Help me properly advertise my project car

I have my DSM up for sale in the classifies here and also on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist. I've advertised it on the DSM specific Facebook pages as well. 

The car is the end of a project for me after replacing the engine and a ton of other parts. I've yet to drive it daily so I can't in good conscious advertise it as anything other than a project. 

What I keep getting is messages from people who think my $2000 car is a daily driver with zero issues. A lot of high school and college students who have no idea what they're in for. Asking if it will drive 6 hours back home. I tell them I don't know and they can't understand why I won't tell them the car is perfect and road worthy. I've also had the "let me take it to the mechanic" and I say I'm not going down that road. 

Am I being too picky about a buyer? Should I just let them buy it and sort this out on there own? Am I being too paranoid that some underlying issue could be wrong that I don't know about? 

Which DSM? I've been looking for an Eclipse built for IMCA Sport Compact.

This is probably a case where you're going to either have to fix it up to "reliable enough" and raise the price or hope the exact right customer comes along who wants exactly what you have.

Let them take it to a mechanic on their dime if they leave a deposit. 

 

I had a similar issue when selling an MG Midget 1500.  I was basically trying to talk the seller out of it.  "Do you have experience with these cars?  Are you sure you want to do this?"

Scotty Con Queso said:

 I've also had the "let me take it to the mechanic" and I say I'm not going down that road. 

 

This sentence is your problem.  Why would you not let someone inspect your car?  As a buyer, this is an immediate, hard, "NO".  What is this guy hiding?  

In reply to L5wolvesf :

It's a 2g convertible so I doubt you'd want to race it. 

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

While I agree, I let a douche take my engine swapped car to a mechanic. Not only did the mechanic find bogus things "wrong", they didn't even tell the kid that it was a different engine, AND when he brought it back it was running tougher than when it left. Fairly certain someone joy rided it. eff no, hell no. Never again. It's a project car, and that's final. 
 

every ad I write to this very day has, in bold caps at the beginning, "IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR PERFECTION, HIT THE BACK BUTTON!" Right from the very starting sentence. This kills the idiots immediately. I'll have 33 views in an ad, with two inquiries. These are legit, knowledgeable people too. 

Oh the joys of selling project cars.  You should have read my ad for the $500  1964 El Camino.    I keep saying "It is $500, not $5,000".

The guy who bought it thought the ad was amusing.    So my advice is make the ad not just rude but somehow amusing and/or funny.

Maybe post another pic of one all smashed up as the feature pic?   Yeah, that will keep away many casual tire kickers.

I've had people ask to take it to a mechanic, sure if you give me non-refundable $200 deposit first.  

I know the feeling.  The best you can do is be a dick about it.  Seriously.  I do it all the time.

Advertise honestly, be frank, and don't even respond to the trolls.  I wish I had a nickel for every time I advertise something "$1000 Firm, no lo-ballers so don't ask" and someone writes to say "$250?"

I don't even engage them.  I don't respond.

Your unfortunate situation is that you've put an inexpensive car on the market and you're going to get every college kid, newbie, and bonehead trying to shoehorn your inexpensive car into something that will work fine as their cherished first hoopty.  You have placed a car on the market that appeals to only people exactly like you AND the tiny percentage of people who can do their own research.  They can come talk intelligently with you in an actual conversation instead farming it out.

If you sell it to one of these goofballs, they'll find out somewhere down the line that it doesn't have the original headlights in it and get pissed that you ripped him off.

Advertise it, hope to find the one-in-a-million person in the market full of weehoos, and ignore the dummies.

In reply to _ :

This was a similar response I had prepped but deleted. I genuinely don't trust any local "shop" or "mechanic" to perform a fair PPI on a project car. If the buyer isn't mechanically inclined enough to inspect the car on their own, they have absolutely no business buying a project car they are convinced is a daily driver. 

Curtis73 said:

I wish I had a nickel for every time I advertise something "$1000 Firm, no lo-ballers so don't ask" and someone writes to say "$250?"

I usually respond "Sure, I'll take $1,250."

The latest is I have a kid who wants to take a train into town and get to my house around 8:30pm and drive it back home 4 hours away. In winter. On star specs.  At night. Guess who his first call will be to if something goes wrong? 

Again, maybe I should let people make their own bad decisions, but I won't. 

Streetwiseguy said:

Why would you not let someone inspect your car?   

Because too many mechanics are incompetent, and beside that, you'd have to be an idiot to let someone take an obvious project car to a mechanic for an inspection. 

Ask me how I know. 

I have the opposite problem with my E30...

Not much interest, weird-ass trade offers (a dirt bike? really?) or complete low-balls (around 25% of asking and their reasoning was "you're asking coast prices in the midwest, bro")

I listed everything that I know of that's wrong on the car, everything that's missing, what likely needs done, and what I've replaced/fixed/swapped.

Maybe the secret is to make it as vague as possible like every other car listing I've seen.

Scotty Con Queso said:

Am I being too picky about a buyer? Should I just let them buy it and sort this out on there own? Am I being too paranoid that some underlying issue could be wrong that I don't know about? 

Yes, you're being all those things and making the process a lot more difficult than it needs to be. If I were trying to buy your car I'd be really frustrated if you wouldn't let me buy it.

Suprf1y said:

Streetwiseguy said:

Why would you not let someone inspect your car?   

Because too many mechanics are incompetent, and beside that, you'd have to be an idiot to let someone take an obvious project car to a mechanic for an inspection. 

Ask me how I know. 

Most mechanics are in a tough position for two reasons.  1) they have to cover their butts and find everything "wrong" with it and they'll throw up ALL the red flags, and 2) their entire job is to sell product, so they are more likely to find things wrong that aren't.  I agree.  I wouldn't ever let someone take my SS to the mechanic.  There are a dozen things "wrong" with it that I clearly advertise, but a proper mechanic (it's their job) will find 60 other things and kill my sale.

It's a whole different story if I have a 2015 Toyota with 40k on it, but something that has been modified or changed or swapped is not the kind of market that needs a mechanic.  It needs someone who is just like the seller and can discern for themselves if it is something they want.

I haven't seen your ad, from the sounds of it though, you are like the rest of us.  That is Honest, fair and open about what you are selling.  When I sold my MINI because the computer was on the way out I listed that in the ad.  I also listed that I had every record for every part and all work that I had either done or had done on the car.  I took LOTS of pictures and posted those in the ad.  If the Prospective buyer wants to take your project car to a mechanic for a PPI, I would say, Yes, but you go with them so that you can point out to the mechanic what YOU did and why it is a project car.  Then again if someone is looking to buy a 2000 dollar car to use as a daily driver and you specifically point out in the ad that it is a Project.  Then I give a tail light warranty and tell the buyer that.  

"When I can't see the tail lights the warranty is over"  

FuzzWuzzy said:

Maybe the secret is to make it as vague as possible like every other car listing I've seen.

Exactly this. When selling a heap, be vague. Let them ask questions. I know this works because I've been the one to walk away from a deal when the seller is extra quiet. But that's because we know how to spot stuff that's wrong. And can read people. The average Joe has bought the car long before they showed up to your house. 
when I sold the valve-boned Miata recently, I was doing all the talking. Talking more than I ever do. It was mostly gushing about the car and how I still really liked it. 
the owner basically waited for me to run out of steam and just said "when are we putting it on the trailer?" He bought it before he ever showed up. 

In reply to _ :

Looks like I'll be writing up a new ad and throwing it back on to eBay, then!

After I finish installing the passenger seat/retake pictures.


THAT'S ANOTHER THING! Take some "fancy" pictures if it's driveable/trailorable.