Yes, everyone who has been searching for a particular model of vehicle is definitely a criminal.:rolleyes:
A few years back I produced a film where I needed about 30 old beater trucks as background in a scene. I spent many months following them around town, into parking lots, knocking on strange doors, leaving flyers, etc.
I wasn’t buying them though, I needed to borrow them in the future. I am amazed to this day how few people’s scam alerts I set off. More than a few offered to sell me their trucks on the spot. In the end, I got plenty of trucks for free.
That’s not even weird compared to my “Want to sell your truck?” story.
So in about 2003 or so, I’m driving my seven year old Ford Ranger around in the rain, on Frankford in Dallas after leaving the girl I was seeing’s house.
Some random guy rolls his window down, and starts hollering at me when I pull up to a stoplight next to him.
“Hey! Want to sell your truck? I’ll give you 2000 bucks for it!”
Mind you, my truck was 7 years old, had something like 150,000 miles on it, a second paint job that was already peeling, and was generally kind of decrepit.
I was absolutely gobsmacked and said “Uh, no, I can’t get to work if I do that.”
It happens around here in sticksville TN all the time, usually they want to buy a car they know has been sitting for a while for next to nothing to “get it out of your yard” (assuming you aren’t going to repair it), then sell it for scrap and make a small profit.
Had the person simply asked what I would take for the truck, without the spontaneous description of his hard luck, I probably would have thought nothing of it whatsoever.
To offer a parallel…
Occasionally total strangers come to my church and ask to speak with the pastor or the elders. As soon as they are in private, they immediately start a hard sell telling about all of the horrible events that they have suffered. The story differs, but in the end they ask for “some help.” When offered tangible items such as clothing, food, or a bus/train ticket—in place of cash—they decline and disappear.
This guy gave off the same kind of scammer vibes those folks do.
People who really need help from the church usually come with one single clear immediate setback and not a whole boatload of well rehearsed suffering. They often have a single request that can be handled in a non-cash manner (e.g. pay for one night in hotel for mom and kids). And their expressions don’t sour when non-cash gifts are offered.
I’ve had guys offer to buy my 22yo 200K+ miles truck before. Someone even left a note on my windshield with an offer. It’s a pretty beat up Chevy worth less than $500, but apparently it has the original rims on it that are really valuable to folks who restore some 80’s GM cars. I’ve even considered selling the rims to one of these guys for a brand new set of rims and tires, but that seemed too much of a hassle.
I’ve had multiple people looking to buy my car, but only if the license plate were missing. In which case they were looking for scrap metal, and I was able to get 2-300 dollars out of the deal.
This happened to me in Dallas as well on Hillcrest stuck in traffic while driving a 12 year old Toyota pickup. It wasn’t that surprising though as I was used to getting unsolicited offers to buy that truck every few months - almost always from people who seem to be in the lawn care business so I always presumed they were just looking for inexpensive but reliable work trucks.
This is all the fault of those guys on American Pickers.
I bought an old pick up to restore a few months ago, and it wasn’t for sale, but i never would have dreamed of bothering somebody by knocking on their door. I wrote a note saying i was looking for a old classic truck to restore, and would be interested in talking to the owner if they would consider selling. I put the note with my name, phone number, and a business card (to imply I’m not a deadbeat) into a ziploc bag and stuck it under the windshield wiper of the truck. Two days later I got a call, and $800 later I have a rusty truck to tinker with.
Point is, better way to do this if this is really what he wanted to do. I agree with others, he was prospecting for a house with no one home.
Driving a U-haul truck? No that’s not suspicious at all.
Man, I hate that show. :mad:
I think men are always looking for variety in vehicles, looking for the something different. I have a 91 Mustang and a 4x4 F-150 that several people have offered to buy when I’m out and about. Haven’t had anyone knock on my door though.
I did however have the Mustang under a carport and under a car cover and a contractor (not an acquantiance of mine) went over and raised up the corner of the cover to see what was under there. Couldn’t resist I guess. I didn’t appreciate the nosiness.
The guy in the OP’s story, my vote is he was casing the place.
As for random offers to buy a car, I’ve gotten one for my old Honda and Prince Charming has gotten at least 3 or 4 out of the blue for his pickup truck, which is old but a model that’s known to be very reliable. One from a neighbor of mine and a couple when we were out and about.
Really? That sounds pretty brazen given that this thief knows that at least one person is home who answered the door, and who knows how many more? And let’s not forget potential dog owners, gun owners, etc. I don’t see the home invasion as being very common unless they have already cased the place first for quite a while and have real reason to believe something valuable is inside. Let’s not forget that this also assumes you choose to answer the door, and you will see the criminal’s face, as most people don’t answer the door upon seeing a guy with a ski mask through the peep hole.
That said, we did have a rash of home invasions here in San Diego a few years ago since some of the Asian cultures are known to keep large quantities of cash at home, apparently since they don’t trust banks. These folks were targeted by Asian gangs familiar with the victims.
I once sold an old beater of a car, and it sold even before the newspaper hit the streets (must have had someone in the advertising office). It was no oil painting, but the guy turned up on Friday night and bought it even in the dark. I had dozens of calls about it, could have sold it many times over, and I got what I paid for it.
There was a similar story in Metropolitan Diary in the Times recently. A guy came up to the writer looking for money to buy something, I forget what. The writer happened to have just that thing in his trunk. The guy was very upset at the prospect of getting the thing asked for, not money.
In one of the Marx Brothers movies a bum comes up to Harpo and asks for a dime for a cup of coffee. Harpo pulls out a full cup of coffee from his pocket.
I wish someone wanted to buy my '94 Chrysler New Yorker. Any takers here? 
I don’t think it’s worth more than the gas in the tank though, so any random potential buyers would put me on guard. Good thing you work from home.
He was casing the house.
I was at home one afternoon when the doorbell rang. I live on a quiet side street. I open the door and the dude says he’s lost and looking for a gas station. I told him where it was and shut the door. I then watched him walk down the road about 50 yeards and then knock on a neighbor’s door.
I called the police.
I put an ad in the paper for an old beater Impala I had. It was junk but I got a ton of responses because it had the 400 small block motor which was apparently desireable. They wanted it for the motor, to be taken out and put in another vehicle.
Same with a Ford station wagon I had. It had a 429 motor.
I had an old Honda with a bad motor that sat on the street in front of the house for about 2 years. I must have had 20 notes left under the wiper and one really persistant guy that kept stopping by to try and buy it. He wanted to fix it up and sell it but a number of things about him worried me so I wouldn’t do it. I was afraid he’d end up abandoning it and I’d eventually get stuck with an impound bill.
I get this strung out nasty looking bum knocking on my door about once every three months asking if he can mow my lawn or do yardwork. Last time I had literally just finished mowing the lawn! I used to be polite because I didn’t want him to come back for revenge, now I just tell him to fuck off.