Tactics for selling used vehicles

[Great68]

Originally Posted by underscore

That sheet looks funky, aren't torque and hp supposed to cross at 5252rpm? Why are they crossing at 3800ish?

I dunno, ask Racing Greed.

[Great68]

Originally Posted by originalhypa

That torque curve (can I call it that?) is so peaky, then it drops off like a rock

I'm honestly starting to like big cubes. Add a blower to a Tundra, and you're in similar power territory, except with a starting point of 5.7L

And just look at that torque. Those are tire spinning numbers, all day long.



I guarantee that this is more fun to drive, sounds better, and will prove to be more reliable in the long run.

That said, I'm not in the market for a supercharger, and I probably wouldn't mess with the stock turbos on my daily driver. I still have nightmares of my FMIC hose blowing off at 22 psi on the Rocket Rally dyno. Scared the shit out of me, Pat, and anyone else who was in earshot.

I was just talking about low end punch in the back factor that you mention. No argument there about V8 sound.

Debateable about reliability though, this was with simple bolt ons: Intakes, exhaust, intercooler and an OTS tune (SCT). Stock longblock & turbos. A supercharger's a pretty "major" bolt on, definately at much more cost as well.

[Great68]

Going back to the original topic of the thread, I've sold every one of my vehicles at my asking price

Although for my old Ranger I had one guy pull the "I thought ad said $5000"
Me: Nope, $6500
Next day sold the truck for the full $6500 to someone else, first dude called me back that next day asking "Hey is your truck still for sale"
Me: "Nope sold today"
Him: "Do you mind telling me how much?"
Me: "What I asked"

I think a lot of it has to do with:

- Complete service history, document everything, highlight all recent work especially if you have receipts

- Good pictures, after a wash in good lighting, good setting, good resolution, lots of angles, take picture of odo not just a vague kms number

- Act professionally, like a salesman would. Reply to requests promptly, in full proper english, none of this abbreviated texting bullshit.

- Price is always what I consider fair, I do my research about where it should be based on what else I see out there for condition, features & mileage. Some people think way too much of themselves simply keeping a car clean thinking it should be the most valuable one of its range. I'll take a bit of dirt and grime and an unhacked car over 20,000 extra kilometers on the odo and a bunch of "mods" even if that car is spotless.

- I don't accept any offer given to me by email, I always reply with "How about you come see the car and we can negotiate price at that time". Really gives me the upper hand over keyboard warrior introverts that cave at real human interaction. Also helps weed out the people who aren't really serious.

[Great68]

Originally Posted by whitev70r

It's part of the 'game'. Human nature to want to get a few hundred dollars off a big ticket item. Just play along ... why get all pissy about it? Life is too short. If that question pisses you off, stay off CL.

I don't know why you're getting failed.

In my opinion price on EVERYTHING used is negotiable.

I've paid full asking for many things that I felt were at a reasonable amount where I wanted to pay, but I've also thrown out lower offers when ads said firm because I knew those people were asking space case prices.

Worst they say is "no", so I either say "fine" and pay full if I really want it or walk away. No skin off my back, and I don't give a shit if some stranger is butthurt, what's it to me? I don't lowball though, don't cut someone's asking price in half and think you're going to get it for that, this isn't pawn stars. In my example above I didn't get upset the guy wanted to hit me $1500 lower than I was asking (I wouldn't even have considered that a lowball) I just stood my ground cause I knew what I wanted and what it was worth.

[hud 91gt]

Originally Posted by underscore

That sheet looks funky, aren't torque and hp supposed to cross at 5252rpm? Why are they crossing at 3800ish?

I thought that too, until I realize the Torque scale on the left is different then the HP scale on the right.

[fliptuner]

Originally Posted by fliptuner

If I buy it, will you pay 1yr of personal plates?

WZ HYPZ

At Autoplan, picking up application

[originalhypa]

Originally Posted by Gh0stRider

Which vehicle was that?

Yours.


No damage done outside of the heart attack I had when the hose blew off. And that's why I stopped running the APS 750 fmic. Too much lag, too much hose blowoff.

Originally Posted by Great68

Debateable about reliability though, this was with simple bolt ons: Intakes, exhaust, intercooler and an OTS tune (SCT). Stock longblock & turbos. A supercharger's a pretty "major" bolt on, definately at much more cost as well.

Agreed that a supercharger is more than a bolt on, that's for sure. Pricing out the blower for my Tundra, and it's currently sitting at $6800 usd. That's ready to bolt on with everything you need, but you're probably lookin at $500 to install, then tuning time. It does go beyond just simple BPU+ modifications.

I've been reading about the Ford TT V6 and the more I read, the more impressed I am.



For the record, the reason the torque curve looks like this is because the boost peaked (or spiked) low in the rev range, then they probably had to taper it down. The factory Borg Warner turbos on the V6 are pretty small. Just like what we used to do with the stock WRX turbo, spike them at low rpm, then taper down before heat ruins the party.

Originally Posted by fliptuner

At Autoplan, picking up application

[Limitless]

Replying to OP:

A lot of it has already been said, but here are my opinions:

Price it fairly, expect to get lowballed at least a couple hundred bucks. This is not always the case, but most of the time it is as people are always looking for 'deals'. If you're firm on a certain price, put the price a few hundred above it and let the buyer round it out.

Be transparent and descriptive about all the pros and cons (maintenance done, records, any damages/mechanical issues). Try to answer all the questions you would ask if you were to buy a used car, that way the sale goes quicker and you don't have to answer the same questions over and over again.

Emphasize all good selling points, present the cons thoroughly but in a positive manner if you can.

Take detailed pictures of exterior, interior, and the cluster. Preferably good lighting and at good angles, good pictures will grab the most attention.

Be a nice guy. Try your best to be accommodating and not cocky, no one likes it when people who try to sell their cars think buyers aren't worth their time. That being said, try to minimize negotiating and test drives until the buyer has actually seen the car and expressed a decent amount of interest in buying it.


I find that it's much easier to sell a car at a good price within the first few weeks than it is to have the car sit on the listings for months. If there are things that are easy to fix and doesn't cost a lot, I would fix them and use it to your advantage. It's easier to spend $30 on parts and a bit of your time to present a cleaner car. GLWS!

[mr00jimbo]

I've only sold one car privately, and the experience still sours me 13 years later.

People will call you and waste your fucking time with questions and you know they won't buy it. "Oh...it says 9k...I see another one listed for 8k..."

I had one guy call me when I had a car listed for say, 11k. He kept offering me 9k, every day. I kept telling him no. Then one day he called to offer 9k and I told him it was sold and he flipped out.

Somehow selling a car brings out really lonely, bored people.

I had somebody downshift from 5th to 2nd without rev matching and asked if the car had transmission issues when it jerked hard. Thankfully 2nd was tall enough to still be below redline at that speed.

But dealers will offer you little, so unless you want the dealer to take thousands in value, you gotta go through it.

[smoothie.]

HOT CHICK IN PICTURES

generates traffic

traffic generates interest

[underscore]

^ the Richard Hammond school of naming, just misspell it "Angelina Jolie Topless"

[exilegod]

if your car can't sell for a long time it means your price is too high. lower the price, that might help

just personal experience

[banshee]

Originally Posted by underscore

...kijiji. All I got from listing there was a bunch of calls from the knobs at AutoDex trying to get info for insurance payouts. They pretend to be searching for a replacement car for a client. It wouldn't be so bad if they kept track of who they called, but I got calls from them repeatedly for the same ad. I started just making stuff up to give them useless info to sell.

Can you elaborate on this a bit? I might be selling a car soon.

[banshee]

Re: hagglers and low-ballers.

What I've done is list it for a fair price and be upfront with any deficiencies/problems.

And then say that I'm open to talking price but they'll have to defend their (lower) offer. Usually, they can't.

[underscore]

Originally Posted by banshee

Can you elaborate on this a bit? I might be selling a car soon.

They would call up asking about the car, typically going one question at a time through all the stuff already in the ad (ie does it still have xxx km, does it have this motor, does it have this trans, does it have power windows). After wasting a ton of your time they'll say they're searching for a vehicle for a customer and will contact you if the customer is interested. What they're really trying to do is gather information to sell to an insurance company that is trying to determine how much to pay out to someone with a similar car that has been totaled. They have zero interest in purchasing your vehicle.

[Energy]

Price it fairly and try to have a presentable ad.

When I say presentable I mean multiple good photos showing the entire car - interior and exterior. I hate when ads only have one or two photos or if the photos are grainy or taken in the dark.

Its also good to use proper grammar and punctuation.

[originalhypa]

Originally Posted by Energy

Its also good to use proper grammar and punctuation.

This is one thing that a lot of people forget. You're entering into a business deal with someone so you should put in the time and effort to show that you're as professional as possible. If you are too lazy to use proper grammar, chances are you're too lazy to maintain your vehicle. Messy car = messy life, and vice versa.

[fliptuner]

The same can be said for weeding out shitty buyers. I don't know how many times I've edged out other people, purely cause I can form a proper email, include a contact number and say please and thank you.


I don't waste my time responding to people that send shitty emails.

[underscore]

Originally Posted by fliptuner

The same can be said for weeding out shitty buyers. I don't know how many times I've edged out other people, purely cause I can form a proper email, include a contact number and say please and thank you.


I don't waste my time responding to people that send shitty emails.

I once got an email with just a number. No questions, no hey is it available, just:

6k

I didn't respond.

[originalhypa]

Update on my truck sale.
Thanks to this thread, i have found a buyer for my 2010. He's a handsome fellow with great hair (no ghey ). One could say he is a legend among men. He is also an old school revscene member.

Fast forward to Thursday. I'm on main and marine popping into the chicken place for lunch before I hit up the Toyota dealer to order my new truck.

Guy in a euro suv is parked close to me. Close enough that I can't get into my vehicle. He sees this and comes outside to move his suv. That's when I noticed he scraped my drivers side door as he was pulling into the spot.

I calmly bring this up to him, and he denies it right away. I point out that there is a new scratch on my door, that just happens to line up with a new scratch on his front bumper. I insist that he comes out to talk to me, which he eventually does.

Long story short, the guy who hit me is an old school revscene member himself. He was embarrassed that he hit hypa's truck and took responsibility.

Now I have a new truck on order, and an old truck that I need to take care of before the sale goes through.

I didn't even get my chicken.

[underscore]

Marco911 is buying a 2010 Tundra?

[originalhypa]

He needs something to tow his old Volkswagen.

[quasi]

After so many time wasters on CL last year I relisted my bike again last week. Had an email first day, guy said was interested but was going out of town so wouldn't be available to look at it for a few days, I think yeah right.

He actually calls a few days later, comes and looks at it, makes me a reasonable offer and hands me a cash deposit on the spot. Comes back the following Monday (yesterday) hands me an envelope of cash I hand him the registration and title, he loads it on his trailer done deal.

Smoothest vehicle sale by far. As many tire kickers and moron time wasters as there are there is always that one person that is somewhat reasonable.

[SkunkWorks]

Originally Posted by quasi

After so many time wasters on CL last year I relisted my bike again last week. Had an email first day, guy said was interested but was going out of town so wouldn't be available to look at it for a few days, I think yeah right.

He actually calls a few days later, comes and looks at it, makes me a reasonable offer and hands me a cash deposit on the spot. Comes back the following Monday (yesterday) hands me an envelope of cash I hand him the registration and title, he loads it on his trailer done deal.

Smoothest vehicle sale by far. As many tire kickers and moron time wasters as there are there is always that one person that is somewhat reasonable.

That's awesome.

From my experience, anytime anyone says "I'm serious", it has always been a flaker or tirekicker.

[fliptuner]

Originally Posted by originalhypa

Update on my truck sale.
Thanks to this thread, i have found a buyer for my 2010. He's a handsome fellow with great hair (no ghey ). One could say he is a legend among men. He is also an old school revscene member.

Dat me, DAT ME !!!

So easy to deal with normal people who know how to communicate, take care of their shit and keep their word.

Hypa needed the truck for a bit longer, while he got his new truck set-up and I wasn't in a rush anyways. We settled on a price right off the bat and a few weeks later, I paid and picked it up. No concerns on either end that the deal would fall through, even though some time had passed.

I was actually looking for a higher trim level (same body configuration), with a couple of bells and whistles but couldn't pass up on something I know was well maintained and has all the mods that will keep it going, reliably, for years to come. Super excited to take this bad boy on a roadtrip.

Thanks again, dude!