Would you buy a used car from this woman?
Sit back relax, enjoy, trust me
My main job for today was to sell our car. We recently purchased a new car and so the old one needed to go. If it had been left to me I would have taken the easy way out and done a trade-in; after all that is what I have done in the past. When I suggested this to my husband he gave me a withering look bordering on loving contempt.
He was right of course. Selling a car is not only easy these days with sites like carsales.com.au but it leaves trade-ins for dead with it comes to the pay day. My husband originally allocated the job of selling the car to me. This entailed ensuring that its servicing was up to date and getting the car detailed and cleaned out ready for its new owner.
I made a start on this by discussing the service history and ensuring it was up to date with our local Lexus Service Centre. I then turned my attention to finding a detailer near where we live. Unfortunately this took a couple of days and my husband decided that I had underperformed and he would need to take over. He assured me that “it was easier this way” as he would have to answer all the questions from the hordes of prospective buyers anyway and would also need to put up the ad online to ensure it conveyed the right information and attitude.
So I graciously retired from the fray and he forged ahead. On Saturday the car arrived back from the detailer all shiny and new looking. It is a black Lexus and it was gleaming – it looked like my black patent leather mary-janes from when I was a little girl. Our six year old was duly impressed, I don’t think she had ever seen the car look so good. Even before my husband had got home he had tentatively sold the car to a young guy from Brisbane who would fly down to inspect and if all was good the deal would be done.
This brings me to today. Today was the day where my services were needed again. My husband works in the city and my hours are definitely more flexible than his, so I would be the final sales touchpoint for our buyer. This is a little like accompanying a friend fishing and then at the last moment having him hand you a rod with a huge fish already hooked saying “reel him in, there is no way you can lose him now” ie only a loser could fail at this point.
Well Reader, I am glad to say that all my sales skills kicked in at once. I looked our buyer in the eye, gave a conspiratorial wink to his girlfriend, smiled my sincerest smile, offered a firm handshake and made delightful small talk. He walked around the car and pointed out a few small scratches here and there. I smiled even more broadly, “would you like to go for a test drive?” We headed out into the glorious Sydney sunshine as I brightly pointed out various landmarks. The buyer feigned interest until I eventually let him get behind the wheel; he sat down and this time the smiles were all his “let’s see what this baby can do?” He sped off as I surreptitiously craned my neck looking for speed cameras, police and small children chasing bouncing balls. In the end it didn’t take long; he was hooked. The big fish was mine and of course the black Lexus was his.
Hook, line and sinker
3 Responses to “Would you buy a used car from this woman?”
[...] tries (under the EMpression rules) as diverse as online education, running, books and book reviews, selling a second hand car, detoxing, friendship and more. And guess what? I’ve learned a [...]
Oh how I loved your final line!! The bit about the patent black Mary Janes is true too. Emma’s first proper pair of shoes were the cutest ever black patent Mary Janes with a red bow, cost almost a week’s wages and were from Spain. She loved them and so did we too.
See Mum, a good pair of shoes lasts forever at least in our memories!