Dealing with Idiots from Craigslist

I had a great CL experience. Unknowingly, the first owner of the 4Runner I purchased is good friends with one of my long time friends. Small world!
 
The first 4runner I went to look at.. Pictures showed a sport edition with 120k miles.. looked brand new.. bbs wheels.. leather mint condition. Guy said it has three tires of the the same brand one different but all like new.. guy never would answer a call only txt... went to look at it... in the back parking lot st what was said was a dealership. Looked like a chop shop... car was pinned in by about 100 other cars... it had three bbs wheels one steel spare... all tires flat.. sketchy kid comes out of the shop hey this has been sitting for like a year you wanna buy it... I look close at it oil all under the hood, leather ripped, clear coat gone , dents ... I was so mad I told the guy I would report him unless he changed his add... he never did I txt him stuff sometimes cause his post is still on Craigslist. .. then I went and bought mine... stand up guy you don't always get them. Also the guy that was selling that bs 4runner was literally taking parts off this nice 350z he kept crawling under it coming out Saying you want it or not take it or leave it

live action!!
 
The first 4runner I went to look at.. Pictures showed a sport edition with 120k miles.. looked brand new.. bbs wheels.. leather mint condition. Guy said it has three tires of the the same brand one different but all like new.. guy never would answer a call only txt... went to look at it... in the back parking lot st what was said was a dealership. Looked like a chop shop... car was pinned in by about 100 other cars... it had three bbs wheels one steel spare... all tires flat.. sketchy kid comes out of the shop hey this has been sitting for like a year you wanna buy it... I look close at it oil all under the hood, leather ripped, clear coat gone , dents ... I was so mad I told the guy I would report him unless he changed his add... he never did I txt him stuff sometimes cause his post is still on Craigslist. .. then I went and bought mine... stand up guy you don't always get them. Also the guy that was selling that bs 4runner was literally taking parts off this nice 350z he kept crawling under it coming out Saying you want it or not take it or leave it

live action!!
A dealership the BBB may want to look into, eh? :behindsofa:
 
Text only= losers. That's for any CL transaction.
When I sold my '91 4WD truck, I CL'd it for $2800, or maybe $2900. Told the guy that I'd let it go for $2600....a nice deal since it was well-maintained. They get there, start it, feel the exhaust at the rear, and try to bargain me down. I got to tell them: "Oh, if you don't think it's worth $2600, please...don't buy it." They bought it.
 
Having sold quite a few items on CL and bought a few myself I have a bunch of stories. You have to sift through the shit to get to the good. My favorite is when you put "Absolutely NO TRADES" or "Will trade only for XXXXItem" Text comes through "hey, you wanna trade for a 1966 Buick shitbox with suicide doors? doesn't run, but it's a great project" Apparently "NO TRADES" translates to "offer me your shitty trades".

I actually got very disappointed recently from a Craigslist ad for a silver 2001 Limited 4Runner with 103k miles. It was at a little dealership here locally that actually has a good reputation for selling nicer used cars. I went down to look at it and it looked amazing. I test drove it, everything worked, the interior was in amazing shape, and it drove really nice. My son said he liked it, "but it smells funny". Good call little buddy! That smell you are smelling must have been the rusty rotted undercarriage. lol It had fresh undercoating... to cover the frame cancer. The muffler was completely rusted through and I was able to scrape undercoating off and find rusty spots pretty much everywhere. I asked the salesman about it and he said, "Wow, that's weird, its probably not too bad, its been an Oregon vehicle and I think it's a one owner." I looked in the glove box and the owners manual had paperwork and a business card from a dealership in New Hampshire... Nice try pal. The timing belt/water pump had also not been done. I was still willing to make a deal, but for probably 2/3 of his asking price. He wouldn't budge on the price. I told him forget it. I feel bad because somebody less aware than I am will jump all over that Runner. :(
 
I can't really complain about my craigslist experience. Bought my 97 T4R on there from a guy that lives about 5 minutes from my house. I found it online on a Saturday morning. Texted him, he responded almost immediately. Went directly over and looked at it. He lived in a nice house in a nice neighborhood. Had the truck out of the garage waiting on me. As for the truck, it was actually better looking in person than it was in the pictures. Completely spotless with no rust, and with all the service records. I looked at it, drove it, and bought it. Did the transfer on that Monday. The guy was great to deal with and I'd not hesitate to buy something from him again.
 
Having sold quite a few items on CL and bought a few myself I have a bunch of stories. You have to sift through the shit to get to the good. My favorite is when you put "Absolutely NO TRADES" or "Will trade only for XXXXItem" Text comes through "hey, you wanna trade for a 1966 Buick shitbox with suicide doors? doesn't run, but it's a great project" Apparently "NO TRADES" translates to "offer me your shitty trades".

I actually got very disappointed recently from a Craigslist ad for a silver 2001 Limited 4Runner with 103k miles. It was at a little dealership here locally that actually has a good reputation for selling nicer used cars. I went down to look at it and it looked amazing. I test drove it, everything worked, the interior was in amazing shape, and it drove really nice. My son said he liked it, "but it smells funny". Good call little buddy! That smell you are smelling must have been the rusty rotted undercarriage. lol It had fresh undercoating... to cover the frame cancer. The muffler was completely rusted through and I was able to scrape undercoating off and find rusty spots pretty much everywhere. I asked the salesman about it and he said, "Wow, that's weird, its probably not too bad, its been an Oregon vehicle and I think it's a one owner." I looked in the glove box and the owners manual had paperwork and a business card from a dealership in New Hampshire... Nice try pal. The timing belt/water pump had also not been done. I was still willing to make a deal, but for probably 2/3 of his asking price. He wouldn't budge on the price. I told him forget it. I feel bad because somebody less aware than I am will jump all over that Runner. :(

Dealer didn't mind you scraping their undercoating off? Kinda seems odd to me.

Used car salesmen. Scum of the earth.
 
I can't really complain about my craigslist experience. Bought my 97 T4R on there from a guy that lives about 5 minutes from my house. I found it online on a Saturday morning. Texted him, he responded almost immediately. Went directly over and looked at it. He lived in a nice house in a nice neighborhood. Had the truck out of the garage waiting on me. As for the truck, it was actually better looking in person than it was in the pictures. Completely spotless with no rust, and with all the service records. I looked at it, drove it, and bought it. Did the transfer on that Monday. The guy was great to deal with and I'd not hesitate to buy something from him again.

This is a pretty rare experience. CL is full of scum.
 
A couple weeks ago I found some 350Z rims on CL for my Nissan Leaf, $150 for the set. They go for $75 used each on ebay so this seemed too good to be true. I texted the guy and crossed the border from Canada into USA and drove 15 minutes to pick them up. The apartment complex was dark and seemed a bit sketchy. I looked around and couldn't find his place. Sent him a text. Finally a garage door opened. He came out and I introduced myself. He had to move his classic Chevelle to get at the rims. I offered him $200 for the rims, he wouldn't take it. Only took $160.

I drove back to the border and the border agent didn't believe me when I told him how much they cost so I took out the CL ad on my phone and he studied it a bit then smiled and let me on my way.
 
Dealer didn't mind you scraping their undercoating off? Kinda seems odd to me.

Used car salesmen. Scum of the earth.

I don't think he cared. I was out on the lot crawling around under it. He acted like he didn't know it was rusty, then mentioned that the undercoat would protect it. It was bubbled up underneath by the track bar mount to where I could scrape it with a fingernail and it flaked off. I showed him and he shrugged.
 
I was torn between a 4runner and a old idi ford diesel truck. So I find a dually with banks turbo on Craigs. I pull up, it's a total redneck used car lot with crap everywhere-like junk washers and dryers and stuff. I go in the trailer trash office, dude at desk has a killer rat tail. Old dirt bike next to his desk, more junk in there too. Whatever, I tell him i wanna look at the Ford. He hands me the keys and leaves me alone. Pretty cool old truck. I pop the hood, p's pump is puking like all ford's. I pull the rad cap, it's poop brown and kinda fuelly looking-very bad. Pretty much means it has cylinder cavitation or pin holes in the cylinder walls. Well that pretty much killed my interest. But I test drove it anyway and drove it hard-i had never driven one. Ran decent. Parked it, went in and told the office guy I can't buy it, Coolant is brown motor is toast. He freaks out,"What? No its fine!" jumps out of his chair goes outside, yells at his mechanic to come. Mechanic is walking across the lot. Office dude opens the hood and grabs the rad cap-I shout "wait!" but stop mid word and decide to run. Crappy Coolant goes everywhere but I got out of the way in time. The mechanic makes it over nd they are both staring at the brown Coolant. I say "I'm sorry this has exhaust gasses in the Coolant I can't buy this, it needs an engine." As they looked at the Coolant u could tell by the look on there faces they new it was shot. Office redneck says "ya I understand" I left with them longfaced staring at the radiator. I bought a 4runner a few weeks later. I'm glad I did my homework on what to look out for on the type of vehicle I was interested in. Nowadays, I ask for a gazillion pics if it's very far, especially of the undercarriage. That's saved me a few wasted trips. Seen some vehicles with pristine bodies, but the frame is gutted with rust.
 
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You ever write something, post it and read it again and your like WTF did I just write ? lol
 
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A guy had a chevy truck listed, over $1500 of new parts recently installed. Did not run right, only needs a fuel filter. I replied, $1500 of new parts and you can not afford a new fuel filter, LMAO. He comes back, trying to keep the price down you dick beat.
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I hate when people reply days later to a text inquiring about something they have for sale. Luckily my frustration, in this case for wheels, ended up positively because I ended up ordering TRD Pro wheels at work lol
 
I think the worst to me is when you put in big all caps letters:

PLEASE READ AD BEFORE CONTACTING ME.

Selling my 01 Camaro SS with 57k on the clock (Sunday driver/Garage Queen) she gets pampered you could say.

This dude calls me up with a SF area code, and the first question he asks me is not if anything is wrong with the car, any maintenance, or anything along those lines.

Conversation:

B: How low are you willing to take for it?
Me: Do you have a minimum of 10.5k?
B: No.
Me: Then why are you calling?
B: Well you know I gotta drive from the bay area you know.
Me: I don't mean to be rude, man. But what does that have to do with me? Im not giving you a discount on it because you drove an hour to buy something.
B: Man, you know it aint worth that much.
Me: Have a great night, sir. I hope you can find a car.
 
I've looked at a lot of vehicles on CL within the past few months. In my experience, the discriptions/pictures rarely tell the true tale. For this reason I'd have a hard time driving long distance to look at a car/truck.

"Is the title in your name? How long have you owned it?" Should be on the list of top questions to ask.

YMMV
 

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