Who has told a buyer that what you have is not what they need?

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I was selling my 76 jeep J10 a couple years ago. The add included pictures. A lady called wanting to buy it for her son to drive back and forth to collage. As I'm talking to her I'm wondering why she wants to buy a lifted Jeep on 38 Swampers and put her kid in it for a daily. I was able to convince her he would be better in something else.
 
First time in a while but the guy buying my 512 is a little over his head. That doesn't make me any smarter than him about this stuff but I think he's been watching a little too much Street Outlaws lol. Is he getting a killer deal? Yep. Am I getting fair market value. Well I set the price so no argument there either but the money won't change my life and he's a good guy just misinformed.

So who else has looked at the big picture and told someone to walk away and no harm or foul?

JW
Hey JW, that is a stand up move as far as I’m concerned. I feel that is the right thing to do be it for a car guy or just someone in a store or speaking out loud pipe dreaming.

I ran into a young fella one day shooting the breeze about our MoPars. His engine (383, which I did t know at the time) was about dead on its heels and he was looking for something to build before taking out his engine. He wanted to purchase a 318 from me. The deal was about all done when (no money exchanged hands though it would not have mattered since once) I seen his car engine bay with the 383 there.

I stopped everything right there with a big bellowing “Whoa! Hold on a minute there dude!”
In the end, I helped this rookie through the process of rebuilding his 383. Lot of talking and discussing on how things work and why. In the end, I made no money, and I still don’t care. I’m just glad his ‘73 Charger is roaming the streets with an engine he is super happy with.

I could have sold him or anybody anything I have and not care. I do assume you know what your talking about, unless I get a feeling otherwise, the part is yours but if you give me doubt, I’d rather not make a dime but see you happy in the long run.

For me, there is no reason to make a penny screwing someone. Is just not in my make up. Same for stopping a guy from getting a “Streetoutlaw” big cube bruiser into a boulevard cruiser.
 
Similar thing happened to me a while back. How did you handle it? How often did they call you about it?
I bought, fixed and flipped cars for a short while. These were whoopdies. I had 3 buyers call back. This is the way I handled each of them.

Fella one complains about *** & yyy. Not a horrible man on the phone but upset. I tell him to swing by and I’ll look at it. When he arrives, he is a bit keyed up and I tell him relax. I did fix the problems and make him very happy. But before he leaves, I said to him, “While the things you brought to me today worked when I had the car, I never touched them. Failures like this and Lord knows what else are bound to happen on these 10-15 year old cars. I’m not responsible for this and I will not fix anything else that happens, so please don’t call. The gave no warranty expressed, implied or in writing did I?
The car was a few hundred bucks cheap and it is old. I will run and drive you where ever you need to go, it is reliable in that sense. But whatever goes wrong I’ll n it I’m going to charge a mechanics fee.

(Never seen him again)

Fella 2 Complained about everything and states, “Don’t you think you should have....” on everything. A nasty person, super rude, never comes when I say I’ll fix it or look into it. After the 5th call, I asked him what the problem is since we went over the whole vehicle really slow. He screams into the phone, “The back F’in window and the cigar lighter doesn’t work!”

I said, “I know and you mentioned it when you were looking the the vehicle. I’m not fixing anything. I’m sold it as is as it sits, do you have all the paper work I gave you at the time of sale?”

Ye yells “Yea I do!” In a snottty way.

I said good, can you please go to the warranty papers and then bill of sale for me.

He comes back saying I have the bill for sale but I didn’t get a warranty.

(Punch line coming...)

Well, notice on the bill of sale it says “Sold as is” and the warranty..... you didn’t get one.”

Click goes the phone and that was that!

(It was a parts vehicle!)

3rd person was a young lady, calls me up speaking very meekly and says this that and the other thing about the car and she is a bit upset.

I Interrupt her, tell her come on over I’ll fix whatever it is you find. She says to me “Really are you kidding me? It’s that easy?” I said “Of course is that easy, do you know why?” She stutters and says “No why?” I say, “It’s because you asked nicely.”

Moral of the story...

Act like a jerk, get treated like a jerk.
That and don’t freakin sell cheap whoopdies!
 
I've had a couple of incidents where I sold a car to someone and gotten nasty calls from the buyer or a parent. Around 1997 I was selling an 83 Monte Carlo. Young guy called me, all excited about it and he was coming straight over with cash in hand. I gave him the address and he was there in about 10 minutes. Looked it over quickly, started the 305 and revved it up a few times before handing me the full asking price. I said he should take it for a ride at least, but no, he was all ready to go. I had done everything to make the car safe, front end, brakes, exhaust, tires, etc, so I was not concerned about it being a good car. He leaves my house with no plates or insurance, burning rubber around the corner. Next morning I get a call from his father screaming at me that the transmission is blown up and leaking on his driveway. I tried to get him to calm down and offered to look at the car, including doing the labor free if the transmission needed to be replaced. He continues to scream at me and threatened to take me to court. At that point I asked him if he had read the bill of sale, specifically the part that said sold as is where is, no warranty or guarantee. Never heard from him again.
A couple years ago I was selling my wife's old car, it had a few issues, which I disclosed in the ad. Was asking $500.00, the car ran and drove, but needed an alternator and the overdrive didn't work, so all that one had to do was use the lockout button on the shifter. Much like the Monte Carlo, a woman called, very excited to buy the car, I was very clear in my explanation of what was wrong with it demonstrated how to lock out o/d on the transmission and even decided to include a set of 4 winter tires, on rims with the car. A couple weeks later, she calls me screaming about the car and she wants her money back etc. I told her that the bill of sale stated that it was sold as is, where is, and reminded her that I had been upfront about everything that I knew was wrong with the car. She was adamant that she was going to sue me for the money plus the cost of repairs. I pulled out my copy of the bill of sale, highlighted the sold as is where is, no warranty or guarantee, took a picture of it, and texted it to her. That was the last time I heard from her.
 
About 10 to 12 years ago, I put a nice 71 Duster with a 451 stroker & 3 stages of nitrous on it up for sale. The car was well known in my area as being a quick car & the one to beat. A high school grad came by & just had to have it, so I took him for ride out the back side of the area we lived in at the time. I ran him down the street with two stages lit & he was hooked. He said he would be back the next day with the money & I got to thinking, he'll kill himself in this car. I took it to the shop & striped off the 2 big stages of nitrous & left the last 25 hp shot on it. He came the next day with cash in hand & I tried to talk him out of it. He wouldn't have it, so I sold the car to him. Two weeks later, I get a phone call from him wanting to know if I want to buy the car back. I go take a look & the car is shaped like a banana where he wrapped it around a tree. I bought the car back for 300 bucks & the drive train is in storage still while I look for another candidate for it, I scrapped all of the damage sheet metal, the body was toast but I was able to salvage the deck lid & hood.
 
Looks like the responses far and wide are just good people trying to be fair about things.... That's the deal. The world would be a better place if more people thought this way....

However the best and hardest lessons in life are the ones where your eyes were bigger than your stomach lol..... Who knows, my guy may be offering me a chair at the dinner table tomorrow because I need help....

JW
 
it's their money, I feel they can spend it any way they want too. if I have a buyer for something, have the cash, and understand once it leaves with them, they are 100% responsible for whatever happens, the deal is done
Uhhh...yeah.
Some people actually DO need a guiding hand in their decisions.
I am a proponent of personal responsibility but the ignorant and naive people sometimes need a little help. I have tried to steer buyers away from something that I am selling when it is clear that they are out of their element. This has only happened with parts. I can make it fit ....those guys!
In 2014, I sold a 1978 440 Trail Duster. This was a solid truck, mostly stock and quite reliable. The buyer was a guy in his mid 30s, flat bill hat with his ears tucked in, he looked like Fred Durst.
He knew very little about cars/trucks but was enthusiastic. He said that this Plymouth was the only one he had seen that wasn't rusted out, beat up or full of hacked together wiring. He bought it and proceeded to call or text me with questions and complaints about the dumbest of things.
The heater don't work, man!
He didn't know how to work the original, factory controls.
The gas mileage is terrible.
Yeah...Like a late 70s 440 is going to get 20 mpg ?
The taillights had some wires coming out of them. This rig could have burned up my family!
Uhhh, it was a common thing for people that wanted to TOW to tap in to the taillight wiring for the trailer.
THIS was the kind of guy that I was referring to above. He was an inexperienced guy that thought he knew about cars. He clearly did not. If I had taken a little more time to "vet" this guy, I could have avoided some frustration.
 
People are funny' Some funny, and others funny funny!

Back about '96 or was it 7 or 8? Mopar bud in Tn calls and has his usual greeting " Beeeeaaaiiiillll ( Tn for Bill), says "Gotta car you NEED! 71 34 triple black Cuda 4 speed, needs nothing, $8200 thats what I have in it, 45000 actual miles" he tells me. Remember this is mid late 90's but still. So I make the trip from Mo to Tn drag it home, and drove it around my home boy county roads about a year. Almost got hit every time I would take it out oncomiing rural traffic staring at it and moving into my lane!!! Kept it about a year and advertised it for sale, and a young ish guy drives from St Louis to me in NW Missouri and buys it. I think the price was maybe barely $9000, I needed the cash. That summer I made the usual trip to Mopar Nats at Columbus and all of a sudden I see ti guy running toward me, all excited and starts bitching me out cause that low mile car smokes when he first starts it up. lol
I assure him that is the true mileage and it only the rubber valve seals have deteriorated from age not use!
The next year at the Nats same deal, here he comes all excited. But this time, the opening remark is " DO you have another 71 Cuda like the one I bought!!!!????????? lol
I said sorry friend, but now it looks like you got a good deal... HUH!!!????????
Long list f funny stories. Well some funnier than others.
 
I guess I've just never came across anyone that was either A) way too young or dumb with a shitload of money to burn or B) someone who had some sort of mental inefficiency that required guidance or diversion.
people I have dealt with know what they want.
 
This happened to me just a couple months ago. I had my A100 for sale, and a guy wants to buy it. We meet up. Turns out he is a local police officer and wants to turn this van into the Mystery Machine and give sick kids rides around the hospital parking lots.
I go over things with him on how to drive it and ect. He pays me cash and we go our separate ways. I don't get 2 miles down the road and my phone rings. Its him , telling me that he is broke down on the side of the street. I go to his rescue and find he has overheated it and blown it to pieces . He put it in 1st gear ( automatic ) and pedal to the metal till it started throwing parts out.
I just gave him his money back and towed it back home. Some people are just better off sticking with a new vehicle.
 
I know this thread is more about car-related deals. However, with my business, I am always careful to make sure that I tell the potential customer if what they are asking for is really what they need. I sell custom automated machinery that can range from $10,000 up to Multi millions. It does me no good in the long run to sell the client something they do not need. In the long run, treating people (and other businesses) with integrity will attract more customers than a quick hit & run payday. This also helps me sleep at night!
 
I remember this like yesterday but it was about 1993 or 4, I had a guy call me from Kc Mo (1 hr away) looking for a 69 RR, this guy was my age and bought one new, back in 69 and promptly got drafted and went to Nam. Car was sold. Well he wants another RR. I told him I always have some, got one right now in bud's body shop up here in small town. I tell him it runs, drives, typical 25 year old abused car that has sat for ? years before I drug it home. Needs restored. Pretty typial decent car. Well he drive up and looks it over, body guy has the whells off and few other assorted pieces of sheep metal and has started the process. Fires it up and hears it run. Yep that is what he wants, but wants my bud to finish the body/paint. I said cool you pay me for thecar and pay my bud for his work when done. Like said, buds shop in small town, one car done at a time. Just him.
So 1 week goes by and the buyer calls me and wants to know when his car will be done. I asked did you not get the number for the shop? Yep. Maybe call him??
5 days later, he call again, same story. Now this car has been up there being worked on every day for 2 1/2 weeks, it is finished, I go see it, perfect and cheap enough.
Buyer loves it, gonna drive it back to KC 1 hour away. I asked if he thought it would be good to trailer it all that way home, it needs restored. Nope will drive it all excited. Half hour later he calls stuck in traffic road work, car has over heated. I said man it is 25 years old, it needs restored. Needs some work maybe before taking off.
Well says he it just ain't like that one I had back in '69!!!!! Just doesn't drive the same, just ain't the same!!!!! Totally diappointed!!!!!
I told him bring it back to MY house I will give you your $$$ back for the car and the body work.. I can sell it for more than that anyway. NO loss for me.
He says why should he let me make that profit??? Never heard back!!!! lol
 
RAT ROD AL your story blew me away. You my friend are rare in this day and time.....

JW
RAT ROD AL your story blew me away. You my friend are rare in this day and time.....

JW
Not So Fast , JW.
I thought of the alternative ! I probably would be in jail by now for a crime I didn't commit.:rofl:
And another guy wanted it for less $$$$ of course. But he was a car guy and already had a van like it.
 
Successfully one time (on a rifle that wasn't good for what the guy wanted to do with it (he didn't want a long-action and the Rem 722 has one) - still stuck with it).

Unsuccessfully, when a mom bought my old '90 Bronco for her 18 year old son - told them it really wasn't a good car for a young man (which is why I was selling it - my son had proven that one too many times) - got a call a few days later asking about the winch, then, another call a few months later - transmission was out...
 
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