Negotiating tactics part 2, ran when parked

[arse_sidewards]

That I don’t agree with. Maybe I am jaded from stories here, but basically I tell them first with cash in hand is king. Unless there is someone who really makes me believe they are going to be there to pick it up. Not taking my chances.

I would absolutely say it's incredibly for more than one legitimately interested person to have a seller's address at any given time.

Strictly talking $500+ stuff that two guys can't lift into the trunk of an SUV here. I understand it's different when you're talking about used Xbox's

 

[Lawless]

That I don’t agree with. Maybe I am jaded from stories here, but basically I tell them first with cash in hand is king. Unless there is someone who really makes me believe they are going to be there to pick it up. Not taking my chances.

This X100 First to put the cash in my hand gets it. I ain't got time to fool around with keeping track of who is next and the fights that sometimes happen. If someone makes me an offer without looking at it I'll tell them I'll take it BUT you gotta come and get it within 2 hours, after 2 hours it's back to my asking price, that will either get the sale done or they tell me to forget about it right then.

 

[jeeptj19992001]

Went to look at a mechanic special wheel horse tractor. Said it would not run. 100$
Open hood saw the spark plug boot was off.

Gave the guy the 100$.

Put the ramp down on my trailer.

Open the hood, put spark plug boot on.

Cranked and started the tractor, drove up the on the trailer.

Guy said I would of not sold it if I knew it ran.
Told him for 200$ I take it off the trailer, and call it a service call.
Gave me the 200$.

To get his tractor back.

 

[Hooligan]

Guy said I would of not sold it if I knew it ran.
Told him for 200$ I take it off the trailer, and call it a service call.
Gave me the 200$.

To get his tractor back.

 

[Etyler2]

Went to look at a mechanic special wheel horse tractor. Said it would not run. 100$
Open hood saw the spark plug boot was off.

Gave the guy the 100$.

Put the ramp down on my trailer.

Open the hood, put spark plug boot on.

Cranked and started the tractor, drove up the on the trailer.

Guy said I would of not sold it if I knew it ran.
Told him for 200$ I take it off the trailer, and call it a service call.
Gave me the 200$.

To get his tractor back.

Stupid hurts.

 

[Gravy]

This is what I’ve always done in the past. But I was prepared to do an engine swap. I’m older now and I’m not looking for a major project. Certainly not on a boat. Show me a cheap Lambo and I’m interested. (Or Delorean) But used boats are a dime a dozen. I just want to enjoy it without spending my retirement. From what I see, boats are a terrible investment if you buy new.

As Said earlier in this thread, if you cannot test drive the boat with an agreement to purchase, the price should reflect a non operational boat.

If the seller doesn't want to put in the extra work/money to water test, then it's obviously not worth anything to them.

Running on muffs is not a test, kinda a halfway test (boats leak). The trailer condition is also a factor. An excuse of bad tires, lights, is bullshit. The boat is useless if the trailer is junk.

My experience is only with older carb boats, no expert, but SBC Merc combos are cheap and kinda fun to wench together. Parts are everywhere since everyone is LS swapping.

Dont ruin the fun by being the fastest biggest on the water. Expensive.

Just a heads up. Marine and Autos have small differences. Careful, gas explosions do happen.

Good luck.

 

[roundhouse]

“ The Air Conditioner just needs a charge “

 

[JR4X]

“ The Air Conditioner just needs a charge “

My favorite are the “just needs a head gasket”.

Um, you mean there’s coolant in the oil and maybe in a cylinder or two? It’s been sitting for how long now like that? Just a head gasket is an entire engine and better be priced accordingly, I’ll do my own diagnosis thanks

 

[Bebop]

It's common courtesy everywhere, but the deals gone wrong are the ones we learn the most from.

Facts.
My latest one was the fact that a car with a clean title may have been totaled in a previous life.
I'm glad I pulled a Carfax on it 10mn before buying.

 

[WTF?]

Facts.
My latest one was the fact that a car with a clean title may have been totaled in a previous life.
I'm glad I pulled a Carfax on it 10mn before buying.

Depends on the price point. I see dodo birds on face space all the time talking incredulously about carfax history on a sub-5k beater. At that point, if it runs and drives well enough, has cold AC, no dash lights and some tread on the tires, it’s a keeper.

 

[Bebop]

Depends on the price point. I see dodo birds on face space all the time talking incredulously about carfax history on a sub-5k beater. At that point, if it runs and drives well enough, has cold AC, no dash lights and some tread on the tires, it’s a keeper.

that was not a sub 5k beater

 

[DMG]

My favorite are the “just needs a head gasket”.

Um, you mean there’s coolant in the oil and maybe in a cylinder or two? It’s been sitting for how long now like that? Just a head gasket is an entire engine and better be priced accordingly, I’ll do my own diagnosis thanks

Even better, just needs a head gasket so for $50 in parts (the cheapest might fit HF on RA) you can have it running.

 

[DMG]

Here is a good example. If it isn’t fubar and you actually have the title, get keys cut and put a belt on it.

Log into Facebook

Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.

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[Mikel]

“ The Air Conditioner just needs a charge “

The last two cars I bought were in that category. Plus a $6 relay in the second one. Both worked fine afterwards.

 

[JR4X]

I

Here is a good example. If it isn’t fubar and you actually have the title, get keys cut and put a belt on it.

Log into Facebook

Log into Facebook to start sharing and connecting with your friends, family, and people you know.

www.facebook.com

I see a whole bunch of red flags there. See the sticker in rear window? That looks like a mechanic lien notification. Battery is missing, there’s a cap for something in the battery tray and there’s blue shit sprayed all over everything. Does that little turd take Asian blue coolant? Missing keys lends to mechanic lien suspicion.

 

[WaterH]

Depends on the price point. I see dodo birds on face space all the time talking incredulously about carfax history on a sub-5k beater. At that point, if it runs and drives well enough, has cold AC, no dash lights and some tread on the tires, it’s a keeper.

Yea, my brother use to say if it drives and the AC works, it’s worth a grand.

“ The Air Conditioner just needs a charge “

This is probably the number one lie in auto ads.

The last two cars I bought were in that category. Plus a $6 relay in the second one. Both worked fine afterwards.

They might have a slow leak, but they have a leak. Nobody let the Freon out.

 

[Mikel]

They might have a slow leak, but they have a leak. Nobody let the Freon out.

Every A/C system leaks. The first one lasted two summers with the refrigerant I put in. The second one is still on its first summer. I have no complaints.

 

[Bebop]

Every A/C system leaks.

Bold statement.

 

[DMG]

Bold statement.

The refrigerant molecules are smaller than the tiny openings in rubber AC hoses. It takes a long time to get low enough to trip the low pressure switch but they are always leaking a tiny bit.

 

[95stepside]

Even better, just needs a head gasket so for $50 in parts (the cheapest might fit HF on RA) you can have it running.

I was selling a car with a blown head gasket for scrap value 15 years ago and got to deal with all the tards who thought they were buying a running driving car for $200. Guy asks how much a head gasket costs, I say $30ish. "If I buy one could you put it on?" Motherfucker, do you think a lack of $30 is whats keeping me from driving this thing?

 

[JR4X]

The refrigerant molecules are smaller than the tiny openings in rubber AC hoses. It takes a long time to get low enough to trip the low pressure switch but they are always leaking a tiny bit.

Yep, and if you could see behind the clutch on the A/C pump they are always wet. Loss might be minimal but it is never zero

 

[arse_sidewards]

My favorite are the “just needs a head gasket”.

Um, you mean there’s coolant in the oil and maybe in a cylinder or two? It’s been sitting for how long now like that? Just a head gasket is an entire engine and better be priced accordingly, I’ll do my own diagnosis thanks

If I was still fixing shitboxes or needed something and didn't care what I'd go for 4-bangers with head gasket all day. Pretty easy to see what's in the pan and what's in the top end by checking the dipstick and the oil cap. It should at least run long enough and hard enough to verify that it doesn't knock and to test all the gears. Bore scope tells you what's going on inside and as long as it's not a transverse V engine it's not that terrible of a job. Flattening the head isn't a big deal with the head out and flattening the deck isn't a big deal with the head off even if they add a couple hours each.

Sure it's a decent amount of work but with a little verification it can be a "known known" whereas a lot of other shit you're more at the mercy of luck when it comes to what's actually wrong.

Even better, just needs a head gasket so for $50 in parts (the cheapest might fit HF on RA) you can have it running.

$50 seems pretty typical for a single gasket. I feel like you can get an OEM or Permatex MLS (if OE is MLS) or the fancy blue "severe duty" Permatex gasket for that much. Add $20-60 for the kit of all the other gaskets and stuff you need. Maybe toss in a hundo for a cheap timing kit with or without water pump while you're at it. Not terrible.

 

[welndmn]

I've sold a few junkers and NO you cannot work on it at my house.
You can pay for it, push it to the street and work on it there.
The only thing you can do it put a jump box on it and hear it crank over.
I don't need someone who just watched a season of TruckU to come pretend to be a mechanic, take something apart and leave or worse screw something else up, not to mention my time of sitting out there watching it all happen.
If the price / risk / reward is not worth it to you, no problem, I will sell it to someone else.

 

[JR4X]

If I was still fixing shitboxes or needed something and didn't care what I'd go for 4-bangers with head gasket all day. Pretty easy to see what's in the pan and what's in the top end by checking the dipstick and the oil cap. It should at least run long enough and hard enough to verify that it doesn't knock and to test all the gears. Bore scope tells you what's going on inside and as long as it's not a transverse V engine it's not that terrible of a job. Flattening the head isn't a big deal with the head out and flattening the deck isn't a big deal with the head off even if they add a couple hours each.

Sure it's a decent amount of work but with a little verification it can be a "known known" whereas a lot of other shit you're more at the mercy of luck when it comes to what's actually wrong.


$50 seems pretty typical for a single gasket. I feel like you can get an OEM or Permatex MLS (if OE is MLS) or the fancy blue "severe duty" Permatex gasket for that much. Add $20-60 for the kit of all the other gaskets and stuff you need. Maybe toss in a hundo for a cheap timing kit with or without water pump while you're at it. Not terrible.

Agree with all that. All I’m saying is, don’t let the seller assign it a value only slightly under what they think it’s worth if it ran and drove because a head gasket set is less than a hundred dollars. If you’re doing work it better also be priced as if there are other pending issues. You never want to end up upside down in a pos that you also have man hours tied up into.

People around here like to try to sell pickups with bad automatic transmissions and try to only knock like $2,500 off what running and driving trucks go for. “Because a transmission is only $2500 from this one shop if you do the R&R yourself”.

 

[arse_sidewards]

People around here like to try to sell pickups with bad automatic transmissions and try to only knock like $2,500 off what running and driving trucks go for. “Because a transmission is only $2500 from this one shop if you do the R&R yourself”.

Yeah fuck those people. They're the idiots who's shit you see month after month after month.

 

[Trashman]

This.
My brother once bought a non-running truck that just needed the stolen starter replaced.
The seller forgot to mention the nasty rod knock…

I always thought that was funny..."stolen radiator, or starter ect"

Bullshit.

No one is running around stealing parts except maybe cats or wheels. The junk is broken beyond what repair is deemed acceptable and they are parting it out for others or buddy's junk.

 

[Steve300xcw]

Stupid hurts.

I dunno. Sounded like a pretty cheap service call

 

[Trashman]

In NY a older lady listed a Buick something 4dr for cheap. Said battery was dead, ran fine.

So I brought a battery

Click, click, click...checked the coolant with a flashlight, yup milkshake.

Have a nice day!

 

[DMG]

If I was still fixing shitboxes or needed something and didn't care what I'd go for 4-bangers with head gasket all day. Pretty easy to see what's in the pan and what's in the top end by checking the dipstick and the oil cap. It should at least run long enough and hard enough to verify that it doesn't knock and to test all the gears. Bore scope tells you what's going on inside and as long as it's not a transverse V engine it's not that terrible of a job. Flattening the head isn't a big deal with the head out and flattening the deck isn't a big deal with the head off even if they add a couple hours each.

Sure it's a decent amount of work but with a little verification it can be a "known known" whereas a lot of other shit you're more at the mercy of luck when it comes to what's actually wrong.


$50 seems pretty typical for a single gasket. I feel like you can get an OEM or Permatex MLS (if OE is MLS) or the fancy blue "severe duty" Permatex gasket for that much. Add $20-60 for the kit of all the other gaskets and stuff you need. Maybe toss in a hundo for a cheap timing kit with or without water pump while you're at it. Not terrible.

$50 doesn’t buy anything.

 

[clodhopper]

$50 doesn’t buy anything.