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| Approximate Total Owed on Jeep |
Our original plan was to keep my 2002 Eclipse for the next 5 or 6 years while we paid off the Jeep and maybe got some money saved up and tried living without a car payment for like a year or two. Well that was basically the plan, until Thanksgiving weekend. We went to Idaho for the weekend for some time with family and had a fantastic time. When we returned however I had the wonderful misfortune to discover a major puddle of water on the passenger side of my floorboard. I believe I have now tracked down the leak to the hatchback, however, I have another problem with the car, it absolutely kills my back getting in and out of the car. The combination of these factors has led to the hunt for a different car for me.
Now I tried to talk my wife in to this, and she simply laughed at me. So after some discussion we narrowed it down to a list of options, many of which I know are pretty extreme considering the price range I'm looking at. Knowing how difficult it will be to find this car, I've scoured the city looking and have noticed a few things, I'd like to pass these on to anyone who stumbles across this so they can know what the real do's and don'ts are behind selling a car.
Do
- Put lots of pictures, every angle you can imagine. - Make sure lighting is appropriate
- List every option, yes it can take longer, but if there is a specific option people are looking for this will help your ad come up in their searches.
- Include information related to routine maintenance, and anything that may be coming up soon, ie "tires have 70% tread". "Belts/hoses replaced 15,000 miles ago". This kind of information is useful.
- Include any information about the title that might be needed, ie salvage title, reconditioned vehicle, car has been sold 84 times and now no one is sure who really owns it.
- Put the price you are asking for, if the price is firm say so, but putting OBO is not really helpful. It's a used car, we assume that you'll take a "reasonable" offer.
Don't
- Put "Look" in the title of your post. I realize that's what you want me to do. I'm not a trained monkey. (if your car comes with a trained monkey then you can put "Look: Trained Monkey" I will buy this car)
- Put nothing in the post
- Tell me that "X is bad but this is common with these cars"
- Not have the car available to look at - seriously?
- Not have the title of the car - again seriously?
- Ignore my repeated attempts to contact you (note I have since moved to a one & done format)
- Keep contacting me after we meet. I looked at what you have, if I'm willing to make an offer I will.
- Have your brother/cousin/sister/dog/landlord/random stranger sell your car for you without giving them your lowest price you'll accept. I'm not making an offer to have you "go talk to so an so" then wait around to see if it's accepted. This is a private party sale dammit. Talk to them before.
- Be a dick - seriously, if I ask you a question I have a legitimate reason for it. Don't try to side step or diminish the question. If I say "I want the VIN number so I can pull a Carfax, give me the VIN number.
These are just a few of the things that I've noticed that are flat out annoying the heck out of me.
So now my new rules in dealing with each of these people are the following
1. One & Done - I will make exactly one attempt to contact you, if you never respond, oh well.
2. One offer - When I'm ready to make an offer I'm only going to make the offer one time. I will give you until I find another car to accept this offer, that could be 5 minutes or 5 months so it's worth a try.
3. No lies - if you lied or understated an issue, we're done.
4. On time - If you don't come to our appointment ON TIME I'm simply going to leave. I've got more important things to do.
So if you find you're in the market to buy a cheap ass car, might I recommend adopting these simple rules before you give yourself an ulcer.
Thank you for your time. :-)
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