A story of greed, poor judgment, and scams.
My experience with the used car underworld.
Do I lead a boring life?
I am retired. You might think that I lead a boring, ho-hum, monochrome dreary lifestyle.
Crime, greed, and just plain poor judgment.
Today’s story is about dealing with the crime-ridden underworld of used cars. It is a story about greed. It is a story about making mistakes that can cause thousands of dollars of monetary loss. When you finish reading this story, you can decide if I lead a boring life.
Raise your hand if you’ve ever done this.
Have you ever sold a used car? It’s not that difficult, right? One more question. Have you ever sold a used car for $47,000? I’m going to suspect, that very few people in the entire world have ever done such a thing. I was going to attempt something that only a relative handful of people have ever tried…and have ever successfully accomplished.
Got the new car. Needed to sell the old car.
The last time I spoke with you, I had just purchased my 2024 Tesla Model X (above). That was a long drawn-out process. Buying that new car took nearly four months to complete.
Going into that transaction I had owned a 2020 Tesla Model X (above) for more than four years. I drove that car 55,000 miles. I never spent a single penny on electricity to power its batteries. I didn’t spend anything on maintenance or repairs other than to buy four new Michelin tires. That’s not bad for 55,000 miles of driving.
Now after receiving my new 2024 Tesla Model X, I had a more than four-year-old car sitting in my garage with 55,000 miles on the odometer. O.K., this is a photo of my car in the airport parking garage but you get the point.
I wanted to sell that car for nearly $50,000. I mentioned this on Facebook. You would’ve thought that my plan to do such a thing with my beloved 2020 Tesla was as unattainable as putting a woman or a man on Mars. People told me there was no way on God’s green earth I could do that. Nevertheless, I had a plan. I always have a plan.
New agencies are profit-based companies. They need “clicks”.
All during this time I was reading news stories that told me the resale value of Teslas was plummeting. One source said you couldn’t sell a Tesla for any amount of money. I set out to prove those ideas to be false.
When I bought my new car I had no idea it was going to take nearly four months to get. That’s not exactly normal. Was the demand for a Tesla Model X so strong that it would take that long to get one?
Tesla said “No” to this idea.
I would have preferred to begin trying to sell my old car as soon as I had ordered the new one. Tesla would not let me do that. When I bought my 2020 Tesla, Tesla had a special opportunity offered at no extra charge. Their offer in December 2019 was that I would receive “full lifetime supercharging.” This meant I could take my Tesla to a supercharger anywhere in the world and charge it for free. That was a very valuable offer. Compared to the gasoline-powered Lexus RX 350 SUV I previously owned this was an $18,000 before-tax savings over four years. Full lifetime supercharging was huge!
Then in October 2023 (six months ago), Tesla made that very same offer on a brand new Tesla Model X automobile. Now if I bought a new Tesla Model X, and the offer was only available on the Model X, I could get that same $18,000 before tax savings free supercharging offer AND a $7,500 tax credit from the federal government. On top of that, I would be getting a brand-new car warranty for four years and an eight-year warranty on the batteries. I couldn’t pass up that deal.
However, Tesla would not allow me to sell my old car until I took delivery of my car. I didn’t understand the reasoning behind that. I was more than willing to stop using free supercharging on my old car until I got my new car, but Tesla wasn’t going to let me do that.
I feel you if you don’t want to sell a car to the general public.
Before I go any further, I might point out that lots of people, including many of you readers, are not interested in selling a used car. Many people like to trade their car in on the new car they are buying. They might like to give their old car to a friend or relative for free or at a reduced price. They just aren’t interested in having used car buyers knocking on their front door under the pretext of buying a car when those “buyers” are just there to check out the contents of your home.
I don’t exactly think that way. But then I am a “sales guy”. I love meeting new people. I love having “conversations” with these folks on the subject of commerce. Today, commerce meant selling my “old” 2020 Tesla.
I had a relatively new car. Why buy a newer one?
I’m sorry. I keep referring to my 2020 Tesla Model X as my “old” car. In many people’s world, a four-year-old car is not an old car. I don’t live in that world. I live in the “Die with Zero” world.
No, I don’t want to die with zero financial assets. I just want to optimize what I do in life for personal enjoyment. I want to create memories while I’m living. Spending my financial assets lets me accomplish some of that.
Don’t get me wrong. I do not endorse buying expensive new cars if your financial situation can’t accommodate that. Cars depreciate. Cars are not an investment. There are exceptions but not many. If you can afford a new car and a new car gives you joy then get yourself a new car. At my stage in life, I would much rather buy a new car, even when my “old” car wasn’t that old, and enjoy it than die with the cost of that new car in my Vanguard brokerage account. Do you feel me?
How would I find a new home for my 2020 Tesla?
What were my options for disposing of my 2020 Tesla? Tesla offers a trade-in system when you purchase a new car from them. However, their trade-in values are notoriously low. That would not be a good option for me. Not only do I want to optimize my personal enjoyment in most cases I want to optimize my financial decisions.
I could give the car to one of our kids. However,…isn’t there always a “however” in life. One of them already has a Tesla, his second. Another doesn’t like Elon Musk and the other doesn’t really care for Teslas in general or even for new cars. Giving my car to a family member was not going to be a good option.
Some companies have popped up in the past few years that will buy your used car quickly and efficiently. CarMax and Carvana come to mind. I’m sure you’ve driven by their huge parking lots full of used cars.
Different strokes for different folks.
I think a company like CarMax can be a good solution for a person who has one fear or many fears about selling a used car. Maybe some people think the process is too difficult. Some folks might think it takes too much of their time. I don’t think that way.
As a special favor, I took my car over to CarMax to get a “baseline” offer. I had zero intention of selling my car to CarMax. I knew they would give me a low offer. Why would they give me a low offer?
Their rationale is the same that I use when I go to a sporting event. I try to buy tickets at a low price and sell them at a high price using my “need one” sign. When I’m at a sporting event looking for a ticket I don’t buy or sell with professional scalpers. I want to profit from the situation and they do too. We can’t both profit!
I wanted to sell my car at the prevailing private party sales price. CarMax wants to do the same thing. CarMax is in business to make a profit. No harm no fall there. They want to buy cars at a low price and sell them at the prevailing retail price.
Shall we take a moment to ponder the situation?
Let’s think about that. I wanted to sell my car at the prevailing private party price. There was no way CarMax was going to give me a decent offer that would allow me to come anywhere close to my objective of selling for the private party price. If they paid me the full “retail” price then what would they do with my car? They really couldn’t sell it for much more than the full retail price to create a profit if they had already paid me the full private party retail price.
Nevertheless, I took my car to CarMax. They asked me three or four questions. Then they told me to sit tight while they took the car for a 30-minute test drive. In the meantime, I pulled up a chair and sat down to wait.
I ain’t gonna lie. This did piss me off. Pardon my French.
A lady was sitting two chairs away from me. She might have been about my age or maybe even a little bit younger. The CarMax salesperson walked up and began a conversation with her. He wasn’t asking her about her car’s condition. He was asking her if she had “death certificates”.
As I sat and observed the conversation, I surmised that this woman’s husband had died. She needed to get rid of his car. Maybe she didn’t have any children or friends or anyone else who could help her sell the car. In her case going to CarMax was about her only option.
Used car salespeople have gotten a bad rap over the years and maybe rightly so in many cases. During my visit to CarMax in 2024 I didn’t feel very good about the car salesman. They were asking a recent widow for death certificates so they could offer this woman a low price on her car. Then they would sell her car for a large profit. I wanted to ask the guy how we could do such a thing and sleep well at night.
My reaction to their offer?
Soon they were calling my name. They had driven my car. They concluded they could offer me $38,000 for it. I knew I could sell my car for a lot more money than that.
The CarMax salesperson asked me what I thought about their offer. I had a two-word answer for them. No, those two words did not start with F. I simply replied to their question of “what did I think of their offer” with this, “Not much”. Then I did my best Marine Corps about face and left CarMax.
The Randy Lewis Racing sales team was being called into action.
Now, I needed to develop a sales campaign. I needed to come up with an asking price for my car. I did what I’ve done for the last 10-12 used cars that I’ve sold. I consulted Kelley Blue Book and Edmunds.com.
I entered all of my car’s information. Then I averaged the prices given to me by KBB and Edmunds. Their number, with my options and mileage, was $43,600. This was their estimate for a car in excellent condition. They reminded me that only 3-5% of used cars are in excellent condition. That statement did not intimidate me. My car was in excellent condition.
That was a start. I maintain my cars very well. Other than the fact that my 2020 Model X had 55,000 miles on it in 51 months of ownership the car looked like it was brand new. When I bought it originally, I immediately had it ceramic coated. I washed it religiously through the years. There were no dents. There were no dings. The car was 99.44% as good looking at it as it was the day I picked it up on December 22, 2019.
I thought this was a bit much.
They did ding me about $4,000 because of “excess mileage”. I didn’t think 55,000 miles in 51 months was exactly what I would consider excess mileage. During those same four years, I have driven rental cars about 120,000 miles and that is not an exaggeration.
How are cars sold privately in today’s world?
Back in the day, you could simply put a hardware store purchased “for sale” sign in the window of your car with an asking price and a phone number. You might sell it that way. Others would take their cars to a vacant lot on a busy street corner and leave it there all day in the hopes that a buyer might come along.
I think for the most part those days have passed. I was going to use three electronic advertising vehicles to advertise my 2020 Tesla Model X.
First, I would start with Autotrader.com. I then added Craigslist and finally Facebook Messenger. I was amazed at how cheaply these services could be used.
Autotrader.com would charge me only $49 until the car was sold. Craigslist was just five bucks a month. Facebook Marketplace had a more complex expense chart for their ads. I’ll admit that I never really figured that out. Facebook would bill my credit card two or three dollars every two or three days. In the end, I estimate I paid about $100 or so to sell my car.
I admit it. I plagiarized.
I plagiarized different people’s ads to come up with my own ad. I figured they had probably done the same thing when they composed what I was now stealing.
This is how my ad read.
“My 2020 Tesla Model X has full ceramic coating that makes it sparkle as if it were brand new. Cream premium interior with oak wood decor, solid black exterior, full self-driving capability, autopilot, five seats, tow package, 100% garaged, no kids/no pets/no smoking. 20″ Custom wheels. Nearly new Michelin tires. 55,000 miles. 2024 pricing for a new Model X with my options: base MX $79,990, full self-driving $12,000, cream interior $2,000, and black exterior $1,500. Total $95,490. Battery limited warranty expires December 22, 2027, or unlimited miles, whichever comes first. Drive unit limited warranty expires December 22, 2027, or unlimited miles, whichever comes first. Clean Carfax report. I am the original owner. I liked this car so much that I bought a new one which is why I am selling this one! You won’t find a cleaner better kept MX than this one. Once you drive a Model X with a panoramic windshield you will never go back!
Additional amenities.
Powered by dual Electric Motors and a 100kWh battery generating a combined 534hp paired with a 1 Speed Automatic transmission for impressive acceleration. 0-60 mph in 4.4 seconds. Tesla’s aerodynamic styling stands out with a panoramic sunroof, LED headlamps, and Falcon Wing power rear doors. Also heated front and rear seats, dual-zone automatic climate control, keyless entry/ignition, and a heated steering wheel. Tesla’s full-color touchscreen infotainment system features navigation, Bluetooth, premium audio, and an internet browser. Tesla offers advanced technology designed to help keep you safe and secure. The Autopilot assistance suite uses traffic-aware adaptive cruise control, forward collision warning, lane-keeping assist, and blind-spot monitoring in conjunction with powerful software to allow the vehicle to drive itself very nearly in certain situations. Rain-sensing wipers, ABS, traction/stability control, and advanced airbags are also included along with regenerative braking which enables one-pedal driving. This car looks and feels like it is brand new.
For serious buyers only. I will only accept payment by going to your bank with you. No exceptions.
No dealers, please.”
I drove my car to a remote location in the parking lot of our nearest shopping mall. I took some photos to be used in my ads.
My asking price mentioned elsewhere in the ad was $51,500.
Negotiating brackets are key.
I’ve had quite a bit of experience and training in negotiating. There’s an important concept in the art of negotiating called “bracketing”. What is bracketing?
Let’s say I advertise my car for $50,000. Then someone makes an offer for $40,000. The bracket for that negotiation is now $40,000–$50,000. The deal is going to take place somewhere inside that bracket. It’s not rocket science, is it? If you want $50,000 for your car it’s probably not going to be a good idea to set the top of your bracket at $50,000.
CarMax offered $38,000. Kelley Blue Book and Edmunds thought $43,600 might be a good price. I came with an asking price of $51,500. The fun was about ready to begin.
I was getting offers on the very first day of my ads!
I immediately began receiving texts with messages like “Would you take 42,000”. These people didn’t even say hello! I must have gotten ten or so of these types of responses on the first day.
Who in their right mind offers to buy a used car for any price without ever having seen it? These were scam offers. I needed to get used to that. I would get a lot of messages like this. I have a thick skin. This type of stuff just rolls off my back.
I know. You’re convinced more than ever that you don’t want to sell your car, right?
I know what you’re thinking. “Randy, what you are telling me is exactly why I would never want to sell my car myself”. Remember, I travel a lot. I’m always meeting new people. It never hurts to talk. I like meeting new people. I am a “sales guy”. I consider these communications just “conversations”. I’m willing to have a conversation with just about anybody on just about any topic.
Autotrader has moved online.
I’m sure you have heard of Autotrader. They used to provide small magazines that were available for free at your grocery store or your gasoline convenience store. Inside those little booklets were hundreds, if not more, of pictures of cars and descriptions of cars and prices.
It seems as if those user car booklets have been replaced by Autotrader.com. Remember, I had only paid $49 to advertise with Autotrader.com. I could put my ad in for as long as I needed and keep it there until I sold my car.
Ever heard of Private Seller Exchange?
Autotrader has a new feature. There is a company called “Private Seller Exchange”. They act as an escrow company for Autotrader. Here’s how that works.
Let’s say someone sees a used car advertised on Autotrader.com. The potential buyer can tap a couple of keys on their computer and make an offer for that car. This offer is then communicated to the seller. If the seller wants to counter, they can do that. If the seller wants to accept the electronic offer, they can do that.
Then, the Autotrader escrow company collects the funds from the buyer in one of a few ways. Credit cards, bank wires, cashier’s checks, and the like. Once the escrow company is satisfied that the funds are good the car is “sold”. Private Seller Exchange takes 1% of the sales price for their services which are very similar to AAA on the backend.
Told you. I sold my car for full price almost immediately!
One afternoon, I was checking the status of my ad on autotrader.com. I noticed that someone had made an offer on my car. I didn’t even know this was an option at the time. I was learning as I went along. That would be the case until the very end of this adventure. My “buyer” offered me full price, $51,500. Wow. Now autotrader.com was asking me if I, as the seller, wanted to accept this offer.
Let’s think about this. I’m the seller. I’m asking $51,500. Autotrader.com is a big company, owned by an even bigger company Cox Automotive. Autotrader tells me they have an escrow company willing to handle my transaction. They will guarantee everything that needs to be guaranteed. Did I want to accept a full-price offer of $51,500?
What did I have to lose? I did some more research on Autotrader.com and their escrow company, Private Seller Exchange. Everything sounded pretty legitimate to me. I pressed “accept” on my computer. Now I waited patiently for $51,500, all in hundred dollar bills, to begin falling from the sky over my property from a drone.
Was selling my car in this fashion going to be this simple? Was I going to sell my car for full price to someone who had never seen the car just a couple of days after I had listed the car on Autotrader.com? Do you believe the truth fairy?
I called up the escrow company. I asked them how often someone offers full price on a car they have never seen or driven. I was told that “It happens”.
I waited. The escrow company told me they would be able to confirm the funds within a day or two. Of course, we were heading into a weekend and holiday Monday. The confirmation process was taking a little bit longer than normal.
No, do not past go. Do not collect $200 and notably do not collect $51,500.
Finally, I got a confirmation from the escrow company. It wasn’t the confirmation I was hoping for. They told me the funds had not “cleared”. I would not be selling my car for full price to a buyer who had never seen the car or driven my car. I have no idea what the “buyer” was thinking when they offered to buy my car through the escrow company. They must have known their funds were not going to clear. However, I have learned in life that you don’t know the answer to the question it normally has something to do with money.
I continued trying to sell my car through these three advertising sources. It didn’t help that I was traveling every weekend with my trackchasing. It didn’t help that I had gone off to Mexico for several days and then on a trip for two weeks to Australia. It’s hard to sell your car if you can’t show it.
The scams just kept coming.
During this time, I got a text from an “interested buyer”. He asked me some of the normal questions like, “Has the car ever been in any accidents? What was your latest repair, etc.”.
I answered his questions.
Just send the CH papers. What?
Then he told me he would like to come over and take a look at the car. But before he did, he needed me to send him the “CH papers”. I had no idea what he was talking about.
The prospective buyer told me that the CH report was similar to a CARFAX report. I had already paid about 50 bucks for a CARFAX report. I told him I could send him that report. Nope. He insisted on my sending the “CH papers”. He helpfully sent me a link to a website where I could find what he wanted. That link? www.autofactsfinder.com. I clicked on the link because I like clicking on links. The site looked professional. It asked for my vehicle’s VIN. That’s public information. No harm in my sharing that, right?
The VIN I entered brought up details for my car. Then I was asked to enter my email address and phone number. I did. Now, the website told me I could get one “CH report” for $28. This all seemed too easy. Why wouldn’t the guy just accept my CARFAX report?
I decided to do a little research, using snopes.com. This site is great for confirming or denying if something you’ve read about or heard about is legit.
Snopes.com confirmed this was a “vehicle history report scam”. Wow. The idea seemed pretty lawful. This is a GOOD link to snopes.com where they told me this guy was trying to scam me…Vehicle History Report Scam.
And you’re mother wears combat boots.
I couldn’t help texting back with the words “I understand you need to make money. You need to feed your family. You’re just not going to get any money from me”. Yes, I love communicating with people.
I continued to get text messages from people offering lowball prices. I mean, how long does it take to read a 10-word text message? I still hadn’t put much time, effort, or money into the process of selling my car. I was still as gung-ho about selling it myself as I had ever been.
I have a good track record doing this.
I might point out that I have sold more than 10 used cars in my life. I will also tell you that in every one of those cases I have sold my car to the very first person who came to take my car for a test drive. I had a streak going. Was I going to be able to continue that streak or not? With all of my travel, I still hadn’t shown my car to a real buyer. We were about a month into the process. I will also tell you I have never sold one of my used cars with a loan on it. Make a note. That’s a key to my story.
G’day mate!
One morning in Melbourne, Australia I was snoozing away in my Hyatt hotel (above). I was trying to overcome a 19-hour time zone change. I got a call at 7 a.m. I don’t get up, anywhere in the world, before 7 a.m.
I also get my share of spam phone calls. I don’t answer a call if I don’t know who it is. However, I had to rescind that policy during my used car selling effort.
Hello?
I answered the phone. A man was interested in my car. I was a little groggy. He started asking me questions. One of his questions about midway in the conversation was “How much do you owe on the car”? That seemed like a strange question. I had received so many scam messages that my patience was drawing just a little bit thin.
The guy had sounded sincere with his general demeanor. I couldn’t resist asking this. “Why are you asking me how much I owe on the car? What does that have to do with anything?” I went on to say, “That sounds like a spammy question to me”.
My prospective buyer patiently explained that he wanted to know how much I owed on the car just to make sure that his offer was greater than what I owed. I told him that wouldn’t be a problem. I would have no interest in accepting offers that were lower than what I owed the bank.
The buyer then went on to tell me what he did for a living. I can’t tell you about that. I can only tell you that he held a very responsible position in Los Angeles. He told me that as a person in that position, there was no way he was going to be scamming anybody over the purchase of a used car.
Ya, I checked him out. He probably did the same thing to me.
How did I know he was telling me the truth about what he did for a living? I Googled him. Then I checked LinkedIn. He was who he said he was. I’m going to call this gentleman, Bart. That’s not his real name but he looked as if he could be a “Bart”.
I was going to be in Australia for several more days. Bart and I agreed that he would come and test drive the car when I got back. In the interim, we messaged back and forth several times before I got back to the United States. It seemed like Bart was a legitimate interested buyer.
Who’s the dummy? Me!
I mentioned in the beginning there were mistakes involved in this process that could have cost me thousands of dollars. I was not only fighting off scammers I was dealing with my misunderstanding of what I thought was going to happen during the entire selling process.
Not only was I a dummy, I was a greedy dummy.
I guess my mistakes were minorly complicated by greed. No one likes to admit to that. When I bought my 2020 Tesla Model X back in December 2019, I secured a $100,000, six-year auto loan at 1.99%. What a sweetheart deal.
Whenever I can get a loan on something at a really low rate I am thrilled. Whenever I can take the money I am not paying for whatever I am buying and invest those funds at my normal average rate of return of 8% I am thrilled. I didn’t want to pay that loan off!
I have shared with you in the past that I made about $22,000 in investment income over and above what I paid in interest on my 1.99% car loan. I had that loan for 51 months. That loan had begun at $100,000. Now I owed a little bit more than $30,000.
Did I have a clean title?
During the selling process, people kept asking me if I had a “clean title”. I misunderstood the intent of that question. I was thinking that “clean title” meant the car had never been salvaged or involved in a flood or was part of a lemon law situation or anything like that. That is pretty much what “clean title” means.
This is what I didn’t understand. I was mistaking “Clean title” for “Clear title”. A clear title meant that the title didn’t have any liens against it. My title had a lien against it for about $32,000 with the credit union I used. An easy mistake to make, right? Yes, I was a dumbass to put it directly.
This is what I thought would happen.
I had thought all along that if I sold my car for $50,000 I could simply go to AAA with the buyer. He/she would pay me $50,000. AAA would send $30,000 to my credit union and give me 20,000. Er…that’s not how it works. What the heck was I thinking?
Change of heart!
When I got back to the United States my buyer contacted me. While I was in Australia he had a change of heart. He told me he was eyeing another car that had fewer miles and might be a better price/value proposition. He was going to put our deal on the back burner.
Don’t burn your bridges even when it seems like it might be fun to do.
I have learned in sales never to “burn bridges”. Sometimes I want to set a bridge on fire but I have learned from personal experiences not to do that. Here’s one of my personal experiences around the burning bridges idea.
More than twenty years ago I was using a realtor. I wanted to make a low-ball offer on a piece of property. My realtor told me he didn’t feel comfortable submitting my offer. Without batting an eyelash, I asked my realtor, “Do you know any realtors who WOULD feel comfortable submitting my offer”? For a laidback guy, I can get in somebody’s grill when I think it’s a good idea. From that point on I never got on with that realtor. Fast forward twenty years. That guy moved in next door to me. Awkward.
My buyer wanted to explore other options. O.K. I bid Bart farewell and wished him luck. I told him I hoped that he got the very best car that he was looking for. I meant that.
Throwing my hat in the ring. This is my final offer.
When my buyer told me he was going to look at other cars I made him a final offer. I told him I was throwing my hat in the ring for a price of $47,000. That was the best I could do. My offer wasn’t good enough. Bart told me he was still going to check out other cars that he thought might be a better value.
I was back to square zero with buyers. That wasn’t a huge problem. I’m a laid-back guy. I figured I would sell the car when I sold the car and that was good enough for me.
In the meantime, I lowered the price of the car from $51,500 in $1,000 increments over a couple of weeks. My current asking price was $49,500.
Carol said she thought Bart might come back to us in the future. I honestly didn’t think so. Then the next day I got a message from Bart. He told me he was “circling back” and was interested in taking a look at my car again.
It was time to meet Bart.
Bart and I were meeting up personally for the first time. He was going to take my car for a test drive. Bart shows up wearing a long-sleeved white shirt and tie befitting his executive position.
Soon I had a feeling that if I had met Bart in a civilian situation, we would’ve become fast friends. He was about 18 years younger than me and a very personable and sharp guy.
I was offering Bart a very nice automobile.
My car’s appearance was excellent and he recognized that. My car had one feature on it that I had never used. This was the “full self-driving” option. When I bought the car that option was expensive. I paid $7,000 for it. That option is now sold by Tesla for $12,000. Paying seven grand for something I never wanted to use was pricey. However, in the end, it was full self-driving that sold my car.
I never used this option because I like driving my car myself. I also never wanted to get in a wreck while I was using full self-driving and then have to explain to the insurance company how the accident really wasn’t my fault. It was the computer’s fault. I never thought that discussion would go well.
Go on YouTube!
I had mentioned to our son J.J., who is also a Tesla owner, that my buyer was most interested in using the self-driving. J.J. said, “You better go on YouTube and figure out how to operate that system since you’ve never used it.” I did exactly as he recommended. Nevertheless, when it came time during the test drive to demonstrate the full self-driving, I didn’t know how to start up the system!
The self-driving option was the absolute number one thing that Bart wanted to get from my car. Here I was impersonating a used car salesman and I didn’t know how to operate the vehicle I was selling.
What could possibly go wrong?
Bart and I were in a residential neighborhood trying to initiate self-driving. He was driving. I was in the passenger seat. As we crept along, I kept asking him, “Is that the system driving or you”? His answer was always, “It’s me”.
About this time, Bart told me, “I love this car, but I can’t buy a car if I haven’t been able to use the full self-driving option”. Oh my. I was sweating bullets.
I had a beautiful car. I had a beautiful car with a full self-driving option. I had paid $7000 for that option. I had a buyer who wanted everything I was offering to sell. I just didn’t know how to get the one thing to work that he wanted most.
Unconsciously incompetent.
All kinds of people can’t perform well in whatever activity they choose. Some are unconsciously incompetent. That simply means they don’t know what they don’t know.
Others are consciously incompetent. Those are the worst kinds of people. They know they don’t know what they’re doing and they try to tell people they know how to do stuff. Those are bad people.
I was merely “unconsciously incompetent”. I truly didn’t know what I didn’t know and that pretty well pissed me off.
Random success!
Finally, Bart pushed on a lever. He pushed the correct lever. We were now cruising down a residential neighborhood with the car doing the driving. Earlier, he had pushed another button that would allow FSD to operate at 10 miles over the speed limit. We were zooming now with the car doing the driving…in a residential neighborhood.
We pulled up to a residential stop sign. The car stopped. It seemed to “look” both ways. We made a left-hand turn and the car drove us back to where we started. I was gripping the pain-free vegan leather with both hands, but we made it.
I guess it’s time to do this.
Next, we got out of the car. It was time for that somewhat tense conversation. How much? Yes, Bart wanted to buy the car and I wanted to sell the car to Bart. It was time to talk about the price.
I had offered him my best price of $47,000 when he told me he was going to look elsewhere. He declined my offer. Now we looked at each other and he said: “I guess it’s time to do this”.
His next question? “What’s the price?” I told him, “$47,000”. Bart came back with three simple words “Let’s do it”.
I was happy. Bart was happy. He and I had met in the parking lot of a AAA office. We met there just in case we had gotten to this point in the conversation. We could simply go into the AAA office and consummate our buy/sell agreement.
Do you have the car’s title?
This was when my unconsciously incompetent behavior was about ready to manifest itself. The AAA rep asked me if I had the car title. I didn’t. He told me there was nothing that could be done in terms of selling the car until I had the title. Oh my.
This is what was beyond perplexing to me. Lots of people must have loans on the cars they want to sell. Let’s say someone has a $20,000 car with a $10,000 loan on that car. I can’t imagine that everyone who’s in this situation has ten grand sitting around so they can pay off their loan, get the title, and THEN sell their car for $20,000.
How do people in this situation first get their title by paying off a loan that they don’t have the money to pay off and THEN sell their car for $20,000? I’ve asked that question of friends and relatives. They say the person in an example like this needs to trade in their car or take it to CarMax to sell. That means the person who doesn’t have the money to pay off their loan can’t sell their car until they take it in the shorts from a car dealer of one sort or another. That’s a bad deal for people put in this position.
Bart, during our conversations, had warned me that getting the title quickly might not be that easy. He was right. In my defense, which is a weak defense, I have never sold any of my cars where I didn’t have the clear title in hand. That’s my excuse. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
I told Bart that paying off the loan would be no big deal. I would have the title in a couple of days. Then we would complete our deal.
Disappointment reigned.
I knew he was disappointed. I was disappointed. We stood around my car after getting this bad news. I offered up this agreement.
How about we do this?
I told Bart that I would stop advertising my car. I would not entertain any future offers. In exchange for that, I expected that he would not look at any more cars. We would finish our deal as soon as I got the title. We shook hands on our agreement.
We continued to talk just a little bit longer. During that conversation, Bart said “If I find a better car and want to buy it I will pay you $1,000, no questions asked”. I told him I wasn’t interested in his thousand dollars. I simply wanted both of us to uphold the agreement that we had shook hands on. Bart looked at me and confirmed our handshake deal was good.
Dang it. This not having a title was going to be a big problem.
They say nothing is ever easy. Getting my car title was not going to be easy.
I called up my credit union. I told them I wanted to pay off my loan. I was told that I could mail them a check. They would send the title. I didn’t have that kind of time.
I asked how we could speed up the process. The credit union said that if I gave them my checking account routing numbers and account numbers over the phone the loan would be paid off that day.
You couldn’t mention this important detail?
There was one important item the credit union rep didn’t tell me. They would put a two-week hold on my check delaying my getting the title even more. I found it amazing that I had expressed such interest in getting my title immediately and the rep didn’t tell me initially that there would be a long hold on my check.
I couldn’t resist this. The $64,000 question!
Once I learned about that delay I found out that if I wired them the money, the funds would be good immediately. I did just that. I owed about $32,000 on the loan. On day one I did the check idea over the phone and paid them $32,000. On day two I had to wire them another $32,000. Now I was out $64,000. Of course, I would get that money back, but it was just one more hassle.
The bad assumptions just kept coming.
I thought the credit union held the title themselves. Wrong. They didn’t. Once the credit union had proof that I had paid off my loan they would let the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) know. The DMV would send me the title. Oh my.
The very next morning I showed up at the DMV. I was one of the first people to go through the doors. I talked with a very knowledgeable representative. He told me that he could see in his system, that my car no longer had a lien on it. That was good.
Then he gave me some bad news. The man said that the DMV recognized there was no lien on my car. They would mail me the title. Great. He was pretty sure I would get the title in 30 days. Not great!
I was not a happy camper communicating this information to Bart. I knew that he might have an interest in breaking our deal and if he did, I couldn’t blame him. I didn’t know if getting the title through the mail from the DMV was going to take 30 days or three days. All I could do was wait.
I had a busy travel schedule. Bart had a busy travel schedule. There were very few days that we could actually meet up and deliver the car.
Each day it was my responsibility to give Bart an update. Each day I had bad news. No title. I must confess I was a bit worried. I was just lucky Bart was patient but I knew he wouldn’t and couldn’t be patient forever.
I had my streak going. I had ALWAYS sold any used car that I’d offered up to the very first person who saw it. Was my streak going to end?
I guess I had a streak to begin with because I always offered outstanding used cars at reasonable prices. I thought that was the case in this situation as well. In the past, I always had “clear titles”.
It’s here!!
Finally, after 10 days of waiting, ten excruciating days I might add, my title showed up in the mail. I gave Bart the good news. He was happy.
Bart lived up in Los Angeles. I told him I would deliver the car to him. We would exchange the money, sign titles, and execute the bill of sale. He would have his car. Then he could drop me off at the famous train station, in Los Angeles, Union Station. I would ride the train back home.
No cashier’s checks.
If you are going to sell a car you will likely get advice that you should not accept a cashier’s check for payment. In today’s world cashier’s checks are easy to forge. I placed this statement in my ad. “I will only accept payment by going to your bank with you. No exceptions”. I would require, as a condition of sale, that I would go to the bank with any prospective buyer so that I could see the bank itself producing the cashier’s check.
I had gotten to know Bart pretty well by now. I trusted him. I told him there was no need for me to join him at the bank. He could get his cashier’s check. I would bring the car, and we would be nearly finished.
I sold the car for $47,000. Bart’s check was for $46,800.
I showed up at Bart’s house. He had the money in the form of a cashier’s check for $46,800. Wait! The sales price was $47,000. Was Bart trying to stiff me? If I gave you a million chances you would never ever guess why the check was for $46,800.
I am just one very nice guy.
Here’s why. During my entire buying and selling time frame I had followed closely a Facebook group for Tesla Model X owners and buyers. I learned a lot from those people. I learned that a battery-powered car like my Tesla also had a 12-volt battery just like a gasoline-powered car does. People on the forum said those 12v batteries lasted about four years plus or minus. My car was four years and three months old. As far as I knew everything in the car I was selling was in tip-top shape.
However, since I “knew” and Bart probably didn’t that my 12v battery might be on its last legs I didn’t want that burden to fall on Bart. I told him in advance to make the check out for $46,800. I would tell him why when we had our final meeting. The cost to replace a failed 12v battery in a Tesla is about $200. I explained the entire situation to Bart. I didn’t want him to buy my car and have that small battery fail in a week. Bart appreciated my forthrightness. I can be a savvy negotiator. However, when you’re looking for a win/win it doesn’t hurt to be a nice guy. Karma can be a bitch, they say.
We both signed the bill of sale. This simply explained that I was selling my car without any warranties or guarantees whatsoever. I signed the title and gave it to Bart. That freaking title problem had probably shaved 10 years off my life. Just kidding. Maybe 10 days.
I started with a car today and ended up on the train.
With that, Bart chauffeured me in his new car over to Union Station. Along the way, we saw several homeless people camped out in tents on sidewalks and overpasses.
We both agreed this was a “bad look” for the city. It wasn’t that these homeless people were really dangerous to the community. In almost every case they were not. However, in reality, the homeless encampments created the impression that they were dangerous. Just the looks of things were about as bad as if an onlooker had been mugged by a homeless person.
Bart, I very much enjoyed doing business with you.
Bart and I bid each other farewell. Likely, we will never see each other again. I hope he loves his car. I know I loved it when I owned it. I am sure that if Bart and I met in a non-business situation we would’ve been great friends.
I was happy with the financial return on my car.
That’s pretty much my story of selling my car. CarMax offered me 38,000. Kelly Blue Book and Edmunds.com said $43,600 was a good price for my car in exceptional condition. I sold it for $47,000.
I originally bought my car for $96,000. Having the car depreciate about 50% in four years and three months was reasonable I felt. I thought the car I offered my buyer was a good value for him. He thought that as well. Win/win.
I didn’t put that much time into this for the financial return I got back.
From a time perspective, it didn’t take me very long to put my ads together and answer a few text messages and phone calls. I only showed the car once. I thought the financial return I got on my time was beyond outstanding.
Greed is rarely a good look.
Admittedly, I guess you can call it greed, not paying off my loan before I attempted to sell the car was a bad idea. I didn’t realize it was a bad idea at the time, but it was. I could have simply wired the credit union the money a month before I began to sell the car. Then I would have had the title in my hands from the beginning. That would have removed a good deal of angst.
Dealing with scammers was downright educational!
It was interesting, from a life perspective, to encounter the scammers that I did in the process. I didn’t consider that threatening. I thought of it as educational. That’s exactly how the most laidback you know would evaluate that process, isn’t it?
Ya, I’m a sales guy.
In four years will I be willing to sell my 2024 Tesla Model X myself and buy a 2028 Tesla Model X? Absolutely! I like meeting people. I’m a sales guy.
Randy Lewis
Unconsciously incompetent but with a good heart.