I’ve been on the hunt for a new tow vehicle and family truckster for the Reynolds clan and I’m pretty particular on the type of vehicle I’m looking for. During the process I’ve come to realize that a large portion of the guys and gals selling stuff on Craigslist are complete idiots or douchebags. Or both!
It’s completely strange and absurd what some people put in their ads. Simple information is all that a Craigslist Ad needs in it, but people just don’t seem to get it.
I’m looking for a Crew Cab truck, maybe a Suburban. So that is what I am doing my searches for on Craigslist. I only want GM stuff. It’s my preference. I’m either looking for something that is cool because it’s lowered or interesting, or I’m looking for something low mileage. I need a nice vehicle that my wife will want to ride in. Simple stuff here. But the number of people who don’t put mileage is alarming. The number of people that don’t put basic information, and then that don’t have a clue when asked questions is amazing. Those people should never sell a car online. They should put a sign on it and park it at the grocery store, or just trade it in and get something new.
Here is an ad for a Crew Cab dually that I read, and my response to the seller.
1986 Chevrolet Crew Cab Dually – $6500
1986 Chevy Crew Cab
fuel: gas
title status: clean
transmission: automatic
1987 Chevy Crew Cab with 1987 Lance Camper Combo, new Allison transmission and torque converter.
Hmmmm….what an effective ad! And the two photos tell so much!
So which is it? 1986 or 1987? How many miles are on it? What engine is in it? How is the interior? What options does it have? Does it have cruise, power windows and locks, air conditioning, posi, stereo? How are all the systems on it? How are the tires?
The fact that it has an Allison trans swap is pretty cool though, right? WRONG It’s a Turbo 400 and has an Allison brand torque converter in it apparently. I found this out after sending the seller a message asking for more information, photos, etc.
Here is that conversation, along with notes from me.
Me
Can you send me more info and photos of the 87 Crew Cab you have for sale? I live in SoCal. (The truck is in California, but not local to me so I like to let the seller know that ahead of time so as to keep any wondering about why I’m not just coming to look, to a minimum.)
Seller
New trans new alternator new Allison torque converter new Bridgestone tires on Alcoa rims two in the 3-inch Flowmaster exhaust needs big clay pionono (no clue what this means) couple dents on the whole it’s pretty clean lowered
Me
Is it an Allison trans?
Seller
No t400 un640 allisson converter
Me
Okay, gotcha. Can you take more photos. Including interior and under hood.
Seller
I can but im not coming off my price (This statement is the one that got me and annoyed the living crap out of me. I’m completely baffled by the thought process that gets from me asking for the photos that should have been in the ad anyway, to being chastised over the price.)
Me
I wasn’t aware that asking for photos meant I was asking for you to cut me a deal.
What city is the truck in?
Seller
I never said you diid as for city it’s in B&^$%* (No need to point out actual ad)
Me
Sorry, I’m just confused as to why asking for photos of a vehicle you are selling would then make you tell me you aren’t coming off your price.
I don’t live near you, and you have an ad that only has two photos and very little information.
So, here is the info I need.
What engine is in it? How many miles? How much is it lowered and how? Drop spindles, springs, flip kit? Any rust? Does it pass smog without issue? How is the interior? Is it only coming with the camper because I’m not interested in the camper?
Seller
I can do all that in morning
Me
Great. Thank you.
We’ll see what he sends, I have no faith that it will be what I asked for.
Now before any of you fellow Craigslist sellers get fired up and say that buyers suck, I know they do. But that’s part of selling stuff. Don’t give me the horror stories of what stupid buyers ask for. I’m not one of them. And that doesn’t give you any leg to stand on with regards to the basic information that should be in every ad. If sellers like this put the right info in the ad, then they wouldn’t get annoyed people reaching out to them, or the idiots.
What kind of Craigslist stupidity have you experience? Email me your stories, and comment below as well. [email protected]
Trying to check out a 20K early Camaro for a friend, the seller who wrote a really whiney ad stating among other things that from now on he will only show the car if we come to him (was he driving it to other people\’s houses before?) has just stood me up for the second time yesterday. Also he hasn\’t told me where he actually lives yet. I can see why he\’s having problems selling his car.
I once had a guy not answer the door or phone when I got to a house to pay for/pick up the world\’s coolest 1955 Studebaker moving van, but you could hear him hiding behind the curtains. What a freak. I never did find him again, or get the van.
I bought a brand-new $100 electric chainsaw for $30. It ran fine but when I got it home it didn\’t cut hardly at all. I can see why he sold it for such a loss, but shame on him for taking my money for something while hiding the fact that it didn\’t work right. Anyhow when I took the chain off and put it back on the correct direction it cut a lot better.
Anytime you have something for free you are going to attract all of the “flakes”. Guys that are just testing the waters. Guys that post a picture of the vehicle and say that the wheels are not included in the price. Back in the day when it cost money to post an ad you had far less of this nonsense. I use http://www.oldautos.ca classifieds to buy and sell. Far better caliber of people.
Bad photos or no photos at all, limited description of items, bad spelling and having an attitude in your description are pretty par for the course on Craigslist.
If that dude you are dealing with had to make a living as a salesman, he’d starve to death.
Sellers that are on crack and think their crap is a full resto and should be on tv at Barrett-Jackson.
Reality: the P-O-S that vaguely resembles a vehicle is actually rusting back INTO THE EARTH.
And they want $9500 for it, as is.
IDIOTS
Pet peeve of mine is people posting more than one ad of the car and have different prices! C/L has the abolity to post up to 24 pics and yet they post one photo. It’s a game called ” guess the rest of the car”.
VERY WELL SAID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hit up a guy about my dream car. Got the money with intent to buy. Looked the car over because the ad was vague and he started getting pissed because I would not hand over 10K and look the car over later. He was getting offended when I made observations like bad ball joints, broken fuel lines, tore up exhaust from being bottomed out, dented fuel tank, massive oil leaks etc.etc….He started cussing and being a huge douche about the price and why the hell I would look it over like I was when it was “well taken care of” I got pissed but stayed cool..I thanked him, wished him good luck selling a 5K car for 10K and walked out.
My Craigslist experiences involve “buyers” that say they are “interested” and never show up or return contact once a time and price is agreed to.
Is this some kind of “game”,some kinfd of flakey social playout?
WTH?
This is real easy,”buyers”.
Do you want the stuff listed,or not?
What’s your deal?
“no tire kickers, dont waste my time” see that one all the time.
If I see a vague ad, I just keep scrolling. There was one time that I decided to contact the seller. It was a black 73 Dodge d200 long bed in seemingly nice shape for a good price. First thing I asked for was some more pics before getting into any details. It took the guy forever to send the pics. When he finally did, they were obviously screenshots (they were kinda noisy and had that black border). The truck also had more rust than I hoped. I didn’t want to just bug off immediately, so I asked for some details. He gave me very vague answers. When I told him I wasn’t interested, he got pissed.
In summary, people are crazy.
If you voluntarily wade into a swamp, you’re saying that now you’re surprised that the gator has bit you in the ass? I’m not wasting my time on someone who post only 2 pictures for a vehicle for sale. There are too many cars/trucks on the used car market to be wasting your time on low life’s like this. Move on.
I sold 4 take-off wheels+ tires from a Honda a few months ago on CL. You can’t imagine how many times the text message went silent when I told them that I’d meet up at the parking lot of my local police station to do the transaction. You gotta watch your back people.
On the Pontiac forum we have an “epic craigslist ad of the day thread” there are post added daily of this kind of stupidity. Some of them really are epic!
Good luck on your hunt Chad.
Actually a poorly-worded ad with crappy pictures from a seller who was a pain and didn\’t know what they were doing is the reason I got my nice 230K-mile, good condition, NV4500/Dana 80 locker-equipped Cummins Dodge that came with a utility bed and a great U.S.-made winch, for $4500 with all transfer and fees paid. Half the cost of what I was prepared to pay for what I needed (and that is a tow vehicle with double the mileage of any gas Chevy and it won\’t overheat or catch fire on hills.) If they had bothered to present it properly, someone else would-have gotten to it long before I did. So it\’s sometimes worth pursuing flakey CL ads, from dirt comes gems.
F@#k Craigslist!
Half the crap listed is stolen anyways. Vehicles with “Bill of sale only”, professional tool boxes with the serial number stickers scraped off. It keeps criminals in business and I refuse to support it.
I have learned that craiglist is like a giant
bowl of granola– full of flakes, nuts & fruits….
scam ads that are to good to be true, feel sorry for people who get burned cause they don’t know any better.
i do enjoy blowing off the first 10 scammers i get ever time i post something. first thing i always say to ppl is “my name is ($*$& live in *#&# ” so they know i’m real. probably have to deal with 10 crap ppl for every 1 decent one.
funny when ppl put “don’t waste my time” oh like that works.
all in all i have actually met some cool ppl that were into the same things as me just took a lot of patience to get there
We had such a crap experience dealing with a Craigslist seller in a distant state that we hired a pre-purchase inspection company to go check the car out for us. Ha ha, joke’s on us: they sucked too. Here’s my story in The Truth About Cars:
http://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/2016/09/poor-prior-pre-purchase-planning-promotes-pao-problems/
I always get the first question: Is it still available? (usually miss-spelled somehow)
I have added to my ads: If you are reading the ad, it is available. If you are not, it is sold.
They still ask.
After I run a carfax on a 1 owner car
Seller: I had no idea that car was classified a total loss & that would lower the value of the vehicle
Me: WTH??
CL ads in general suck, not just Cars For Sale.
I hate when I answer a TS Escort ad only to find out, just like you, that the pix are old, actually item has bad rear end, and not to mention, a mustache.
The ads that really bug me are the ones where the guy is too lazy to pull the car out of the garage /barn/woodshed so all you see is the hood and a cracked windshield and there is no additional info . Also have you noticed how the term “barn find ” suddenly describes every rusted hulk that been pulled out of a swamp , where the only salvageable parts are the roof , one side window and the passenger side door lock knob ?
I have 3 isue’s I hate about cl.I have 2 cashiers checks for 3 grand to buy my 1500 dollar van. I was willing to ship.waited till check posted.senders pissed off that I didn’t pull funds and Shipp right away because he desperately needed vehicle immediately.second is when I narrow my search to a 1500 dollar vehicle and someone puts in a price of 1 dollar.if I put 1500 in I’m not interested in looking st your 15000 dollar Camaro or mustang.my next complaint is I work for a used tire store in stlours area.we posted used wheels and tires and made a lot of customers happy by posting nice available sets of 4.now they want 3 dollars an add to post my tires.Craigslist was and should be a free posting site.shame on the greed.we now use a few different sites…mf
Mine is not about buying, but selling. I was selling my ’91 camaro z28, I posted pics of all angles of outside, a few under hood, and several of the inside, as well as all the info that I thought a buyer would like to know before deciding they want to see the car, or pass. Mind you, I posted like 15 photos and all different, so what more can pics do? Well I still got asked for pics, and I asked what they wanted. They wanted pics of the same things that I had posted. I literally face-palmed, like are people really that lazy to not look at the ad past the contact info.
Also, it doesn’t matter if you say NO trades, you will still get asked about trades. Or straight off, “what’s your bottom dollar?” For the bottom $, I tell them what I had posted for and haggle in person. I pissed many people off that way. Myself, I never haggle price that is not face to face. People are more accepting of the offer if they see the cash in person.
SOOOOOO much truth in this. Like sellers that get pussy about taking specific pictures. Sorry, not driving an hour to look at a piece of shit. Or sellers that on put a contact number in the ad and don’t/won’t answer emails. No longer available? Have the courtesy to email back saying so. Better yet, cancel your fucking ad!!
My favorites go something like this (misspellings intentional):
Title: Red F250
Description: Ferd F250 runs good tres need replaced. No scammers serious inquiries only.
Keywords bobcat backhoe dora the explorer cummings
No picture, no phone number. How the F would anyone know if they’re serious with a craptacular post like that?
Runs great, very dependable, drive anywhere, just needs new engine and transmission.
I had a Mustang for sale and a guy sends me pics of a Cherokee that’s lifted and says “wanna trade?”.
Me: info please
Him: lifted with wheels and 33″ tires, stereo with subs, running light, ect..
Me: I want to know real details… like how many miles, what engine, has anything been done to the drivetrain, what lift, has it been regeared??
Him: fuck off asshole
These tv shows have taught people that “haggling” is some art form that leads to wonderful deals. My favorite is when people call and make an offer and have never seen the car – arghhhh.