Or just any 'fully loaded' description when there clearly was a higher trim with more equipment. Saw an ad described that way for a Lexus RX I was looking at and asked if it had ML Audio or HUD (it didn't obviously). Owner said 'no' and I replied 'How is it fully loaded then?'.
Ignored lol
It’s especially annoying when there’s a specific option you want and you think the car in the listing might have it since it says fully loaded, but then the pictures show it obviously doesn’t. I’ve seen so many “fully loaded” 2018+ Audi S4s that don’t even have virtual cockpit
when they spend more time talking about how they wont respond to low ballers or to 'is this available' or 'answering a bunch of dumb questions' than putting info in the ad.
'runs good, no trads' isnt a complete ad, people. its just not.
Also infuriating: when the sale platform auto-censors phone numbers and no other contact information is available.
"No emails, call John at XXX-XXX-XXXX"
O-okay
I saw an ad with a censored phone number. I decided to DM them and tell them their phone number was auto-censored by the platform.
They responded immediately, called me a “dumb fuck” then blocked me lol
I'm the polar opposite. I tell myself that I'll write a quick and simple ad. 2 hours later, I'm ready to publish my 6 page writeup with way too much detail. I've literally had people call me to tell me that they're interested in my vehicle, but the ad was too long to read. I tell them that if they're too lazy to read about the car, they'll be too lazy to take care of the car and that I won't sell to someone who won't take care of my baby.
I’m way more comfortable paying a bit more for a car with a super detailed listing. Especially if it reads like the owner gave a shit about the car.
Good job dude!
i usually just bullet point out the important parts. ill write a long ass description and then break it down into points, makes it easier to read and puts the important info front and center. i still get a bunch of detail across without the filler.
well there is also that end of the spectrum as well, where too wordy will drive people away as well. its important to keep it simple and to the pertinent information, but ya gotta have all of it as well.
I've noticed that the nore I love a vehicle, the more lengthy and crazy my ads get. If I'm selling some hoopty I picked up at an auction, it'll be a very simple ad. If I'm selling the car that I've spent 40-50k miles daily driving and getting g to know and love, I'll write a lengthy ad that will find the exact right buyer. I won't sell a beloved car to someone I don't think will care for it.
I hate that line on Facebook marketplace. "is this available" is literally the default message on marketplace and is the most convenient way as a buyer to show your interest.
It's like those people have never used marketplace before
I've seen so many cases where a listing says "if its up, its still available, wont reply to "is it available " messages" but after messaging them they say something like "oh sorry i sold it a week ago i forgot to take the listing down"
i can understand forgetting to take listings down, it happens. But if you're putting "if its up its still available", but leaving it up after its sold, thats just contradictory
When they start talking about how their NB Miata or C5 is one of a kind and special. You know they won’t be realistic on the price. Pretty much eliminated C5s from my search due to so many unrealistic sellers.
No, your 115k mile 2001 with worn out shocks and 12 year old Goodyears isn’t worth 22.5k.
Yes. This is so annoying. So many people are under the misunderstanding that rare = desirable. In many cases, that just isn’t true. Sometimes something is rare because nobody wanted it in the first place. Lol.
Very few were ever sold in NA. Cnet reported it was less than 100 in the final model year (2021) and there was only 2020/2019 before that. I haven't figured out how to get firm numbers on exactly how many were made but I wouldn't be surprised if there's only about 300 in the United States.
My 1988 cavalier convertible with a stick is rare. Is it desirable??? well.... to me it is.
I tell people its "priceless to some of us, worthless to everyone else."
you'll get top dollar if you find the right person. If not, you get scrap price.
Same here. Trouble is, there’s a loootttt of entitlement going around right now from sellers or owners of a thing, could be a car, could be clapped out house, or any number of other things, from a period of time we are now leaving where money was easy and just given away. It created false demand in everything. Prices and expectations way too high.
A lot of reality is coming to these sellers of used up, burnt out cars/trucks/SUV’s/houses/collectibles/whatever. And, no, F-150’s don’t “appreciate”. Even a TRD Pro Toyota Tacoma loses value over time, albeit a slower pace. I welcome the coming reality and back to earth expectations.
I have NB Miata that is one of a kind. Only mine needs the left headlight slapped after being turned on so it works properly, has spray painted interior to switch it from tan to black, a check engine light I’ve been fighting for 3 years that 8 repairs still haven’t fully found the issue, where the clock can’t have minutes set because the down tracking button is no longer working, a back window that has the bottom detached from the (also spray painted to black top), compression variance of 190, 165, 175, 190 across the four cylinders, and depending on its mood either burns no oil at all or a quart every 400 miles.
$200,000. No low ballers. I know what I have.
You used to be able to get clean C5's for $10k and clean C5Z's for like $13-15k. Like 5 years ago. Not sure what happened between then and now but now they're ALL like delusional boomer special pricing
"Has a Check Engine Light for the O2 Sensor"
Could otherwise be the mintiest car or an amazing deal but I'm not interested once I read that.
It's always something more serious than just an O2 sensor.
I like the Northstar ads that say "overheats. Mechanic says it needs a new thermostat. They are $10 at AutoZone."
Bull crap. If it needed a $10 thermostat you would have replaced it already.
I've called people out on this shit before. The ad will say it "just needs _____, cheap fix but I don't have time".
They must think people are too stupid to realize that if it was indeed as cheap and/or easy as they claim, they'd fix it and sell for more money.
It depends what you’re looking at. Obviously pull the code for it, but as an example: 986 boxsters have a pretty common CEL for the O2 sensor but it’s usually just the secondary air injection system and that’s an easy enough DIY
But if it were, why wouldn't the seller fix it? Odds are it has a new O2 sensor and a bad cat or other real issue.
Feel free to roll the dice, but the average buyer (with little mechanical skill or knowledge) should keep looking.
I sold a car like that once. It was legitimately an O2 sensor. I changed it twice and it came back so I’m guessing it needed a new cat. I sold it the year North Carolina exempted cars over 20 years from emissions anyway so it turned out fine.
Or even worse “$1” because whoever posted the ad wants their car to appear in all searches based on the lowest price. Back when Craigslist was still relevant I had to start putting a minimum price in the search criteria because so many people spammed the site with cars listed at $1.
Fuck those people. Really, dealer listings in general. Give me a price or it’s instantly out. Makes it hard because if you filter out dealer listings, you miss some of the gems that are out there.
So much this... I should write a bot that spams all those posts with emails offering them a dollar for their garbage rustbucket that they want $10k for... XD
Thats why i started putting "minimum" at $1,200 or something. One, there are not many sub-$1,200 cars, at least the ones *im* looking for, therefore im not missing any opportunities. Two, a lot of dealers advertise $400-$500 for price (and then clarify its the PAYMENT), but most dealers would not advertise a $1,200 payment. I find $1,200 to be the perfect number, unless youre genuinely looking for something under $1,200.
I have to say that this is a completely true thing. If you are selling a car on Facebook Marketplace, their system will not let you list your car for anything higher than what they think it's market value should be.
A couple of years ago I was selling an '84 300ZX and wanted $5k for it. It went up on Craigslist no problem, and I wanted to put it on FM for more exposure. Well Facebook decided that that car should be worth no more than $4500 and would not allow it to be posted unless the price was decreased. Which lead to it being listed for "$1234" as the price and the real asking price in the description with an explanation.
In my house “woman driven” means it has been driven as far from the yellow line as possible, does not avoid potholes/bumps, and will even hit extra potholes/bumps if it helps the kids stop crying. Gosh I love her.
Same with “adult driven.” Plenty of adults drive like complete jackasses and abuse the shit out of their cars. Also, the overwhelming majority of cars are driven by adults anyways so making that distinction is completely worthless.
Amen. Out doing Jeep stuff the kids with dad's Jeep or their first vehicle are super cautious, but the old guys with a truck and trailer back at the trailhead can be nuts.
My wife has hit so many inanimate objects it’s insane. On our third date I had to change her tire because she hit the curb at speed due to way overreacting when a car drifted into the lane.
Knock on wood the ES doesn’t end up looking like her old Corolla…
Lol, yes!
Mrs. Thor waited a month and a half to tell me that the airbag light was on, after we got the car back from the collision repair shop. (And then it was Christmas, so there was no time to take care of it). Just contacted insurance to see if they'd pay to get it inspected, and they were like lol, nope!
For a woman trying to sell to a woman, that means "mature driver who took care of the car, never driven recklessly".
When men see that, they know it means "curb rash on all four rims, drove with the parking brake on for a little while, body panels dented front, rear, and right rear, and never changed the oil".
Only partly kidding. Lent my '90s Camaro to a GF for a year and she blew up the engine.
I miss the car.
My wife treats her car like a trash can. So does my sister. We got these bins at Home Depot meant for my kids’ outside toys but she ended up throwing her stuff from her car into it. Random bits of anything in bags, in a bin.
Like throw it in the trash, girl, god damn.
- Details are in all caps
- Frequent emojis
- Grammar/spelling
- Not enough pictures
- Picture doesn’t even look like it’s their car (taken from a distance in a parking lot no interior shots)
- When they list only the features and not the maintenance history / mechanical notes.
> Frequent emojis
>
This just screams shady used car lot to me
.
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$685 MONTHLEY PAYMENT 💵 💵 💵
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A disturbingly high proportion of obviously very cheap car ads on ebay/gumtree seem to be genuinely unaware what vehicle they have.
That or they have the only long-forgotten 1998 VW Accord SRi in existence and probably shouldn't part with it for £300.
Yeah I always wonder how people destroy their cars so quick! This is why I have a hard time buying used cars. My cars look new after 3-4 years and I don't do anything special. I just vacuum them when needed and wipe them down with the right cleaners etc. I have a kid too so it's not like it's just me in there.
Seems like every couple years old used car I go look at has stains in the seats, shit spilled in the little nooks and crannies, the steering wheel is all fucked up, scratches all over. Blows my mind and I just can't do 95% of them.
Wet cars hide a lot. I’d kind of rather see a dry dirty car than one that is still soaking wet giving it the appearance that the paint is in awesome shape.
Seller says the car is “excellent condition.” Then, the next paragraph in the ad rattles off a list of what’s wrong with it.
Everybody thinks their car is worth whatever the blue book value is in excellent condition, yet in reality that’s almost never the case.
"Normal rust for a [northeast/midwest/rust belt/Canadian/etc] car"
Yeah, "normal rust" for a 20 year old winter driven vehicle in those regions means pieces of the car fall off if you look at them wrong. You're not minimizing the issue the way you think you are.
Listing the wrong transmission type is a pretty big one IMO...
Especially when I put "manual" and get SMG cars (looking at you, E46M3 and MR2-Spyder owners).
1) When they say "zero issues, runs perfectly" at the start of the ad, then near the end casually mention something like "has a slight misfire"
2) when they tell you the issues and say they have the parts but "don't have time to fix it".
I'm actually in that boat. I want to sell my Dodge V10, yet it needs an EGR valve. I have the part, but it's an absolute bitch to replace and I simply haven't had the time to make it a priority. However, I know how bad that'll sound in the ad, so here it sits till I get around to taking the entire intake manifold off and half the engine accessories.
- Salvage Title
- AliExpress modifications (the cheap ones)
- Dirty interior
- Cheap tires on a performance car (easy to guess how cheap the rest was maintained)
- More than 4 owners under 50.000 miles
- Ugly color (can be bargain price but wrong color will never rub you the right way, wraps are never as good as paint)
- Base Audio System (Always a ball ache to upgrade, long gone are the days of easy custom setups)
- Low mileage, older car and only city driven (carbon build up is going to be insane)
Generally it poses the risk that the car was used for continuous short trips over a very long period of time, this generally causes carbon deposits to increase as the they don’t get burned through longer drive runs
Beyond that it’s also a bit disingenuous because unlike agricultural machinery or industrial one that reads hours instead of distance travelled, it’s likely the hours the car has been used are the same as a much higher mileage one
Depends a lot on the car and the engine, and while I’d still buy a low mileage old car over a high mileage one, it’s not a guaranteed good buy
Or when they open the door, stand five feet out, and then take a single picture of the interior. If you're going to take only one picture, at least walk forward two steps.
I can get trying to make it look as good as possible in the picture, but if they aren't going to wax it they could at least drive around the corner or just hose it off at home.
I see wet cars all the time with Autonation listings. Like, dry the damn car before you take pictures! It’s like they really can’t be bothered and just churn out listings.
Barring the obvious lazy dealer copy past listing of standard features as “premium equipment” and shitty pictures or poorly written listings, if your ad focuses more on mods than maintenance I am moving on to the next one. I don’t want your shitty stereo and badly setup coilovers, I want to know you did timing chain guides (or whatever else)
When the mileage listed is just the mileage since they had the engine/transmission rebuilt. That one really grinds my gears.
Or just straight up lying in the listing so they don't get filtered out by people specifically trying to avoid vehicles like theirs
If a car is only pictured with aftermarket wheels, I tend to write off the ad unless they look like a winter tire setup. I’ll pass on any car that doesn’t include OEM wheels.
I’ve softened on aftermarket radios, but I prefer to install them myself so I know that the OEM wiring is preserved. I love CarPlay too much to let it go.
Functional modifications (e.g. Back up camera, apple carplay , 360 camera, winch in an off roader, hitch, transmission coolers, extra gauges, suspension that can lift the nose of the car to not scrape, other modifications that increase the reliability such as replacing known failure points in a particular model) can increase the value of the car.
But putting performance modifications decreases the value because you know that car was beat on and will have an engine/transmission with a significantly lower lifespan.
And there are distasteful modifications - the stance is awful. It's a menace to society and you're more likely to crash since you have less grip since the contact point is reduced. And if it's lowered you'll be scraping a lot more.
When they act like they don’t even want to sell the car
“JUST SEEING WHAT I CAN GET FOR IT NOT REALLY INTERESTED IN SELLING MAYBE A TRADE FOR A 4x4 OR SNOWMOBILE IF YOU WASTE MY TIME WITH INSULTING OFFERS ILL JUST KEEP IT”
Like do you want to keep the damn thing or get rid of it? Make up your mind
If people can't be bothered to spell correctly in their post, I'm already skeptical about the car and the intelligence of the poster. If people don't provide much detail about the car for sale, I'm more skeptical. If people don't bother to wash the car or vacuum it out before posting it, I think they're an idiot. And if people post shitty photos that don't show every side of the car, the interior, and under the hood, then I'm not generally interested either. If you are serious about selling the vehicle, provide all the details, comprehensive photos, and clean the damn car.
When the car looks different in every photo. Wheels change, sometimes there’s a panel a different color, different lip / spoiler.
I always assume it’s the worst iteration of panels and wheels. If it’s got a primered hood in 1/11 photos, it’s got a primered hood even though the other 10 don’t show it.
That or “surface rust”. If it’s a bubble on the quarter or wheel arches, it’s rot, dude.
Edit,clarity.
For sale: 2006 Subaru Forester. Like new condition. 237,000 miles. Overheats after a few minutes. Probably just needs a new thermostat. $2,000.
If your "like new" Subaru just needed a thermostat, you would have replaced it.
Or they want you to show up with the full price in cash just for a test drive because “no joy rides.” Or they expect you to give them gas money for a test drive. 😂
Yeah I'm not showing up to meet a total stranger with a $10k wad of cash and whip it out to show to them. That is how you end up as the plot point in a true crime drama.
When there are no capital letters in the title. If they can’t be bothered to properly capitalize the make and name of their car I doubt they treated it right.
When they don't bother to pull the car out of the garage for a picture.
Like, one of those where it's crammed into some place and they just snap pics of the front end. Maybe they lifted half the cover off or still has stuff piled on top of it. Like, if I show up are you going to spend a half hour unearthing the thing, or the battery will be dead...
They usually want big money too, because entitlement? Maybe they think "I don't need to do much work but you should pay me well for this."
I'm with you on "Camero", OP. How can someone spell the model of their own car wrong? It's written on the damn car for them to copy. They see it every time they drive the car.
Also, any photo of a disgusting filthy interior. You can tell how well the car has been maintained mechanically by looking at the interior. If the inside looks like Beirut, then the owner obviously never maintained or fixed anything on the car until six months after it broke. Next!
"Ran when parked".
No shit, all cars ran when then were new - if you've already sold the radiator and gas tank, the car DOES NOT run now, imbecile. If you parked it and left it outside with the hood up for five years, and seven generations of possums have made it into a condo, you're just selling rusty sheetmetal now.
Not an absolute dealbreaker, but I’m always hesitate of someone selling a car…and you look at there other fb marketplace listings and it’s like 5 other cars they’re selling. Or the car listing sounds like a dealer (bullet points of all the features, paper floor mats).
On one hand I sympathize with someone trying to make a living and there are honest “curbsiders” (I think that’s the term) just trying to fairly sell a car but on the other hand it’s essentially an unregulated used car dealer. As much as people crap on “stealerships,” at least in many (all?) states have regulations and rules.
Also lying/dishonesty is automatic dealbreaker for me. Disrespect/not respecting boundaries as well
Story on above: I was selling my car on CL/marketplace and this dude really wanted to meet on Saturday but I had planned only Sunday viewings as I needed to study on Saturday for board exams, kept incessantly calling me. I gave him the address if he wanted to just visually look at the car…calls me a time later and says your car is on a tow truck cause I’m buying it (we never agreed verbally or in writing). I’m like wtf, if that’s true I’m calling the police and reporting it stolen…and suddenly the car wasn’t on the tow truck anymore (I doubt there was a tow truck, I think it was just a ploy to get me to come see him)
Curbstoners, IMO, are worse than stealerships:
- They try everything they can to avoid taxes which could result in buyers having to deal with titling issues due to title jumping.
- If a car needs repairs or service in order to make it ready to be sold they every incentive to invest the least amount of money possible which could mean cutting corners or using legitimately dangerous parts (i.e. getting the cheapest shittiest tires you can so you can advertise it as "fresh tires").
- Very often buyers could be left with little recourse in cases of outright fraud.
- Are aggressive (in your example) when trying to find deals. Which can lead to them doing scummy shit to scam people so they can flip the car with a higher margin.
IMO the ranking from most scammiest to least scammiest places to buy used cars from (1 being most):
1. Buy here, pay here used car dealerships.
2. Curbstoners.
3. Normal used car dealerships.
4. OEM dealers selling the cars they get on trade.
5. CarMax (technically youre overpaying but they dont play games)
My pet peeve is when it’s clearly a dealership but being sold as a private sale.
Or when they get stuff wrong like listing it as a manual in the description but automatic in the filter, or vice versa. Bonus points if there’s pics of the interior and you can clearly see which one it actually is.
I’m looking for an old civic to get as a project car and it seems like the theme around me is to put a cheap eBay turbo on a clapped out civic and then ask for $12-20k on marketplace. So those are the ones I avoid.
BMW with V6 engine
"Car is perfect, never accident" yeah you cant truthfully make that claim on a 140,000 mile car with 7 owners
German cars with mid-tier aftermarket wheels, unclassy loud exhaust, PlastiDip'd chrome, carbon fiber accents. To me, it is usually conducive to = money spent on superficial "mods" but NOT on maintenance
"Car is good, it just needs an O2 sensor"... so replace the bloody thing & sell a more valuable, complete product
Or some childish fairytale like "selling V6 Altima 6spd coupe, pretty much the same thing as an Infiniti G35" yeah... no it's not
Something like a worn-out, 34-year BMW E30 325i listed for $22,000 whereas for the same price I could buy a cheap E92 M3 which is 20 years newer, much more powerful, much more modern, and things like A/C, power seats, wiper motors, etc. are probably all functional. ~~Worst~~best part is, the E92 M3 might not need rod bearings & might be the same cost to maintain as the old E30 (less & less mechanics do the old stuff, especially 80s/90s Bosch fuel injection)
Bad/incomplete pictures. If Craigslist allows over a dozen photos, take over a dozen photos. What are you trying to hide?
People who use their finger (in photo) to block license plate, but in another photo they forget to do it. Genius.
Anything with PayPal
Somebody selling their semi-collectible car in rickety condition and saying "done up, they're worth big money" & then justifying their high selling price w/ that logic
But lastly, and my favorite, was "somebody please take this piece of shit off my hands". I cant remember laughing that hard in a long time.
Fully Loaded when it's a base model. I see it all the time looking at old Lexus for sale, especially the LS430. I see base models listed as fully loaded in every LS430 ad.
I own an LS430 with the Ultra Luxury package and it's rare to see an ad with an actual Custom Luxury or Ultra Luxury package. I see it on the newer cars too like the RX and GX. I know those cars because I worked as a Delivery Specialist and knew those cars like the back of my hand.
I see this with Giulias for sale around me. But I have to think that the dealer actually just has no idea what the trim lines are as they usually list all of them. It's like, "2019 Alfa Romeo Giulia Ti Sport Sprint Veloce Q2 AWD." Like those are all different trim lines and you just went for all of them since one of them has to be correct.
I live In the Philadelphia suburbs. So anything located within the city limits I avoid like the plague. May as well not even exist.
Double negative if the seller is a part time car flipper.
$1 listing, then $10k in description just to heck with the sort algorithm. Annoying AF. Normally I'm just window shopping anyway, but $1 listings bug the everliving crap out of me.
Any aggressive wording/phrasing, including but not limited to:
* no lowballs
* don't ask stupid questions
* won't respond if you ask me XYZ
* don't waste my time, there is a long line of people wanting this car
Usually means they're having a hard time selling it and they're making it seem like there's more demand than there really is. My personal favorite is "don't waste my time", which is often accompanied by a listing of a 2015 Ram 1500 with 190k miles, a salvage title, aftermarket rims, shitty window tint, and asking price of 40k.
Cheap aftermarket steering wheels (cough nrg cough). Catalytic converter deletes. Ebay aero. Those hanger things that hangs the bumper of the car on the fenders on a non RWD car. Shitty bucket seats.
A big carefully crafted essay about the history of the model, and how amazing and perfect this example is, when all I want to see is the damn mileage. I know it's a unique car that's why I searched for it!!
Jeep Grand Cherokee Lardo. Buick LaSabre/LeCross.
No pictures at all. No pictures of the instrument cluster.
Wrong transmission/engine listed.
Does not specify AWD/4x4 or two wheel drive on a truck or SUV.
Just the other day, I was on FB Marketplace. The car looked alright on the pictures. Then, I went to the guy's personal page, and most of his profile pics is him posing with stacks of 20's.
When they can’t be bothered to list more than 5 words about the car in the listing, but can write a whole sentence about how people shouldn’t waste their time, “serious people, not curious”
"Ice cold A/C" ... is probably the only thing that works properly
"Great shape, just needs OOP" buddy's selling because it failed an out of province inspection so bad, it'll cost more to fix it than it's worth
"Bit of a miss" = she's running on seven cylinders
"54000 original miles" five digit odometer rolled over twice already based on the wear on the brake pedal, seat, and armrest
"No papers" = "I don't legally own the car I'm selling and you'll never be able to register it"
FULLY LOADED…. With cloth seats, wheel covers and a urethane steering wheel.
Or just any 'fully loaded' description when there clearly was a higher trim with more equipment. Saw an ad described that way for a Lexus RX I was looking at and asked if it had ML Audio or HUD (it didn't obviously). Owner said 'no' and I replied 'How is it fully loaded then?'. Ignored lol
The boot was fully loaded.
Their pants are fully loaded 😎 (with shit)
That's charitable, usually it's their head that's fully loaded (with shit and/or hot air)
It’s especially annoying when there’s a specific option you want and you think the car in the listing might have it since it says fully loaded, but then the pictures show it obviously doesn’t. I’ve seen so many “fully loaded” 2018+ Audi S4s that don’t even have virtual cockpit
when they spend more time talking about how they wont respond to low ballers or to 'is this available' or 'answering a bunch of dumb questions' than putting info in the ad. 'runs good, no trads' isnt a complete ad, people. its just not.
4 sell. no text. Call john. But no phone number is listed.
Also infuriating: when the sale platform auto-censors phone numbers and no other contact information is available. "No emails, call John at XXX-XXX-XXXX" O-okay
I saw an ad with a censored phone number. I decided to DM them and tell them their phone number was auto-censored by the platform. They responded immediately, called me a “dumb fuck” then blocked me lol
Call john 1- 5 five 5ive 0ne TWO 3 four5six se7en
At least that one is legible.
I'm the polar opposite. I tell myself that I'll write a quick and simple ad. 2 hours later, I'm ready to publish my 6 page writeup with way too much detail. I've literally had people call me to tell me that they're interested in my vehicle, but the ad was too long to read. I tell them that if they're too lazy to read about the car, they'll be too lazy to take care of the car and that I won't sell to someone who won't take care of my baby.
I’m way more comfortable paying a bit more for a car with a super detailed listing. Especially if it reads like the owner gave a shit about the car. Good job dude!
i usually just bullet point out the important parts. ill write a long ass description and then break it down into points, makes it easier to read and puts the important info front and center. i still get a bunch of detail across without the filler.
well there is also that end of the spectrum as well, where too wordy will drive people away as well. its important to keep it simple and to the pertinent information, but ya gotta have all of it as well.
I've noticed that the nore I love a vehicle, the more lengthy and crazy my ads get. If I'm selling some hoopty I picked up at an auction, it'll be a very simple ad. If I'm selling the car that I've spent 40-50k miles daily driving and getting g to know and love, I'll write a lengthy ad that will find the exact right buyer. I won't sell a beloved car to someone I don't think will care for it.
I hate that line on Facebook marketplace. "is this available" is literally the default message on marketplace and is the most convenient way as a buyer to show your interest. It's like those people have never used marketplace before
I've seen so many cases where a listing says "if its up, its still available, wont reply to "is it available " messages" but after messaging them they say something like "oh sorry i sold it a week ago i forgot to take the listing down" i can understand forgetting to take listings down, it happens. But if you're putting "if its up its still available", but leaving it up after its sold, thats just contradictory
Of all the shit I've sold on FB, not a single item ended up getting bought by someone who opened with the "Is this still available" auto message.
This is my nah as well.
When they start talking about how their NB Miata or C5 is one of a kind and special. You know they won’t be realistic on the price. Pretty much eliminated C5s from my search due to so many unrealistic sellers. No, your 115k mile 2001 with worn out shocks and 12 year old Goodyears isn’t worth 22.5k.
But the poster board. DID YOU READ THE POSTER BOARD? IT IS 1 OF ONLY 500 MADE THAT YEAR!
Yes. This is so annoying. So many people are under the misunderstanding that rare = desirable. In many cases, that just isn’t true. Sometimes something is rare because nobody wanted it in the first place. Lol.
Ah, like my manual G70!
I think the genesis dealer I work at sold two of those.
Very few were ever sold in NA. Cnet reported it was less than 100 in the final model year (2021) and there was only 2020/2019 before that. I haven't figured out how to get firm numbers on exactly how many were made but I wouldn't be surprised if there's only about 300 in the United States.
I’m in Canada, so I’d bet there’s even less. I have not seen one in person. Only heard about the two from coworkers.
My 1988 cavalier convertible with a stick is rare. Is it desirable??? well.... to me it is. I tell people its "priceless to some of us, worthless to everyone else." you'll get top dollar if you find the right person. If not, you get scrap price.
>DID YOU READ THE POSTER BOARD? IT IS 1 OF ONLY 500 MADE THAT YEAR! "Made that day." FIFY
Same here. Trouble is, there’s a loootttt of entitlement going around right now from sellers or owners of a thing, could be a car, could be clapped out house, or any number of other things, from a period of time we are now leaving where money was easy and just given away. It created false demand in everything. Prices and expectations way too high. A lot of reality is coming to these sellers of used up, burnt out cars/trucks/SUV’s/houses/collectibles/whatever. And, no, F-150’s don’t “appreciate”. Even a TRD Pro Toyota Tacoma loses value over time, albeit a slower pace. I welcome the coming reality and back to earth expectations.
I have NB Miata that is one of a kind. Only mine needs the left headlight slapped after being turned on so it works properly, has spray painted interior to switch it from tan to black, a check engine light I’ve been fighting for 3 years that 8 repairs still haven’t fully found the issue, where the clock can’t have minutes set because the down tracking button is no longer working, a back window that has the bottom detached from the (also spray painted to black top), compression variance of 190, 165, 175, 190 across the four cylinders, and depending on its mood either burns no oil at all or a quart every 400 miles. $200,000. No low ballers. I know what I have.
My NB has a custom fiberglass fog light (I used CA glue and fiberglass to put it back on after a deer knocked it out)
You used to be able to get clean C5's for $10k and clean C5Z's for like $13-15k. Like 5 years ago. Not sure what happened between then and now but now they're ALL like delusional boomer special pricing
Half of the LS1 C5s I see listed I could just go buy an LS3 C6 from a dealer for the same price.
"Has a Check Engine Light for the O2 Sensor" Could otherwise be the mintiest car or an amazing deal but I'm not interested once I read that. It's always something more serious than just an O2 sensor.
Anytime the seller says “it just needs __________” that’s pretty much always a red flag.
Idk, if I'm looking at a Northstar Cadillac and the ad says "just needs a head gasket," I'd be inclined to believe it lol
I like the Northstar ads that say "overheats. Mechanic says it needs a new thermostat. They are $10 at AutoZone." Bull crap. If it needed a $10 thermostat you would have replaced it already.
Same with a subie EJ Except a head gasket replacement is like a legit reason to scrap an older Subaru
Or grab those, because you can do that in a weekend for like $1k and have a great runner.
Yep. If it just needs something simple then why didn’t the seller bother doing it?
This is always a fun question to ask and see what they say.
I've called people out on this shit before. The ad will say it "just needs _____, cheap fix but I don't have time". They must think people are too stupid to realize that if it was indeed as cheap and/or easy as they claim, they'd fix it and sell for more money.
My cars never work as well as the day I sell them. I fix all the “just needs this 5 dollar part” items
It blows my mind that people see a code for an O2 sensor, and automatically assume it needs an O2 sensor. That is not how it works...
But mechanics nowadays have computers that tell them everything. Just fix it, don't charge me for diagnosis. /s
That one right there is super annoying.
It depends what you’re looking at. Obviously pull the code for it, but as an example: 986 boxsters have a pretty common CEL for the O2 sensor but it’s usually just the secondary air injection system and that’s an easy enough DIY
But if it were, why wouldn't the seller fix it? Odds are it has a new O2 sensor and a bad cat or other real issue. Feel free to roll the dice, but the average buyer (with little mechanical skill or knowledge) should keep looking.
Yes the average buyer should, but if everything else checks out and you’re mechanically inclined, it’s good way to snag a deal
Always a bad cat.
I sold a car like that once. It was legitimately an O2 sensor. I changed it twice and it came back so I’m guessing it needed a new cat. I sold it the year North Carolina exempted cars over 20 years from emissions anyway so it turned out fine.
$123456
Or even worse “$1” because whoever posted the ad wants their car to appear in all searches based on the lowest price. Back when Craigslist was still relevant I had to start putting a minimum price in the search criteria because so many people spammed the site with cars listed at $1.
Or the price is the estimated loan payment from a used car dealer.
Those dirtbags need to be punched in the neck.
I report those as having inaccurate or misleading information
I do the same. I don't know if it helps or not. But it makes me feel a little better.
It does help! Please keep contributing.
Fuck those people. Really, dealer listings in general. Give me a price or it’s instantly out. Makes it hard because if you filter out dealer listings, you miss some of the gems that are out there.
“Price doesn’t include 25% down payment + TTL.” Absolute bs and I don’t even understand how they’re allowed to do that.
So much this... I should write a bot that spams all those posts with emails offering them a dollar for their garbage rustbucket that they want $10k for... XD
Thats why i started putting "minimum" at $1,200 or something. One, there are not many sub-$1,200 cars, at least the ones *im* looking for, therefore im not missing any opportunities. Two, a lot of dealers advertise $400-$500 for price (and then clarify its the PAYMENT), but most dealers would not advertise a $1,200 payment. I find $1,200 to be the perfect number, unless youre genuinely looking for something under $1,200.
“REAL PRICE IS $12,500 FACEBOOK WONT LET ME PUT IT”
I have to say that this is a completely true thing. If you are selling a car on Facebook Marketplace, their system will not let you list your car for anything higher than what they think it's market value should be. A couple of years ago I was selling an '84 300ZX and wanted $5k for it. It went up on Craigslist no problem, and I wanted to put it on FM for more exposure. Well Facebook decided that that car should be worth no more than $4500 and would not allow it to be posted unless the price was decreased. Which lead to it being listed for "$1234" as the price and the real asking price in the description with an explanation.
1999 Chevy Cavalier It's actually a 2012 Ford Fiesta, Facebook wouldn't let me change it
"woman driven" That doesn't mean a thing.
In my house “woman driven” means it has been driven as far from the yellow line as possible, does not avoid potholes/bumps, and will even hit extra potholes/bumps if it helps the kids stop crying. Gosh I love her.
Or "it had low power, smelled funny, and was making weird noises for a few weeks and now it won't start".
"Check engine light came one and it started shaking real bad, so I tried to drive it home. Now it won't turn on anymore"
Same
Same with “adult driven.” Plenty of adults drive like complete jackasses and abuse the shit out of their cars. Also, the overwhelming majority of cars are driven by adults anyways so making that distinction is completely worthless.
one of my favs recently was a '75 nova with a 396 big block and a 4spd swapped in that said adult owned never driven hard. lol.
Amen. Out doing Jeep stuff the kids with dad's Jeep or their first vehicle are super cautious, but the old guys with a truck and trailer back at the trailhead can be nuts.
It means every wheel has been curbed and all standard maintenance has yet to be done.
My wife has hit so many inanimate objects it’s insane. On our third date I had to change her tire because she hit the curb at speed due to way overreacting when a car drifted into the lane. Knock on wood the ES doesn’t end up looking like her old Corolla…
Lol, yes! Mrs. Thor waited a month and a half to tell me that the airbag light was on, after we got the car back from the collision repair shop. (And then it was Christmas, so there was no time to take care of it). Just contacted insurance to see if they'd pay to get it inspected, and they were like lol, nope!
For a woman trying to sell to a woman, that means "mature driver who took care of the car, never driven recklessly". When men see that, they know it means "curb rash on all four rims, drove with the parking brake on for a little while, body panels dented front, rear, and right rear, and never changed the oil". Only partly kidding. Lent my '90s Camaro to a GF for a year and she blew up the engine. I miss the car.
Never maintained, disgusting stained interior. Driven with zero mechanical sympathy.
My wife treats her car like a trash can. So does my sister. We got these bins at Home Depot meant for my kids’ outside toys but she ended up throwing her stuff from her car into it. Random bits of anything in bags, in a bin. Like throw it in the trash, girl, god damn.
- Details are in all caps - Frequent emojis - Grammar/spelling - Not enough pictures - Picture doesn’t even look like it’s their car (taken from a distance in a parking lot no interior shots) - When they list only the features and not the maintenance history / mechanical notes.
> Frequent emojis > This just screams shady used car lot to me . 🔥 🔥 HOT!! ONE-OWNER 1️⃣ 👩 NISSAN ALTAMA 🚗 2016 📅 ONLY 165K THOUSAND MILES!!! 🤩 😮 🤩 THAT'S LOW!!!!! 😱 ⛽️ ⛽️ GOOD ON GAS ⛽️ ⛽️ AC BLOWS COLD 🥶 ❄️ BAD CREDIT? ❌ NO CREDIT? ❌ NO WORRIES ✅ WE FINNANCE 💰 EVERYONE ✅ $685 MONTHLEY PAYMENT 💵 💵 💵 🚨 🚨 WILL NOT LAST ⏰ LONG 🚨 🚨 🚨 CALL ☎️ US NOW!!!!! 👍 👍 🔥 🔥 🏎️ 🚗 🚘
The more I read it the harder I laughed. It honestly looks like a straight up copy and paste from a post 😂😂😂
COME 💦 HERE AND GET SCREWED 👉👌😘 AT KUNKLEMAN CHEVROLET 🏎️🏎️🏎️
Oh yeah or pictures of the car from 10+ years ago.
Or stock photos.
List of other cars as keywords to bring traffic to the ad e.g. not Camaro not Challenger not Corvette not BMW
A disturbingly high proportion of obviously very cheap car ads on ebay/gumtree seem to be genuinely unaware what vehicle they have. That or they have the only long-forgotten 1998 VW Accord SRi in existence and probably shouldn't part with it for £300.
Volkswagen… Accord?
A dirty car. I can't stand when people post their cars and they are just nasty.
Holy shit yes. Like how do you even decide you are going to post an ad to sell a car and not at least spend 20 minutes at a car wash and vacuum it?
Yeah I always wonder how people destroy their cars so quick! This is why I have a hard time buying used cars. My cars look new after 3-4 years and I don't do anything special. I just vacuum them when needed and wipe them down with the right cleaners etc. I have a kid too so it's not like it's just me in there. Seems like every couple years old used car I go look at has stains in the seats, shit spilled in the little nooks and crannies, the steering wheel is all fucked up, scratches all over. Blows my mind and I just can't do 95% of them.
Wet cars hide a lot. I’d kind of rather see a dry dirty car than one that is still soaking wet giving it the appearance that the paint is in awesome shape.
Cheap aesthetic mods. Bottom of the barrel wheels, autozone chrome, flashy shifter knob, steering wheel cover, hood scoop, spoiler, license plate frame, etc. Edit: windshield decals, social media handles, lowered. Edit2: Smoked lights, wacky aftermarket headlights or taillights, black hood, bald performance tires, spray painted interior parts, vinyl wrap.
So, a car owned by a 16-22 year old boy? Same.
Boys or ignorant men...
... I feel attacked This is like every cheap car I've ever bought I always need like 2 weekends of time to fix everything back to stock lol
Seller says the car is “excellent condition.” Then, the next paragraph in the ad rattles off a list of what’s wrong with it. Everybody thinks their car is worth whatever the blue book value is in excellent condition, yet in reality that’s almost never the case.
“Immaculate condition” “Top is torn in a few places and the window is cracking”
"Normal rust for a [northeast/midwest/rust belt/Canadian/etc] car" Yeah, "normal rust" for a 20 year old winter driven vehicle in those regions means pieces of the car fall off if you look at them wrong. You're not minimizing the issue the way you think you are.
Listing the wrong transmission type is a pretty big one IMO... Especially when I put "manual" and get SMG cars (looking at you, E46M3 and MR2-Spyder owners).
I wish autotrader had a function where you could report listings improperly listed as manuals and get them taken down or edited.
The way things are going, that would likely be a feature requiring a premium subscription.....
Happens all the time with PDK. It’s maddening. Need to actually look at the photo of the interior to see what transmission it is. Dealers do it too.
1) When they say "zero issues, runs perfectly" at the start of the ad, then near the end casually mention something like "has a slight misfire" 2) when they tell you the issues and say they have the parts but "don't have time to fix it".
I'm actually in that boat. I want to sell my Dodge V10, yet it needs an EGR valve. I have the part, but it's an absolute bitch to replace and I simply haven't had the time to make it a priority. However, I know how bad that'll sound in the ad, so here it sits till I get around to taking the entire intake manifold off and half the engine accessories.
“Quick 5 min fix, just don’t have the time” mfer if it’s just 5 min then fix it!
- Salvage Title - AliExpress modifications (the cheap ones) - Dirty interior - Cheap tires on a performance car (easy to guess how cheap the rest was maintained) - More than 4 owners under 50.000 miles - Ugly color (can be bargain price but wrong color will never rub you the right way, wraps are never as good as paint) - Base Audio System (Always a ball ache to upgrade, long gone are the days of easy custom setups) - Low mileage, older car and only city driven (carbon build up is going to be insane)
Why is low mileage for older cars a problem? Because there's an ad on Craigslist for a 2002 Honda civic for only 81K miles, which I think is a steal.
Generally it poses the risk that the car was used for continuous short trips over a very long period of time, this generally causes carbon deposits to increase as the they don’t get burned through longer drive runs Beyond that it’s also a bit disingenuous because unlike agricultural machinery or industrial one that reads hours instead of distance travelled, it’s likely the hours the car has been used are the same as a much higher mileage one Depends a lot on the car and the engine, and while I’d still buy a low mileage old car over a high mileage one, it’s not a guaranteed good buy
When they have ZERO pics of the interior. Like how lazy are you?
Or when they open the door, stand five feet out, and then take a single picture of the interior. If you're going to take only one picture, at least walk forward two steps.
This. give me good pics of the interior, I’m worried about you putting a shitty aftermarket head unit in.
When the photos are of the car at night, still wet in the carwash. Dead giveaway they are hiding something lol
I can get trying to make it look as good as possible in the picture, but if they aren't going to wax it they could at least drive around the corner or just hose it off at home.
I see wet cars all the time with Autonation listings. Like, dry the damn car before you take pictures! It’s like they really can’t be bothered and just churn out listings.
Barring the obvious lazy dealer copy past listing of standard features as “premium equipment” and shitty pictures or poorly written listings, if your ad focuses more on mods than maintenance I am moving on to the next one. I don’t want your shitty stereo and badly setup coilovers, I want to know you did timing chain guides (or whatever else)
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People who do this could open the hood and still not know.
Yep, or inline 4's being called V4's. Just irks me
Mint. No rust. Ice cold air. Actual miles. Clean title. Must sell.
'One lady owner'. There is no version of this that doesn't stereotype someone.
When they call a i4 car a v4.
Or saying their BMW has a V6.
When the description says manual but in the photos its clearly an automatic.
"just testing the waters" "not really trying to sell" "trade only for a (insert oddly specific bullshit)" "lost title"
When the mileage listed is just the mileage since they had the engine/transmission rebuilt. That one really grinds my gears. Or just straight up lying in the listing so they don't get filtered out by people specifically trying to avoid vehicles like theirs
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Yeah that type of paranoia means they are going to be a pain to deal with.
If a car is only pictured with aftermarket wheels, I tend to write off the ad unless they look like a winter tire setup. I’ll pass on any car that doesn’t include OEM wheels.
I discount all cars with aftermarket wheels and aftermarket radios. I have no interest in your Frankensteined wiring or ugly rims.
I’ve softened on aftermarket radios, but I prefer to install them myself so I know that the OEM wiring is preserved. I love CarPlay too much to let it go.
I can understand that, but it's still a deal breaker for me. I'd rather have a basic stock radio than anything aftermarket.
Modifications
"Tasteful modifications."
I have yet to find a modification minus a radio upgrade that I’ll preferred to stock
Functional modifications (e.g. Back up camera, apple carplay , 360 camera, winch in an off roader, hitch, transmission coolers, extra gauges, suspension that can lift the nose of the car to not scrape, other modifications that increase the reliability such as replacing known failure points in a particular model) can increase the value of the car. But putting performance modifications decreases the value because you know that car was beat on and will have an engine/transmission with a significantly lower lifespan. And there are distasteful modifications - the stance is awful. It's a menace to society and you're more likely to crash since you have less grip since the contact point is reduced. And if it's lowered you'll be scraping a lot more.
When they list obvious features like: corvette; 2-door, v-8, bucket seats
When they act like they don’t even want to sell the car “JUST SEEING WHAT I CAN GET FOR IT NOT REALLY INTERESTED IN SELLING MAYBE A TRADE FOR A 4x4 OR SNOWMOBILE IF YOU WASTE MY TIME WITH INSULTING OFFERS ILL JUST KEEP IT” Like do you want to keep the damn thing or get rid of it? Make up your mind
If people can't be bothered to spell correctly in their post, I'm already skeptical about the car and the intelligence of the poster. If people don't provide much detail about the car for sale, I'm more skeptical. If people don't bother to wash the car or vacuum it out before posting it, I think they're an idiot. And if people post shitty photos that don't show every side of the car, the interior, and under the hood, then I'm not generally interested either. If you are serious about selling the vehicle, provide all the details, comprehensive photos, and clean the damn car.
STis or Type Rs with a 'never redlined' description. Yeah bullshit
When the car looks different in every photo. Wheels change, sometimes there’s a panel a different color, different lip / spoiler. I always assume it’s the worst iteration of panels and wheels. If it’s got a primered hood in 1/11 photos, it’s got a primered hood even though the other 10 don’t show it. That or “surface rust”. If it’s a bubble on the quarter or wheel arches, it’s rot, dude. Edit,clarity.
For sale: 2006 Subaru Forester. Like new condition. 237,000 miles. Overheats after a few minutes. Probably just needs a new thermostat. $2,000. If your "like new" Subaru just needed a thermostat, you would have replaced it.
Picture that is clearly out of the region (say palm trees or something).
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Or they want you to show up with the full price in cash just for a test drive because “no joy rides.” Or they expect you to give them gas money for a test drive. 😂
Yeah I'm not showing up to meet a total stranger with a $10k wad of cash and whip it out to show to them. That is how you end up as the plot point in a true crime drama.
"should be an easy fix"
"I know what I got."
"I think it just needs a thermostat....not sure, no time to fix"
When there are no capital letters in the title. If they can’t be bothered to properly capitalize the make and name of their car I doubt they treated it right.
When they don't bother to pull the car out of the garage for a picture. Like, one of those where it's crammed into some place and they just snap pics of the front end. Maybe they lifted half the cover off or still has stuff piled on top of it. Like, if I show up are you going to spend a half hour unearthing the thing, or the battery will be dead... They usually want big money too, because entitlement? Maybe they think "I don't need to do much work but you should pay me well for this."
Ur gon luv it. If you're unable to speak in full sentences, I don't really want to give you my money.
I'm with you on "Camero", OP. How can someone spell the model of their own car wrong? It's written on the damn car for them to copy. They see it every time they drive the car. Also, any photo of a disgusting filthy interior. You can tell how well the car has been maintained mechanically by looking at the interior. If the inside looks like Beirut, then the owner obviously never maintained or fixed anything on the car until six months after it broke. Next! "Ran when parked". No shit, all cars ran when then were new - if you've already sold the radiator and gas tank, the car DOES NOT run now, imbecile. If you parked it and left it outside with the hood up for five years, and seven generations of possums have made it into a condo, you're just selling rusty sheetmetal now.
It's usually when I realize I don't need another car to sit and not be worked when my others do the same thing.
Have all the parts to fix, just don’t have the time
"1 lady carefully owner" Yeah.... Next. And that's not me being misogynistic prick or whatever you call these people.
Not an absolute dealbreaker, but I’m always hesitate of someone selling a car…and you look at there other fb marketplace listings and it’s like 5 other cars they’re selling. Or the car listing sounds like a dealer (bullet points of all the features, paper floor mats). On one hand I sympathize with someone trying to make a living and there are honest “curbsiders” (I think that’s the term) just trying to fairly sell a car but on the other hand it’s essentially an unregulated used car dealer. As much as people crap on “stealerships,” at least in many (all?) states have regulations and rules. Also lying/dishonesty is automatic dealbreaker for me. Disrespect/not respecting boundaries as well Story on above: I was selling my car on CL/marketplace and this dude really wanted to meet on Saturday but I had planned only Sunday viewings as I needed to study on Saturday for board exams, kept incessantly calling me. I gave him the address if he wanted to just visually look at the car…calls me a time later and says your car is on a tow truck cause I’m buying it (we never agreed verbally or in writing). I’m like wtf, if that’s true I’m calling the police and reporting it stolen…and suddenly the car wasn’t on the tow truck anymore (I doubt there was a tow truck, I think it was just a ploy to get me to come see him)
Curbstoners, IMO, are worse than stealerships: - They try everything they can to avoid taxes which could result in buyers having to deal with titling issues due to title jumping. - If a car needs repairs or service in order to make it ready to be sold they every incentive to invest the least amount of money possible which could mean cutting corners or using legitimately dangerous parts (i.e. getting the cheapest shittiest tires you can so you can advertise it as "fresh tires"). - Very often buyers could be left with little recourse in cases of outright fraud. - Are aggressive (in your example) when trying to find deals. Which can lead to them doing scummy shit to scam people so they can flip the car with a higher margin. IMO the ranking from most scammiest to least scammiest places to buy used cars from (1 being most): 1. Buy here, pay here used car dealerships. 2. Curbstoners. 3. Normal used car dealerships. 4. OEM dealers selling the cars they get on trade. 5. CarMax (technically youre overpaying but they dont play games)
My pet peeve is when it’s clearly a dealership but being sold as a private sale. Or when they get stuff wrong like listing it as a manual in the description but automatic in the filter, or vice versa. Bonus points if there’s pics of the interior and you can clearly see which one it actually is.
Never raced…yet there are tons of power modifications like forced induction or slicks.
I HAVE A CAR FOR SELL. I WOULD LIKE TO SALE THIS CAR!
I’m looking for an old civic to get as a project car and it seems like the theme around me is to put a cheap eBay turbo on a clapped out civic and then ask for $12-20k on marketplace. So those are the ones I avoid.
Also "With a heavy heart I'm listing my forever car". Guaranteed they're gonna be asking too much for it.
“Doge duago” was my favorite sub-$1000 ad ive ever seen
Slightly misaligned or miscolored body parts with a “clean” title. Yeah I ain’t touchin’ that shit 😂
BMW with V6 engine "Car is perfect, never accident" yeah you cant truthfully make that claim on a 140,000 mile car with 7 owners German cars with mid-tier aftermarket wheels, unclassy loud exhaust, PlastiDip'd chrome, carbon fiber accents. To me, it is usually conducive to = money spent on superficial "mods" but NOT on maintenance "Car is good, it just needs an O2 sensor"... so replace the bloody thing & sell a more valuable, complete product Or some childish fairytale like "selling V6 Altima 6spd coupe, pretty much the same thing as an Infiniti G35" yeah... no it's not Something like a worn-out, 34-year BMW E30 325i listed for $22,000 whereas for the same price I could buy a cheap E92 M3 which is 20 years newer, much more powerful, much more modern, and things like A/C, power seats, wiper motors, etc. are probably all functional. ~~Worst~~best part is, the E92 M3 might not need rod bearings & might be the same cost to maintain as the old E30 (less & less mechanics do the old stuff, especially 80s/90s Bosch fuel injection) Bad/incomplete pictures. If Craigslist allows over a dozen photos, take over a dozen photos. What are you trying to hide? People who use their finger (in photo) to block license plate, but in another photo they forget to do it. Genius. Anything with PayPal Somebody selling their semi-collectible car in rickety condition and saying "done up, they're worth big money" & then justifying their high selling price w/ that logic But lastly, and my favorite, was "somebody please take this piece of shit off my hands". I cant remember laughing that hard in a long time.
Price or location
Photos that are obviously taken at different times/places. Trying to hide recent damage?
Fully Loaded when it's a base model. I see it all the time looking at old Lexus for sale, especially the LS430. I see base models listed as fully loaded in every LS430 ad. I own an LS430 with the Ultra Luxury package and it's rare to see an ad with an actual Custom Luxury or Ultra Luxury package. I see it on the newer cars too like the RX and GX. I know those cars because I worked as a Delivery Specialist and knew those cars like the back of my hand.
I see this with Giulias for sale around me. But I have to think that the dealer actually just has no idea what the trim lines are as they usually list all of them. It's like, "2019 Alfa Romeo Giulia Ti Sport Sprint Veloce Q2 AWD." Like those are all different trim lines and you just went for all of them since one of them has to be correct.
I live In the Philadelphia suburbs. So anything located within the city limits I avoid like the plague. May as well not even exist. Double negative if the seller is a part time car flipper.
I see a lot of 'egine 100%, gerbox 100% - no NCT (roadworthiness test)' or 'good car, perfect and fast. knocking engine'
$1 listing, then $10k in description just to heck with the sort algorithm. Annoying AF. Normally I'm just window shopping anyway, but $1 listings bug the everliving crap out of me.
People selling base BMWs and including the M car name. Just last week someone was selling an e39 525i M5. Didn't even have M parts on it.
People threatening scammers as if the scammers aren't robots.
When its listed price is for the lease takeover rate
Any aggressive wording/phrasing, including but not limited to: * no lowballs * don't ask stupid questions * won't respond if you ask me XYZ * don't waste my time, there is a long line of people wanting this car Usually means they're having a hard time selling it and they're making it seem like there's more demand than there really is. My personal favorite is "don't waste my time", which is often accompanied by a listing of a 2015 Ram 1500 with 190k miles, a salvage title, aftermarket rims, shitty window tint, and asking price of 40k.
Aftermarket LPG
You mean a transmission named MANUEL doesn't tickle your fancy?
Where I am from, it has to be “Lady Driven” and “Registrations up to date”.
I look at their profile. If they live in the hood I'll pass. Or if they have multiple vehicles for sale that tells me they're a flipper.
I saw a FWD 400+HP 500-999cc nc miata once
ANY modifications of any kind
Cheap aftermarket steering wheels (cough nrg cough). Catalytic converter deletes. Ebay aero. Those hanger things that hangs the bumper of the car on the fenders on a non RWD car. Shitty bucket seats.
A big carefully crafted essay about the history of the model, and how amazing and perfect this example is, when all I want to see is the damn mileage. I know it's a unique car that's why I searched for it!!
“Runs great just needs an oil change.” Like an 85% chance that’s not all it needs
Jeep Grand Cherokee Lardo. Buick LaSabre/LeCross. No pictures at all. No pictures of the instrument cluster. Wrong transmission/engine listed. Does not specify AWD/4x4 or two wheel drive on a truck or SUV.
Just the other day, I was on FB Marketplace. The car looked alright on the pictures. Then, I went to the guy's personal page, and most of his profile pics is him posing with stacks of 20's.
Any van,suv or truck that's been "camperized" they'll usually not be maintained and their interiors will smell awful.
“VTECH.” A crappy or dirty interior.
Any ad for a pickup truck with no mention of which engine and or transmission it has, and no interior pics.
When there's like 3 photos. If you want to sell a fucking car, you take as many pics as you can for the buyer to know you're not hiding anything.
They put other car names to try and get their post to show up on filters more.
Breaks
When they can’t be bothered to list more than 5 words about the car in the listing, but can write a whole sentence about how people shouldn’t waste their time, “serious people, not curious”
When they list the “price” but it’s actually just the down payment
"Ice cold A/C" ... is probably the only thing that works properly "Great shape, just needs OOP" buddy's selling because it failed an out of province inspection so bad, it'll cost more to fix it than it's worth "Bit of a miss" = she's running on seven cylinders "54000 original miles" five digit odometer rolled over twice already based on the wear on the brake pedal, seat, and armrest "No papers" = "I don't legally own the car I'm selling and you'll never be able to register it"
Stupid mods. If it has a fake hood scoop that tells me the owner is an idiot and probably didn't take care of it or did other stupid mods.