Selling Used Car - Disclosing Defect

June 27, 2015 1:45 PM

I am selling my old car because I needed a car that could tow my trailer. Old Car is generally terrific for being 11 years old, but the AC doesn't work. Price reflects this. Needs new AC compressor. Should I put it in the ad, or tell people on the phone?
posted by theora55 to Travel & Transportation (7 answers total)

Best answer: Put it in the ad. No reason to waste your time and someone else's time for something you would disclose anyways.

Personally, I would be more suspicious if someone told me something on the phone than if they disclosed it from the start in the ad.
posted by ssg at 1:52 PM on June 27, 2015 [7 favorites]

Best answer: Put it in the ad, matter-of-factly. It will save time because you won't have to explain, disappoint or negotiate with individual potential buyers, and disclosing defects makes you seem honest, which buyers will find reassuring.
posted by jon1270 at 1:52 PM on June 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Put it in the ad. Yeah, it'll weed out a lot of people up front, but it's not like those people would have bought the car anyway if they got to the point of test driving it and found out you'd "forgotten" to tell them. If you're somewhere really hot like Texas you're going to have to list the car with a price that reflects the broken AC too. I have a similar old car and am going back and forth between selling mine and getting a new ($$) compressor and continuing to drive it.
posted by MsMolly at 2:04 PM on June 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: "Needs new AC compressor - priced to reflect."
posted by NotMyselfRightNow at 2:18 PM on June 27, 2015 [7 favorites]

Best answer: In a similar situation I bought a used (working) part and took it to my local mechanic. He switched the parts and checked and re-gassed the aircon for me for a price that (I think) was less than I would have lost in selling the car with a defect. Of course, it's one of those things where you could gain or lose, depending on all sorts of variables.
posted by pipeski at 2:24 PM on June 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

Best answer: You're not trying to scam anyone, but when were were looking at cars on Craigslist we learned the hard way that anything not disclosed in the ad means you can't be sure the seller is trustworthy. Failure to disclose in the ad is a huge trust breaker for potential buyers because it seems dishonest (and 99% of the time, in my experience, it was because the seller was trying to hide something).

So make sure you mention it in the ad. It will save non-interested buyers time and effort and the ones who would be willing to buy it anyway and get it repaired themselves will consider you more trustworthy because you were honest in your ad.
posted by i feel possessed at 4:55 PM on June 27, 2015 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Thanks for the useful answers.
posted by theora55 at 10:13 AM on July 1, 2015