Discouraging Offers and Low Ballers

[SC Derby 259]

if they've got the money, want your car and are not that  far away why can't they come and collect it?

[trade vet 704]

4 minutes ago, SC Derby said:

if they've got the money, want your car and are not that  far away why can't they come and collect it?

You have to find out why,otherwise you don’t bother.

[grant8064 219]

1 hour ago, trade vet said:

When a punter says,I have the money,it is what I want,if you could bring it out please and I like it,I will buy it.....if it is not to far away,what do you do.If they sound reasonable,in my book,you surely can’t say,you must pay for it first,then I will come out.

If they have the money, it's what they want and they're in the market then they can just pop down and buy it. 

If they're serious is asking them to at least make the effort to leave the house really asking too much.

Only time wasters want you to take the car to them IMO

[Arfur Dealy 823]

2 hours ago, have a word with the wife said:

all buyers are liars 

+1

...... I should say, always ASSUME buyers are lairs. Its the one's you wouldn't expect that catch you out..... They will lie straight to your face... and they call us rogues..

[BHM 994]

20 hours ago, trade vet said:

When a punter says,I have the money,it is what I want,if you could bring it out please and I like it,I will buy it.....if it is not to far away,what do you do.If they sound reasonable,in my book,you surely can’t say,you must pay for it first,then I will come out.

Yes you bloody well can!

19 hours ago, SC Derby said:

if they've got the money, want your car and are not that  far away why can't they come and collect it?

Absolutely.

Anyone desperate enough to be trawling around their cars to punters houses are soon going to be disappointed. Only messers want their arses wiping, a rear punter will come to you.

[trade vet 704]

I am amazed that you guys have not had experience where you have been able to QUALIFY good punters on the phone who for some good reason have been unable to come in and you have gone to them and they have been delighted.I can not remember going out to a punter and not doing a deal,I agree it only happens on rare occasions.

 

 

[grant8064 219]

22 minutes ago, trade vet said:

I am amazed that you guys have not had experience where you have been able to QUALIFY good punters on the phone who for some good reason have been unable to come in and you have gone to them and they have been delighted.I can not remember going out to a punter and not doing a deal,I agree it only happens on rare occasions.

 

 

I think it depends where you are located and what you're selling. I have never taken a car to a potential punter but we're next to a train station, opposite a bus stop, on a main road in town and open six days a week...it's not difficult to get to us. I can understand people that can't get down during working hours but we do offer to stay late or come in early occasionally so long as they leave a deposit in advance...I can count on one hand the number that are willing to do this. 

A car is most peoples second biggest purchase so i'm always amused when they can't even be bothered to take an afternoon off work to come and look at it themselves.

[metcars 397]

Tell them you will pop over and 'do the paperwork/collect payment' then have car delivered?

[David Ayers 171]

18 minutes ago, met said:

Tell them you will pop over and 'do the paperwork/collect payment' then have car delivered?

To which the customer will reply “Well if you are coming over you might as well come in the car!”

 

Which is back to square one.

[justlooking 48]

On 03/03/2018 at 2:24 PM, SC Derby said:

if they've got the money, want your car and are not that  far away why can't they come and collect it?

We are very rural and trade from our home premises, they couldn’t collect as they were snowed in on their access road, hence wanting our 4x4 delivered. Otherwise we would ask for a deposit prior to delivery of which a portion is non refundable due to travel costs. We describe all faults imperfections and offer detailed 10min YouTube videos for transparency. Never been rejected until this weekend, didn’t bother with pre payment as she was 20 min away.

I like the “buyers are liars” term and will continue to remind myself of this.

[trade vet 704]

One Saturday afternoon this guy  rings up,this is before internet and in AT mag days.He says would I mind bringing that Saab out to show him,I say,sorry not really it’s 3pm and we finish at 5 and I’m in 7 days a week.He says ,I am a hill farmer and cannot get in until Wednesday and it will be gone by then.He then says by the way ‘you are a part timer’ which struck a chord with me.He says I want it for my daughter,if it is OK I will definateley buy it.He is 40 miles away,but I take it to show him anyway at his farmhouse.He thanked me for bringing it out,walks round it and says something like ‘just the job’,come in for a cup of tea.He would not have a run in it because it had to be OK.I think he gave me £200 and he came down to the pitch a few days later to collect it.....That is the sort of thing I am referring to and I can recall better cases than that.

 

[BHM 994]

Yes, but as you say that was absolutely years ago. Things are VERY different now - standards have plummeted & people talking shit seems to be the norm nowadays.

[trade vet 704]

32 minutes ago, BHM said:

Yes, but as you say that was absolutely years ago. Things are VERY different now - standards have plummeted & people talking shit seems to be the norm nowadays.

I do agree,it must be over 10 years since I took a car out to show a punter.I think you have to qualify all punters under the age of 40 these days to make sure they are buying a car which should be suitable.Not only do they not have any spare money or savings, they often have no common sense !

[Arfur Dealy 823]

An upfront deposit on the basis of “accuracy” stops the wasters. 

[BHM 994]

3 hours ago, Arfur Dealy said:

An upfront deposit on the basis of “accuracy” stops the wasters. 

True but it’ll also scare away a few genuine people. I work the opposite way, no deposit it’s simply first come, first served. If they turn up & start nit picking its me who terminates the discussions & walks away - not the punter crying about his deposit. It works for me, straight talk on the phone weeds out 90% of the undesirables and I sharp deal with the 10% who’ve slipped through the net.

I think whichever way you do it, as we’re dealing with the general public then we will always come across the greedy, stupid, chancers, ignoramuses & ‘champagne taste lemonade money’ pillocks. Imagine being on a pitch & having to deal with any time wasting idiot who decides to drop-in, them lads deserve a medal!

[metcars 397]

11 hours ago, David Ayers said:

To which the customer will reply “Well if you are coming over you might as well come in the car!”

 

Which is back to square one.

To which you reply "no, that's fine, I'm quite happy to pop over now while they are pdi'ing the car for you, be there in 10mins".

Don't forget the idea is not to go to them but to 'encourage' them to come to you?

Taking a car to a punter always puts you on the 'back foot' as far as negotiation is concerned

Edited March 5, 2018 by met

[RH Trading 80]

Always amazes me how far people will travel and NOT buy. early January couple came up from Exeter, must have driven nearly 4 hrs, test drive an A3,  loved the car, all the right noises, happy with the appraisal of their car, then BANG! proceeded to pull out print outs of older, tattier, higher mileage A3's with less spec and said obviously ours was over priced compared to all these other examples and went on to demand a reasonable (in their words) discount of £2000 off the £9500 we had it up for. I politely declined, went through the discrepancies of the print outs one by f@&#ing one. they just didn't seem to care, after a while I said obviously we weren't going to do business, thanked them for their interest and wished them a safe journey back to Exeter. They spent another hour sat outside in their car talking before they drove off. I wish I could end this on "they rang back the next day to offer the full amount but I'd already sold it in the mean time and took pleasure in telling them that" but nope, just never heard from them again, it was another 3 weeks till we sold it to someone from Sheffield for £9350

[grant8064 219]

37 minutes ago, RH Trading said:

Always amazes me how far people will travel and NOT buy. early January couple came up from Exeter, must have driven nearly 4 hrs, test drive an A3,  loved the car, all the right noises, happy with the appraisal of their car, then BANG! proceeded to pull out print outs of older, tattier, higher mileage A3's with less spec and said obviously ours was over priced compared to all these other examples and went on to demand a reasonable (in their words) discount of £2000 off the £9500 we had it up for. I politely declined, went through the discrepancies of the print outs one by f@&#ing one. they just didn't seem to care, after a while I said obviously we weren't going to do business, thanked them for their interest and wished them a safe journey back to Exeter. They spent another hour sat outside in their car talking before they drove off. I wish I could end this on "they rang back the next day to offer the full amount but I'd already sold it in the mean time and took pleasure in telling them that" but nope, just never heard from them again, it was another 3 weeks till we sold it to someone from Sheffield for £9350

Sounds like just about every A3 punter i've dealt with...tight fisted beyond words.

[BHM 994]

1 hour ago, grant8064 said:

Sounds like just about every A3 punter i've dealt with...tight fisted beyond words.

Hahaha, I’ll second that. Usually they’re tight fisted cos they haven’t got a pot to piss in.

[Arfur Dealy 823]

9 hours ago, BHM said:

True but it’ll also scare away a few genuine people. I work the opposite way, no deposit it’s simply first come, first served. If they turn up & start nit picking its me who terminates the discussions & walks away - not the punter crying about his deposit. It works for me, straight talk on the phone weeds out 90% of the undesirables and I sharp deal with the 10% who’ve slipped through the net.

I think whichever way you do it, as we’re dealing with the general public then we will always come across the greedy, stupid, chancers, ignoramuses & ‘champagne taste lemonade money’ pillocks. Imagine being on a pitch & having to deal with any time wasting idiot who decides to drop-in, them lads deserve a medal!

I don't think a deposit scares away a genuine buyer at all, as long as you reassure them you have described the car accurately and guarantee the deposit is fully refundable if they think you've got it wrong. I even go a step further and offer and offer to pay all their travel costs if they think I have got it wrong. They then have no reason to decline.....

What the deposit does is make them confirm to you they are genuine, as soon as they start to make excuses you know their motive isn't honorable. I see it so very differently, I put the ownership on the billy to confirm to me they aren't going to waste my time.... because I absolutely guarantee I won't waste theirs.......

The great thing about this forum is that we as traders of all levels is that we all do things differently, whats good for you isn't good for me, there is no right or wrong, but sharing here all our experiences helps us all

[EPV 631]

1 hour ago, BHM said:

Hahaha, I’ll second that. Usually they’re tight fisted cos they haven’t got a pot to piss in.

Don’t say that! I’ve just picked up a 3.2 Quattro A3! Oh and i’m Collecting a 2.0 Black Edition A3 TFSI tomorrow! 

[Arfur Dealy 823]

5 hours ago, RH Trading said:

Always amazes me how far people will travel and NOT buy. early January couple came up from Exeter, must have driven nearly 4 hrs, test drive an A3,  loved the car, all the right noises, happy with the appraisal of their car, then BANG! proceeded to pull out print outs of older, tattier, higher mileage A3's with less spec and said obviously ours was over priced compared to all these other examples and went on to demand a reasonable (in their words) discount of £2000 off the £9500 we had it up for. I politely declined, went through the discrepancies of the print outs one by f@&#ing one. they just didn't seem to care, after a while I said obviously we weren't going to do business, thanked them for their interest and wished them a safe journey back to Exeter. They spent another hour sat outside in their car talking before they drove off. I wish I could end this on "they rang back the next day to offer the full amount but I'd already sold it in the mean time and took pleasure in telling them that" but nope, just never heard from them again, it was another 3 weeks till we sold it to someone from Sheffield for £9350

I had a guy fly from Scotland to Exeter on a Touareg, he’d confirmed he’d watched the video but couldn’t collect for 3 weeks . I advised no problem but would need £400, he paid the deposit but pushed me on price, I explained i don’t discount.

I picked him up from the Airport and on viewing he proceeded to pick fault with everything I picked fault with, he said he wasn’t prepared to pay what we agreed. I said no.

He then asked me for his deposit, I refused. He said I never pay the full price. I said, you shook hands with me over the phone, the deal is done. You pay the balance or leave or forfeit your deposit, he walked.. he called the Police.. blah blah... not interested....

 

[justlooking 48]

35 minutes ago, Arfur Dealy said:

I had a guy fly from Scotland to Exeter on a Touareg, he’d confirmed he’d watched the video but couldn’t collect for 3 weeks . I advised no problem but would need £400, he paid the deposit but pushed me on price, I explained i don’t discount.

I picked him up from the Airport and on viewing he proceeded to pick fault with everything I picked fault with, he said he wasn’t prepared to pay what we agreed. I said no.

He then asked me for his deposit, I refused. He said I never pay the full price. I said, you shook hands with me over the phone, the deal is done. You pay the balance or leave or forfeit your deposit, he walked.. he called the Police.. blah blah... not interested....

 

and absolutely right Arfur! You've done nothing but the right thing in explaining it's faults, being a gent and picking him up, and doing the right thing in standing your ground.

I'm interested to hear how this played out, walked off, called the police, and I guess nothing else? case closed never heard from him again? Fair play!

[BHM 994]

An expensive day out for the man. How do you deal with the deposit issue as he’s a distance seller & is entitled to it or do you just f*** him off?

[Arfur Dealy 823]

14 minutes ago, BHM said:

An expensive day out for the man. How do you deal with the deposit issue as he’s a distance seller & is entitled to it or do you just f*** him off?

Dsr’s are for 14 days. He asked me to wait longer. That’s exactly why I took a larger deposit, he confirmed acceptance by email. He refused to honour the contract. End of story.