Rant: How are people (e.g. car sellers) so stupid?

[javacontour]

Pardon my rant, but just pursuing ads for car sales, I am just staggered at how sellers are just so dense, oblivous, or outright lazy or stupid. A typical advert shows 1 or 2 really useless photos of the vehicle. The description provides almost nothing useful. It may as well just be a hand drawing and the words, "car." But I am interested, so I inquire politely.

I'll generally send an email saying something like, "Hi, I'm a cash buyer interested in your XYZ. Can you provide more information and pictures please? Thanks."

That often, like today, elicits their moronic follow up, "What would you like to know?"

Am I alone in thinking that humans have gotten to be almost too stupid to exist? Do I honestly, really need to give a litany of things that are relatively basic, that any prospective buyer would like to know? Is this where we are at as a society, that I need to say, "Hey look moron, how about the basics, such as mileage, maintenance records/history, any known issues, rust, etc. How about some useful pictures of the underbody, engine, interior, exterior on all sides, and please in the daylight not in darkness..."

Thanks for letting me rant. Dealing with people really sucks most of the time b/c the average person is just too stupid to breath the same air as me, it seems. There should be a stupid penalty, where I get to kick them in the groin.

Okay, I've now read it.

First question has a chance of landing in two ways. First, depending on the medium (like FB Marketplace) the default response is "Is this still available?" If you click on an item to start a conversation, if you are not careful, that answer is what is sent without you even typing a word. So sellers may have to deal with a number of these auto-inquiries and it can be quite frustrating.

Second, there is no specific question expect maybe your request for more pictures. Even that is a bit vague. What specific questions do you have? What do you want pictures of. You might be able to help yourself by having some specific questions like.

- Are you the original owner?
- Why are you selling?

And pictures such as:

- Can you show me some under hood photos?
- Can you take some photos in the daylight?
- Can you take some photos where the cars is not sitting out in the rain?

You get the idea.

Also consider, have people been asking the seller questions where the answers are already in the listing?

Private individuals selling cars don't do this everyday like a dealer does. Heck, they probably don't care as much about cars as the typical BITOG member. Expecting that sort of detail or even knowing what additional information you might want may be an unrealistic expectation.

Just make a SPECIFIC request and see where it goes. General questions are likely an exercise in frustration for all involved.

 

[javacontour]

Huh?
It's a car. How about list some of the information a person would want to know about it. We're not recreating the wheel. In fact, to help, most online ads actually have areas to FILL IN THE BLANKS which the sellers are often too stupid or lazy to do.

Which is btw another red flag. If a person is to stupid or lazy to do that, it's likely the car was also neglected out of ignorance or laziness. If a person is so dumb they have to ask, "What information do you want to know?" On a blank slate vehicle sale ad, I guess I just need to not bother with it...

I guess this rant has run its course.

Everyone is different as far as what they want to know.

Some ask if you have maintenance records.

Others just want to know how many phones they can pair with Bluetooth. Some want to know both.

Keep in mind, private sellers don't do this sort of thing everyday, so you might have to offer some grace and be specific regarding what additional information you want as this isn't second nature to most private sellers.

 

[dishdude]

If you're buying private party, it's going to take a lot more work on your part. When I first make contact I like to find out how long they've owned it, if there is a lien on it and other basic information. Be prepared to go look at it in person for an accurate assessment of the condition - everyone thinks their car is in great condition.

 

[SammyChevelleTypeS3]

Pardon my rant, but just pursuing ads for car sales, I am just staggered at how sellers are just so dense, oblivous, or outright lazy or stupid. A typical advert shows 1 or 2 really useless photos of the vehicle. The description provides almost nothing useful. It may as well just be a hand drawing and the words, "car." But I am interested, so I inquire politely.

I'll generally send an email saying something like, "Hi, I'm a cash buyer interested in your XYZ. Can you provide more information and pictures please? Thanks."

That often, like today, elicits their moronic follow up, "What would you like to know?"

Am I alone in thinking that humans have gotten to be almost too stupid to exist? Do I honestly, really need to give a litany of things that are relatively basic, that any prospective buyer would like to know? Is this where we are at as a society, that I need to say, "Hey look moron, how about the basics, such as mileage, maintenance records/history, any known issues, rust, etc. How about some useful pictures of the underbody, engine, interior, exterior on all sides, and please in the daylight not in darkness..."

Thanks for letting me rant. Dealing with people really sucks most of the time b/c the average person is just too stupid to breath the same air as me, it seems. There should be a stupid penalty, where I get to kick them in the groin.

Pardon my rant, but just pursuing ads for car sales, I am just staggered at how sellers are just so dense, oblivous, or outright lazy or stupid. A typical advert shows 1 or 2 really useless photos of the vehicle. The description provides almost nothing useful. It may as well just be a hand drawing and the words, "car." But I am interested, so I inquire politely.

I'll generally send an email saying something like, "Hi, I'm a cash buyer interested in your XYZ. Can you provide more information and pictures please? Thanks."

That often, like today, elicits their moronic follow up, "What would you like to know?"

Am I alone in thinking that humans have gotten to be almost too stupid to exist? Do I honestly, really need to give a litany of things that are relatively basic, that any prospective buyer would like to know? Is this where we are at as a society, that I need to say, "Hey look moron, how about the basics, such as mileage, maintenance records/history, any known issues, rust, etc. How about some useful pictures of the underbody, engine, interior, exterior on all sides, and please in the daylight not in darkness..."

Thanks for letting me rant. Dealing with people really sucks most of the time b/c the average person is just too stupid to breath the same air as me, it seems. There should be a stupid penalty, where I get to kick them in the groin.

Sadly we are living right now "The Fall of The American Empire" in real time. No country on earth can survive in a totally "push button world or society which America has become due to our country moving 99% of our manufacturing jobs over seas. We won WWII because of our manufacturing society that had so many plants and skilled workers (men and women) who simply converted over to making war supplies.
Today (so very sad) many American men do not even know how to change a spare tire or check oil or even change some light bulbs. Our country has allowed this to happen over the last 40 years. The car sales guy probably has no idea what so ever you could possibly want to know. You know cars and I venture to say all he knows about the automobiles he sells is that it is spelled CAR on his lap top!!! Its definitely NOT YOU. It is them , the people who don't have a clue what they DO NOT KNOW.

 

[tbm5690]

Sadly we are living right now "The Fall of The American Empire" in real time. No country on earth can survive in a totally "push button world or society which America has become due to our country moving 99% of our manufacturing jobs over seas. We won WWII because of our manufacturing society that had so many plants and skilled workers (men and women) who simply converted over to making war supplies.
Today (so very sad) many American men do not even know how to change a spare tire or check oil or even change some light bulbs. Our country has allowed this to happen over the last 40 years. The car sales guy probably has no idea what so ever you could possibly want to know. You know cars and I venture to say all he knows about the automobiles he sells is that it is spelled CAR on his lap top!!! Its definitely NOT YOU. It is them , the people who don't have a clue what they DO NOT KNOW.

Although true, you have to keep in mind that technological advancement since WWII has also changed how warfare is conducted.

 

[wpod]

Why are some car buyers so stupid?

 

[Chris Meutsch]

Why are some PEOPLE so stupid?

Fixed.

 

[Wolf359]

What do you have next for we stupid people?

Is it smart to expect stupid people to smarten up? Or is that stupid to expect that stupid people will get smarter?

Lots of rhetorical questions out there.

 

[Slow Car Sport Mode]

Is it smart to expect stupid people to smarten up? Or is that stupid to expect that stupid people will get smarter?

Lots of rhetorical questions out there.

Expectation, expectation... what, like an expectation of privacy? Or an expectation that there is a universal code of the power of the almighty dollar?

What is the best rhetorical question?

 

[ATex7239]

That often, like today, elicits their moronic follow up, "What would you like to know?"

1. If the universe is expanding, what is it expanding into?
2. Is cereal really just milk soup?

 

[ekrampitzjr]

When I was looking for an old-style Ranger, this was the information I wanted to see in an ad on (for example) Craigslist:

Year, body style, condition of body and glass

Which engine, which transmission, quick statement of how the vehicle was running and operating

Mileage

Any pluses, such as trailer-towing package, bedliner, etc.

Recent work done, any work needed

Any accident damage that had not been repaired

Reason for selling

Important: selling price!

These were the bare minimum. But many ads had almost none of this. Instead, I'd see something like "Used [duh!] Ranger for sale, call [number]". And that would be all—not even a selling price. That's a turnoff. This is the OP's complaint.

 

[HemiBenny]

In my experience from selling privately, someone that blurts the cash thing is more often than not, a low baller.

BINGO!

 

[CharlesInCharge]

For those that say that I, as the buyer, should work harder let me respond. At the outset, I disagree. I've done this many times. I have a small collection of vehicles and to get it, I've had to inquire on about a 30 to 1 ratio of what I own. So I'm no novice. I've tried every tactic.

Probably 50% of the advertisements are fully inadequate on any reasonable level leaving the prospective buyer ask the very basics which any breathing car driving human should put in a sale ad.
This basically requires a "copy/paste" questionnaire but that's generally not successful in even getting a reply.

I've found that for those particular lazy inept ads, especially in a sellers market, one must first determine if it's even available still. Such ads include 1 or 2 nearly useless pictures, probably a year, make, and model, and little more.

I've found that "copy and paste" messages that bombard the seller with more than 5 or so questions, never get a reply. But in reality, there's about 20 basic questions that need to be answered before I want to invest in the drive to even look at it.

I didn't post this to argue with people, who seem to want to take jabs at me for my expectation that other people have basic salesmanship. I wrote it to vent about how stupid the average person seems to be in society.

On the flip side, I do very much appreciate a sales ad that has 5-10 good representative pictures, and the basics like year, make, model, mileage, pros, and cons, known issues, etc.

 

[duck__dodgers]

---I am just staggered at how sellers are just so dense, oblivous, or outright lazy or stupid. A typical advert shows 1 or 2 really useless photos of the vehicle. The description provides almost nothing useful. ---

Being serious, not sarcastic----the answer is: because people can. Either stupid sellers sell to equally stupid buyers, or (especially today) people are just desperate for anything that runs.

all your other original points are equally valid. But today even a neglected car can keep itself going for a few months unless there is something terminally bad going on under the hood.

That's just good how (relatively) reliable even today's bad cars are.

 

[javacontour]

I didn't post this to argue with people, who seem to want to take jabs at me for my expectation that other people have basic salesmanship. I wrote it to vent about how stupid the average person seems to be in society.

Okay, but which do you have control over? Do you have control over what others do? Or, do you control your expectations and your response?

How smart is it to have unrequited expectations given the answers you've been given?

Do you plan to learn from the information and tailor your expectations and responses or will you continue to expect more than, at the very least, the 50% below the mean with respect to intelligence have to offer?

You said it yourself, at least half of the ads are inadequate. Sort of matches up with my observation that 50% of the population has below the mean intelligence.

I suspect your expectations are too high given the state of humanity.

Do you really want to buy from those below the mean? Did their same mental acumen inform their views on car care as it did on car advertising?

I really don't know. But in my estimation, the inadequate ads are the universe's way of saying find another seller.

 

[BigCahuna]

Well and that's the thing, who wants the moral liability of some broke single mother with 4 kids buying your car then showing up eight months later because the fan belt broke, it overheated, and she's homeless because she got fired from her job?

I speak in vagaries-- runs and drives fine, rust isn't bad, state inspected until MM/YY...

I give every vehicle I've ever sold a 5 year, 5 minute bumper to bumper warranty. Which ever comes first. I've never expected a warranty for a vehicle I've bought off a private owner unless you claim to give one in writing, why would anyone think ones in place?. Once the title is in your hand, you own it. If it explodes in a massive fireball 2 blocks from my house, it's all your problem.,,

 

[Slow Car Sport Mode]

1. If the universe is expanding, what is it expanding into?
2. Is cereal really just milk soup?

Is a piano really just a box of wood and some strings?

 

[ATex7239]

Is a piano really just a box of wood and some strings?

How do you know you’re not hallucinating right now?

 

[Slow Car Sport Mode]

How do you know you’re not hallucinating right now?

Where's the beef?

 

[wag123]

From a private seller's perspective, when I'm selling a vehicle (or anything else) I expect to be paid in cash, and cash is all that I will accept. I can tell you from personal experience that someone leading-off with "I am paying cash" is typically either a scammer or is going to make some kind of ridiculous "cash" offer. Something that really corks me is when a "cash" buyer takes up a bunch of my time and we settle on a fair price only to have them tell me that they will have to go to their credit union to get a loan.