The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk how much do you allow when you sell

chris 55 made me think of this question when he was speaking about his 55/1st that he has for-sale in the sale section,,stated that some think the thing should drive/ride like 2001 BMW so the question is,, how far do you let them drive if at all, do you just keep your mouth shut and say nothing( hard for me to do that)do you tell them all you know about the truck, good and bad,,and so forth,, the sale seems to have a better chance if they have owned a truck like it before but then you have a lot that this may be their first... .just curious..Fred

Seems like ever time Ive ever sold an older vehicle, 40 years or older it involved giving an education to the perspective. I had my 54 for sale for a while and could have sold it a couple of times but after talking to the guy a while I would see that he expected more from a 50 year old truck than was reasonable so I would just tell them they would probably be better off with a later model or a retro rod. Wait for the right buyer I would say..... Ronnie

My 59 is on the market and my ads pretty much give a brief history and what has been done to the truck. If I get someone who seems a serious buyer I tell him the truck is not perfect and does have flaws though minor then go on to explain or show them. Being the owner I feel I am much more critical and am more familiar with the truck and most people who see it are so impressed with it they say they would never have noticed what I point out. And you are correct, a lot of folks even the older ones don't seem to know much about them or maybe they have forgotten.

i agree.

the other thing that i have discovered is there is a group of people out there that absolutely love the old trucks and ooh and aah over mine when it's parked, but the reality is that few of them would (or could) endure the commitment of owning a vehicle of this vintage. i've had several people say they would love to own one but after a little conversation, you can pretty much tell who could hack it and who could not. at this point i politely inform them of what goes into maintaining, operating and living with an older vehicle.

let's face it. this is not a comfort vehicle. people love the nostalgia of them but there are few who would really put up with the idiosyncrasies of this as a daily driver, let alone a hobby.

i find total honesty is the best policy for a couple of reasons. first, they may not really have the dedication it takes to own the vehicle and second, my worst nightmare would be someone who would buy a nice vintage example and then, because they can't handle the up-keep, let it decay.

i guess what i'm saying is that there are getting to be fewer and fewer of these trucks, original or not, that are still on the road and to let it fall into the hands of a fare weather owner seems criminal.

Honesty is the best policy...

Let the buyer beware...

Where to draw the line???

If someone is in the market for an antique, they should know what they are looking for.

One cannot expect a 'Bolt to resemble a Beemer!... if they do, they are dilusional...

joker - you sellin' the jokermobile Red Ryder?



-W

I found that the best approach is to keep the ad with just the basic pros about the vehicle. If I put a complete description in the ad, I get a lot fewer calls.

When people actually come to see the vehicle and we get to talking, I make sure to tell them everything I can think of.

Brian