Car selling etiquette

tallaghtmick

Over the past 2 days ive bought a car and sold the old 1,I bought the new car first as I dont like to leave myself without a car and when I bought it the car had very little petrol almost 0 as the light was flashing compared to when I sold my car the next day with more than half full.

My father sold the car for me as I was in work and gave the guy 20 back as its a good luck gesture I never heard of that,any other selling etiquettes that you live by or that you hate?

Wats_in_a_name

I've heard of either a full tank of petrol or the cash equivalent as a good luck gesture thing. I've bought 4 cars sold 3 and never seen it happen.

Mr Benevolent

Yep, normal, although i don't agree with it for cars under €1000.

_Conrad_

tallaghtmick wrote: »

Over the past 2 days ive bought a car and sold the old 1,I bought the new car first as I dont like to leave myself without a car and when I bought it the car had very little petrol almost 0 as the light was flashing compared to when I sold my car the next day with more than half full.

My father sold the car for me as I was in work and gave the guy 20 back as its a good luck gesture I never heard of that,any other selling etiquettes that you live by or that you hate?

"Luck" money is an old school thing. Still see it done a fair bit. It doesn't work if you ask for it apparently :pac:


As for the fuel thing, these days in particular i'd never go to pick up a car and expect it to have much fuel in it. Enough to comfortably get you to a filling station is all you can really ligitimately expect. Personally i'll never sell a car with the light on, particularly seeing as depending on the time of day/night, where i live if you were heading back out in the direction of cork in particular it could be 20-30 miles before you'd find a filling station open. I wouldn't feel right sending someoen off with the fuel light on for the sake of 5 euro worth of fuel.

My best "lucky" fuel situation was when I bought an 89 liteace van from a very nice old farmer near Tralee in co. kerry. When i test drove it there was about a quarter tank of diesel left, it was in good order, we agreed on a price then the next day when i went back to pick it up it was nealry fit to burst with the amount of diesel he'd put into it. The needle was gone past the full mark! And he'd given the inside a serious cleaning and power hosed the outside. I said "jaysus she won't be out of diesel for a good while, sure you didn't have to do that" he just said "ah tis alright you've to go back up to limerick and it was a bit low".

I didn't fill it up then for about 3 weeks afterwards i was feckin delighted.
Though in fairness i wouldn't like to have had the tank dipped as it was almost certainly agri diesel.


60-ish litres if diesel in a van that cost €500 and did at least 45mpg when not loaded was some nice bit of "luck"

L-M

You're "luck" money is in how much you can bargain off a car.

You don't bargain down and then expect more off. A fuel tank could easily cost 80euro nowadays.

Eoin

Yeah, happened to me a few times. I put about 2/3rds of a tank into the last car I sold. When I bought my 206, the sales guy gave me £20. When I bought my current car, the seller gave me back €50.

MetzgerMeister

Any car I've sold to a private buyer I've always brimmed the tank and not given any money back. It's either or and it's up to you if you want to do it or not.

STForSale

On one car I sold the guy drove such a hard bargain I took the magic tree out. Tank of petrol me hole!

_Conrad_

STForSale wrote: »

On one car I sold the guy drove such a hard bargain I took the magic tree out. Tank of petrol me hole!

Well that was your own fault for lettin him away with it/ not fighting back.

johnos1984

When I sold the Rover SD1 I filled the car with petrol as the guy paid a good price for it as a luck penny.

He was surprised and delighted with this and gave me 12 bottles of wine as a thank you (he works for a wine importer) and now allows me to use it whenever I want

Jimmy Bottlehead

When I sold the Polo this week, I managed to get the seller from just 50e off to 250e off, hard done but I got it.

Anyways, it was only after he got into the Polo that I remembered the fuel light had just come on, felt very bad about it - if I'd had any cash on me, I'd have given him 10e or 20e just as good luck.

Of course, then I realised the S2000 was nearly empty too, so I felt less bad. :P

Eoin

Jimmy Bottlehead wrote: »

When I sold the Polo this week, I managed to get the seller from just 50e off to 250e off, hard done but I got it.

I think you might not have negotiated as well as you think

sean1141

Limerick man wrote: »

You're "luck" money is in how much you can bargain off a car.

You don't bargain down and then expect more off. A fuel tank could easily cost 80euro nowadays.

any time i have ever bought or sold a car the 'luck' was always done separate to the bargaining. if i was selling a car for 5000 and you bargained me down to 4500 i would give you 20 for luck and i would expect the same if i was buying

L-M

sean1141 wrote: »

any time i have ever bought or sold a car the 'luck' was always done separate to the bargaining. if i was selling a car for 5000 and you bargained me down to 4500 i would give you 20 for luck and i would expect the same if i was buying

In most cases I've given something back, 20 euro at max and most times a tenner. Filling a tank or asking (assuming) for €50 is absolutely ridiculous.

I've never given anything.
The buyers got decent, honest cars for a fair price :cool:
Most of them had a decent lash of petrol in them admittedly.

sean1141

Limerick man wrote: »

In most cases I've given something back, 20 euro at max and most times a tenner. Filling a tank or asking (assuming) for €50 is absolutely ridiculous.

no way id fill the tank either or give back 50 quid..

Jimmy Bottlehead

Eoin wrote: »

I think you might not have negotiated as well as you think

Well in fairness, I'd gotten 500e off the asking price the night I viewed it, then a further 250e off the day of the sale. I didn't budge on the value of my Polo (4500e) so it's not that bad :P

Eoin

Sorry, didn't read your post properly. You said "When I sold the Polo this week" and thought you were talking about selling a car, not buying the replacement.

Jimmy Bottlehead

Eoin wrote: »

Sorry, didn't read your post properly. You said "When I sold the Polo this week" and thought you were talking about selling a car, not buying the replacement.

Bit of both

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056170489

Tea drinker

sean1141 wrote: »

no way id fill the tank either or give back 50 quid..

I got a full tank when I bought my car.

Eoin

Limerick man wrote: »

Filling a tank or asking (assuming) for €50 is absolutely ridiculous.

It shouldn't be assumed by the buyer - agree with you there. I don't think it's "ridiculous" to put a good bit of fuel in though. The guy who bought my last car was sound, enthusiastic and really accommodating by waiting a few weeks after making the deal so I had some time to find a replacement. It was very little skin off my nose to send him on his way with some fuel as a courtesy.

L-M

Eoin wrote: »

It shouldn't be assumed by the buyer - agree with you there. I don't think it's "ridiculous" to put a good bit of fuel in though. The guy who bought my last car was sound, enthusiastic and really accommodating by waiting a few weeks after making the deal so I had some time to find a replacement. It was very little skin off my nose to send him on his way with some fuel as a courtesy.

As I said, I'd normally throw €20 euro etc unless I was really been beaten on price (rare :P). But never €50