The G6
Showdown
You have read about
a bunch of my phone and text interactions with “buyers”. Today I will tell a
tale of a face to face interaction with a potential buyer. The vehicle was a Metallic Blue 2007 Pontiac G6 with
30k original miles. This car was perfect. I was selling it for one of my BMW
club members. I did my research on what the realistic price for this car would
be comparing to real world comps. This is the best way to gauge a true value
and I listed it at what I thought was a very reasonable price, especially since
it was the lowest mileage one on the market.
I list the car and several hours later I get
a phone call from a very interested party. He said "this sounds like the
exact car I'm looking for and I'll come around tomorrow lunch time to see it”.
I had high hopes. He sounded serious with money burning a hole in his pocket.
Noon arrives, as well as my buyer. The first thing out of his mouth is
"What are all of these cars? Are you a flipper?” I said, these are my
personal cars, they are not for sale (admittedly, it does look like a car lot
with all the cars Sandy and I have collected). He says "Is that a Mercedes
under that cover? What are you asking for that" Yes it’s a Mercedes; no it’s
not for sale, that my wife's SLK. Then he's pointing to the other cars and
asked what was under the other car cover. I said that’s our Alfa Romeo. He then
goes on how those were horrible cars, always breaking down, and the usual
Italian car put downs. This is starting out smashingly, with insults. This was
an indication for things to come.
I quickly direct him to the G6 in the other
driveway. Immediately he tells me all the problems these GM products have and how
he guarantees this car is ripe with issues because he has had a few G6’s & Malibu’s.
I said if you owned so many of these cars and they are so problematic, why do
you still want to buy another one? That doesn’t make any sense does it? I
basically called his bluff. I know his game. Shoot down the car so you can come
in at a low ball offer. This guy doesn't realize I am a professional in this
game.
I open the door, pop the hood for him and
fire the car up. He starts checking under the hood and the first thing out of
his mouth was "This isn't a garage kept car like you said, I can see it stayed
outside. What else aren't you telling me right?" What is this guy talking about? The engine compartment was super clean and had
ZERO signs of being left outside. (see picture).We live in NJ, there’s snow and rain, it’s
not going to be perfectly showroom but it was pretty damn close to it. The
thing that really got me was he was basically calling me a liar. That doesn't
sit well with me at all. I know the owner personally and I picked up the car from the garage. He proceeds with his inspection and tells me the tires are worn, which they
weren't, and they need immediate replacement. They did not. Then he makes up all these other
mythological issues the car had. I thought to myself: Wow, you must be some
kind of savant mechanic because you didn't even sit in the car or drive it yet
and you are telling me it’s going to need thousands of dollars of work, on a
mint condition car with 30,100 miles. The worst part of it all was he did it
with an attitude that he seemed to have starting the moment he arrived to see
the car. I don’t mind someone doing their due diligence when buying a car but
don’t be an ass. My patience was quickly running thin.
Next he asks me how I got the car. I tell him
I am selling the Pontiac for one of my fellow BMW club members, because he is tired
of dealing with people from Craigslist, like you. He just ignored my little dig
at him. He then says "well whose name is it in?" I said the owner’s
name, I am selling it for him as a favor and he just explodes with all kinds of
gibberish like I’m jumping title, what if the DMV questions who he bought it
from, I’m illegally selling the car, etc. I ignore him because I have a legal
contract with the buyer to sell the vehicle on his behalf.
Then he said "what I think is going on
is you bought this car for very cheap and you are trying to sell the car for a
big profit and that's wrong." I quickly cut him off. My voice became more strict
and my volume started to increase as I reiterated the truth again to him. DO
NOT unjustly call me a liar because this conversation is going to end quickly. He then
asks me "Who came up with this price?" I say the seller and I came up
with a fair price for the car in comparison to similar cars currently on the
market. He says "Well KBB private party says its worth much less and
needing tires, I want a $500 deduction, and that's before I drive it, and find
more issues the car has." Kelly Blue Book isn’t going to be anywhere near what this
car is worth simply because they take an average of prices. With no other cars
that were comparable, it’s going to give a false value. I inform him that guides are not realistic
with cars like this. I did an analysis of real world cars currently on the
market within this region at the moment. His response was "Yeah, but they
are dealers and do financing and offer warranties. I don't buy from dealers; I
buy from private parties so I avoid all the bullshit". The only shit I smelled
at the time was the crap coming out of his mouth. This car was priced below any
dealers closest comparable, which had 25,000 more miles. I encouraged him to
find a G6 in the price range he wanted to be in because those cars have triple the mileage. I knew he wouldn’t find another one equal within a 1,500
mile radius. I already looked.
He continues on his almost tirade when I said
I had enough. I closed the hood, shut the car off, locked the door, I reached
out and shook his hand that he wasn't even offering to me, and said thank you
for coming to see the car, I am sorry we can't make a deal. You are going to
have to leave. I started walking away and he responds with "that's it,
you're not going to even negotiate with me?" and that starts him off spewing that I'm a
flipper, illegally selling, not following the law, I'm flagging you on
Craigslist, and a bunch of other stuff I wasn't even paying attention too.
I never turned around, I didn't even respond.
I just walked away and let him ramble on until he left. What a nutcase. My
blood pressure must have been sky high because this jerkoff had me to the
boiling point. This guy needed Prozac or something, and I needed a stiff
drink. I really feel sorry for the next people he meets when car shopping.
"I only buy from individuals." That's because you want to wear them
down with your constant barrage of defilement so YOU can steal the car at a
bargain basement price. I’ve been in this business for 17 years and I don’t
think I ever had to deal with someone like this before. I pride myself in
offering quality cars at the right price and sell them honestly. I refuse to
let a buyer call me an unscrupulous seller when everything I told him was the
truth. I know what I had and I wasn’t
going to take shit from this guy.
Luckily three days later, I
wound up selling it to my neighbor, who thought it was an excellent deal and
loves the car. It goes to show you that one mans tirade is another woman’s
treasure.
