As a motivated buyer who has been looking at classic car ads since last spring I can tell the top 10 reasons why cars are not selling in my opinion.. Take it for what its worth but before I start I will say 2 thumbs to kijjii for offering a great place to buy and sell.
10) No picture, terrible picture and especially not enough pics! Showing a pic of the back end of a car parked in a garage tells me nothing! 9) Limited info or inaccurate info. This will not entice me to contact you. 8) "I don't really need to sell the car". Then don't post it!! 7) "Rare Car" , "Classic" They are all rare or we would still see tons of them on the road. Few are classics just run of the mill family cars from a different time. 6) "Barn find" Not likely. Its a wreck you couldn't be bothered with or the owner is a hoarder. 5) "Too many projects" More likely you couldn't be bothered, cant find parts or you bit off more than you can deal with so be honest with yourself and price your basket case accordingly. 4) "I live here but the car is at the cottage" . So now I have to chase you down then find the car. why put in the effort if you won't. 3) "No low ballers" Well then be fair and firm with your price. Key word here is fair. My 2003 Durango is worth 300.00 to a scraper 20 years from now it will still be worth 300.00 to a scraper. So be realistic about your car. 2) "Appraised at 20,000.00 will sell for 19000.00" Appraisels great for insurance purposes!! and the guy on Pawn Stars but for me. Your car or truck is worth what someone is willing to pay for it!! I put no consideration into what an appraiser thinks. Conditions change which brings us to the number one reason. 1) There is no one left to buy your car. This is true. There are a few Baby Boomers left in the market with disposable cash. most like you are trying sell. Young people cant be bothered on the whole. They have no interest or have higher priorties than to buy some gas guzzling old car. Few have exposure to old cars. Don't take my word for it go to an outdoor car show. See all the old people sitting in lawn chairs hoping for attention?? If there is one point you should take away its reason number one so take whats offered and run to the bank or leave it for your estate sale.. Best of luck If you have been posting your car on and off for the last year with out a buyer then re-read reasons 1 through 10 again.
Sad thing is, buddy is right , I can't argue anything he said, pictures, info, excuses , all accommodate a sale, if you're really I'm a tear to sell something be willing to put the time in to advertise it properly, and catch ppls eyes, make them convinced they want it before they have time to think. When I'm advertising something for sale, I usually give a detailed description to try and not leave any questions unanswered, what it is - is what it is,
And on a side not about "old fellas sitting in lawn chairs", yes I'll admit I'm a "young fella" lol, but talking to the " old fellas" I'm the lawn chairs is sometime the best info or stories a person can hear, connecting on an automotive level sharing experiences with different scenarios and problems that arose when doing something automotive related, I love hear ppls stories about how their baby they're sitting behind or beside came to be or one they had years past and let it slip away and worked themselves up to get another one, cars are an adverse language known across the world. I can appreciate that ! Thanks guys rant done!
As a motivated buyer who has been looking at classic car ads since last spring I can tell the top 10 reasons why cars are not selling in my opinion.. Take it for what its worth but before I start I will say 2 thumbs to kijjii for offering a great place to buy and sell.
10) No picture, terrible picture and especially not enough pics! Showing a pic of the back end of a car parked in a garage tells me nothing! 9) Limited info or inaccurate info. This will not entice me to contact you. 8) "I don't really need to sell the car". Then don't post it!! 7) "Rare Car" , "Classic" They are all rare or we would still see tons of them on the road. Few are classics just run of the mill family cars from a different time. 6) "Barn find" Not likely. Its a wreck you couldn't be bothered with or the owner is a hoarder. 5) "Too many projects" More likely you couldn't be bothered, cant find parts or you bit off more than you can deal with so be honest with yourself and price your basket case accordingly. 4) "I live here but the car is at the cottage" . So now I have to chase you down then find the car. why put in the effort if you won't. 3) "No low ballers" Well then be fair and firm with your price. Key word here is fair. My 2003 Durango is worth 300.00 to a scraper 20 years from now it will still be worth 300.00 to a scraper. So be realistic about your car. 2) "Appraised at 20,000.00 will sell for 19000.00" Appraisels great for insurance purposes!! and the guy on Pawn Stars but for me. Your car or truck is worth what someone is willing to pay for it!! I put no consideration into what an appraiser thinks. Conditions change which brings us to the number one reason. 1) There is no one left to buy your car. This is true. There are a few Baby Boomers left in the market with disposable cash. most like you are trying sell. Young people cant be bothered on the whole. They have no interest or have higher priorties than to buy some gas guzzling old car. Few have exposure to old cars. Don't take my word for it go to an outdoor car show. See all the old people sitting in lawn chairs hoping for attention?? If there is one point you should take away its reason number one so take whats offered and run to the bank or leave it for your estate sale.. Best of luck If you have been posting your car on and off for the last year with out a buyer then re-read reasons 1 through 10 again.
I called about a car advertised last week. I wanted to look at it when I was in North Dakota on the weekend. It was a 4 day old ad. The seller stated he was working in the oil patch for about a month and wouldn't be able to show the car to anyone....
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
As a motivated buyer who has been looking at classic car ads since last spring I can tell the top 10 reasons why cars are not selling in my opinion.. Take it for what its worth but before I start I will say 2 thumbs to kijjii for offering a great place to buy and sell.
10) No picture, terrible picture and especially not enough pics! Showing a pic of the back end of a car parked in a garage tells me nothing! 9) Limited info or inaccurate info. This will not entice me to contact you. 8) "I don't really need to sell the car". Then don't post it!! 7) "Rare Car" , "Classic" They are all rare or we would still see tons of them on the road. Few are classics just run of the mill family cars from a different time. 6) "Barn find" Not likely. Its a wreck you couldn't be bothered with or the owner is a hoarder. 5) "Too many projects" More likely you couldn't be bothered, cant find parts or you bit off more than you can deal with so be honest with yourself and price your basket case accordingly. 4) "I live here but the car is at the cottage" . So now I have to chase you down then find the car. why put in the effort if you won't. 3) "No low ballers" Well then be fair and firm with your price. Key word here is fair. My 2003 Durango is worth 300.00 to a scraper 20 years from now it will still be worth 300.00 to a scraper. So be realistic about your car. 2) "Appraised at 20,000.00 will sell for 19000.00" Appraisels great for insurance purposes!! and the guy on Pawn Stars but for me. Your car or truck is worth what someone is willing to pay for it!! I put no consideration into what an appraiser thinks. Conditions change which brings us to the number one reason. 1) There is no one left to buy your car. This is true. There are a few Baby Boomers left in the market with disposable cash. most like you are trying sell. Young people cant be bothered on the whole. They have no interest or have higher priorties than to buy some gas guzzling old car. Few have exposure to old cars. Don't take my word for it go to an outdoor car show. See all the old people sitting in lawn chairs hoping for attention?? If there is one point you should take away its reason number one so take whats offered and run to the bank or leave it for your estate sale.. Best of luck If you have been posting your car on and off for the last year with out a buyer then re-read reasons 1 through 10 again.
Thank you I wrote it
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Prince Edward Island
'64 Parisienne CS "barn find" - last on the road in '86 ... Owner Protection Plan booklet, original paint, original near-mint aqua interior, original aqua GM floor mats, original 283, factory posi, and original rust.
I called about a car advertised last week. I wanted to look at it when I was in North Dakota on the weekend. It was a 4 day old ad. The seller stated he was working in the oil patch for about a month and wouldn't be able to show the car to anyone....
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Surrey BC
1963 Acadian Beaumont Sport Deluxe http://www.63acadian.com/
Happy St. Patrick's Day.
I have been thinking about this since I read it early this morning.
The good news is there are lots of lovely vehicles out there for sale due to people's changing priorities as they get older.
That is great for us guys always on the look out for the next addition to the bucket list.
The bad news for us buyers is they are often overpriced due to seller's expectations being unrealistic for whatever reason (there are a lot)
The bad news for the sellers is there is a shrinking market for people looking, and it is easy to get buried purchasing an nice old car for top dollar and not being able to get your money back after when you decide to bail for again whatever reason.
I've learned the hard way to buy what I can afford, and to have in mind that if I want to sell it would be nice to at least break even before moving on.
It has gone both ways for me, made out OK on some, lost a little on some.
One thing I think about selling older vehicle is that if the price is in line there is a buyer out there. It may take a couple of years to sell, but eventually it will.
Thanks!
I called about a car advertised last week. I wanted to look at it when I was in North Dakota on the weekend. It was a 4 day old ad. The seller stated he was working in the oil patch for about a month and wouldn't be able to show the car to anyone....
I guess I really have 2 choices.
-Forget about it and move on
-Wait for him to get back, sit and wait wondering why he would run an ad for a vehicle he can't sell until a month from now!
I purposely don't list things for sale just before I leave for the lake for a week!
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1966 Strato Chief 2 door, 427 4 speed, 45,000 original miles
1966 Grande Parisienne, 396 1 of 23 factory air cars
And then there's the price for projects!!!!! Sometimes 5 or 6 thousand for something with no drivetrain, and needing 20 or 30 thousand dollars worth of work to make it into a $20,000 car!
Peoples expectations are way out to lunch!
There's a rotten '68 Chevelle post for sale in Calgary here for $2500!! It needs to be rebodied........Maybe $500 on a good day and that's not anytime soon.......
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"No matter how much you change, you still have to pay for the things you've done".
Yeah for how simple it is now to make a nice ad with lots of pictures and basically room for an unlimited description you wonder about people with the one poor picture and a six word description. My son was looking for a duramax dually a couple years ago and I found one of these poor ads with a picture of a dirty truck an hour out of town. Long story short we bought it with a 180 thousand klics for 11 grand. Most people would have just flown by the ad. The guy hadn't had any response on it whatsoever.
I like those ads with 2 or 3 small pics in sideways.
I had a car on ebay a while ago, 62 bubbletop, had good title, and GM Canada paperwork, ad said car has no engine or tranny, needs hood, trunk lid, trunk, quarters, rockers, probably front fenders, doors, interior. Had lots of pics, most of the rockers, inside and out were rusted out, and I had already cut large parts of the floor out. I said it was rare, which was true. Had 30 different contacts, one guy called from Oakland, another from Australia, ended up selling it in Helsinki for US$3,000.
Lots of "buyers" have no clue too, they offer way too low a price, then there are the others who pay too much.
I guess when I see an ad that is incomplete or had bad pics, but I think it is worth pursuing, I still end up contacting the seller. But lots pass over the ad.
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63 Parisienne sport coupe (The Big GTO), black, maroon interior, 409 4 speed; former owner of a 59 El Camino, 63 Corvette SWC, 62 Chev Bel Air SC. 1963- Pontiac top selling car in Canada
Mahone Bay, NS Still not old enough to need an automatic
