This is all based on you being rational and non impulsive. Not something I personally excel at.
I think you are on the right track keeping this in your mind as a possibility. I haven't been that good at long slow car purchases starting with a car that is overpriced, but I have a friend who I have watched do it many times. He seems to establish interest early on with lots of communication and then wait with occasional check ins. I think it would be worth your time to talk to the seller again with whatever angle feels the most comfortable to you. At worst it has entertainment value that you can share with us, at best you end up with exactly what you want.
I'd give it one more shot and if he doesn't budge, tell em to go pound sand and move on..
Strizzo
PowerDork
8/10/20 11:07 a.m.
ever been to a gun show? usually all you do is loosen the lid on the jar for the next guy.
Has this all been electronic communication? I would never accept a low ball price over text, email, etc but if someone has seen it and is standing there with cash, then it's a real exercise. If you haven't taken the time to go see it and build a relationship then he doesn't have a lot of motivation to go lower than his $12,500 ask. Maybe in person would be different.
I agree with going in person. Don't mention that you are the guy who called before, or anything about being some sort of Jag expert. Just say wow that's a neat car and would you take X cash today? If not, leave them with some way to get in touch with you and see what happens. Good business people know that there is nothing worse than inventory that sits.
Seller has a right to smoke crack. There's not a lot of these cars around and it sounds like he's willing wait for someone that has enough cash to not care about an extra $5k, or doesn't have enough days left on the planet to be willing to wait indefinitely for a car they want. So it goes.
Since you have time to burn, I'd tell him you're still in the market and touch base. Couldn't hurt. Build a rapport with the guy. He obviously doesn't need the money, so find some other common ground?
Good luck!
I agree on the in-person thing. Who knows - you may even discover something about it to make the dreams fade
...or you may start losing sleep.
Regarding the re-explaining: reading this thread I have discovered that you are a man of great patience :)
Strizzo said:
ever been to a gun show? usually all you do is loosen the lid on the jar for the next guy.
Have a bunch of friends call and offer a reasonable price for the car? Having one of them pretend to offer the equivalent of the $15,000 asking price in whatever drug he was using to come up with the price optional.
I presume he's banking that if he keeps looking long enough, he'll find somebody willing to pay his ridiculous asking price. So the serious strategy is either to have a couple friends try to loosen the lid for you, or wait him out - or, of course, buy from somebody who actually wants to sell the car now.
If you don't want to go in person, I still don't think it would be too out of line to drop him another line just to let him know you're still out there waiting for it.
Whenever I lowball someone, because I'm an Enneagram type 9 I like to make people feel better about their decisions (it's a blessing and a curse) - so I acknowledge that they could probably get their asking price if they keep waiting, but that this is the amount of cash I have right now if they want money right now or want it gone right now. I'm not sure how well my approach would work for you since you already told him it's crackpipe
This post makes we wish I'd practiced this fine art of de-crackpiping on a dealer who'd been sitting for 7 months on an overpriced flogged Z4. I would have had to walk anyway, but it would have been worth trying. I pointed out the expense of all the repairs after I test drove it and it disappeared a month later so I wonder about the loosening the lid phenomenon
A white/tan '99 with 100k sold for $7500 on BaT in March: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1999-jaguar-xjr-5/
Black/black '00 with 65k, $10,100 in May: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2000-jaguar-xjr-12/
Red/tan '03 w/45k, $18000 in April: https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2003-jaguar-xjr-4/
If that XJR is really 38k-miles-clean, it's not a $7000 car.
MadScientistMatt said:
Strizzo said:
ever been to a gun show? usually all you do is loosen the lid on the jar for the next guy.
Have a bunch of friends call and offer a reasonable price for the car? Having one of them pretend to offer the equivalent of the $15,000 asking price in whatever drug he was using to come up with the price optional.
I presume he's banking that if he keeps looking long enough, he'll find somebody willing to pay his ridiculous asking price. So the serious strategy is either to have a couple friends try to loosen the lid for you, or wait him out - or, of course, buy from somebody who actually wants to sell the car now.
Curtis and I have a lot in common when it comes to buying cars, it's why I've never started a "what car" thread on here. That being said, the above is the only strategy I know of. Have a few buddies kick the tires with low ball offers of $5k over a period of time. When you think he's starting to break, swoop in and offer him 7.
If that doesnt work, another will pop up eventually.
Tell the guy about bring a trailer and ask him to get hold of you on the next one
In reply to mfennell :
I don't like using BAT as a basis. I think people willingly overpay for the sport of it.
1 hr left for this XJR supercharged and it's at $6,000. Go get it!
https://carsandbids.com/auctions/37XzMZex/2001-jaguar-xjr
In reply to mfennell :
Well damn. I guess I should really put my XJR up for 5k lol. I'd never pay over 6k for one. No matter how clean or nice. 
I'll likely take one more swing at the guy with the white one. Call me old fashioned, but I think using a bunch of friends calling to lowball is just one step too close to shady Karma for me (or Carma as the case may be).
Right now I'm up to my eyeballs in subflooring repairs so I'll have to see how expensive this gets before I drop coin on a car.
In reply to Dave M (Forum Supporter) :
Sold for $6,000!
yupididit said:
In reply to mfennell :
Well damn. I guess I should really put my XJR up for 5k lol. I'd never pay over 6k for one. No matter how clean or nice.
That's OK, noone's forcing you. I paid $6500 for one 10 years ago. Sold it for $2k 5 years later. :). Clean, low-mile examples continue to command a premium.
I always feel like people that are actually on crack would underprice things
mfennell said:
yupididit said:
In reply to mfennell :
Well damn. I guess I should really put my XJR up for 5k lol. I'd never pay over 6k for one. No matter how clean or nice.
That's OK, noone's forcing you. I paid $6500 for one 10 years ago. Sold it for $2k 5 years later. :). Clean, low-mile examples continue to command a premium.
$6500 10 years ago sounds super good given they were like 8 to 12 years old then. I bought mine for about 2k 4 years ago lol. They're getting up there in age though. I've done a decent amount of work to mine though and will probably do more just because I don't like selling something I wouldn't buy lol.
I will say that I've come across really good deals on them that are similar to the one's on BAT that you posted and they sold for 5k range. A certain somebody in this thread has passed on some deals I found because of colors LMAO!
GCrites80s said:
I always feel like people that are actually on crack would underprice things
Growing up around crackheads, they basically take what they can get for E36 M3.
