Strangers at the door...Potential Buyers

[Witt]

I am trying to pick any boddies brain here about dealing with perfect strangers when selling a car.

My family is very opposed to strangers coming to the house to look at my car I have for sale. What could be the danger in doing so?
Prospective thieves "casing" the joint, or returning to steal the car etc.

Is it cool to ask an interesting party to meet at a mutually agreed place? would that make a bad impression?
Being an honest bloke myself I would prefere to look at a car I wish to buy at the sellers place. Until my brother voiced his concerns I never gave the subject another thought and expected people to come to the house to look at and test drive the car.

Is either of us over reacting or is there some valid concern.
Really would appreciate anyones input, wounder if that subject was ever addressed?!

CHEERS !
WITT !
 

[Ulf]

I have never given it a thought up until now - even though a Pagoda is a rather expensive car, my guess is that people with criminal intent would look for something else, like newer Porsches, BMWs and such. I also depends on where you advertise the car - a forum like this or the classifieds in a classic car mag would be preferable.

Ulf

[MichaelB.]

Yes, it is difficult.

I am currently assisting a lady friend of mine sell her Porsche. She is very attractive and single and I thought it would be best if I ran interference for her as she tried selling the vehicle. Even I (just a friend) do not want strangers going to her place to look at her car.

As for me. I have no problem letting people come to my place as they get the idea when they see me that its all business. You just have to represent yourself as such.

[kayemoxon]

Interesting question.
My take on this is:  we have to take a calculated risk in dealing with or selling anything to strangers. To look at this from a buyers point of view, I think I would be suspicious if the vendor wanted to arrange viewing and sale at another location other than their home.
By viewing at the sellers home you can verify they are who they say they are.

However, if your family is particularly wary you could confine your sale negotiations to the kitchen or hallway of your house thus keeping your domestic things safely out of sight and formal.

Another way would be to offer the vehicle to be inspected at your local garage who already know your car and can perhaps offer an engineers report if required (your buyer can also see it up on the ramp and view the underside).

Finally, use a third party to sell the car on your behalf for an agreed fee

[mdsalemi]

ding-dong.

"Wait a minute...I'll be right there...just loading up the shotgun..."

[badali]

I sold a few from my house with no problems.  There is always a chance for a bad experience in anything you do.  I'm not going to live in a bubble so I'll continue to do it this way.
Brad

[Cees Klumper]

Over the last couple of years I've bought three vehicles from perfect strangers - found them through the Dutch and French Ebay, connected through email and was invited to come look at the vehicle at their homes. Besides that I've bought some other objects the same way, and usually made the deal at the sellers' homes. Never did anyone suggest to meet at some other location unless that's where 'the goods' were for obvious reasons like storage. Maybe Europe is different this way. I would make sure to get 'a read' on the person interested in coming to have a look, to see whether they had a reasonable idea what they were talking about - with Pagoda's this should be fairly easy - your average criminal won't know much about the cars at all. And sophisticated criminals won't need to go through this kind of trouble to get into your house.

[TargaNfld]

Being in Canada, and not a major city like Montreal or Toronto, I would think that you are at very minimal risk.
If you are providing them with your phone number, ideally you should have work number for them or a home number, although I suppose many folks these days only have cell phones.

The bigger risk that you take is form of payment, and that the actually cash is in your hands or bank account. Be very careful of checks that are deposited, but have not cleared, and especially careful of money orders, certified cheques etc all of which can be falsified.

Unless you live in a multimillion dollars House with expensive artwork, oh never mind if that was the case all of us would be driving 300 SL's ...

Cheers .......... bb
 

[jaymanek]

Unfortunately doing business at home is always risky. This is why I opted to move my business away from home, too many dodgy characters turning up at my doorstep.

There was one occasion where someone came to look at a jeep we had for sale. In actual fact they came to suss out where we keep the car at night and to take a number off the key which allowed him to order a replacement at the dealer!! Of course its not so easy to get a copy anymore but in those days it was...
Anyway, the next day I went out for a few minutes and by the time i got back the car was gone.

You can tell a lot from the initial phone call.. If they are genuine enthusiasts, it normally transpires.... If possible, I would arrange the meeting at your place of work? Then once you have met them you can arrange any future meetings at home.

[cynewan]

  just trust your instincts when talking to them over the phone. You could also meet these buyers somewhere and its possible they could follow you and find out where you live .   i've done a few deals from home and also made deals with sellers at their homes ( some out of state ) and havent had any problems.  i'm not really worried about trespassers cos have two very protective german shepherds that charge at anything that comes into my yard .Even i get the same treatment when i pull in my driveway .
   If this is really a concern, then i think your initial meeting should be at an agreed location ( that way you are not just letting anybody come into your home), and when they are really ready to buy ( cash in hand etc), then you can invite them home to pick up the car ( even in this case, you can get this deal done without having him come inside the house.... I would be suspicious of buying a high priced item from a seller that i dont know where they live ( The exception would be a situation where the car is at a storage location). Good luck

[Brian Davidson]

MichaelB. your problem is easily solved. get her to move in with you and let her sell the car from your place. who knows she may become more than a friend in the fullness of time either before or after the car is sold. Brian.

[Danesgate]

MichaelB. your problem is easily solved. get her to move in with you and let her sell the car from your place. who knows she may become more than a friend in the fullness of time either before or after the car is sold. Brian.

I thought the idea was that he wouldn't lose his worldly goods to someone else....