How honest are you when selling a vehicle?

maddog411

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Location
Harrisburg, NC
I'm curious. I'm asking because of my recent attempts to sell a truck. I bought it as a project vehicle, aka it needed a lot of things fixed, almost 2 years ago. I fixed some things on it but lost interest after a year or so. I've been trying to sell it for 6 months and I list almost everything that is still wrong in the ad. I've got a couple friends/family members telling me I'm stupid for listing all the problems, I'll never sell it for much by doing that, I'm under no obligation to disclose all that stuff and everything is buyer beware. I just prefer not to do business that way. I've got a cousin who tries to flip vehicles for a living and will go far as to put water only in the radiator then put dye in it to make it look like antifreeze before he sells a vehicle. I couldn't live with something like that on my conscious.

I have been having a hard time selling the vehicle, and maybe it is because I'm too honest. What does everyone else think?
 
Out of 26 vehicles I've owned since age 16, there's been maybe 13 or 14 survive long enough to resell. If I pay less than $1500 for it, it'll be parted out or given to someone who needs it. The vehicles I need to make money or atleast recoup, I've gotten lucky and broke even on buy/sell price only because I spent enough to make it reliable. I buy with twice the problems I was told it had and only pass on about half to the next guy. It very much depends on who the person is. I wont lie to a person's face usually.
 
You're doing the right thing. I would list the major cost items but leave off the rest under "sold as is". I wouldn't list every $10 item but would pick, say $50 or $100 as the starting point for the list. Don't be the guy putting dye in the water etc. Personal integrity is important to me. Don't like me, fine. Think I'm an arsehole, fine. But, you can't call me a cheat, fraud or a liar.
 
You're doing it right. Your family members are the reason I prefer to buy a used vehicle from someone I know or trust or just go new.
 
I'm a firm believer in karma...you're doing the right thing. But the market dictates what it's worth, if it's not selling, that's usually an indicator you're listing for too much, and people think they can get better for the same price. That said, when I buy a used vehicle, I always assume 'buyer beware' and ear mark $500 for undisclosed repairs.
 
Honesty goes hand and hand with respect and if you want respect ya gotta give it!! Be honest bc the buyer could be putting his family in it and even tho Some people dont have a conscious doesn't mean it may not haunt you if ya hear about a family dead in a vehicle you sold em it on local news... glws
 
I keep it honest. I know I'd want that if it were the other way around. I had a POS dodge once that sucked at towing my boat. A couple wanted to buy it to tow their camper. I advised them not to buy my truck and find a different one since shitty towing was the reason I was getting rid of it. They were shocked at my honesty. They couldn't believe I didn't flick the booger on them. Same when I sold the boat. I disclosed everything so I could sleep at night. I truly believe It'll come back to bight you if you're shady.
 
I disclose everything that I know about a vehicle I am selling, mainly because that is what I expect from people when I am buying a vehicle. Karma is a bitch and I like to stay on its good side
 
I recently sold @Jeff B a TJ. Apparently the sale price was so low that he literally handed me a wad of $100 bills without even popping the hood or starting it.
I wouldn't accept payment until we did a walk around and test drove it so he could see and hear everything it may need.
Always give full disclosure. Your integrity is worth way more than a few bucks.
 
I'm normally as honest as possible.

That said.. I recently sold a stock xj and didn't give the guy all the info. He was shady as hell and cared more about lowballing me than test driving. He just sat in it and went back and forth from drive to reverse. Whatever. Then would try and lowball me. I told him it wasn't happening to stop wasting our time and move on. He persisted. He finally agreed to asking price and left.
So I didn't tell him about the tracbar being worn out and having a shimmy (not death wobble) and it needing brakes.

Nothing major... But if it wasn't an annoying dbag I would have told him or explained on test drive.
 
Shoot straight when you are selling....just don't expect everybody else to when you are buying.

Dad sold his '63 impala to a guy a few years back. We saw it on craigslist a few weeks later advertised as having just bought from original owner, 425 hp 327 with a Muncie m21, never seen rain...:shaking:. While he wasn't hiding anything, he was definitely blowing some smoke trying to sell it.
 
Jody Treadway said:
I recently sold @Jeff B a TJ. Apparently the sale price was so low that he literally handed me a wad of $100 bills without even popping the hood or starting it.
I wouldn't accept payment until we did a walk around and test drove it so he could see and hear everything it may need.
Always give full disclosure. Your integrity is worth way more than a few bucks.
Click to expand...


Was a good deal. I was not concerned as you have a very good reputation in this 4 x 4 community. If it was somebody I did not know, I would have been all over that jeep before handing over the coin.
 
XJfreakHO said:
I'm normally as honest as possible.

That said.. I recently sold a stock xj and didn't give the guy all the info. He was shady as hell and cared more about lowballing me than test driving. He just sat in it and went back and forth from drive to reverse. Whatever. Then would try and lowball me. I told him it wasn't happening to stop wasting our time and move on. He persisted. He finally agreed to asking price and left.
So I didn't tell him about the tracbar being worn out and having a shimmy (not death wobble) and it needing brakes.

Nothing major... But if it wasn't an annoying dbag I would have told him or explained on test drive.
Click to expand...
That's where I'm at with it. Usually when I negotiate a price with someone I'll let them know the issues before hand and work with them to fix it up for them given their time restraints and/or intentions for it.
Then you get the greasey characters to stop by and kick the tires for 3 hours nitpicking every little thing and throw the infamous "oh you're asking $4500? How about I give you $3200 today and call it a deal" as they blow cigarette smoke in your face.
The way I take that is, they could've bought a $4500 truck/Jeep/SUV for $4000 just for the asking, but instead they bought a $3200 mystery car because I'm sick of talking to them.
 
ramjo said:
Shoot straight when you are selling....just don't expect everybody else to when you are buying.

Dad sold his '63 impala to a guy a few years back. We saw it on craigslist a few weeks later advertised as having just bought from original owner, 425 hp 327 with a Muncie m21, never seen rain...:shaking:. While he wasn't hiding anything, he was definitely blowing some smoke trying to sell it.
Click to expand...

This...there's too much bad karma out there to have any with my name on it...when I get a new DD I'm going to list my current one with all the known issues. I like being honest since it doesn't waste mine or other people'e time.

Sold my old F350 to a guy and less than a year later saw it for sale stating 1 owner (I was the 3rd), always owned by ASME certified mechanic, transmission warranty, etc asking $2k more than he bought it for
 
It took me forever to sell the Xterra I had on here earlier this year. I bought it not knowing all the issues it had; I fixed some along the way and disclosed all the others. I tried to be as thorough as I could and even threw in quite a few repair parts I had scavenged from another vehicle when I sold it. I wasn't asking for much but did end up having to drop the price a bit more to get it to move. After the guy bought it he never contacted me again so I guess I was honest and clear enough about the vehicle to where he didn't have any issues after the sale.
 
i sold an Xj on here for $500. cant remember who it was, someone in hickory i think. tried to tell him everything i knew about the jeep. It ran, so he drove it home, but the battery died on the way home.....

not my fault... but even years later, i still feel kinda bad about that.

I do try to be completely honest, but im always just as worried about the unknown problem that willl inherently surface right after sale just as much when im selling a car as i am when im buying car.
 
II generally have some of the longest ads on CL when I list a vehicle because I list everything I can think or know about it, good or bad. I don't like surprises, and I assume the people coming to look at my stuff don't either. It does weed out some of the stupid questions, but there are still stupid people who will offer me 50% of asking price and ask for more pics even though I put 24 in the ad.
 
Except one time I sold @Blaze a pristine truck and he went and screwed up the transmission on the drive home :lol:
 
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