How do you buy your festys?

[anomoly40]

I'm going to go to a house tomorrow to ask about a festiva thats been sitting for 6 months. I've never done this to a stranger because the only festivas I've bought have been from the junkyard or Mom and Pop lots.

Do I mention I'm from FF.com?

Freshtiva, Levitan, and other multi-festiva members how do you do it?

[25Horseplay]

Just knock on the door and in a friendly manner say "Hi I have noticed the Festiva sitting here not being used for quite some time. Would you be interested in getting rid of it"? The worst they could say is no.

[stevewl1164]

Take them last year's calendar!

[GenevaDirt]

^^no way....they will think it is worth more.
Play it down like it is no big deal....have cash when you go....it will help convince them they don't want it!

[stefan]

I don't see where mentioning the site will get you... 25hp preety much summed it up!

[mattswabb]

Don't mention you belong to a festiva cult. This will make them want to check out the site and see if they can sell it here.

Tell them your looking for it just for parts to keep yours running.

Having cash in hand before xmas is a good thing, they might need the money for presents.

[hotfordcat]

Lowball, lowball, and lowball some more!!! If it's not running or there's some other problem, tell them the car is only worth JUNK price. No more than a hundred dollars, and yes HAVE CASH.

[neanderpaul]

Just knock on the door and in a friendly manner say "Hi I have noticed the Festiva sitting here not being used for quite some time. Would you be interested in getting rid of it"? The worst they could say is no.

EXACTLY that's it word for word. And persistance plus time pays off. If they say no (assuming they don't say no with a gun) give it a week or 2 and come back to double check. Then start low. $100 for a non running festiva. Then guage their reaction and respond accordingly with a little more money IF NECESSARY.

[Levitan]

I would just go knock on the door and ask if they'd be interested in selling their Festiva. If they say yes, DO NOT talk about price. Ask if it's ok to take a look at it. The reason I do it this way is so I can figure out what it is worth to ME. Now I'm in control.

Ask them if you can start it. Ask them if there is anything wrong with it. Start it, check to see if headlights work. Pop the hood, check the oil color and if the oil is topped off. Pop the radiator cap and look at the fluid color and level. Look at the tires. 4 baldys means another $200 to replace.....whether you have a good set of used or not is irrelevant.

As you look around the car, inventory what is going to need replaced, if it's a runner, and inventory what is good, if it's a parts car. Half way through your inventory process, you should have an idea what the car is worth to you. At THIS time, ask them what they have to have for it. DO NOT tell them it is only worth junk price even if it is a roach. That can be perceived as a personal insult.

Do not mention ff.com. Here is why. More than likely, they will come back at you with, "what will you give me for it?" That's when I usually reply with something like, " I have no idea what it's worth and would hate to throw a price out there that would insult you." See why I don't mention ff.com? If you do, then they know you know something about Festivas, and they know you are lying.

Usually I have a price that it is worth to me. Levistiva for example. I remember thinking I could understand if the guy said $600, even $800, though I wouldn't have paid that much for her. She only had 96,000 miles with alloys. Rusty and dented, but I didn't care because I knew I could make it back on gas mileage savings. The guy said I'll sell it for what I have in it. I was still thinking $600 or $800. I asked how much he had in it. He said $350. Score! But I didn't let on that I wanted it at that price. That's when I hit him up to take it for a test ride. I VERBALLY, under my breath, focused on the things that it needed or repaired. That time it didn't work, so I paid him $350.

Another time I had it in my mind that I wanted a Festiva for $300. Using the same, "whatdya got have for it?" The guy would not give me a price. I never give an offer first...but, that's just me. I want them to think they have the advantage though I am in control. I told the guy, name the price, if we can come to an agreement, I'll run to the bank and get you the cash. He said, " I have $400 in it." Let's say his name was Bob. I said, "Bob, I know you want to get as much of your money back as you can. I won't even give you a sales pitch. I was thinking 300. Let's split it down the middle and I'll run to the bank and get your cash." He walked in and grabbed the title, and I went to the bank.

Notes: If the car is worth $300 to you and they say $1200, just say that is way out of your price range and tell them about ff.com and leave your number so if they need any parts. Don't say anything like, the car is not worth that much. If you tell them their car isn't worth that much, you CANNOT tell them about ff.com or sell them any parts in the future. I view us as ambassadors of ff.com and try to present myself in that manner when I recommend ff.com. Kinda hard to get them to accept ff.com if you tell them or they perceive that you told them their car is a piece of crap.

I have one car that I use as a parts car that the guy wanted to sell to me for $250. The car did not run, he named the price first, and HE said there was still a bunch of good parts on the car. The guy's name was Jim. I told him, Jim, I don't mean to insult your car but it's pretty much just a parts car to me." He then said, "well it ought to be worth $200." I told him I'd think about it and get back to him. He said, "will you give me a hundred for it?" I handed him the cash and towed it home.

I inventory. Full console? Ripped driver's seat? Alloys? Tires? Headlight glass? Tell them that at the local McAutoParts store that a headlight is $220. A big one is windshield. I'll tell them that costs $150 to replace. Subtract that from the cost. I inventory the removeable sheetmetal like fenders, doors, hatch and hood. If those are bad but the main body is good, then you have a potential runner. If those are good but the body is rusty as all get out, then you probably have a parts car.

I don't know if this is any help to you. In fact, I'm not telling you what to do, just telling you what I do. Others will have different methods. Fresh is the master of getting really good cars for a hundred. I get pretty good reults at three hundred. Elcamino1 probably has some good tips since he does the junk car thing for a living. Festyxfi always has insiteful tips when I've asked for his knowledge.

The key things in my opinion to remember is that a little attention to inventory will keep you from getting negative when you have to go replace $500 worth of parts to get it in the condition you want it to be in. If I know I'm going to have to put "x" amount of money into it, then I want to adjust the sale price to reflect as much of that future cost as possible. And if the price between you and them is too far apart,just say it's outta your price range and leave your number for a possible future part sale.

It's late, I'm tired, hope it helps, I'm outta here.

[getnpsi]

Levitan covered pretty much everything. From my psyche point of view some advice is to never show up in the same model of car you intend to buy. It's a dead giveaway. Treat the potential car as a fixer-upper, not a partout/donor, unless it's plain obvious or the seller already advises its better for just that. If the title is gone or a total jump thru hoops transaction involving several stops and more than one dmv trip take that into consideration. Every extra day jumping thru hoops is -$200 in my book. I've also used age as leverage. If you are under 30 play the college kid. If you over 40 become the parent of a college kid.

[collegeboi]

Long^^^^. Honestly I would just make good convo. Show interest and just talk. If they talk for a while then your in. I tryed the whole jumping in and asking to buy and didnt work well. After that I noticed ppl would rather sell to someone they can talk to and make a certain connection with. Kind of weird but hey it works.

[anomoly40]

Thanks for all your help, I usually am VERY bad about buying stuff off people. I get to thinking about what I can do with it as opposed to what I'll have to fix first. That usually gets me a crappy deal and with festivas hard to find around here I don't want to mess up and pay over what it's worth or even ruin the deal first.

I guess I got lucky with my other 2 festivas and drove them home for $400, 1 with a bad master cyl, and the other with a leaky exhaust, high idle, and questionable wheel bearings. But on the way home I christened each car by passing another bigger car. 1 because a Civic with a fart cannon was trying to out rev me and the other because I was about to rear end it and couldn't stop.

[neanderpaul]

Lots of really good advice here. Perhaps this should be made into a sticky?

[Tim]

I really don't have a method to buying Festivas. In the past I've offered people $50 for high mileage/non running ones. Most of the time they just want to get rid of them and I get a great deal.

My latest Festiva was listed for $1200 on Craigslist. I checked it out, pointed out some flaws, and offered the owner $500 for the car. She gave me a "you must be joking" look and I went home.

A few days later she called me back. Turns out nobody wanted the car because it was an automatic - she even tried to give it to her nephew, but he turned it down. Out of desperation she said, fine, $500 and it's yours.

That turned out to be an awesome deal, and I'm delighted with my purchase.


Regards,

Tim

[neanderpaul]

That's another patience wins story.