we all know he’s a total Timewaster but by offering to fix the issues, you’re showing yourself In a good light by offering to sell it with all the faults sorted.

on the 0.5% chance he says yes, great, car sold. Alternatively what are your plans for it? You say you’ve had it a while, are you gonna hold out for another customer and hope they don’t mind the parking sensor, don’t spot the valance, and what about alarm message? 

[NOACROSS 414]

You’re right and I’ve said all this to the ‘customer’. He just thinks we’re desperate to sell and I’m gonna take his daft offer. He still would have bid the same if he couldn’t find anything to moan about. :o)

I’ve only had the car a month. Someone else will come along and not spot the valance (I didn’t and it’s nothing) but will sort it.  The alarm message and parking sensor is something I’d usually do at sale, as they often have a little shopping list don’t they? It’ll need a new mot and Pdi.

I bet the next customer is OK with this but we’ll see. Maybe I should do it now- just seems trivial-but the anoraks on this sort of car can be fussy. We’ve all had them. 

 

[grant8064 219]

1 minute ago, NOACROSS said:

I bet the next customer is OK with this but we’ll see. Maybe I should do it now- just seems trivial-but the anoraks on this sort of car can be fussy. We’ve all had them. 

 

You're right about anoraks.

I've got a V50 R Design in...one of two currently on AT with the right engine, spec and colour in the country. Had no idea it was so rare when we bought it. Grand less than the other one because the drivers seat has some wear...it's an 80K 7 year old car. No rips, no tears, no horrible creases, just some normal wear.

Then the phone calls, viewers and emails start and I remember why we don't stock Volvo's often. 

 

[Arfur Dealy 823]

2 minutes ago, grant8064 said:

You're right about anoraks.

I've got a V50 R Design in...one of two currently on AT with the right engine, spec and colour in the country. Had no idea it was so rare when we bought it. Grand less than the other one because the drivers seat has some wear...it's an 80K 7 year old car. No rips, no tears, no horrible creases, just some normal wear.

Then the phone calls, viewers and emails start and I remember why we don't stock Volvo's often. 

 

I go mad for V50 / V70's R Designs, they fly out the door and i will pay over book (very rare)......... I had a one owner 2008 V50 D5 R Des, with 220k on it last month and it flew out within a week...