Autosanity|Just another WordPress weblog

One more looking-for-a-car story and hopefully the last one (or one of the last) you’ll see for a while. The theme may be familiar, but the lesson here is worth illustrating. It was so obvious that I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I really hope that my family can decide on a car here shortly. But until then, I’ve just got to tell another sad story of what NOT to do when trying to sell your car.

We looked at a super nice Mercury Sable this weekend. Now, I understand that a Sable (twin to a Ford Taurus) might not be considered a really desirable set of wheels, but it fits our needs and a  nice example can be obtained rather cheaply. Judging from prior experience, they seem to be screwed together fairly well and we should get lots of quality usage over the years. The gas mileage is good for a larger car, the trunk is positively cavernous, and in this age of three-ton yee-haw monster trucks roaming the highways, some extra heft (your car) can be a good thing. Plus, since it isn’t a highly sought after Japanese brand, a shopper can be a little more relaxed when seeking this Detroit iron.

This Sable, owned by the proverbial little old lady, was immaculate - a real creampuff. Good color, the right options and obviously very well cared for. When my wife and I arrived at the address to see the car, it was sandwiched in the driveway between a couple of other cars. My first thought was that it was going to be a pain to get the car out for a test-drive. We met the owner and her son-in-law and proceeded to participate in some polite chit-chat - yes, she was the original owner, all service performed strictly to Ford’s direction, no accidents, yada, yada. Popped the trunk, all four doors, looked at the engine twice and listened to it run. Yawn, - nice, but when are we going to get to the meat and potatoes here - how does it run on the road? I could see we were going nowhere quick when the son-in-law started talking about his roof repair over the weekend, so I mentioned something about taking it for a test-drive. “We canceled the insurance on it, so you could take it up and down the cul-de-sac, if you want to,” stated the son-in-law. “But that’s it.” The cul-de-sac was a couple hundred feet long, at best. I couldn’t believe my ears - “That wouldn’t tell me much - we need to get it up to 60mph, make sure the trans shifts, etc. I blurted out.” I don’t think I got a direct answer. The owner said “I’d really like to sell it,” as I think she realized the mistake. Her son-in-law was completely clueless as he kept jabbering about something I quickly forgot. The fact of the matter: Nobody is going to fork over the cash without a thorough test drive. We then politely bid goodbye and drove home.

This is a very simple proposition - if you’re selling a car, make it VERY available and accessable for examination, test-drive and all. Keeping insurance on the car for an extra month or two is pretty cheap compared to a no-sale. Even the over-priced, rough Mercedes station wagon was parked outside, on the street, ready for take-off. We didn’t even have to ask for the keys - the owner shoved the keys in my face and said “take it for a drive.” What the people with the Sable didn’t know, if we COULD have taken it for a drive, if all was satisfactory, we were ready to talk dollars right there. We may be back towards the end of the month - that’s when the license plates expire.