My Merry Adventures on Craig's List

I'm helping my mother-in-law sell her car on Craig's List. I have a very simple and straightforward ad. It basically lists that the car is a 4-cylinder automatic, power windows and lock, 152k miles, new starter, new brakes... etc. Definitely a no frills ad. I included 4 pictures.

I didn't know how much interest we'd get but I definitely wasn't expecting what we got. Within 15 minutes of posting, I got 3 responses. By the end of the day, the number shot up to around 14. Then I checked my spam box and found 7 more.

Wow. So I went through them all and sent each and every one an email stating that I will contact them if the car doesn't sell. We had 2 people come tonight but no buyers yet. One needed to talk to her son (she was buying it for him) and the other wanted it rightnow,Ihavecash! So the Lady with the Son said go ahead and sell it to the Lady with Cash since she knows I want to sell right away. The Lady with Cash came from Cerritos with her husband who "took time off from work so he can drive her" and then proceeded to him-and-haw about the price. I told her right off the bat on the phone that the price is firm as I have a ton of other people wanting to take a look at the car. She said that's fine. She needed the car to get to work tomorrow.

This is where it gets kind of ridiculous. The guy popped the hood and revved the engine and said the engine sounded off. And wanted to knock $500 off. Here's the thing: we just took the car in to get serviced. That's when we got the new starter. And hello - it's a 1999 Camry. It's not going to purr. Hell, my 2004 Expedition just went in for a 60k tune-up at the tune of $1200 and it doesn't purr either.

Then he took a flashlight, shined it on the hood and said the paint looks really worn.

Did we forget that it's a 1999 Camry?
1-9-9-9.
As in a 9 year old car?

I could hear him wheedling Truong down a couple hundred dollars so I took matters into my own hands. I told him that I told his wife on the phone that the price is firm. I have other people interested in the car, take it or leave it. Then left. They talk some more and I could hear Truong saying: "Yeah, we've been married a long time. She's not going to change her mind."

Needless to say, they left sans car.

I go back in to check my email and set up an appointment with a lady for a viewing and test drive tomorrow at 10:00am. I reply to the rest of the pack that someone's taking a looky-loo tomorrow and I'll contact them if the car is still available.

This is the response I get from one of the interested parties:
"or you can drop that person and show it to a cute guy like me first"

No kidding. That's a cut and paste from his email.

Shana thinks I should tell him to show me the money and the car is yours.

Ugh.