A buddy of mine gave me this article from Hot Rod Magazine and I thought it was good.
No other interaction better displays the
chasm behveen the personalities oftwo car
guys. As a player in the game of buying high
and selling low I see this all the time.
Cutting straight to the most ludicrous
negotiation tactic evet a potential buyer of
my'77 Bronco reminded me repeatedly that
he could sue me for just trying to sell him
a vehicle with a cracked windshield, since
cracked glass was illegal. "Not that I m going
to do that 'he said, "but you should know
that when you consider the price Please,
mister, take the Bronco for free and dont sue
me. Actually, gifting it to that loser might
have been less painful than the next lookyloo,
who came with a lab coat and a slide rule
and spent an hour measuring and testing
every system on the truck before passing on
it because the hood did not have original
paint, which was evident after, oh, 10 seconds
of casual observance. The guy who finally
bought the Bronco showed up with cash and
drove it away within 15 minutes because
most of his decision was made from the photos
I'd sent. My kind of sale. He ended up putting
a small-block Chevy in it, but whatever.
I also love guys who give you an inventory
of the car's damage. "It needs floors that are
at least a grand, a windshield for $ 150, and
a front seat at about $500. So will you knock
$ 1,650 offthe price?" Dude, its a'47 Ford
with no engine. And, no, I wont take payments
or trade it for your mom's old Accord.
I'm also not discounting it because you have
to rent a trailer to pick it up or because you
have to rent storage to hide it from your wife.
I was irritable at a swap meet once, trying
to buy a '63 Dodge. Id waited for one looker
to finish with the seller and then stepped up
and started asking questions, when another
guy butted in with, I'll take it What's the
Book of Car Dudes ruling on that scenario?
I figured I had first right of refusal since I
was there first. The seller wouldnt sell it to
me, even at the full asking price, because he
claimed the butting-in guy got there first. Id
agree if we were both hemming and hawing,
but it didnt go down like that. It was a clear
swoop. It seems eBay has changed the rules.
Buy It Now, everyone else loses.
That said, I'm not a "he called first" guy
when it comes to selling cars via classified
ads. I hate it when a seller wont let me come
look at a car because someone else called
first and said they were on the way. In that
situation, 70 percent of the people won't ever
show up, so the first guy standing there with
the cash is the winner, no matter who got on
the phone first. I've also been in a situation in
which I agreed to a deal, then a second buyer
arrived and offered more than the first guy.
Tempting, but a deal is a deal. You have to sell
to the first player. Not everyone argrees. I once
spent an hour listening to a guy -s life story so
I would seem courteous while viewing his
mint Corvair. I made an offer and told him
cash was in my pocket. He said he'd collect
$100 from me and let me know when bidding
was done. Huh? He wanted to take all
offers and pick the highest one. and the hun
was a deposit to make sureI was Legit. WOw.
Here's the best negotiation story ever
Decades ago at the Pomona Swap Meet. my
pals and I had a swap space. One guy kept
coming back, over and overto look at a
tail light, fondling it and peering from every
angle. Eventuaily he asked how muchand
mybuddy answered 5 bucks. THe guy Fiddled
with it another minute, then offered 50 cent
My Friend said, "Let me see it. took it from
the guy, and slam-dunked it into the ground
Shards of red plastic scattered at the guy's feet
as he screeched, "I needed thatl" Comeback
"Then you should have paid 5 bucks for it. I
just had more than 50 cents worth of fun.
Whythe rant? This morning I tried to sell
a car to a guy who was planning a body swap,
putting it on a late-model chassis. He didn't
buy it because the brakes were bad ,ther power
steering pulley had a wobble.and the last car
he bought blew two tires when he was driving
it home, which was scary. Didn't want to
rent a trailer. Nice guy, but a total chick.
The way I see it, you either you want a car or
you don't. You make an offerandit a Yes or
no proposition. Of course, I'm the aways the guy
who is Right. You Probably are too.
David Freiburger
Love it
