Shit People Say When Trying To Reduce The Price Of Your Car

[Hanaldo]

I noticed you have an aftermarket stereo in it, do you still have the factory japanese stereo to supply with the sale?

That's not too silly a question, I've still got 90% of my stock parts. Worth asking really.

Have only had two cars, my first Vectra and the Skyline. When I sold the Vectra, I had this guy get a mechanic to come and inspect the car which was fair enough. Got a call from the guy a few days later saying the mechanic had told him the car was really well looked after, but the brand new tyres I had just put on it were the wrong speed rating, hence I should drop my price from $6500 to $5000? First of all, the tyres had a 'V' rating. This is a 4-cylinder Vectra. Please tell me why a Vectra needs tyres with a speed rating higher than 240km/h? Secondly, these tyres cost me $120 each. You don't want em for whatever stupid reason, then you go ahead and replace them; why would I drop the price $1500 for tyres!?

[France]

Being an ex-car salesman and reading this thread gives me some lols

One I used to always get is when the buyer tells me that they will pay in cash as an attempt to lower the price dramatically... Makes no effing difference how you pay mate...

[Greekos]

i used to find it easy to sell cars and bikes about 4+ years ago now its just a nightmare, soo many retards it not worth dealing with them.

[Daleo]

4 years ago you started dealing with people born in the 90's.

Nuff said.

Edited December 30, 2012 by Daleo

[Daleo]

When I was selling my Crummydore ute, I told the prospective buyer my asking price; he then offered me a thousand dollars MORE than my price.

Being the flexible, accommodating individual I am; I accepted.

This is of course balanced by the same individual ringing me over a year later, to inform me that the exhaust had fallen off the car. He wanted to know what I planned to do about it.

Over 40,000km of driving on dirt roads doing mine surveys in a lowered Commodore ute with 18" wheels.

I told him to take it to a particular exhaust place in my area, and get them to repair it (I had no prior arrangement with them, nor had I ever even been there).

Then I told him to tell them I was paying, and to just drive the car away.

I have no idea how this ended, but I never got another phone call.

Dickhead.

Edited December 30, 2012 by Daleo

[Howaitonaito]

When selling my old bluebird U13 LX..."oh it hasnt got head up display" - no shit its the base model and the best one was "oh its not an SR20?"- no its an australian delivered one KA24DE oh how about a grand ($1500 asking price with 10 months NSW rego)..... The NSW central coast i tell you have some the biggest idiots/cheapskates (not all)

[Howaitonaito]

When selling my old bluebird U13 LX..."oh it hasnt got head up display" - no shit its the base model and the best one was "oh its not an SR20?"- no its an australian delivered one KA24DE oh how about a grand ($1500 asking price with 10 months NSW rego)..... The NSW central coast i tell you have some the biggest idiots/cheapskates (not all)

[Howaitonaito]

When selling my old bluebird U13 LX..."oh it hasnt got head up display" - no shit its the base model and the best one was "oh its not an SR20?"- no its an australian delivered one KA24DE oh how about a grand ($1500 asking price with 10 months NSW rego)..... The NSW central coast i tell you have some the biggest idiots/cheapskates (not all)

[Howaitonaito]

Sorry for thw tripple post. Damn phone

[bunnybash]

phew... thought I was going to get a mention in this thread when I jokingly low balled on OP Axis...

I didn't try to knock money off though, just told him my budget, which was a bit less than his car... which is worth every cent of the asking price and then some!!!

[loymclure]

Being an ex-car salesman and reading this thread gives me some lols

One I used to always get is when the buyer tells me that they will pay in cash as an attempt to lower the price dramatically... Makes no effing difference how you pay mate...

actually it does... Paying cash means keeping the total of the sale off the books (totally illegal) and lowering your tax every year by making your submitted profit margin smaller...

I thought this is how I have been able to pay $4k less on both my stageas. Rocked up with a cotton sack full of cash, made an offer of what i thought i could get for the car listened to the counter and then got the extras like rego thrown in.

buying private its different then buying from a dealer, every one knows they inflate the price by big margins and then drop it with hardly effort required to make the perspective buyer seem like he's had a win

the old saying "cash talks bullshit walks"

[Mr 20Valve]

I see what you're saying about keeping things off the books & tax free, but how would a dealership make an entire car disappear of their books entirely? The paper trail of getting it transferred & registered would make that pretty much impossible...

[loymclure]

I see what you're saying about keeping things off the books & tax free, but how would a dealership make an entire car disappear of their books entirely? The paper trail of getting it transferred & registered would make that pretty much impossible...

not a complete sale and i wont go into specifics, but ill give you a small Illegal example -

I pay ol mate 14K for a car he wanted 18k for. He writes me out a reciept for 10K. My stamp duty is lowered by a couple houndred. He says he only made 2K on the car as he only payed 8K for it.... he makes less profit on the books, he pays less tax at the end of the year... and he gets 2K tax free.

[Daleo]

not a complete sale and i wont go into specifics, but ill give you a small Illegal example -

I pay ol mate 14K for a car he wanted 18k for. He writes me out a reciept for 10K. My stamp duty is lowered by a couple houndred. He says he only made 2K on the car as he only payed 8K for it.... he makes less profit on the books, he pays less tax at the end of the year... and he gets 2K tax free.

With this scenario, I've heard of people being refused market value insurance based on artificially low receipt values given to the RTA at transfer.

Seems like a bit of a risk to save a negligible amount on stamp duty, and then not be able to insure for full value; although it could also be argued that if you get a bargain, that's your good luck, not the RTA's or your prospective insurer.

[Seano350GT]

I sell cars, paying cash DOES NOT help the dealership at all. I make more money off finance than i do off someone giving me a bank cheque so i am more flexible with a finance deal rather than a cash deal. But in saying that, people always try to break my balls by saying shit like "give me your best price" "what's your best price" "can you email me your best price so i can go and shop you at the next dealership then i will ask you to drop the price by 5k"

The average customer doesn't know how to negotiate a deal properly.

Also in regards to "why do people trade cars in when you get nothing for them?"

Sure, you won't get as much as you want when trading the car in but the price that i offer you is right here and right now. Whereas if you want to sell it privately for 5k more, sure go ahead put it on the side of the road for 6 months and i garauntee you it won't move.. (depending on what it is) plus the fact that i have to recondition the car and roadworthy, detail then advertise for sale THEN put warranty on the car. That makes the price difference between trading in and selling privately.

[Daleo]

I sell cars, paying cash DOES NOT help the dealership at all. I make more money off finance than i do off someone giving me a bank cheque so i am more flexible with a finance deal rather than a cash deal. But in saying that, people always try to break my balls by saying shit like "give me your best price" "what's your best price" "can you email me your best price so i can go and shop you at the next dealership then i will ask you to drop the price by 5k"

The average customer doesn't know how to negotiate a deal properly.

Also in regards to "why do people trade cars in when you get nothing for them?"

Sure, you won't get as much as you want when trading the car in but the price that i offer you is right here and right now. Whereas if you want to sell it privately for 5k more, sure go ahead put it on the side of the road for 6 months and i garauntee you it won't move.. (depending on what it is) plus the fact that i have to recondition the car and roadworthy, detail then advertise for sale THEN put warranty on the car. That makes the price difference between trading in and selling privately.

Interesting that so many guys have worked in Car sales.

A couple of points.

The average car salesman has no idea how to negotiate a deal properly either.

They think because they're on the other side of the table; they're Donald f**king Trump. You work in a car yard pal, nothing more.

I tried to buy a car from a salesman, and every time I asked what he could do for me, he would write it on a piece of paper and slide it over to me. WTF?

I grabbed his pen and wrote "Talk to me or I'm leaving" and he just changed the numbers on the paper.

TALK TO ME FARKIN! You're not selling a car to a piece of paper, you're selling to me.

Most seem to think that because they're surrounded by cars everyday; they automatically know everything about cars.

This is almost never true and frankly baffles me; I my job, I need to know EVERYTHING about all of the equipment I use; that's how I do my job well.

These dopes mostly don't know their arses from their elbows.

How can you GUARANTEE that a car won't sell privately? That's a stupid generalisation.

It's also the fearmongering that salesmen use to beat down a trade-in. Just like the old "These aren't in demand right now", yeah; right.

People trade in for convenience; not to make money, or the smart ones do. Generally they are trading a car with shit wrong with it anyway and don't want the agro.

As for recondition & roadworthy; if the trade-in's a nugget that you didn't spot; you aren't going to "Recondition" it, you'll just wholesale it.

If it's good, the yard might wash it, spray some greasy shite in the engine bay, and spray some skinky shit inside.

Rego is a "value adder" come sale time.

A friend's brother bought a brand Aston Martin convertible 6 months ago; he'd waited over 6 months for it to be delivered. When he arrived to pick it up, it was in an underground carpark, covered in dust. WTF? Once the "Salesman" brought his out into the light, he saw it was COVERED in scratches! A brand new $400,000+ Aston convertible with a 21 layer black paintjob with scratches before it had even left the dealership!

I could not believe it when he told me. It had it's first paint correction before it was even delivered. they blamed the "detailer"

Good salespeople are very few & far between in my experience, and it doesn't seem to matter how much money you are spending; they all seem to have the whiff of "Gary Blogg Used Cars" about them.

The good ones must make a fortune, because the bad ones are soooo bad.

This is not a criticism of you in particular Sean, just observations of a generally poor industry.

[PN-Mad]

Nail head etc again Dale.

I sold bbqs once. Did I know a thing about em? Nup, just they cook meat. You made some shit up, people liked it, and bought one. It takes a very special person to sell car well, because they have to balance so many variables. The only respect I have are for the ones that work high end, who will really go out of their way to help. Hypothetical example, if I sold that Aston, and it was in that condition, I would be ashamed. Dead set ashamed. If I was taking 400k off someone, I would deliver it myself, make sure everything went smooth, I'd even farkin feed your dog while you went away for the weekend! Service is what people remember, and IMO Australian service is piss poor.

Going to stop now and press post before I rant any more!

[loymclure]

lol Dales #1 best seller in australia.

All jokes aside 100% agree with Dale

[Seano350GT]

Interesting that so many guys have worked in Car sales.

A couple of points.

The average car salesman has no idea how to negotiate a deal properly either.

They think because they're on the other side of the table; they're Donald f**king Trump. You work in a car yard pal, nothing more.

I tried to buy a car from a salesman, and every time I asked what he could do for me, he would write it on a piece of paper and slide it over to me. WTF?

I grabbed his pen and wrote "Talk to me or I'm leaving" and he just changed the numbers on the paper.

TALK TO ME FARKIN! You're not selling a car to a piece of paper, you're selling to me.

Most seem to think that because they're surrounded by cars everyday; they automatically know everything about cars.

This is almost never true and frankly baffles me; I my job, I need to know EVERYTHING about all of the equipment I use; that's how I do my job well.

These dopes mostly don't know their arses from their elbows.

How can you GUARANTEE that a car won't sell privately? That's a stupid generalisation.

It's also the fearmongering that salesmen use to beat down a trade-in. Just like the old "These aren't in demand right now", yeah; right.

People trade in for convenience; not to make money, or the smart ones do. Generally they are trading a car with shit wrong with it anyway and don't want the agro.

As for recondition & roadworthy; if the trade-in's a nugget that you didn't spot; you aren't going to "Recondition" it, you'll just wholesale it.

If it's good, the yard might wash it, spray some greasy shite in the engine bay, and spray some skinky shit inside.

Rego is a "value adder" come sale time.

A friend's brother bought a brand Aston Martin convertible 6 months ago; he'd waited over 6 months for it to be delivered. When he arrived to pick it up, it was in an underground carpark, covered in dust. WTF? Once the "Salesman" brought his out into the light, he saw it was COVERED in scratches! A brand new $400,000+ Aston convertible with a 21 layer black paintjob with scratches before it had even left the dealership!

I could not believe it when he told me. It had it's first paint correction before it was even delivered. they blamed the "detailer"

Good salespeople are very few & far between in my experience, and it doesn't seem to matter how much money you are spending; they all seem to have the whiff of "Gary Blogg Used Cars" about them.

The good ones must make a fortune, because the bad ones are soooo bad.

This is not a criticism of you in particular Sean, just observations of a generally poor industry.

I definitely agree with you on that! I just recently have been helping my partner find a used Fiesta and went into Holden.

The first question the sales person asked me was "can i help you?" and obviously i replied "No just looking" (and he walked away) which is called an RDR or Reactionary Defence Responce. Basically a quick reaction a customer uses because they want to avoid the sales person. I later found out that he had been working there for close to 12 months, that poor bastard i don't know how he is still in his job when everyone would tell him to f*ck off because he doesn't know how to approach a customer correctly..

By the way the exchanges of paper is called a write up, we have to do it. But the way that he did it is atrocious lol i would have laughed at him for presenting it like that.

About the trade in, yes you are correct. If it's a $1 car we will wholesale it but if the car is sell-able there is a process that the car MUST go through no matter how tidy the car is for us to warrant it. We do our own servicing when we first get the car into stock and that's usually a couple hours work depending on what needs to be done. Sometimes it's a very costly recondition (in my experience i've had gearboxes, steering racks you name it) therefore the price of the vehicle will be sold at a little extra to cover that cost.

I definitely agree with you that the car sales industry is in tatters, i have had a shit load of training in my work and my monthly commission cheque has seen close to 5 figures. Sure i don't know everything about what i do but i do like to consider myself good at my job.

Edited December 31, 2012 by Seano350GT

[Raysboostin]

Hey Hey All,

I'm selling my Stag and over the years selling other cars I am gobsmacked at the shit people say and do to try and get a price reduction, It infuriates me so much I'm keen to hear what other amazing shit others have listened to.

So far this year I have heard:

Geez there are a few nicks on the door - It's 10 years old mate if you want a new car buy a new car

The car has a slight squeak that will cost a grand to fix - on what planet!

Will you take half the asking price - Why yes of course I will and the other half on pick up

If I pay cash will you knock $5k off - No I wont

Can I do burnout to test the power - Umm No, but good luck it's 4WD

It's a shame the leather isnt brand new - Car is 10 years old what did you expect

It doesnt have the Japanese Sat nav - Well we are in Sydney and I know where I am going

It's got so much more lag than a Legnum - Buy a legnum then

Will you sell me the roof racks, cargo blind and cargo net as I like another stagea that doesnt have them - Yes I will $14,500 the lot. .

So tell me what you have heard. .

some of the things idiots say are astounding. those are gold. the best i ever had was a guy ask if i would get a car (91 laser) resprayed for him at no extra charge (sale price $3K)

On the same car, "Can my mate take it for a drive for a couple of hours (without you); that way we can work out if it's any good?"

For sure; pay full price, and you never have to bring it back. Maybe you'd like my credit cards too?

Dickheads.

i had a guy ask if he paid a deposit on my holden ute if he could take it for the whole weekend to see if he liked it. yeah sure cos i loan out cars im selling to total strangers so they can move house.

Or an ET Turbo Pulsar I was selling;

"Will you just sell me the turbo?" Yep; $8000, comes with a car wrapped around it.

"But I don't want the car, just the turbo" Well maybe you should looking in the "wrecking" section, not the "Cars for sale" section...

"You're a dickhead mate!" Yes, yes; I'm the dickhead....

Dickheads...

i was selling a turbo kit and had a guy want to buy just the turbo. the kicker was he wanted to pay for it in promised paint jobs (he wasnt a business just some guy ive never heard of).

Or you get a call with "give your best / bottom price".

Always seems to be the same accent. Even got that from a girl once....

oh man im so sick of these txts. i always respond with "price is clearly stated".

one occasion had a guy say "I can get it cheaper elsewhere"

to which i said "buy it there then"

then he said "just sell it to me for $200"(worth $400 but i was selling for $300)

at this point i stopped responding.

lol, i sell cars for a living, i could fill this thread.

could also fill it with awesome retorts i have stored in my head for quick fire response....love my job

the best part which you dont get to play with on the private market is dealing with peoples tradein values. always fun to be had there.

i have recently had a customer give me his price needed to trade in his vehicle, then proceeded to watch me silently search his car for a few minuets,then asked me what are you doing? i replied im just looking for the other ford focus hidden in this one that i wasnt seeing.... he didnt laugh....i did.

never got why anyone would accept trade value. considering the peanuts they offer for them and then the mark up put on trade ins when they sell em.

Being an ex-car salesman and reading this thread gives me some lols

One I used to always get is when the buyer tells me that they will pay in cash as an attempt to lower the price dramatically... Makes no effing difference how you pay mate...

maybe where u worked. every dealership ive ever looked in was willing to knock off a bit extra for cash and thats after screwing them down on the price to the point they would say "thats the best i can do"

With this scenario, I've heard of people being refused market value insurance based on artificially low receipt values given to the RTA at transfer.

Seems like a bit of a risk to save a negligible amount on stamp duty, and then not be able to insure for full value; although it could also be argued that if you get a bargain, that's your good luck, not the RTA's or your prospective insurer.

yep that happend to a mate of mine. got them to write a lower price so he could pay less stamp duty then the insurance company would only cover it for the lower amount (about $5k less than its actual value).

I sell cars, paying cash DOES NOT help the dealership at all. I make more money off finance than i do off someone giving me a bank cheque so i am more flexible with a finance deal rather than a cash deal. But in saying that, people always try to break my balls by saying shit like "give me your best price" "what's your best price" "can you email me your best price so i can go and shop you at the next dealership then i will ask you to drop the price by 5k"

The average customer doesn't know how to negotiate a deal properly.

Also in regards to "why do people trade cars in when you get nothing for them?"

Sure, you won't get as much as you want when trading the car in but the price that i offer you is right here and right now. Whereas if you want to sell it privately for 5k more, sure go ahead put it on the side of the road for 6 months and i garauntee you it won't move.. (depending on what it is) plus the fact that i have to recondition the car and roadworthy, detail then advertise for sale THEN put warranty on the car. That makes the price difference between trading in and selling privately.

yes dealerships make a killing off finance and extras. i dont know how u can talk ppl into your ridiculous 20+% interest rate. a dealer tried to charge my mother $1000 for window tinting. had i not been there she would of paid it, but i told them to shove it. then took the car to the same place they get it done, cost $350.as for selling cars privately, ive heard that dealer BS about putting it on the side of the rd for 6 months. i was told that by a dealer when he offered me half the cars market value. less than a week later i'd sold the car myself at full market value.

Edited December 31, 2012 by Raysboostin