Used car ad pet peeves

[Chiropractor JW]

When looking at cars on autotrader, craigslist, here, etc, there are certain things people write that really irritate me.

One - "dent/scratch/burn/tear/anal beads from previous owner." Seriously why put that? Does it really matter that the previous owner got a door ding whilst shopping at the mall once? Why not put "The anal beads and burn were mine (though unrelated) but the previous owner scratched the bumper."

Two - "214,000 miles, but they are all highway miles." Why write this? There is no way to verify it, and what if it was driven by a maniac doing 120mph on the highway? FFS, stop trying to sugarcoat your high mileage piece of donkey piss.

I'm sure there are more, but I want to see what irks TCL.

[Subwoofers]

"good condition"

PPL HAVE NO IDEA WHAT MINT AND GOOD CONDITION MEANS>

[nickthaskater]

- Ads with no pictures, or pictures so bad they may as well not even bother.


- Stating "no accidents", but when you go see them they confess to having no accidents SINCE BEING REBUILT. I f*cking HATE rebuilds. It should be law that you have to state it up front in the ad, if it isn't already a law...

- "No rust" only to find the bodywork bubbling and cracking, with a few holes for good measure.

When I sold my old 323, I was up-front about everything, posted an album full of large, clear photos, and I still sold it for profit over what I paid. You don't have to be a lying dickwad to make a decent sale.

[matches]

I'm not sure what's worse:

1. Not listing the type of transmission, and not including a photo of the interior so I can at least figure it out.

OR

2. Listing your car as a manual because it has a tiptronic or other shiftable automatic.

[Jan PL S6]

WHEN THEY WRITE IN ALL CAPS... and the words "tastefully modded".

[ArmenB]

"Ran when parked"

-usually about 35 years ago on top of a backed-up sewer drain in a grassy field full of 100-year-old oak trees.

[zeewhiz]

price down/per month/etc... instead of actual asking price.

[Chiropractor JW]

This past weekend I came across a 2001 Ford Explorer on autotrader. It was advertised as 19,xxx miles for $5950. That's a good deal, but nothing crazy. So I called the dealer and he was going on and on about how it's a 1-owner car, owned by a nurse (who gives a flying twunt, why would I want a car driven by a woman that probably changes the oil once every 12,000 miles?!?), all highway miles, etc. So naturally I asked what is the mileage on the car, he replies 192,000. So either they are trying to lure people in with the "mistake" in their ad, or they are legitimately trying to sell their turd for twice it's worth. These things lead me to drinking, smoking, drugs, etc.

[MXTHOR3]

'Lady Driven'

[RussWheeler]

Astronomically high "firm" prices. EVERYTHING used is OBO.

Blatant errors, like wrong amount of cylinders, engine size, model name, etc.

[Ben.Reilly]

When the say " right miles" instead of actually listing the miles

[winstonsmith84]

"All original" followed by "Fresh paint, new 350/th350, 22" rims"

[Subwoofers]

When the say " right miles" instead of actually listing the miles

What does that mean? I've never heard this used before. Is it a USA thing?

[RussWheeler]

better than the wrong miles

[2.0T_Convert]

Two - "214,000 miles, but they are all highway miles." Why write this? There is no way to verify it, and what if it was driven by a maniac doing 120mph on the highway? FFS, stop trying to sugarcoat your high mileage piece of donkey piss.

Could be wrong but I've always been under the impression highway miles are better on the car mechanically than constant stop & go city miles.

[Eightysixturbo]

I'm just going to say my pet peeves on used cars in general

- no owner's manual
- missing floormats
- wrong info on advertisement
- "no hassle pricing" meaning its overpriced and that's that
- aftermarket anything, particularly stereo or retarded subs taking up the trunk
- The used car dealer doesn't know wtf he's talking about and says random dealer BS (when will they learn that some of us know what we want and they can't influence us in any way)
-car problems that the dealers choose to get mechanics to hide

And there's the extreme scenario that happened to me. Dealer tries to sell a car with blown headgasket twice! I got refunded for it and then he puts it up again for the same price w/out pictures that time.

[Aw614]

I cant find a decent 90s condition manual transmission Honda or Acura on my local craigslist without them being all ragged out with stupid mods such as crappy wheels and mufflers. All the decent condition ones with all the records or stock ones are automatic I hate having to look on CL, read the ad, have no mention of the transmission only to look at a pic and see that dreadful honda automatic on an other wise well kept car.

It looks like if I am going to get a decent mid 90s honda or acura without mods, I'll have to pay a premium for one. Though it seems mid 90s accords may work and seem to be a lot more in stock condition

Im also still waiting on that all record kept old person driven scirocco or coupe gt, but still have yet to find one, after missing out on a white coupe gt that just needed a new clutch.

- aftermarket anything, particularly stereo or retarded subs taking up the trunk

same though I may forgive some aftermarket parts on some euro and japanese cars, but mostly if its OEM ROW sourced parts if the rest of the car has all the records and looks like it was taken care of.

[MXTHOR3]

I'd much rather have 150,000 highway miles on a TDI then 100,000 city miles. Does make a big difference if you ask me.

[koston.]

@ Aw614: I sat in this thing at it is incredibly minty. So much so, that I'd feel bad asking for a test drive. http://www.chaplinsvw.com/seattle-us...wagen~Model_/3

OT;
1. No interior photo when trying to discern auto or manual

That's pretty much it.

[Chiropractor JW]

You are correct, highway miles are generally better. But there is no way in hell it can be verified, especially if it's being sold at a dealer.

[Sump]

Here's my list of crappy mods you don't want. Those mods cost me $3,000.

Car is worth $4,000 but with the $3,000 in mods I'm selling for $7,000.

Mods and even maintenance you cannot add the actual value to the car. Mods, IMO, detract from the value in most cases.

[CodeMan]

"I'm only selling because..." No statement of truth has ever followed these words.

"Wheels are curbed but that was the PO. I take real good care of my cars." Well, the wheels are curbed at any rate, are they worth more in your mind since it wasn't you?

[RussWheeler]

Here's my list of crappy mods you don't want. Those mods cost me $3,000.

Car is worth $4,000 but with the $3,000 in mods I'm selling for $7,000.

Mods and even maintenance you cannot add the actual value to the car. Mods, IMO, detract from the value in most cases.

ooohohohooh wINNAR!!

[Aw614]

@ Aw614: I sat in this thing at it is incredibly minty. So much so, that I'd feel bad asking for a test drive. http://www.chaplinsvw.com/seattle-us...wagen~Model_/3

OT;
1. No interior photo when trying to discern auto or manual

That's pretty much it.

Damn, thats in really good condition and not one that sat and was regularly driven, I'd be scared to drive that all the way to Florida. As much as I'd love a MKI and that color, I think I would settle for a much less desired MKII 8v in that condition for 5k or so.

[smetzger]

no mention if auto or manual.

[Chris_V]

- Ads with no pictures, or pictures so bad they may as well not even bother.

This. CL is so bad about this, as well as ads that have little or no description. A one liner on a free ad? Are you serious? You're not getting charged by the word or character like in old newspaper ads, so PUT SOME DESCRIPTION IN THERE! Sheesh.

When I sold my old 323, I was up-front about everything, posted an album full of large, clear photos, and I still sold it for profit over what I paid. You don't have to be a lying dickwad to make a decent sale.

Yup. Large, clear pictures and a lot of relevant description sells cars fast. When I sold the Range Rover, I had 3 paragraphs of description (spelled correctly) and 7 large pictures. Sold fast for a mere grand less than I paid for it 2 years prior.

[Chris_V]

Here's my list of crappy mods you don't want. Those mods cost me $3,000.

Car is worth $4,000 but with the $3,000 in mods I'm selling for $7,000.

Mods and even maintenance you cannot add the actual value to the car. Mods, IMO, detract from the value in most cases.

not always, as I can attest from selling many, many modded cars over the years. But then again, I come from the hot rod background where hot rods and customs are worth more than their stock counterparts. If someone said my modded cars were worth less than the stock ones that didn't have the mods, I'd say, "then go buy a stock one. You're looking at mine, clearly described as modded, BECAUSE it's modded. Therefore you WANT those mods. Otherwise you wouldn't be here."

POORLY modded cars are worth less. But a Pro Touring car is worth more when done right. So is a hot rod or well done mini truck. maybe not as much as the mods cost, but more than the value of a stock vehcile of the same type. A prime example is my V8 RX7 that was worth at least double the value of the same car in stock form in the same condition. And sold for that.

[CodeMan]

Yup. Large, clear pictures and a lot of relevant description sells cars fast. When I sold the Range Rover, I had 3 paragraphs of description (spelled correctly) and 7 large pictures. Sold fast for a mere grand less than I paid for it 2 years prior.

I wish I could say that this was also my experience. When I sold a '99 Outback a while ago, I took many good pics, and wrote a detailed description using html bullet points. Flagged, reposted, flagged, reposted, for weeks. Finally I condensed the description, removed the formatting and some of the punctuation, and uploaded the 4 best pics to CL and linked to the rest of the album. Sold in a week after that.

[Sump]

not always, as I can attest from selling many, many modded cars over the years. But then again, I come from the hot rod background where hot rods and customs are worth more than their stock counterparts. If someone said my modded cars were worth less than the stock ones that didn't have the mods, I'd say, "then go buy a stock one. You're looking at mine, clearly described as modded, BECAUSE it's modded. Therefore you WANT those mods. Otherwise you wouldn't be here."

POORLY modded cars are worth less. But a Pro Touring car is worth more when done right. So is a hot rod or well done mini truck. maybe not as much as the mods cost, but more than the value of a stock vehcile of the same type. A prime example is my V8 RX7 that was worth at least double the value of the same car in stock form in the same condition. And sold for that.

Yeah of course a properly modified car will fetch a good price from the right buyer. I was more talking about people selling cheaper cars with a crap intake/exhaust/etc trying to recoup all the money from those bolt ons or their $600 discount tire wheels.

[AZGolf]

You are correct, highway miles are generally better. But there is no way in hell it can be verified, especially if it's being sold at a dealer.

I was going to chime in with this two. Even if you are buying private party, it's still nothing more than the say-so of the owner with no way to verify. I'd rather see perfect service records and 5-7K miles between oil changes rather than a verbal statement that all the miles were on the highway.

[veedub87]

Biggest pet peeve is 'Just needs (insert $inexpensive$ part here) and it's tip-top'. Obviously indicative of a laziness and/or someone that doesn't give a damn about the car and never did. Caveat emptor.

Next big peeve is someone wanting what's owed on the lien when worth is much less. I don't give a sh*t if your payoff is $22k. That's your problem, simpleton. It's worth $14k.

I just thought it worth mentioning that any of the pet peeves listed should discourage one from buying a car advertised with aforementioned pet peeves. If an individual can't even advertise properly a car that he wants to make money from, best think twice about that individual being able to/willing take care of the car while it was in his possession. A person that snaps a blurry and/or dark picture with half the car cropped out and says 'Eff it, get it on CL so I can sell it' is the same person that says 'Eff it, I'll do a timing belt/oil change/tire rotation/etc, etc later'.

Only buy from someone that exhibits pride in ownership.

[Chris_V]

Yeah of course a properly modified car will fetch a good price from the right buyer. I was more talking about people selling cheaper cars with a crap intake/exhaust/etc trying to recoup all the money from those bolt ons or their $600 discount tire wheels.

Then say "poorly modded cars lose value" instead of just "modded cars lose value." Makes it clearer for those of us who built and sold well modded cars.

And again, if a car is modded and you dont want those mods, I say don't call on it. Don't just try to steal the parts from the guy (which is really all it is) to get a good deal. Especially if you're simply trying not to spend the money on what a nice, stock example is selling for.

[Chris_V]

Biggest pet peeve is 'Just needs (insert $inexpensive$ part here) and it's tip-top'. Obviously indicative of a laziness and/or someone that doesn't give a damn about the car and never did. Caveat emptor.

True. Or a car that has nickle and dimed it's owner to death and they can't take it anymore.

Though I HAVE got good deals on car that way.

[MightyDSM]

I'm not sure what's worse:

1. Not listing the type of transmission, and not including a photo of the interior so I can at least figure it out.

OR

2. Listing your car as a manual because it has a tiptronic or other shiftable automatic.

This
And it seems like dealers do this on Craigslist a lot.
I was recently looking at a white Mazda 6 in Memphis, TN. It was listed as manual and the person I spoke to "confirmed" it twice. There were interior pictures, but you could not tell whether it was automatic or manual. They kept asking when could I come to get the car and I insisted on seeing interior pictures first. Finally, after 2 days of emailing and phone calls, I get pictures and it's an AUTOMATIC - not even tiptronic, just a plain automatic. Called up the dealer, said some mean things to the guy I was communicating with, CSB. Yes, it was childish, but someone had to get their ear chewed off.

Or when they write stuff like:
BMW 330Ci LOW MILES!!! MUST SEE!!! WON'T LAST AT THIS PRICE!!!11

Then in the description: 120k miles and they're asking $17,000+

[bherman13]

I didn't tell one lie about my rust bucket cavalier that I sold a couple years ago on CL. I listed every single fault the thing had. I even put a video on Youtube and posted a link. I got the car for an excellent deal 2 years before that and racked up 40k more miles on it. I ended up selling it in better mechanical condition than I bought it in (with a little bit worse cosmetic condition, however), and sold it for more than I paid for it. I didn't quite come even when considering the cost of repairs, but still.

My pet peeves are the ones that are blatantly obvious that it's a scam. A 2009 Honda Accord with 23k miles excellent condition for $4,000. Or said Honda Accord with the V8 engine option that gets 31mpg.

Or "Car is blue, I just don't have a pic after the repaint a year ago." with a pic of a faded red rust bucket. How in the heck don't you have a pic of a car that you say you repainted if the current pic is horrid?