Guest blogger: Quentin Willson on buying a car on Gumtree
We’re thrilled to have Quentin Willson, one of the UK’s most well known motoring enthusiasts, write a post for our blog and explain why he’s such a big fan of buying cars on Gumtree.
Hands up, I’m a total 22-carat Gumtree fan. When it comes to finding proper cars being sold by proper people, this is the only site I’ll use. Sadly, elastic morals, puffed up descriptions, shadowy photos and sellers who don’t know their ethics from their elbows are a common case in my world. Online car buying is getting more and more fraught, which is why it’s so refreshing to be able to talk to sellers that have standards, honesty and decency. Gumtree car sellers really are a class apart.
And it’s not just me. All the research now says that used car buyers desperately want a safe site with private sellers who are happy to talk directly to buyers and don’t insist on doing a deal via a cold and remote email conversation. The ability to interact with a human being, knowing their name and where they live, is absolutely essential. People buy from people they like and doing it any other way is downright daft. And here’s another of my favourite sayings, “Nice cars and nice people go together.” And that’s what Gumtree is all about – respectable sellers offering decent cars at fair prices with honest descriptions.
My advice for a smooth selling and buying ride?
- Talk directly with the seller, ask searching questions, write everything down, be polite and courteous and if you can, try to form a relationship. You’ll feel much more confident about what you’re buying.
- You can make all the mechanical checks in the world, but if you don’t like the seller, you probably won’t like the car. Use your instincts on this – it never fails.
- Never carry cash with you when you’re meeting the seller. Bring someone with you for a second opinion if possible, and if you like the car, then go to the bank together.
Last year, I bought a 70s Mercedes sports car from a Gumtree private seller in West London. He was charming on the phone, was at great pains to explain all the car’s faults and agreed to hold it for me until the next day. When I pulled up, I couldn’t believe his house. Worth an easy £20 million. The Merc was twice as good as he’d said and I bought it in a heartbeat. It was so honest and fairly described I didn’t even think about making an offer. We had coffee, chatted a bit and when I used his downstairs loo, was struck by a little painting on the wall. I looked closer. The tiny signature in the corner of the canvas was ‘Renoir’. No kidding.
14 Responses to “Guest blogger: Quentin Willson on buying a car on Gumtree”
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May 14th
As you may have heard the Gumtree forums are closing, it wasn’t an easy decision to make, read more about it here... http://t.co/FsDTShjs [uk_gumtree]
May 12th
Hi @Phil_Cowley when you reply to ads, you have to wait for the seller to reply back. If they're interested you will receive an email reply! [uk_gumtree]
Hi @sparkybakewell unfortunately we are unable to change the location of any ads on the site. A member of Customer Support has emailed you. [uk_gumtree]
Hi @Carhireukreview you may have more luck advertising your service here: http://t.co/jITarby7 [uk_gumtree]Powered by Lifestream from iBegin.
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Great article! Really enjoyed reading it
l think l agree with Elsie l love using gumtree but l recently had to move flat and finding one on gumtree was a bit of a mare because there are SO MANY criminals advertising false properties trying to trick people into using western union bank transfers to steal their money. Not gumtrees fault l know but they dont seem to be doing anything about stopping them. l did send an email to the complaints department but they ignored my email until l sent a second email complaining that they’d not responded to my 1st one.
Stressful.
My experience with car sellers in Aberdeen area is that they do not respond to phone calls or email queries with any speed or interest. How come? Are their cars already sold with the ad remained active and they do not want to be bothered anymore ? Does Gumtree review length of time an ad remains outstanding?
[...] time, we had Quentin Willson in our guest blogger series tell you why he liked buying cars on Gumtree. Today, we’ve got Jamie [...]
That’s true Elsie, but i have to say that if you are nice to other people chances are they will be nice to you. It’s about changing the attitude of the buyer and sellers visiting classified ad websites like gumtree that Mr Wilson is trying to achieve. But in a way you both are right in your respective points.
I have to say that this really is a complete load of nonsense.
It’s great that Mr Wilson had a good experience, but one good seller does not characterise everyone that uses the site any more than one bad seller does. There’s nothing about Gumtree that encourages good behaviour and the reality is that the buyers and sellers on Gumtree will be largely the same as buyers and sellers on any other site, some good, some awful and everything in between.