So it's 1997 and I have my eyes on a new Grand Prix, but have to get rid of my '90 Chrysler LeBaron "GT Turbo" coupe.
Being a stick shift/turbo with 80,000 miles on the clock I knew that I would never get what it was worth with a local newspaper ad, and I'd get raped if I traded it in, so I placed an ad in Hemmings Motor News, asking $6,200 - which was a stretch. But the car was in perfect condition, so why not shoot for the sky?
I picked out my new Grand Prix and explained to the salesman that I was going to sell my Chrysler myself, and as soon as I had sold it I would come in and pick up the GP. He appraised the Chrysler at $2,700. I told him the price I had been asking in Hemmings and he just smiled.
So a week or so later the ad showed up in Hemmings and I waited by the phone. And waited. And waited.
The salesman called up and asked me to come in and get the new car. Said he could talk the used car manager into giving me $3,000.
I assumed that anyone responding to the Hemmings ad would call on the first weekend after the books came out, and two weekends actually passed, so I decided to bite the bullet and trade the car in. I asked the salesman if he could "hold" the car over one more weekend, allowing me to buy it back at the same price if something came up, and he said OK. So I did it, and wasn't happy.
A week or so later I got a call from a guy in Indiana (I live in PA), responding to the ad. Curious about whether he was serious I did not tell him at first that the car had been traded, and after some brief conversation he said, "I'll take it." No negotiation.
So I explained to him what I had done, and gave him the number of the salesman, assuming that they would still have the car and he could buy it from them.
The next day I got another call about the Chrysler - this time from Florida - with exactly the same result. I passed on the phone number to guy #2. I had no further contact with the salesman, but as I say, he knew what I had been asking in Hemmings
A week later, I get a call from Guy #1. He asks me what kind of dealership I had sent him to. Turns out, he had arranged to buy the car, was getting ready to drive to PA to pick it up, and got a call from the salesman saying they had sold it to [I gather] Guy #2 - for a higher price. Guy #1 had offered $6,200 and was told that was acceptable, so whatever Guy#2 paid, it was more than that.
If anyone reading this is married, s/he will understand why, when we took the Grand Prix in for service a few weeks later I told the salesman to NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TELL MY WIFE how much they got for the Chrysler. I don't know, and I don't want to know.
Being a stick shift/turbo with 80,000 miles on the clock I knew that I would never get what it was worth with a local newspaper ad, and I'd get raped if I traded it in, so I placed an ad in Hemmings Motor News, asking $6,200 - which was a stretch. But the car was in perfect condition, so why not shoot for the sky?
I picked out my new Grand Prix and explained to the salesman that I was going to sell my Chrysler myself, and as soon as I had sold it I would come in and pick up the GP. He appraised the Chrysler at $2,700. I told him the price I had been asking in Hemmings and he just smiled.
So a week or so later the ad showed up in Hemmings and I waited by the phone. And waited. And waited.
The salesman called up and asked me to come in and get the new car. Said he could talk the used car manager into giving me $3,000.
I assumed that anyone responding to the Hemmings ad would call on the first weekend after the books came out, and two weekends actually passed, so I decided to bite the bullet and trade the car in. I asked the salesman if he could "hold" the car over one more weekend, allowing me to buy it back at the same price if something came up, and he said OK. So I did it, and wasn't happy.
A week or so later I got a call from a guy in Indiana (I live in PA), responding to the ad. Curious about whether he was serious I did not tell him at first that the car had been traded, and after some brief conversation he said, "I'll take it." No negotiation.
So I explained to him what I had done, and gave him the number of the salesman, assuming that they would still have the car and he could buy it from them.
The next day I got another call about the Chrysler - this time from Florida - with exactly the same result. I passed on the phone number to guy #2. I had no further contact with the salesman, but as I say, he knew what I had been asking in Hemmings
A week later, I get a call from Guy #1. He asks me what kind of dealership I had sent him to. Turns out, he had arranged to buy the car, was getting ready to drive to PA to pick it up, and got a call from the salesman saying they had sold it to [I gather] Guy #2 - for a higher price. Guy #1 had offered $6,200 and was told that was acceptable, so whatever Guy#2 paid, it was more than that.
If anyone reading this is married, s/he will understand why, when we took the Grand Prix in for service a few weeks later I told the salesman to NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TELL MY WIFE how much they got for the Chrysler. I don't know, and I don't want to know.
