I'm going to get a car...

Actually, I'm going to "look at" a car.

But I'm bringing my trailer...

If you have cash and a trailer, I'm pretty sure that constitutes going to get one.

It's best to be prepared, you know, just in case.

Going after the Lancia Zagato aren't ya?

I was tempted by that zagato, not gonna lie. I am.curious what woody is after.

Suggestion - park your trailer off site before looking at the car. If you have it here, it reduces your bargaining power, at least in the eyes of most sellers. If you are there with your car/truck only and they think you'd need to come back to pick it up, they think you aren't as likely to be a soft target.

Once you do the deal, coming back 5 minutes later with the trailer may seem tricky, but what the heck - you won.

And let us know what you are going to look at!

In reply to wspohn:

My experience last summer was the complete opposite.

When I showed up with the tow dolly attached, the buyers knew I was serious. The car I ended up buying, I told the guy, "$2K cash and I am gone in 1/2 an hour". It worked for me. I was 200 miles from home and I was either buying or moving on. It got me a great deal.

In reply to NGTD:

That's how I see it too.

Everyone else is just a tire-kicker. The guy that pulls up with cash and a trainer is getting my car.

Cash is usually what talks. They may hold stronger if the see a trailer, you just have to preface your arrival with the trailer saying you are looking at a couple of cars in the area, and planning to go home with at least one.

Yes, it can work both ways. When I sell a car, it's because I want it gone, not because I want the money. Offering to make it go away now is a major selling point to me.

On the purchasing end, I remember pulling the "Well, let's just go look at the one over in (X state 4 hours futher away)" thing. That was after the seller said "No rust means no rust on the outside, everything has rust."

Friend ended up going to pick up the car 4 hours futher away, after the first guy utterly failed to budge on his rusty-ass car.

i quit taking my trailer not because it is/is not a bargaining chip. it's because i got sick of towing an empty trailer home due to misrepresented junk.

my chip now is i make my offer in cash and tell them i can have a tow truck there within the hour to get it, or they can wait for all these other guys that are supposedly showing up later to come by and offer more or less than me, if they show at all. i've brought home everything i made my offer on so far this way, and my tow truck driver buddy hooks me up. it's cheaper to pay him once in a while than it is to drag a trailer all over the place chasing junk.

I'll bet he's going after that pristine barn find 356.........ya, that's it.

Disregard. Nothing to see here...

And now, the hunt begins. I'm an hour from home, I've got a pocket full of cash and I'm pulling an empty trailer. Let's see what's for sale along the side of the road...

uhoh …. this could get ugly

We call that trolling. If you made it to SE Mass, come on by and we can take one of the TR8s out for lunch.

Freestyle pickin' GRM style.

tr8todd wrote: We call that trolling. If you made it to SE Mass, come on by and we can take one of the TR8s out for lunch.

Tempting but not even close.

If you find a '64 Fiat 600 shell during your travels, buy it for me and I'll come pay you and pick it up after Christmas, OK?

I'll bring you a really sweet rail dragster chassis built for VW power, and a mini-T body for it as a free gift.

Much rustier in the rockers than he had described by phone.

http://hartford.craigslist.org/cto/4770773340.html

Back home with an empty trailer.

Bummer. That looked more promising than the 356 though .

I had that exact same car in red back in college :)

Well, even if the body is composting by now, the whole front clip would be of interest for someone who wanted to do an engine swap on a first gen CRX...

On a brighter note, showing up with a trailer certainly does add leverage to a seller.....