A “fast cash” option is to take it to a junk yard like Pull-A-Part. You should be able to get $400-500 for that vehicle regardless of codes.
Why would she do that if she’s already had several people wanting to buy it for the advertised price of $1,200?
“As is” just means there’s no warranty. You can sell a car as is even if it is in need of repair if you disclose anything you know upfront. Otherwise it’s fraud, and that’s always a problem.
And yeah, I say you sell it to the first decent offer. Edit: Meaning the first person to show cash in hand willing to buy. I don’t care who e-mailed first. If they have to wait on god-knows-what to get there, they snooze, they lose. It’s for sale until someone is in front of you offering cash. If it’s a decent offer, take it. If there are numerous people at once (which there shouldn’t be), sell to highest bid.
Agree 100%. The first person to show up that wants the car and has cash gets it. Don’t try to accommodate everyone.
First, thanks all. I really should have waited for all the advice before pulling the trigger, but at the end of the day I was in a better place than when I started so I still feel good.
TLDR: Car sold for more than I asked. Some people are jerks. Most are not. I learned some lessons and am happy with the outcome.
I told everyone who called where the car was, and that I wasn’t there and wouldn’t be until 6:15. The response was overwhelming. Over thirty calls, untold numbers of text messages, and four emails. At that point I changed my outgoing message to say “If you’re calling about the Honda, it’s no longer available. Anything else, leave me a message.”
The first person who called me was a young man named John. He tried to get me to leave work and meet him RIGHT NOW. Or “I’ll come to your work. I have cash. You give me the keys.” He doesn’t want to test drive it? I wasn’t comfortable with that.
The last person who called me was pushy. I tried to say that already too many people were coming so thanks for calling. He insisted that he wanted to be in the pool.
I work until 6:00. On good traffic days my ride home takes about 7 minutes. On a hunch I left a little early so I could take in the mail and get myself settled before the madness. It wasn’t early enough…I got home just before 6 and there were seven people lurking at the foot of the driveway, 2 people waiting in cars on the street.
The pushy guy was parked backwards in my driveway. He was tall, blonde, tanned, and looked as if he’d smell strongly of Polo. If I were casting him in a movie (and could time travel to do it) he’d be played by Jeff Conway. He got right up in my face as I was getting out of my car, and said “I’m going to buy your car now.” I allowed as how I wanted to step inside and gather my wits and breathe a minute. As soon as I stepped back out he was back inches from me. Typically I am quite wimpy and agree to things I don’t want to just so strangers won’t dislike me (I don’t care whether people like me, or are indifferent but to have someone actively dislike me causes me great distress). I said, “I don’t like feeling pressured. Thank you for your time. I won’t be selling you my car.” He was startled. I quickly got the impression that no one has ever told him no before. He said “that’s kind of rude.” My people pleasing receptors panicked, but I stood my ground.
It turned out that the crowd was less overwhelming than it appeared. People were there in groups. Ended up with a small bidding war which whittled it down to 2 serious buyers who both had the same upper limit. Realizing there’s no way for all three of us to walk away happy from this - eeny meeny miny…You. Player 2 shook my hand and walked away. The buyers - a pleasant seeming couple with several kids waiting in their car - gave me a pile of cash, and drove away happy. I even asked if they could use my son’s ancient, neglected kid’s sized bike. They had the two older boys get out of the car and thank me, and told me that the car will be a blessing to them, and God should bless me.
About an hour later I got a text from John saying what a shitty person I am, and so forth and whatever and again. Remember from a couple paragraphs back I can’t just let things roll? I have to FIX them. It turned out that he called me again at 5:00 to urge me to meet him early, heard my message and thought I’d done him wrong. I explained my side in an abbreviated manner and then stopped engaging.
This afternoon I got a text from Jeff Conway with a link to a new Craigslist ad. “Looks like you sold your car to a dealer and now he’s selling it for $4000. Oh MY!!!”
(Did I mention that he was driving a BMW with a dealer tag on the back, and no front tag?))
I’d already made peace with him not liking me so I did not respond. If I had it would have been to ask, “What were you going to do with it?”
I did look at the listing. It is for sure my husband’s car. And is listed for $3400. Maybe the husband, who sounded knowledgeable about car repair did some work, and now it’s better. He deserves to be compensated for that. Or, they’ve done this a lot and know (which I did not) that maniacs will come with cash to take your car without so much as hearing it run, and feel no moral compunction about selling it without disclosing it’s exhaust problem.
I feel fine about it. Two days ago I was going to have it towed away as a tax donation. My needs regarding the car were to get it out of my driveway and off of my insurance policy. Done, and done. The cash was gravy.
If I ever sell a car this way again (unless it’s an absolute heap) I will list it on a day when I am off from work, and not show it at my home. For all items in the future I will only accept contact through the CL email. It quickly became hard to keep track.
Glad it had a happy ending! Don’t worry if you’d rather not say for whatever reason, but you left out the final price you got (though you did say it was more than you first asked, so well done for that). And you got some funny stories out of it to tell on the Dope. Hearing about what jerks other people are is always fun. Definitely don’t reply to any of them - you owe them nothing, be strong!
Listed it for $1200. Realized as it was happening I should have shot for $1500.
Took pity on the family who desperately needed the car to drive their kids to school. I’m such a sap. They took it for $1300.
I’m confident that my husband would have been proud (maybe not the right word - pleasantly surprised) that I didn’t let myself get pushed around by the bully. Getting taken in by a hard luck story though…I shoulda known better.
Nah, you’re not a sap. Good move.
Yeah, sounds like you did pretty good. You really have to think of Craigslist as a way to minimize the time and effort it takes to sell something without taking quite the hit you would selling or trading to a dealer. If you try to milk every penny out of your jalopy, CL becomes a full time job with the scamsters and tire kickers, which is IMHO missing the point.
X2!
You got better than your asking price, and you learned a little about a useable skill. If you continue to sell stuff, this experience will be a good basis for you to work from. I am sure that your husband is proud of you, I am! Keep up the good work!
I think you did very well OP. I probably would have fallen for the story from the couple with several kids in the car, I mean there are the kids right there. Story checks out.
Nice job dealing with high-pressure dude.