Selling the old car advise

I just bought a new Legacy 2.5i Limited. (Five weeks now)

The car is great.

 

My plan was to trade in the old car.

My broken down 1999 Acura 3.2 TL.

So the car isn't that bad with only 60K miles on it.

Needs a new transmission, but that is all that is wrong with it.

 

So here is where I need some advise.

A friend of mine said "Don't trade it in, because he wants the car"

So I was like: "OK" (my first mistake).

 

Now the guy has ZERO dollars to pay for the car.

It's been five weeks and he's paying me in dribs and drabs.

The car sits in my driveway without any plates.

I told him he can't have the car until he pays me the full $2K.

 

But the guy is desperate for the car because he needs it to get to work.

So now he wants to let me hold his motorcycle and take the car until he pays me in full ($1.25K remaining)

 

So first I guess I will write up some kind of contract that says I hold the motorcycle until I get the full $$ amount.

But is there anything else anyone thinks I should be doing to protect myself.

I will give him the title and the registration signed over and make copies of everything.

 

I don't want him coming back in a few weeks and saying "I need the motorcycle for the weekend and then I will give it back to you" or something like that. I don't want to just "store" the motorcycle. It will be off limits until the car is paid off.

 

What a pain in the butt!

 

Thanks,

JedK

I'd give him the money he paid back, find someone on craigslist or wherever that has all the cash, up front. This has the opportunity to turn into a trip to the People's Court in a hurry.

This is exactly what I told my wife yesterday.

I have to give the guy a deadline, and say if he hasn't paid me by then the deal is off!

 

Thanks,

jedk

So he's desperate for a car with a busted transmission so he can get to work? And he's willing to give you a working motorcycle for said broken car? Doesn't make any sense...

 

Cseagle has the best advice. Ditch this deadbeat and sell it somewhere else.

 

+1

 

Bummer to be a dick to a friend, but cash is king.

If he can't pay $2k where's he getting the additional $3500 for an Acura transmission?

BarmanBean,

The guy works for Honda.

He's one of those guys who sits in front and takes your information when you bring your car in for repair. For the last like five years he has been asking me for the car. Then what happened was I told him I need a new Tranny, and asked if he can get me a deal at Honda.

But...

For the last year or so my wife has been saying we should get a new car. She's been eyeing the Forester for a couple of years now. (we bought the Legacy)

 

Then the guy said it would be $3500 for a new Tranny but it's a true Honda transmission with the lifetime warranty, and all that stuff. At Honda that's a good deal because they charge $5000. (Aamco was going to charge me the same $3500).

 

I told him forget it I'm just going to trade in the car.

The car is in perfect condition. Garaged it's whole life and regular maintenance. Kids never ate in the car. (no Cheerios in the seats). Only 59K miles.

If you search you will see people selling the car for about $8K.

If I didn't ask him for the Tranny he would never have known and I would have just traded it in and it would have been gone.

$2K was the offer from the dealer, so I offered it to him for the same price.

 

I have a pretty good job (thank god) so for me I can swing $2K without any pain but you know what is going on in these dealerships over the last few years. Consolidation and layoffs.

 

That is the long story...

Jed K

Ditch the deadbeat, sell it to carmax and be done with it. I think you will need plates to sell it to them though.

I was ready to say: "You're a good guy but I have to unload the car"

BUT...

The guy sent me a preemptive email yesterday thanking me for being so patient, and telling me all of his woes. That he is going through a bad time, and he's been depressed, and that thank god for a good friend like me... UGH!!!

And he says his tax return should come back "any day now".

Now what!?

So I told him that I really want to help him out but the car has to be gone by the time my son comes back from college (in 3 weeks). I will push that theme. By the way, no mention of the motorcycle anymore.

 

My wife is like: "JUST GIVE HIM THE CAR A FORGET ABOUT IT!"

The guy is the nicest guy, and I feel bad for him because he hit bad times. (He used to be pretty wealthy (inheritance) but he was a **** up in high school (party time) and now has a shitty job. (Lesson there for our kids). He lives in a $700K house and I think it's been mortgaged a few times. That's another part of his problem because he has to make those payments.

 

I was ready to follow what you guys say, but now I feel I have to give him a little more time. ARGH!!!

 

If you are interested I will keep posting and tell you how this turns out.

Thanks,

Jed

I'm interested, keep us up to date. Good luck and hopefully it'll all work out for both of yall. I can understand helping someone out for sure. If it was like 500 bucks I probably would've just given it to him. 2,000 is a little more serious. Hopefully he's learning a lesson on education and life and maybe he can do something to change his situation. Like get the heck out of a 700k house.

I think you just need to be an adult about this. Put the timeline - 3 weeks from now, then car goes for sale. Whoever brings you the cash first takes the car.

 

I am sorry but you're dancing around the problem. Put the line in the sand and go with it. From what you're saying the guy is in the down spiral for years, it's good you are trying to help him but there has to be a timeline if you are looking to get something for the car.

 

Otherwise just do what your wife said - give it to him and forget about the car. Somehow I think the guy will never repair it though...

Business and Nice DON'T always go hand in hand

SubOperator:

The line has been drawn.

I told him May 13th.

If he makes it to $1500 or more the car is his (not telling him that though).

If not, then I start looking for a buyer.

by the way...

It's not going to be easy to just sell the car now because I took the plates off.

Test driving the car is going to be hard (illegal).

I told the guy he is running out of time and I have to get rid of the car.

He arrived with another $250 last night (total $1000 so far).

He has some pending EBay sale and is waiting for that money from Paypal.

 

I think he's going to make it.

This will be a happy ending.

I gave him the car!

$1000 so far. Now I have to hold my breath for the rest of the money.

My wife wanted the car out of the driveway.

 

So the guy puts old plates on the car.

A post-it with some scribble on it where the Registration goes and drives home.

It's about 1/4 mile from my house. He is really nervous about a cop seeing that he has no real registration. He asked me to follow him home.

 

So he drives home on a 30 mph street at 52 mph. This is a street that is known for ticketing.

When I get to his house after I caught up to him I said to him: "That was pretty dumb to drive 22 miles over the speed limit on this particular street. "

He replied: "I didn't want to be seen on the road with a car without registration, so I drove home as fast as I could".

Wow... Brilliant!

 

I try not to ever sell stuff/rent to friends.

When you sell to a friend he expects a deal.

When he expects a deal you feel inclined to give him one.

When you give him a deal he takes advantage of your generosity.

When he takes advantage of your generosity you resent him.

When you resent him you lose him as a friend.

You don't want to lose him as a friend, Don't sell your things to your friends.

 

Put up or shut up! Give him his money back. Sell the car to someone that can afford to fix the tranny. No good deed goes unpunished my man.

Who knew that a guy who lives in such a nice neighborhood, and lives in a nice house would have so much trouble coming up with a meager $2000.

He will never pay me the full amount. I've come to terms with that.

I'm hoping to get at least $500 more to get to $1500.

My wife is glad to just be rid of the car. Luckily we both earn a pretty decent living (especially in this economy).

He's not a close friend. Our daughters are friends in school.

It's not like we hang out together. If it was a close friend I would have just given him the car at the beginning.

So the only thing lost at this point is at most $1000.

If he doesn't pay me, then he can spend the rest of the time our daughters are friends avoiding me.

 

In hindsight,

At the time when I picked up the Legacy...

I should have said: "I need the cash now to purchase the new Legacy. I am going to trade it in, unless you can give me the cash up front".

Some BS like that would have worked great.

It's over!

 

So his wife called me yesterday and said...

"Enough is enough. He will never pay you. How much does he owe you?"

I was like "really?"

And she came over my house. Hung out for a while and gave me the rest of the money.

She thanked me for being so patient, and all that stuff.

 

What happened was when he went DMV they told him the bank still owns the car.

He sent me a text message about it.

So I said to come over my house and I will give him the letter from the bank.

Luckily I saved it from 2002.

I think he was embarrassed to come over so his wife had enough of him and she came over.

 

It was all very pleasant.

 

JedK

Thats why you never sell to friends. It's just not woth it.

And by "you mean she payed you in sexual favors, amirite?

 

Dam!

I should have thought of that.

And she is a good looking tall blonde.

 

In 15 years when I sell this Subaru, I will have to get her daughter involved (also tall and blonde... she'll be 30 about that time)

Thats why you never sell to friends. It's just not woth it.

 

It seems that way.

But the guy is like "you really helped me out. I would have lost my job because I can't get there"

The guy was 15 minutes late to work because he needed someone to drive him there and they brought him into the office, and lectured him on being late and that he will be fired if he is late again.

 

He's one of those guys, when you go for maintenance on your car, he's supposed to sell you all kinds of stuff you don't need. He was awarded highest customer satisfaction from Honda and that is because he is honest with the customers. His wife says he could make a lot more money if he wanted but he is not the type of guy who tries to rip people off. This is also why he is not the favorite at the dealership's maintenance department.

 

So while I was getting annoyed at the time with all the Bullshit, in the end I got my money, and everyone for the most part is happy.

 

Also, it was fun posting here and venting my frustrations.

 

Thanks,

Jedk