Cars & Motorbikes The Joys of Selling a Car

Some real classics there.

 

My grandfather bought a 1985 Camry brand new and owned it till he passed away and it was still in showroom condition. There were a lot of great memories attached to that car of growing up with my grandad so we bought it off my Grandma and was our daily drive until we figured it didn't look very professional to have a handyman turning up in a 30 year old vehicle so my husband got a proper work ute.

The Camry sat out front of our house for quite a while with someone complaining to council that there was an abandoned vehicle dumped in my street.... I thought I'll put it on car sales (and gumtree) for a couple of hundred and see what happens. Bad idea....I got offers of a large big mac meal for payment of the Camry, someone telling me they would pay me to have somewhere to sleep for the night and quite a few backpackers looking for something to use then dump whilst in Aus and I just couldn't sell it to them. To top it off I had an annoying kid continually ring me at all hours about the Camry for no real reason. I had one seemingly legit bloke wanting it but was in the process of moving out of home and having trouble finding a rental so said he wasn't in a position to buy it.

I eventually told my husband I'd take it to the wreckers so he followed me into town one day and we pulled up in front of the wreckers and I just couldn't do it. I turned into a blubbering mess thinking this was Grandad's pride of joy and he would be turning in his grave knowing the Camry was about to go to the wreckers. So I drove the Camry back home.

After another month or so kind of legit bloke contacted me asking if the Camry was still available. I said yes and we got chatting. Turns out he didn't want it as a daily drive but as a project car to tinker with and do up and get it looking schmicko again.

I told him I'd be happy to give it to him for free if that were the case and dropped it off that evening. He was stoked with it and couldn't wait to start working on it. I finally felt totally at ease with parting with the Camry.

 

That's the thing, it's not about money when you are emotionally invested, you did the absolute right thing, it's not just a car, it's your grandads Camry and the new owner will get just as much enjoyment out of it as your grandad and he will make just as many memories in it as you and your family have . What a lovely story, thanks for sharing .

 

I am trying to sell my sports car at the moment.
Just had the following sms convesrsation.

Buyer:- Is your car still for sale?
Me:- Yes
Buyer:- It's sweet as!! Whats the lowest you will go?
Me:- Before we get into final price, you need to see it.
Buyer:- Where is it?
Me:- Melbourne Outer East
Buyer:- Ok, I will have to work something out later. I don't have any mony to get out that way at the moment.


Really, whats the point of asking what is the lowest price if you cant afford the public transport to look at it.

 

Very true and I hope so. Pleasure

 

Yeah tinkering was fun.. my days of modding are long gone though. My last project car was destroyed by a drunk driver smashing into the boot (lucky there was no-one in the back seat). I built that car with my dad, but after the accident, I stopped caring about cars.. I bought a stock VR and didn't even bother with alloys, I just drove it until it fell to bits about 4 years later. Quality Holden...

 

I had a good result selling a Land Rover Discovery on eBay back in 2009ish. Managed to get around $25k for it. Recovered my residual + 20% at the end of a novated lease. That was using the 'best offer' function on eBay.

Selling with Best Offer

 

Don't say that too loud, @datto might hear you

 

I don't mind if he does. I should have bought a VL with 2x kms, it would have lasted longer.

 

Hehehe the only one that lasted had a Nissan motor

 

Yeah RB30 was a nice piece of engineering. RB30T even better

The previous builds were all ok compared to what they build now though. Post 1989 cars (Aus-made Holdens VN and Fords EA) all had quality problems, mostly to do with interior finishes. Window winders snapping, or electric winder switches failing, glovebox hinges/latches breaking, ceiling glue failing, rear-view mirrors falling off, head-light circuits shorting (that wasn't just my VR, it's a common list of things I noticed from mates cars too)