Alfas choose their owner

[Garibaldi]

"All I can do is sigh and shake my head, I have to contend with people who know nothing then people who think they know everything and that I know nothing lol."

Welcome to the wonderful world of car sales. Now you all know what I have to put up with every day.

[jimay3677]

It's really quite frustrating, and all the "market value" sites need to be more clear.
People seem to think market value means drive away, market value is the value minus rego, insurance, RWC etc.
People would rather buy a car for 4500 with two weeks rego then have to pay rego in two weeks than buy one without rego, it's quite stupid, at some point in 6-12 months you will have to pay rego.

Then when you put it up for market value people still want you to go $2000 under and sell it with rego and RWC, these are the types that would then list it for $5000.  We had an old Hyundai Elantra with 220,000k on the clock that would randomly stall, in the middle of intersections, we paid $2500 for it and spent about $500 on replacing numerous components (that's parts minus labour costs as I did it myself) before throwing our hands up in the air and selling it for $700. We told the buyer about the problem and said I've done fuel pump, fuel filter, whole ignition system, crank sensors plus a few other things, it could be fuel spilling into the charcoal canister when my wife overfills it but I've thrown enough cash at it and want it gone, two days later he listed it for $3800 saying it's 100% reliable lol.

I'm not budging from $4,000, market is 3-4.5k with 120,000 to 220,000k so I think $4000 is quite reasonable considering the service history and the fact it has a sunroof, tyres that have done less than 15,000k etc, timing belt and water pump are 2 years/33,000k old, selespeed has a new accumulator, new thermostat etc and the body plus interior are virtually spotless.

Yes the sunroof can play up from time to time, but it always played up on my wife never me and is always possible to reset.
The selespeed of course is a selespeed and won't do 1st sometimes and requires you to shift into 2nd or N then back to 1st when you pull up really quick once every few months but I'm almost convinced this is a notchy gearbox and not a fault with the selespeed unit (though perhaps a design fault?), I was able to drive it in a way that this never happened, again it was my wife it happened to most, I've also hypothesized maybe the rapid shifting drops the pressure so much that by the time it gets to shifting to 1st the pressure has not built up enough to complete the shift, it always happened when stopping suddenly in 4th or higher so I would make sure I coasted in 2nd for 3-4 seconds and then 1st was always there. I also had issues for ages with it throwing cat converter codes, I switched to Penrite 15w-60 about 6 months ago and have not had the error once so I reckon the sensors were getting coated in burnt oil as it's barely needed any top up in that time and is due for the 7500k change, I think perhaps 50ml has gone in compared to nearly 1L of Castrol Edge in half the amount of time and on edge I was getting cat codes weekly.

[jimay3677]

Haha, enquirer 6 told me I'm paranoid and to go away. I'm no psych but Saying I hope thats just an honest mistake on your part but "IF" you're trying to trick me I'm not going to fall for it is not paranoia just stating facts, maybe a bit aggressive but not paranoid, unfortunately that's what many buyers try, claiming something wasn't done after being told and seeing a receipt with all the part numbers listed on the other hand, yes I understand the mechanic wrote in a mixture of past and future tense but the part numbers are all listed and it says they replaced a thread on the waterpump, how do you know a thread needs replacing on the waterpump unless you've removed it to replace it? So what, the dealer bought all the parts then said "hey lets tear it all down and put the old parts back" seems like a monumental waste of time since I wasn't being charged for the work.

[carlo rossi]

Sometimes it easier to get another person to sell these things for you.
I would never sell my own house due to the fact I cant make a non emotional comment or decision
when I sold our little cooper s I got the wife to do it for 2 reasons
a)I knew too much about it
b) and females are less threatening
It is my sincere advice is  before brain damage sets in is to let someone else do it
someone that knows nothing about the car ( mechanics make the worst car salesmen)
because I fear that the next edition to this thread is an impending court case about a mysterious death

[jimay3677]

That's actually really good advice that I am going to take on board straight away, will be much less headache for me and my wife gets much less emotional about cars lol.  I'll just have to remind her it's an Alfa Romeo 156 not a 156 Alpha Romeo.

[jimay3677]

Well it's booked in for a RWC today, shed is open and I've spread timing lights and other tools around so the mechanic can see he won't get work out of failing stuff lol. Selling this is a nightmare, so many time wasters or people trying to buy it for trade because I don't have a current RWC even though my add say RWC after deposit.  I've had about 30 people contact me, most ask stupid questions, some make appointments and never turn up or come look for their daughter then say the daughter wants a hatchback. One guy wanted to get a permit to test drive and I said no it's not insured. I've even started ignoring people if they say certain things. Two more people coming to waste my time today after RWC then I'll register it and increase the price from $3650 to $5100 which is the redbook value.

[Craig_m67]

I don't mean to be rude and I wish you every success with your sale (it's a difficult process) but the market value is what people will pay for it not some number in the redbook etc.

That said the car will be more attractive with a fresh RWC and rego.
What year is it? Interesting colour, post some pics?!

Oh, and there's no need for a timing light with a 156 (or any recent car)... Mechanic may just take you for a mug when he sees it !  (jk)

[jimay3677]

Timing light is needed for a 96 MX6 as it has a distributor. I realise market value is not what people will actually pay but the average price on carsales for cars that have sold is 4500 to 6000 so I'm not accepting 1500 when market is 3000-4500 with 130-220k and that does not factor in the sunroof or tinted windows or rego my minimum is 4000 but if I put 4000 people offer 2000. Anyway that was the dodgiest rwc bloke I've ever come across. Failed rear rotors which are in better shape than the front, had to be prompted to check rear seatbelts and then all he did was tugg on the belts, didn't get under it, bounced the front shocks and from that concluded the suspension is fine, didn't check spare or jack by not even popping the boot, didn't check mirrors work or wipers, tried saying parkers weren't working because he couldn't see them in the direct sunlight, I had to demand the paper work be filled in as he wasn't going to because it failed then he was trying to not leave me a copy and ticked off roadtest and brake test but never moved it! I'll be getting my final inspection done then be complaining to the company about the dodgy rwc, I want a real rwc done not just a quick check in 10 minutes, That's QLD for you though nothing is done properly up here and everyone is far too laid back.

[Craig_m67]

That's QLD for you though nothing is done properly up here and everyone is far too laid back.

[jimay3677]

Yeah, I used to live in VIC when I joined this site.

Well, I had people come look, really keen, car enthusiasts, said they'd get back to me in a few days.
The son turned up a couple days later wanting to get in before his parents and swap me a boat, turns out he'd come by the night before but we we'd gone to bed early, I said no to the boat and asked if his parents will by buying and he said they would.

Called me again today saying they want to come look again to get part numbers for actuators, pumps, accumulators etc.
I said come at 12:00, it's now 4:20......

This car is a curse!

[jimay3677]

NO SALE! why did I buy a Selespeed? that's the issue.
I've dropped the price to $2500 on Ebay, RWC no rego because I just want the stupid thing gone, I can sell a piece of junk for more than it's really worth no problem but I can't sell a car that is in near mint condition!

I spent about 1.5 hours on the first day, the bloke turned up at 8pm a few days later and walked around my yard (as per CCTV) then came and spoke to me for nearly two hours the next day only to change their mind after calling and making a time which I of course put my life on hold for, I've wasted about 10 hours with people on this car, rescheduled things, rushed to get home and they are all just stuffing me around, it's not like you get in it and something falls off or there's pools of oil under it, people just get scared off by the possible issues with Selespeed and won't touch them, argh!

[carlo rossi]

Sounds like a track car in the making
or
Put the price up to $3990 take it ther nearest university with a for sale sign
or
let the wife sell it walk away ,so no one gets hurt
or
store it and revisit it in 5 tears sorry I meant years
you are too close to it. let someone else do it and or go to the nearest car yard
and put it on consignment
but without a doubt remove yourself from the process
I hope your not a postal worker

[jimay3677]

Sounds like a track car in the making
or
Put the price up to $3990 take it ther nearest university with a for sale sign
or
let the wife sell it walk away ,so no one gets hurt
or
store it and revisit it in 5 tears sorry I meant years
you are too close to it. let someone else do it and or go to the nearest car yard
and put it on consignment
but without a doubt remove yourself from the process
I hope your not a postal worker

I've put in on dealer direct, I've sold cars before that I've been attached to, never before have I had every man and his dog coming to look at it then changing their mind, I doubt they wanted to buy it in the first place, my wife tried to sell it and she got annoyed quickly too.  I just don't have time to sit around waiting for people who never turn up nor do I really want people prowling round my yard at night wanting to swap their boat.

No, I'm an IT worker but am about ready to go postal lol, it's not that I can't sell it, it's that everyone keeps coming to look and are really keen then at the last minute pull out because it's not what they wanted, well, it's pretty clear what it is and I've put up tons of photo's on carsales.

[jimay3677]

My wife is handling the sale now and she too is getting severely ticked off at the time wasters lol. Dropped to $3000 just to get rid of it. Has rwc now. My wifes had a couple organising a mechanic to inspect call her about times etc then just never call back. Has current RWC now as everyone insisted it have one and now they're saying it means nothing, like duh I said that. Any feedback on the ad welcome http://carsales.mobi/cars/details/Alfa-Romeo-156-2002/SSE-AD-3499593

[jimay3677]

I wish I'd never bought this peice of junk. Latest news.

Dropped to $3000. Had a couple come look, with little notice, during the time I'd normally be making dinner so I had kids yelling and screaming, handed me a $200 deposit, by the time I came back with receipt they'd phoned a mechanic friend and decided to pass, I came out to them and they were all huddled around a mobile phone and raised their hand at me in a stop signal, I knew instantly they were going to pull out so went back into my yard and closed the gates, threw the receipt in the bin, the woman popped her head over the fence and just said "excuse me, we've just spoken to a mechanic friend and decided to pass" "no worries" I said and walked away. Listed on Ebay for $1 no reserve, I don't care how much I get for it now, I'm considering it a total write off. This was the best most reliable car I have personally owned, now it is the worst car due to how much money I'm going to lose on it, I wish I'd gone with my gut and not touched a selespeed, I was worried about issues but didn't stop to think about resale.