Car shopping is way more fun when you don't have money (Standard Craiglist rant ahead)

Vehicle #1: http://auburn.craigslist.org/cto/4281414437.html

Me: Hi there, is the LX450 still available?
Seller: Yes
Me: Great. I'm in Indianapolis, wondering what the rust situation is, and how many miles are on it.
Seller: No rust come and see.
Me: o_O

Vehicle #2: http://desmoines.craigslist.org/cto/4306010590.html

Me: Hi, is the Land Cruiser still available?
Seller: Yes
Me: I'm in Indianapolis, but very interested. Would like to ask you a few questions about the truck. Does it have a clear title?
Seller: Yes
Me: Ok, how's the rust situation?
Seller: You can see in pictures in the ad. There's a little under the door
Me: Well... no, i can't. How is the underside of the truck? Rusty?
Seller: I don't know
Me: How many miles are on it?
Seller: Over 200k
Me: How much over 200k? Is the odometer broken?
Seller: I don't know. Odometer works.

At that point, i just hung up on him.

It's been a while since i've actively tried to buy something on Craigslist. It's gotten worse. People are berkeleying lazy.

Craigslist is like Facebook in that it started out great but eventually devolves into something that brings out the worst, socially, in society.

I just shop on car forums now. Craigslist is just people putting E36 M3 up and waiting for it to be sold.

On forums too you have some idea who you are dealing with which is nice.

kanaric wrote: I just shop on car forums now. Craigslist is just people putting E36 M3 up and waiting for it to be sold. On forums too you have some idea who you are dealing with which is nice.

My problem with marque-specific forums is that people love to ask outrageous prices for their projects because they're attached to them. I mean, i'm not arguing that a J80 Land Cruiser in great shape isn't worth $5-6k, because it probably is. But when they're thick on the ground across the country for $4k or less, i can't help myself but try and grab one of those first.

Cherokee Forums seems to be the only place i've experienced that don't ALL ask crack pipe prices for their junk.

And because of this, i may very well just end up with another Cherokee, but i want a Land Cruiser, dammit.

Swank Force One wrote: Car shopping is way more fun when you are spending someone else's money.

FTFY

The last couple of CL cars that I have called on from the Owners Section have been Dealers who nothing about the history of the car.

Part of it is it's a waste of time explaining over and over when a trip out on the buyer's part would solve most issues, but buyer's don't want to waste their time on an unsure thing - so what can be done - sellers should put up as much info and have more pics and detail ready if necessary (so you only have to do it once), and buyers shouldn't string people along fishing, at some point you have to either E36 M3 or get off the pot...

Raze wrote: Part of it is it's a waste of time explaining over and over when a trip out on the buyer's part would solve most issues, but buyer's don't want to waste their time on an unsure thing - so what can be done - sellers should put up as much info and have more pics and detail ready if necessary (so you only have to do it once), and buyers shouldn't string people along fishing, at some point you have to either E36 M3 or get off the pot...

For sure...

I wouldn't be complaining if i wasn't 7 and 9 hours away from these vehicles, respectively...

I took the wife and three small children to look at an XJ Cherokee at night in a place that I swear you could hear banjos and squealing pigs if you were quiet.

The seller had about 6 other rednecks hanging around while I checked it. I thought for sure I was gonna get sexually assaulted.

Turns out the rear spring hangers and unibody were so rotted that they were actually inside the passenger compartment.

"Almost no rust" my a$$.

I once drove six hours to see a pristine, matching number 1971 Corvette with (for) a friend. It turns out that it had been in an accident, and someone sawzalled the rear of the car off and glued another Corvette rear end -on top of- the old mess, leaving a nice, one corvette body thick layer ridge all of the way around. The bumpers were mounted with between 15 and 30 washers. It was classic.

I put as much detail as I can in the ad, especially pictures of any problem areas. If somebody asks me a bunch of questions, I usually answer them as best I can.

"How much rust" is a subjective question that I ask people to come and see for themselves. Ditto with interior wear. I've had one person say an interior was in very good shape and another say it was trashed.

Swank Force One wrote:

kanaric wrote: I just shop on car forums now. Craigslist is just people putting E36 M3 up and waiting for it to be sold. On forums too you have some idea who you are dealing with which is nice.

My problem with marque-specific forums is that people love to ask outrageous prices for their projects because they're attached to them. I mean, i'm not arguing that a J80 Land Cruiser in great shape isn't worth $5-6k, because it probably is. But when they're thick on the ground across the country for $4k or less, i can't help myself but try and grab one of those first. Cherokee Forums seems to be the only place i've experienced that don't ALL ask crack pipe prices for their junk. And because of this, i may very well just end up with another Cherokee, but i want a Land Cruiser, dammit.

People on Marque specific forums also take better care of their cars, in general. The 2K delta in price might mean the difference between enjoying the forum car or constantly catching up on deferred maintenance from the craigslist car. When shopping for 4-6K depreciated semi-modern cars, there are BIG differences in what you could end up with.

JohnRW1621 wrote: The last couple of CL cars that I have called on from the Owners Section have been Dealers who nothing about the history of the car.

Yeah, ever since CL started charging to post in the dealer section, they've been infesting the FSBO section. I flag 'em when its obvious.

bmwbav wrote:

Swank Force One wrote:

kanaric wrote: I just shop on car forums now. Craigslist is just people putting E36 M3 up and waiting for it to be sold. On forums too you have some idea who you are dealing with which is nice.

My problem with marque-specific forums is that people love to ask outrageous prices for their projects because they're attached to them. I mean, i'm not arguing that a J80 Land Cruiser in great shape isn't worth $5-6k, because it probably is. But when they're thick on the ground across the country for $4k or less, i can't help myself but try and grab one of those first. Cherokee Forums seems to be the only place i've experienced that don't ALL ask crack pipe prices for their junk. And because of this, i may very well just end up with another Cherokee, but i want a Land Cruiser, dammit.

People on Marque specific forums also take better care of their cars, in general. The 2K delta in price might mean the difference between enjoying the forum car or constantly catching up on deferred maintenance from the craigslist car. When shopping for 4-6K depreciated semi-modern cars, there are BIG differences in what you could end up with.

I may have been a bit conservative on the delta. Nice ones seem to be going for more than that on the forums.

In this case, the scenario is that i don't have $6-$8k to spend/refuse to spend $6-8k on a vehicle, so the delta is keeping me out of the forum vehicles.

A good rule of thumb seems to be that once we get into vehicles this age, a forum vehicle will have an asking price 200% of that easy found on Craigslist. This is why i've never bought an MX6 off of a forum, and never will.

But i digress. If i was looking for an enthusiast's car to put a ton of miles on, i'd pay a premium for a great forum example. Not the case here.

Swank Force One wrote:

bmwbav wrote:

Swank Force One wrote:

kanaric wrote: I just shop on car forums now. Craigslist is just people putting E36 M3 up and waiting for it to be sold. On forums too you have some idea who you are dealing with which is nice.

My problem with marque-specific forums is that people love to ask outrageous prices for their projects because they're attached to them. I mean, i'm not arguing that a J80 Land Cruiser in great shape isn't worth $5-6k, because it probably is. But when they're thick on the ground across the country for $4k or less, i can't help myself but try and grab one of those first. Cherokee Forums seems to be the only place i've experienced that don't ALL ask crack pipe prices for their junk. And because of this, i may very well just end up with another Cherokee, but i want a Land Cruiser, dammit.

People on Marque specific forums also take better care of their cars, in general. The 2K delta in price might mean the difference between enjoying the forum car or constantly catching up on deferred maintenance from the craigslist car. When shopping for 4-6K depreciated semi-modern cars, there are BIG differences in what you could end up with.

I may have been a bit conservative on the delta. Nice ones seem to be going for more than that on the forums. In this case, the scenario is that i don't have $6-$8k to spend/refuse to spend $6-8k on a vehicle, so the delta is keeping me out of the forum vehicles. A good rule of thumb seems to be that once we get into vehicles this age, a forum vehicle will have an asking price 200% of that easy found on Craigslist. This is why i've never bought an MX6 off of a forum, and never will. But i digress. If i was looking for an enthusiast's car to put a ton of miles on, i'd pay a premium for a great forum example. Not the case here.

Fair enough. Depending on the car (E39 540I discussion comes to mind) 200% premium is worth it for a maintained example. It depends on the complexity of the car. "Buy the best one you can afford" is very true depending on the marque, and should also include "don't buy the only one you can afford"

I've never looked into this model, seem like great trucks. Good luck with your search.

What cheeses me off are people that put an ad up, and then ignore queries.

A few weeks ago, I had the money, to go car shopping. Well, truck, actually. I replied, via email, to an ad, "I'm interested in the truck. Is it still available?" Two days later, seller responded, "Yes" to which I promptly asked when I could come see it. A week went by, with no response. I had looked at a couple other trucks. I sent another email, asking if he still had the truck. Still no response. I bought a different truck. A week later, got an email from the guy, asking if I was still interested. "No. You took too long to respond, so I bought something else."

the best thing about craigslist is when they put no contact info and respond to no emails lol.

My problem with marque-specific forums is that people love to ask outrageous prices for their projects because they're attached to them.

Oh you are not wrong at all. I've been trying to find a MR2 and they ask double sometimes what it's worth. Someone was asking $7000 for an unfinished turbo project....

Then again craigslist isn't much better sometimes: https://lasvegas.craigslist.org/cto/4306206183.html $15,000 is hilarious. Probably has a wife that wants him to sell it "see, i'm trying!"

In reply to kanaric:

But it has "tea tops!"

I like to buy on Craigslist and sell on eBay.

The problem with the model specific forums is that someone will see a similar car as theirs advertised and think there's is better, so they ask 10% more. This keeps going on until every car is so overpriced. I highly doubt that the actual sale price on forums sites is anywhere near what they ask, but it winds up pushing you back to craigslist.

I think you're also seeing two problems crashing into each other - you're shopping at the intersection of CL and really cheap.

IME the experience gets better when the cars are a little more expensive, although I am currently out to prove the opposite, plus it seems to depend on the car as well. Our experience buying my wife's 500SL was pretty good (although I should have insisted on checking the roof despite the pissing rain, that mistake is going to cost us a couple of grand, but that was my fault and not the seller's). That said, rose tinted glasses seem to be very much used when it comes to putting together a description.

As to dealers advertising as owners, this tends to annoy me something bad. CL started charging dealers for advertising cars so the obvious cheapskates started advertising it as owners. In my case that means if I buy a car from one of those "hidden dealers", I have to factor in paying sales tax before I get to register the thing. If I buy a car from the genuine owner, here in NV I don't have to pay sales tax.

I've got mixed feelings about buying off owners' forums - in a lot of cases you can get a better car for more money, but the turbo'd Eunos Roadster (aka Miata) I bought off a "forum egg spurt" in the UK was an unmitigated disaster. That said, I'd rather pay a little more these days and get a better car. Something to do with my spare time being fairly limited.

swank, anything on IH8MUD? probly more likely to be abused but worth a look.

In reply to carbon:

There is this:

http://spokane.craigslist.org/cto/4315192902.html

All that work for 100hp and 220 ft lbs?

I never did like diesels. Woulda been a lot easier to throw on a trd supercharger.

The overland guys love a cummins swap though, good for the zombie apocalypse maybe? My fj is bad on gas, like real bad, so maybe thats the motivating factor? I'm trying a turbo and tbi, we'll see if that helps

Flip side of this discussion....selling on CL sucks. I get 3-4 "is your car stil available?" followed by "whats ur lowest price?" per day, to the point where I no longer reply, or send 1 word answers, since I know they're never going to follow up. I assume they're sent by 8 year olds who've stolen their parents laptops. Ad in question:

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/cto/4332407840.html

I think it's reasonably well written, good pictures, not trying to oversell the vehicle. Price might be a little high, but I don't think unreasonably so, I'm trying to leave myself some negotiating room.

How hard is it to send a semi-coherent email inquiring about a car?