RJM62
Touchdown! Greaser!
- Joined
- Jun 15, 2007
- Messages
- 13,157
- Location
- Upstate New York
- Display Name
Display name:
Geek on the Hill
I'm passively looking for a newer used car. I think it's getting time to demote my present ride to winter-rat status.
I've bought a lot of cars from Craigslist sellers, but not in the past few years. I am stunned at much the quality and usefulness of seller listings have declined in the past few years. My specific gripes include:
1. Sellers who omit crucial information about the car, such as the year or mileage. They'll wax eloquent about the stereo system, but don't tell you the year or the mileage.
2. Sellers whose asking prices are absurd. Yeah, I know there's some bickering that can be done, but be realistic.
3. And by the way, I really don't give a rat's about the Kelly Blue Book value. Screw Kelly. When Kelly's buying the car, Kelly can decide what it's worth.
4. Sellers who don't mention where the car is located. The distance and difficulty of getting somewhere affect whether I'm going to bother looking at the car.
5. Sellers who only want to contacted by phone. I don't want to spend hours on the phone asking strangers detailed questions about cars. That's what email is for. But a lot of sellers disable the email reply, and others specify, "Don't even bother emailing me because I never check my email." Well, screw you, then. Obviously you don't want to sell your car that badly.
6. Sellers who insist on being contacted only by text message. Double screw you. I hate texting to begin with, and I'm certainly not going to sit here asking you a dozen or so questions by text and trying to figure out your indecipherable shorthand responses.
Besides, why do you want perfect strangers to have your cell phone number, anyway? I sure as hell don't. You (or I) could be a spammer or scam artist.
7. Sellers who have no plates or insurance on the vehicles (presumably because they transferred them to their new cars), but don't understand that the inability to test drive the car means that they're going to get lower offers. "But Kelly says..." (See No. 3 above.)
8. Sellers who don't post sufficient and useful pictures, especially if they offer to text the pictures to buyers. Just post the damned pictures on the listing so I can look at them on a real screen! Is that so freaking hard to do?
9. Sellers who post pictures of the car all covered in dirt and bird ****, and then say, "It looks good once you clean it up." Wash the $%^@@ car first and then take the pictures, you $%^@@ moron!
10. This last one is more of a head-scratching thing for me than an annoyance, but I'm seeing it a lot lately: describing a car as "female-owned" or "female-driven." Why on earth would I care about the gender of the previous owner? Of what possible importance is that to me?
It's gotten to the point that I've just started meandering through my day-to-day life carrying several grand in cash in my pocket, and stopping to look at cars with "For Sale" signs in their windows. Craigslist sellers have just become too annoying to bother with.
-Rich
I've bought a lot of cars from Craigslist sellers, but not in the past few years. I am stunned at much the quality and usefulness of seller listings have declined in the past few years. My specific gripes include:
1. Sellers who omit crucial information about the car, such as the year or mileage. They'll wax eloquent about the stereo system, but don't tell you the year or the mileage.
2. Sellers whose asking prices are absurd. Yeah, I know there's some bickering that can be done, but be realistic.
3. And by the way, I really don't give a rat's about the Kelly Blue Book value. Screw Kelly. When Kelly's buying the car, Kelly can decide what it's worth.
4. Sellers who don't mention where the car is located. The distance and difficulty of getting somewhere affect whether I'm going to bother looking at the car.
5. Sellers who only want to contacted by phone. I don't want to spend hours on the phone asking strangers detailed questions about cars. That's what email is for. But a lot of sellers disable the email reply, and others specify, "Don't even bother emailing me because I never check my email." Well, screw you, then. Obviously you don't want to sell your car that badly.
6. Sellers who insist on being contacted only by text message. Double screw you. I hate texting to begin with, and I'm certainly not going to sit here asking you a dozen or so questions by text and trying to figure out your indecipherable shorthand responses.
Besides, why do you want perfect strangers to have your cell phone number, anyway? I sure as hell don't. You (or I) could be a spammer or scam artist.
7. Sellers who have no plates or insurance on the vehicles (presumably because they transferred them to their new cars), but don't understand that the inability to test drive the car means that they're going to get lower offers. "But Kelly says..." (See No. 3 above.)
8. Sellers who don't post sufficient and useful pictures, especially if they offer to text the pictures to buyers. Just post the damned pictures on the listing so I can look at them on a real screen! Is that so freaking hard to do?
9. Sellers who post pictures of the car all covered in dirt and bird ****, and then say, "It looks good once you clean it up." Wash the $%^@@ car first and then take the pictures, you $%^@@ moron!
10. This last one is more of a head-scratching thing for me than an annoyance, but I'm seeing it a lot lately: describing a car as "female-owned" or "female-driven." Why on earth would I care about the gender of the previous owner? Of what possible importance is that to me?
It's gotten to the point that I've just started meandering through my day-to-day life carrying several grand in cash in my pocket, and stopping to look at cars with "For Sale" signs in their windows. Craigslist sellers have just become too annoying to bother with.
-Rich
Last edited:
. She put more oil in but the engine blew a few days later.
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