Negotiation and visit appointment

As per previous blog we still had to get a better understanding on the history of the car and agree on the right price. The price negotation more or less stopped as a potential buyer was going to show up in the weekend and we simply did not want to pay their asking price - even though it was already lowered. When we made an enquiry again after the weekend we were told it was a no-show so we could continue again. 

By now we also received a second video of the car. And it's visible they towed the car out of it's Original location. Potentially for the first buyer - who did not showed up. Or maybe he did show up but was not interested due to it's condition and walked away. Who knows?

Till now Jos had done the communication in French with him via FB. Since Jos had to do business overseas I took over. The seller managed to get ahold of another person who could communicate via FB Messenger in English.

Again I wanted to get further clarification about the ownership of the car and how it was obtained. I was being informed the following:

Hello the vehicle belongs to an embassy !! the former owner to exchange with a jaguar in 1987 !! I send you the papers in photo.

Further probing and price negotation resulted in the following response (I wanted to let them know I was a serious canditate by offering a deposit, hoping this also would reveal clarity about the owner):

I am not the owner of the vehicle but I am his colleague working! regarding the deposit i prefer to wait for the day of your arrival !! but I can not lower the price! I have already made an effort !!

Despite the slightly difficult communication we decided to take the risk and make the appointment for the negotiated price.

Hello no I did not find the keys !! as you can see on the video there is 2 flat tire. but we have to move the vehicle so that it can be loaded on a trailer !! the wheels and brakes are not blocked !! but he would probably have to have a winch to load it can you confirm your arrival for the 12/03!?

Still the story about the car remained a bit vague, the overall condition very poor but what will it look like when we inspect it in person, maybe worse? And who are these people? In any case we decided to go for it. If it turned out to be miserable or some kind of trap we still could decide on the spot to leave without it. We would at least had a nice roadtrip story to tell.

Finally I got their address and also a telephone number to make communication easier (via Whatsapp). And of course I checked out the address via Google streeview. Just a normal place and interestingly enough you could see the car parked back in the garden. And this image was taken by Google in 2010:

In the next blog more about the planning and visiting the Monteverdi.