So I know Nocturnx just went through this selling his Monte, but now I have to share my small view.

As I mentioned in a different thread, my wife and I bought an '05 Impala with 150K miles on it. We've decided to definately sell her '94 Grand Am (which has 177K on it). I've had perhaps 6 calls in say 3 days I've had it listed (which I think is great considering the holidays), but I have yet to get anyone to come look at the car.

Funny Item #1-
I have listed it on Craigslist stating "Runs Great". Most common question "Does it run?". I'm thinking they did not read much about it, but I politely answer it each time. The other common question (which makes a lot more sense to me) is "What's wrong with it?". That makes a LOT more sense.

Funny Item #2-
I got a call from someone who claimed she'll be calling me back soon as she'll be getting her income tax return soon and then can afford to buy the car. My thought was perhaps wait to make calls until after you have the money (but that's my opinion).

Annoying Item #1-
I posted the car at 2am (yes, 2 AM, I was up late). At 4am I got my first call about it. Now, I only entertained it thinking "well, perhaps they saw the time stamp of when I listed it, I'll give a little on this inappropriate hour for calling". It was a prank call. The guy sounded all serious and then asked "So does it have front air bags" and I informed "it only has the driveside air bag it came with", he asked "Well, what happens if me and my friends get in an accident" (and I heard laughing in the back ground). I politely responded and asked "Are you serious about this or putting me on", he claimed his buddies were playing with his PC, hence the laughter. I entertained one more question and hung up on him when that question was "So, does this car have junk in the trunk?"

Annoying Item #2-
When people ask for an address to see the car, state a time they will be by to look at it and become a no-call, no-show.

I know none of this is abnormal. I'm sure eventually someone will make a serious nibble. And for all I know, it could be one of these people I mentioned above (excluding annoying person #1). Key element is to be polite and honest, as you never know what will happen.

 

Good luck, selling a car is a nightmare. I didn't put my phone number on my craigslist ad, and don't think I would bother using craigslist again, I got nothing but weirdo emails from craigslist. I did put it on cars.com though and I sold my car to someone that saw it on Cars.com, I would do cars.com and autotrader again, and maybe ebay, I mostly got low ball offers on ebay though.

 

You should have told him "Ya! Yo Mama is in the trunk"!!! LOL

 

sounds like when i was trying to sell that eagle talon i bought for $2.... if that kid had'int shown up cash in hand when he did i was gonna smash it through the woods and scrap it. i hate dealing with people, lol. and i got pretty much all the same questions about it too.

 

I got lowballed alot so I just let them see it and if they said the lowball Im like sorry but Im not letting it go for that much. Took about 2 weeks to sell though.

 

Thanks for the laugh, and GLWS.

 

No doubt, it takes a while to get a serious offer that pans through. It's just dealing with people till the right one comes by.

I honestly expected to run this Grand Am until it's last stop would be the junk yard. This Impala was an odd change to this formula (and a good one in my opinion).

 

I've sold several cars using a local internet provider's free classifieds. In fact, it works so well it's become the only place I advertise, unless I try to sell something like one of my Daytonas, which have a small cult following. In that case I would try a forum like this dedicated to them first. God forbid I'd ever try to sell my Pace Car, but once again, I'd give you guys first shot.
Interestingly enough, I found my Pace Car on Craigslist.
Some of that stuff does indeed sound familiar, although I've never had any prank calls. I only give out my phone number if a potential buyer asks for it in an email.
As a purchaser, one thing that annoys me are ads that say "I don't really care if I sell this or not." OK then, don't advertise it? :p

 

We sold our '50 Chevy truck through the craigslist.... but I bought the Torino off craigslist. You get a few annoying calls, whcih I will confess I'm guilty of a few.

The first one is people asking "Do you still have it?" I hate being asked this, but as a person who has called someone all excited only to hear "I sold it two weeks ago." , I kind of understand. So I can tolerate this one pretty well.

Wait til you try to buy a car and it turns out to be a scam. Usually the price is way too low when you see this. The most common way is you'll find something like a newly restored '66 Mustang coupe and all these gorgeous pictures, and they want like $8,000 for a car that has $20,000 invested in it. There will be no phone number, and when you send an e-mail to the person asking about checking the car out, they will tell you "The car is packaged in a shipping crate and ready to be delivered to your port." It turns out, they want you to wire the money to a Swiss bank account or something. My dad has been known to report this to authorities.

Here is one that you better watch out for, my friend. Someone will call you and tell you they're going to send you money or something for the car right now (without looking at it) and they'll say they're going to send you via a cashiers check or wire the money to you or something, and it will be like $500 over your asking price. They'll then claim they are sending someone to pick up the car, and ask you to give them $500 and the car when they get there. Turns out, the check is bogus and you just lost $500, the car ,and they'll have the tags transferred across 2-3 states by the time you realize what has happened. Never happened to me, but I've heard stories on TalkRadio financial advisors about this happening.

Craigslist is a slipperly little place, but a person with some common sense can survive and get good deals. I've got a 429 engine on their right now if you'd like to buy it for $1000.

 

Good Points Cowboy!
The question "Is it still for sale" I think is a very valid question. And understood when getting those.
The scam you mentioned about a cashiers check or wiring funds and having someone pick up the car I think is a scam Nocturnx had when he was selling his Monte.

My general rule of thumb, no personal checks, cash talks and a cashier's check must be validated. When payment is approved, keys and title go to the new owner.

I've also had a couple of calls asking "Where's the car at?". I repeat the location clearly listed on Craigslist and get "Where's that?" (I follow up with "Where are you at?" and so far, I know round-about where the caller is from enough to give approximate directions).

Hopefully we'll get a nibble soon. I would be thrilled to have a serious buyer arrange to come out and see the car (yet to get that far).