Originally Posted by Stretch

G'day Folks,

I've just had a strange one - well to be honest I have to admit that I too am a "strange one" as well...

...but what do you make of this?


I've been chasing the car of my dreams - it is beautiful with an asking price of 14K.

I went to see it not expecting it to be as good as it was. I was expecting a 8-10K car with a hopeful 14K price tag.

(I actually think the condition of the car is pretty bad - definitely a 3 but rarity and lushness and all that kind of stuff bumps up the price somewhat)

I had a good look around the car but decided not to waste the seller's time and just cut to the chase asking if there was any movement of the price.

I offered 12K next to the car but it wasn't accepted.

With divorce and all the associated problems that that entails this isn't really the right time to be splashing the cash so I got a bit worried about the finances and kind of felt it was a good thing that the offer wasn't accepted.


Even so "the love" got the better of me and I sent the seller an email saying that I loved the car I'd like to buy it but I really can go no higher than 11.5K. I added rather hopefully that perhaps since the car had been advertised for about 4 months and he'd only had low ball offers, a serious and quick sale might be in order...



Surprisingly the seller got back to me saying that he'd give me a 2K loan to be paid back interest free next year - 11K down 2K to pay. This would be a gentleman's agreement. I declined the offer - as kind as it was - because I can not be 100% sure I can honour the deal.

From my perspective I'm not feeling very lucky at the moment and I wouldn't want to let someone down.


From the seller's perspective though it strikes me a bit strange that someone would offer a deal that could potentially go sour. In a way it sounds like the 2K isn't all that important - it seems that perhaps the principle of getting close to the asking price is more important?


So deal psychology buffs - what do you think?