I bought my car from an ad which was worse than that and bagged myself a fairly decent m3.
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Agreed, I really don't get it. Even the Greenlight verification thing on DoneDeal is so easy to do - all you need to do is put in your logbook number when setting up the ad, why wouldn't you do it?
Although maybe it is the fact that the target market is so small that means you can get away with doing such poor ads?
I never buy based on what is or isn't on the ad. Remember not everyone is an enthuasist like we are. I buy by doing the hard yards and going to look at the car itself and doing my homework. I cant count the amount of times I've looked at cars with shit ads that turned out to be great cars and cars that had good ads turned out to be dogs!
So I would never be quick to discount a car based on bad photos, things wrong on the car or missing information
Agree with you on this and I suppose when you're looking for a car that might only have a handful for sale at any time, then you can't be choosy of course - every car advertised/heard about from a friend of a friend needs to be followed up.
If I was looking for an F10 520D SE for example and there's hundreds for sale at any time, then I'm going to quickly cross that car off my list if it's just a one liner add. Phone calls are cheap I hear you say....
Some examples of experiences I've had over the years:
Seller: Car is fully serviced
Me: Show me the paperwork/evidence
Seller: (He had nothing) - sure you'd know by the way it drives he says...
Seller: Excellent condition for age (he only had 2 far away photo's up)
Me: There's not a panel on it that doesn't have a noticeable scrape/dent
Seller: What did you expect - it's an 8yo car
Don't get me started on 'it has all the extras'..........really ?
I know you can use a lot of these as bargaining chips, but at the same time, after a 3hr journey there to view it, you're not impressed....:ambivalence:
And yeah, I know, there's as many knob-jockey buyers out there too. Will you hold if for me - I'll be there first thing in the morning.....
The fun is in the hunt....:D
I would agree with that. Poor ads can hide hidden gems that most people would discount. Some of the best unmodified cars that have been in long term ownership pop up in fairly poor ads.
ETA: you have to be prepared to look at a few bad examples to find the odd diamond in the rough.
in my experience , as more info U get in to the ad, its no help at all. they rang u, still ask same questions ,even all answers are in the ad already , after - will found some stupid questions, so why mileage is so low ???yes, why mileage is so low!! or why mileage is so high ??? so if u read the ad ,and don't like something , why still ask what u not really like to hear ?? asks when and how can see the car , but never turn around ....??? most my cars was sold threw my friends, customers and so on . only very few threw DD
and I know , that u can't buy car threw the ad , u must go and see it , better 1 time to see , than 25 times to hear about it . so what ever ad will be pure or detailed , I don't care .if its what I'm looking for and price is about right , ill fly to see it , and in quite long experience , I came back home empty , maybe 3-4 times
it could be advertised so nice and detailed , but u arrive and will found hyenas house