Ive already looked at like 4 cars and everyone was decribed by a blind person. Its like they were describing another car, not the one they were selling. I dont understand why people have to try to be crooks, just describe the car as it is. Yesterday i drove 6 hours both ways to look at a v70r that was pretty trashed. All kinds of problems not to mention it needed a paint job and the guy still wanted 3500 for it with 160k miles. Body damage, engine problems, abs problems, didnt have power.

Are there any nice 850 turbos or s70 turbos out there for a decent price?

 

Yes there are 850's and S70's out there for a decent price. Keep looking and you'll find yours. Most people when they describe their car, their house, their boat, their . . . tend to see the item through rose colored glasses. I don't think they're trying to be crooks, it's human nature to see the good and overlook the bad. Hate it that you had to drive 6 hrs. to be disappointed. Next time ask them to take a bunch of digital photos and email them to you. You'll have a better idea of what shape the car is really in before you take a long and frustrating trip.

 

Photos are a must of course. However, photos can only tell some very general things -color, dents, etc. You need to look at it, hear it, smell it, drive it. Sometimes you get lucky, but they say most times is a waste of time and gas.

 

Not to give a plug to any reseller in particular but I logged onto AutoTrader.com some time ago and did a search for all 940 and all 850 models. I saved that search and have all posts to their website for those models emailed to me. Some day when the right car for the right price comes around, I will be waiting.

 

I test drove a really clean black 850 T-5R with 135k last weekend. Guy was only asking $2500. No rust, everything worked, nice guy owned it for 14 years, tons of recent maintenance, front spoiler wasn't cracked.

It had some cheap fugly aftermarket wheels and needed some front suspension work. When I factored all that in, I decided to keep looking- even for that price. Since passing on it, I'm sometimes having second thoughts since I'm seeing 850 T-5Rs with more miles and in rougher shape for even more $. It was a smoker's car too and I cannot stand the smell of smoke. If it was yellow, I would have jumped on it.

It's weird because the ad keeps coming and going on cars.com and autotrader so maybe it's sold.

 

you should've jumped on that. There is an old Jamaican saying, "picky pick till you pick sh*t"

 

The guy sent me around 10 pics, the only problem was they were from over 10 feet away and the car was wet from the rain. Looked pretty good in the pics. When i pulled up to see the car, i couldnt believe how many deep scratches were on the car, not to mention the tailgate and rear bumper looked like they came out of a junkyard.

Last week made a drive about 3 hours to see a 94 850 turbo with only 50k miles. Guess what, waited for 2 hours at the guys house, never showed after he told me to come down. Then his father got a hold of him and he said he had a bad day and couldnt show the car. WOW seriously, i drove that far for that. I just seem to be having bad luck here lately. Makes lookin for a car more of a job.

Then there are the people that are to lazy to take pics of the cars. Or they think 1 pic is enough.

 

You left out the deep scratches and junkyard bumpers. If it drove fine and pulled strong, no smokefrom dipstick and muffler, then give him $1900 cash and call it a day.

The other kid is hardcore inconsiderate. I'd tell him to eff off.

SOME of the people that take one pic are serious they well send more upon your request but I hear you.

 

when we were looking for a car for my wife we found a Saab a couple hours away. Car looked good in the pictures and when i emailed him he said the car was in great shape. he neglected to mention that the drivers side rear door wouldnt open, the dash was all cracked, the windshield was cracked, the passengers side rear window wouldnt open, the transmission was going out, the car had extensive front end damage, and the seats were ripped.

needless to say, I was pissed.

 

Yeah, I go back and forth. I'm very picky and didn't want to dump ~$1000 into Titans (or other) and tyres straight away. If it was yellow, I could have overlooked it. I can wait. Maybe someone on here can swipe it up if it's still fs.

The guy shouldn't have let you drive that far knowing the car was in that shape- or at least given full disclosure and letting you decide if you still wanted to come see the car.

Then the other guy to leave you hanging knowing you drove 2 hours? Having a bad day? wtf

I'm always amazed at FS ads that don't include any pics at all. This is 2010 and you're selling it on the world wide web. Or- "email for pics." Why not just post them?

My favorite is- "needs xyz repaired, but it's cheap and easy to fix." Then why didn't you fix it already? Says tons for how well you cared for the car.

 

Ohh, I got stories -- On one of my cars that I was looking for -- rare combination -- I got about 35-40 photos, inside and outside. Spoke with the owner several times on the phone. I was very familiar with the brand and model and wasn't afraid of anything.

I took Amtrak from NYC to Burlington (Vermont), had gotten the Insurance cards, and sure that I would drive it back. Beforehand, I also asked "do you have the title?" The Seller said "yes" but did not mention that his Vermont title was branded as "rebuilt" (due to the custom sound-system being stolen), which in NY State means 2-3 months lead-time for Anti-theft Unit inspection, plus $ 250 fees, on top of taxes etc. Shame on me for not asking if the title was clear, regardless of the Seller not disclosing it upfront.

I bought the car anyways, rode it back, didn't fill out the Buyer Section on the title and sold it for the same price I bought it.

I regret selling it -- I learned that I could have registered it in CT, with my NY Driver's License, without the special Inspection, since CT honored Vermont's inspection.

I get the feeling that honest sellers are becoming very rare....

 

If there is no pic in the add, I won't even bother looking. I found AutoTempest (http://www.autotempest.com/) to be a great source to look for cars. It helped me find my 240 on Craig's List.

 

I don't reply to ads without pictures either. if they cant take the time to even include a pic, I'm not interested.

 

The guy wouldnt budge on 3500. Even with all the problems.

Most people i talk to or email about sending me more pics about the car act like its to hard to send more pics. Can i not get the idea by the 1 pic posted? LOL really.

 

I've actually sold 3 cars online in the last year. A 2002 Kia, a 2002 neon, and a 2007 civic. of all of them, oddly enough, the civic was the hardest to sell. It had low miles on it (right at 37000) and had window tint, wheels, and a remote start and security system. Book value on it was 13,800, and I was asking 13,500 for it. very resaonable considering the extras that it had on it. I got COUNTLESS emails from people who wanted to pay me 9 grand for it, along with one guy who said that i WAS going to sell him the car for $9600. Also the assorted phishing emails, scams (i want a photocopy of the title, ill pay you 400 over asking price via check and send my shipping company to come get it, etc) and tire kickers...But the best was this idiot from Indianapolis...

This guy was skeptical from the start. asking if the title was clear, if there was anything wrong with it, etc. Oh, and he assumed that *I* would pay for an inspection. Um, no. Then he said he was going to come up and look at it one afternoon....i took the day off work, and he never showed. He emailed me the next day saying he couldnt make it, and that he would like to reschedule. I said that was fine, but the price on the car went up by $100 for him due to the work I missed for him and his lack of contacting me to tel me he wasnt coming. Eventually he just went away.

The point im getting at is, as a seller, you wind up going through just as much crap....sometimes if you're short with people who want to buy from you, it's because of all the crap you have to wade through in order to sell a car anymore.

 

I agree, back in 2008 I bought a 95 Mazda MX-6 V6 5mt for $1700. Drove the hell out of it and replaced a few things on it before deciding to sell it 6 months later.

I had it on craigslist and a few other free car sales sites. I got scammers, tire-kickers, the whole nine. Took me about a month but ended up selling it to some guy in Iowa (i'm in Florida) sight-unseen. Just youtubed him a vid and sent about 20 pics. Lucky for me he was a mazda fanboy.

Asking 2k for it, he sent 2k but I got $1900 due to the $100 western union fee. Lucky him. He paid for shipping ($750) obviously and I was glad to see her go.

 

i know about selling cars online. Went through the same thing a few months ago when i sold a 99 civic with jdm motor swap that was super clean. had people emailing me offering half my asking price. i understand when people try to get a deal, but when nothing at all is wrong with the car, no scratches or any problems, lol im not going to sell it for half price. i had many tire kickers well actually just on the phone kickers. The first person that came to see the car bought it. I probably had 100 people call me on it trying to buy it without seeing it but for nothing. i told everyone the same thing, come see it, drive it and you will buy it.

 

I have learned that the way people handle communication before the transaction (posting, spelling, photos, etc), is a good indicator of how they take care of their cars. I never bought junk from a classy guy.

Another thing that I have noticed -- the timing is important -- now is a good time to buy a convertible. Not a family wagon/sedan, which needs to be used during the holidays.

People also tend to low-ball the selling price before snowstorms. I also do not like to shop during tax refund season.

 

+1 on spelling and overall attitude that comes across when corresponding. If I get a bunch of spelling/grammar errors, lols, smilies, text-speak, etc it puts me on guard. Or the bare minimum effort put into FS ads. That really makes me want to jump and buy your car.

craigslist seems to be the worst for lowballers.

Put my 1989 Turbo Trans Am on cl for $12,500 and got so many offers for like $5000-$7000. Either people didn't know what a TTA is or they really thought I'd go down by more than half of my asking price. I've also had more no-shows with cl than any other site. So many cl no-shows when I sold my ZX6R.

I also hate when people act like I'm inconveniencing them when I inquire about their item that is for sale. You're trying to sell something, try to be just a bit cordial.

 

CRAIGSLIST is officially a site for morons. PERIOD.

My experience parallels yours.