1979 Chevrolet Caprice Estate

This ain't rocket science. If patrick80 expects me to cut the seller some slack, it ain't gonna happen. You're selling a car, you want to make it as easy as possible for the buyer, and that means providing answers to questions buyers typically ask right up front in the ad you post. People always want to know what options are on the car and if they work, so take a few sentences and address this. People usually want to know the car's mileage, so take the five or six keystrokes it takes to provide this information and provide it.

Patrick80 may not care what a car's mileage is, but I do.

 

So, rather than griping about it, have any of you CALLED the seller and asked??? Solve the mystery for us!

You probably won't believe the mileage, no matter what the seller says anyway! Condition matters. Mileage does not nearly as much. I've done enough paid car and truck inspections over the past 17 years to know this.

Put it this way - You find a 1983 Caprice wagon with a 350 with 13K claimed miles. Without documentation of various types, that number is simply an odometer reading. Likewise the same car with 145K miles. If the documentation of maintenance and registration history are available, and looks every bit as nice as the 13K car, which is really the better deal? That 13K car has been sitting for a reason. With 32 years and less than 450 miles per year, why has it not been driven? Has it been a maintenance nightmare; a "lemon"? The other car has nearly 4,600 miles per year. It's been driven and not just sitting around. The low-mile car might well be a pile of crap, where the 145K car might be the deal of the century!

So the seller didn't list the mileage, so what? CALL him!

 

No, I have not called the seller, and I don't intend to because I'm not interested in the car. We're just discussing what SHOULD be in a good ad. We're allowed to do that, aren't we?

Why don't we take your argument to its logical conclusion. If I'm selling a car, why stop with the mileage? Why don't I go all the way and just say, "car for sale" and that's it. No make, no model, no year, no options, no price, no photos. Just contact information. That's all that's needed. By your logic, this is a perfectly fine ad. right? Because if I want to know any of these things, I should just call and ask, right? Otherwise, I should just shut-up, right? Because if I'm really interested in the car, I would call and ask, and otherwise I'm just a tire-kicker.

I don't care if a low-mileage car might be a piece of junk and a high mileage one might be a cream puff. That's not the point. I KNOW that the mileage might not be a complete indication of the car's condition. But I still want to know it.

There are a few items of information that should be in any car ad. Mileage is one of them.

 

I just presume that if the seller puts the mileage, he either knows it or thinks it is important enough to mention it. If the seller doesn't, he either doesn't know or it doesn't matter.

And jaunty75, have you read most ads these days? "4 sale" and "car for sale" is good enough for dozens of people, no pictures, nothing! Not even a spelled correct model name or year (call the guy and he thinks it's a '69, turns out it's really an '83, etc). I don't require a tome for my ads, but I am definitely not wasting time on an ad that doesn't have pictures, price, or even a semi-basic description unless it happens to be down the block from me ;-)

 

How could a seller not know the mileage? If he doesn't, what other things doesn't he know about the car? How difficult is it to go out in the driveway and look at the odometer?

And I couldn't care less about what's "good enough for dozens of other people" nor what "most of the ads" look like these days. None of it excuses poorly written ads. I only care about the information I want to know.

And since when is asking for the mileage asking for a "tome?"

 

Oh wow, I never intended to create such a contentious thread. I did fail to note initially seller says "no emails" for whatever reason. (It may be that it is being sold for the now elderly original owner by a relative.) That said, with cell phones now, "long distance" charges are a thing of the past, so, if you like the car, give a call. I like this '79 CE a lot, and if it were not so far away, I'd be interested, although I do think the asking price is on the high side.

 

Well,
Since there seemed to be such a " Brew- ha ha " going on about this car, I DID call the seller this morning!
9:30 a.m. Mountain time. Got a voice mail, so I said I'd like to know the mileage of the car, NOTHING
else!!! Just could you please call me back and let me know and if I'm not home, just leave me the info on my
voice mail. Well, we happen to be out at 5:30 p.m. when he called back. GUESS WHAT, he said sorry I missed
your call, try calling me back. AND surprise, NEVER left me the only info I asked for, the mileage. So, I now have
time and frustration invested with ZERO info on the mileage. THIS IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT. And I
still feel the mileage is probably high, or why the secrecy about the most simple of info requests.....

 

I saw a 79 CE for sale in Rapid City South Dakota about 3 years ago, it was equally clean, and was only going for $2500. I thought about buying it but the ad expired on Craigslist before I could ask.

 

Still a great looking wagon, from the photos offered. More interior photos would be nice though; as well as some of the undercarriage and engine.

 

Really spectacular looking '79 Caprice.

 

Is that the gauge cluster that has the fuel economy gauge at the far right? I didn't know that was offered as early as '79.

 

All one has to do is contact the seller and ask.

 

Something like that.