Clueless Buyers with cash, Firm means Firm

Words to live by.

But back to the original post, he had already lowered his price for the lowballer. So, good for you, standing by your "firm" price.

 

One more idea (in 20/20 hindsight) is to always make any appointment at YOUR convenience at a set time in daylight (tell the seller you want him to see exactly what he is getting). If the guy doesn't show up on time, call him to tell him he will have wait for a new appointment at your convenience (if ever). Always be polite but firm.

 

Sorry, but I see this happen all the time. As someone else on here said, every time there's a whats it worth or how much should I pay thread, every dude on here pipes up with bring cash and offer him less.
I have also seen many instances where guys have said absolutely Firm and taken less, happens all the time.
On top of that How do you figure he was trying to "screw you"? he made an offer, you didn't accept it, no one got screwed, he wasn't trying to give you a third party check from Libya.
I just don't see why you got so worked up and call him an a-hole. If he really was only able to scrounge up that amount of money and was hoping for the best, you can't really blame him. And certainly he isn't going to make any kind of offer over the phone - he's never seen the car, has no idea at that point what it's worth.
It just seems that FIRM doesn't really mean all that much, no better than the ubiquitous Serious Offers Only. Many people use those terms to try and weed out the looky loos but are still open to negotiation, the OP wasn't and that's fine too, but I don't see the point of the rant

 

I had the same thing happen to me about 15 years ago. Only my guy was a lot closer than yours. I had the firm price conversation on the phone with the guy. I told him if you don't have all of the money don't bother showing up. We did the 15 miles worth of ride checking things out, him getting all excited etc. Counts out the money....$500 short. I says you forget some money? he says no but I figured I was close enough. I asked him if he remembered our conversation about not a penny less or he would be driving home empty handed. Says yes...I said well see you when you got all the money. He started arguing with me about the money being a fair price etc. I said I want $XXX and that is a firm price. Still arguing with me when he drove out the yard calling me an A**hole over $500. Calls me about 3 days later and says he has the money now. I told him keep it because the car isn't for sale to you....I said have a nice day and hung up. Took me almost a year to sell it after that but I got principles.....besides I hate A**holes.........

 

Sure you could look at it as a percentage of sale price, but $2000 is nothing to sneeze at. I've sold cars asking $1500 and let em go for $1200, because frankly, $300 isn't that big of a deal to let the sale fall through. I can't say I'd say the same for $2000.

I have no problem paying asking price for something if it's what I want and the price is fair. The have been times where I've haggled a bit, but if I'm driving that far to spend that much, if I'm going to play chicken with negotiations, then I'm gonna have that $2000 in my pocket in case it doesn't work out. A deal is a deal.

 

I would never ever pay asking price for a secondhand car in fact i would not even pay full price for a new car and would haggle too does that make me an A hole in your book?

 

until prices go down or wages go up, expect more of the same.

I sell my left-over stuff and make sure that Firm means Firm. Not afraid to tell a guy to GFY if they pull BS. Now if they are cool and don't try to push on me, I'll usually budge a bit. Like everyone else though. Unless you are at your bottom dollar price you need to build in some padding for negotiation. It's the way it's been done for years.

Had a guy the other day that wanted to deal over the phone. I told him he can haggle me in person if he's serious. He wasn't.

 

Driving that far in the middle of the night sounds like he is serious, I wonder if he had the extra 2g's stashed in the rig and was just taking a pot shot at a better deal but when tempers flaired at 2 in the morning(as they will) He couldn't backtrack fast enough to make the full offer.
I have said "this is all I have" when I had more cash in another pocket, just the art of negotiation, wich I think is half the fun!

 

he screwed him first of all by wasting his time, agreeing to the firm price when he didn't have it.

he then screwed him again by making him wait up until 2am, with the idea that the guy had all the money as he said he did.

as far as making an offer over the phone or otherwise, it wasn't open for debate. there were no offers that were going to be accepted. it was "firm" and made very clear several times.

 

I have bought cars for less than the CA$H firm price. Most here have also.

The difference between that guy and myself is I would have had the 35 grand ... with me ... if the 33 grand CASH flash did not buy the 32 ...

.

 

That's all part of how it goes. Anyone who has ever sold any cars knows that. It comes with the territory. I will agree that the guy should have made him an offer BEFORE he showed up, but the guy was playing the odds. He was figuring that have 33k in cash on hand was better than having say 25k and a lot of BS. 9 times out of 10 it works. The other 10% of the time the seller is going to hold out based on pricipal or because "he knows what it's really worth". Usually this same seller will be kicking him self in the future when he has to take even less to get the car to move.
I've been "firm" before too. It doesn't work. The "firm" price is the one set in your head, not the one you put in your add.

 

There are great agents out there like "SPUDS GARAGE" that can take all the pain away. For roughly 5%, which you can put on your reserve, He handles all the B.S. and gets the job done quickly , safely, and with 100% integrity, to both the buyer and seller.I had a 59 Impala that I wanted 20 Gs , Spud got me 25. He also takes care of the foreigners and arrainges shipping to over there.
Stimac

 

I am amazed the guy never called back with $2k more. That said, I ALWAYS try to negotiate a better price if I can! Money comes too hard to not try to stretch it a bit... I will offer less for a just about any used car or part I might want, and either get it for less, (leaving me money for more parts) or I will gauge the sellers reaction indicating whether this is his bottom line or not, and if I think the item is worth his "asking price" and he isn't going to budge, I will pay the price. It certainly isn't a crime to try to stretch a dollar in this economy! I don't offer some stupid lowball price, but maybe about 20% less.

 

When I found my car the Craiglist ad said $3,500 FIRM. Played a little phone tag untill the seller and I finally spoke and by this time I had forgotten which car this was. (called a few people about the same type car) "How much was yours again?" I asked, "I can't go below $3,000". ... I drive out, about two hours away, like what I see and buy it for $3,000. A few weeks later, bored at work, I do a seach for my VIN number and the car pops up in an old ebay sale from a few months before I bought it. The action ended with the hightest bidder reaching $3,700 - reserve not met!

Clearly this was one seller who couldn't stick to his FIRM price.

Very nice car you have - I personally would never sell it.

 

Exactly. If I was in the OP position I would have taken the $33k and thanked the buyer for coming out so quickly. 'Cause now he still has a car he doesn't want which also means he doesn't have the money to go buy the car that he actually does want.

And another thing... just because you spent another $7k on it doesn't mean it's worth $7k more in most cases. I know it sucks to lose out on money you put into it but stop putting money into something you don't want. Like it's been said before, it's only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. You could wait forever for the one buyer that'll pay $40k for it or sell it now for $33k and go get that other car you want.

And a third thing... the thought that just because someone has $33k in cash must some how mean they also have a spare $2 laying around is bogus. If that's all the buyer has then that's all they have.

I also don't think that "this car will not sell for a penny less than $35k" means "we are agreeing that you will pay me $35k for my car". it means you're set on a selling price and in most instances, cash talks. When I bought my tudor sedan, the seller told me "i will not take less than $6k for this car". It was in my garage two weeks later for $5k.

Just my $.02. Shit, I'd call the guy back and ask if he still wants it.

 

yeah, and especially not at 2am either.

 

When someone says, "it's not about the money, it's about the principle", I laugh, because it's ALWAYS about the money.

 

Sort of the same but different.

Had my 56 up for sale and had agreed to sell it too a Swedish guy who was going to put some monster big block in it. No money had changed hands at this time.

Then got a call from another guy in the UK who just HAD TO HAVE MY CAR!.

Ok send me £2k deposit on it now and the car is yours.

Rang the guy in Sweden to tell him that I had a buyer that had sent me a deposit and had agreed to pay the full asking price, he was cool about it so all was good.

Deposit arrives that day and arrangements are made for him and his wife to come over and collect the car at the weekend.

Nice guy, turns up with his wife and we have a chat and a cup of tea before he wants to have a look at the car and go out for a drive.

Go out and start her up for them and the wife jumps 2-3ft and starts to laugh, her comment its a bit loud. What do you expect from a Big Block with 3.5" exhausts??

Go out for a little drive and the guy asks me to show him what it can do, always more than happy to oblige.

Get back home and all smiles from the guy, tells me he is just going to get the cash out of his car so I go back inside to get all the paperwork etc.

Come back out and he looks a bit sheepish and says that his wife wont let him buy it because it is too loud! Tell him to put some different exhausts on it and stop being gay. He then tells me no, the deal is off and CAN HE HAVE HIS DEPOSIT BACK!

Mmmm... let me think about that for a nano second.... How about No...

30 minutes later he leaves after the mother and father of all arguments, minus the car and minus his deposit.

Lesson learned, always get a deposit.

Second lesson learned, I hate selling cars....

P.

 

I don't care whether an ad says "firm" or not.

I'm gonna offer less.

I have the right to offer any amount I want.

The seller has the right to accept any amount they want.


Rich

 

Yup, he speaks the truth.

 

Car is OT, but same principal, asking $5600 for a Caddy,guy says ok will go at $5200, shows up with $5100," gee I thought you said 5100"?? told him to take a hike, shows up a few min later with the other 100, next week car's for sale at 6500 , needless hope he got screwed

 

Only to the unprincipled

 

x 2

 

Where in the OP's story (re-quoted here for you) does it say that the caller agreed to any price?
Where in he story does it say the guy claimed to have the money?
The seller agrees to meet him at 2:00am so he has nothing to complain about there either, the guy showed up as agreed upon.
About the only thing in this story that makes any sense is that it proves that most people agree that FIRM really doesn't mean anything, except maybe to the OP.
It's just part of the game when selling anything used. That's the way it is and why some guys will pay other guys to sell their shit for them - they don't want to deal with the reality of the situation.

 

I sold my 31 full fendered, boxed frame, TCI frontend Av8 to a guy from Milwaukee. I was asking 21,000 he talked me down to 19,000. I later found out he has 9 or 10 nice cars & owns his own business with 20 employees. He for sure had the money, but I guess that's how the rich stay rich & I made about a nickel an hour building that car.

 

JimV57 is right; if he had $33K, he also had $35K. You did the right thing by sending him on his way.

 

"Do you have any clue about what you are talking about."

At this time I would like to thank the members who offered their advice on how to sell a car. However I doubt whether I will ever use it.
To begin with I did not just fall off the turnip truck. I have been selling, buying and building street rods and customs for over 30 years. I know the value of a 32 Ford steel 5-W coupe whether it is in this market or not and for $35.K you will not find too many quality turn key drive them away cars. So I have a very desireable and sought after item for sale at a reasonable price, that is the reason for the term "FIRM". Also it was a limited time window sale so I could buy another car. I was not a desperate seller. He knew the terms and simply believed in the BULL SHIT saying that cash talks and he can buy it at his price. Sorry, he did not get it for the cash and I am not sorry I did not take the money.

 

Did ya sell it since?

 

Could have told him that you will keep the fenders, running boards, and bumpers.... then after he leaves with the car...sell the rest of the stuff for 2-3 K...??? just a thought, not trying to be an ass hole.

 

In a way, he did...

To own that car, the guy had to outbid roddin-shack on his car.


He didn't, so the car is ( still) with the guy that values it most.