Where do you search? aka No one shall buy/sell/trade without the Mark of Zuckerberg

Carmine

Old Man with a Hat
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Where are you guys searching for cars and "stuff"? I know that the default answer is usually "Facebook" but unless I'm missing something, it REALLY sucks. For example, I'm planning an extended working-vacation in the Phoenix area this October. By working, I mean reconditioning a small condo I've owned since 2012. I plan to either re-rent it at a higher price, or I might consider selling it. But in either scenario, it will need the basic paint-flooring-updates. It would have occurred last year, if not for all the China bio-warfare.

I plan to rent a car for a few days early on, but ultimately I want to buy something to use out there for a couple weeks, then drive back to Michigan, keeping it as a daily-driver. My search is broad, so anything from a 2010 Ram to a 1965 Newport that will make the drive. I've done this more times than I can remember (at least twice in Florida). But this was all back in the days before Craigslist hadn't gone to sh*t. I also used Craig's for stuff like appliances, deals on paint/tile, even hiring guys to clean up landscape/gutters, etc.

Now I'm trying to look and just get a bead on the market, as I don't expect any particular car or refrigerator to still be around in 4 months. My Craigslist search used to go like this... Select Phoenix Metro > Keyword: Chrysler > Price range $900-$8000 > 183 Results amongst which would be something like a 10-year old grandma-condition LHS in Sun City for $4500. I'd call the number and be in business. Doing the same thing on FB requires me to apply "filters" that mostly don't work. So I see 7-8 overpriced dealer cars in Phoenix, then a 1985 LeBaron brouchure for $8 in Pacasaway, NJ and a Camry in Calaxia, California, written in Spanish. The results get dumber from there. AND if I run the same search, but add a second keyword like "Yorker", I'll get a '77 New Yorker in Phoenix that SHOULD have shown up the first time, and then the same Se Habla Espanol Camry. God forbid I press "back" one too many times, because it loses all the filters and I'm reading local ads for stolen $300 tennis shoes. Usually around this time I say "F-this" and read a spam article about what happened behind the scenes of The Golden Girls. If you DO actually find something you'd be interested in, better hope the other person has the right version of their retarded messenger program running, or you'll get a response next Easter when they clean out a spam folder. Let's not forget all the "splinter" apps like OfferUp, $ellMy$hit and Glorp! or whatever has gotten popular this month and will be out of business by October.

Searching for household/building materials is even more of a disaster.

Once upon a time in a pre-smart phone era, I literally landed in Phoenix, drove a rental car to the library-homeless shelter, found a '76 Dodge Shortbed for $2500 and told the seller I'd give him the full price if it was reliable enough to follow me to the airport to return my rental. Then I proceeded to score every appliance, box of ceramic tile, and day-labor with said truck. I put it back on Craig's a few weeks later for the same money (and much safer wiring) and set it up so the buyer had to drop me at the airport to make my flight.

I know I'll no sooner have this experience again than buy gas for under $3 a gallon while the jackass in charge sends welfare checks to Libya, but someone must feel my pain. What are you guys doing to find stuff nowadays? I'd post the question on Facebook, but 10 people from Calaxia would ignore what I just wrote and suggest FB marketplace.

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I don't think there is any one go to place to search. CL,E Bay, Offer Up And FB all seem to suck. I think you just have to search them all in hopes of finding that one deal. Of course now with the prices of everything automotive through the roof it's a better time to sell than buy.
 
The only thing I'm in the market for right now is a house, and there's doodley-squat out there that floats my boat. How does the market go from a buyers to a seller's in the course of less than 7 months? I feel your pain!
 
Where are you guys searching for cars and "stuff"? I know that the default answer is usually "Facebook" but unless I'm missing something, it REALLY sucks. For example, I'm planning an extended working-vacation in the Phoenix area this October. By working, I mean reconditioning a small condo I've owned since 2012. I plan to either re-rent it at a higher price, or I might consider selling it. But in either scenario, it will need the basic paint-flooring-updates. It would have occurred last year, if not for all the China bio-warfare.

I plan to rent a car for a few days early on, but ultimately I want to buy something to use out there for a couple weeks, then drive back to Michigan, keeping it as a daily-driver. My search is broad, so anything from a 2010 Ram to a 1965 Newport that will make the drive. I've done this more times than I can remember (at least twice in Florida). But this was all back in the days before Craigslist hadn't gone to sh*t. I also used Craig's for stuff like appliances, deals on paint/tile, even hiring guys to clean up landscape/gutters, etc.

Now I'm trying to look and just get a bead on the market, as I don't expect any particular car or refrigerator to still be around in 4 months. My Craigslist search used to go like this... Select Phoenix Metro > Keyword: Chrysler > Price range $900-$8000 > 183 Results amongst which would be something like a 10-year old grandma-condition LHS in Sun City for $4500. I'd call the number and be in business. Doing the same thing on FB requires me to apply "filters" that mostly don't work. So I see 7-8 overpriced dealer cars in Phoenix, then a 1985 LeBaron brouchure for $8 in Pacasaway, NJ and a Camry in Calaxia, California, written in Spanish. The results get dumber from there. AND if I run the same search, but add a second keyword like "Yorker", I'll get a '77 New Yorker in Phoenix that SHOULD have shown up the first time, and then the same Se Habla Espanol Camry. God forbid I press "back" one too many times, because it loses all the filters and I'm reading local ads for stolen $300 tennis shoes. Usually around this time I say "F-this" and read a spam article about what happened behind the scenes of The Golden Girls. If you DO actually find something you'd be interested in, better hope the other person has the right version of their retarded messenger program running, or you'll get a response next Easter when they clean out a spam folder. Let's not forget all the "splinter" apps like OfferUp, $ellMy$hit and Glorp! or whatever has gotten popular this month and will be out of business by October.

Searching for household/building materials is even more of a disaster.

Once upon a time in a pre-smart phone era, I literally landed in Phoenix, drove a rental car to the library-homeless shelter, found a '76 Dodge Shortbed for $2500 and told the seller I'd give him the full price if it was reliable enough to follow me to the airport to return my rental. Then I proceeded to score every appliance, box of ceramic tile, and day-labor with said truck. I put it back on Craig's a few weeks later for the same money (and much safer wiring) and set it up so the buyer had to drop me at the airport to make my flight.

I know I'll no sooner have this experience again than buy gas for under $3 a gallon while the jackass in charge sends welfare checks to Libya, but someone must feel my pain. What are you guys doing to find stuff nowadays? I'd post the question on Facebook, but 10 people from Calaxia would ignore what I just wrote and suggest FB marketplace.

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I hear what yer saying, Carmine. I have had some luck with CarGurus. During the past two years, I found a 2005 Lincoln LS and a 2018 Ford Edge Sport using their filters and other functions. Both cars were sold by dealers, but there were some private sellers in the mix. Of course this experience was long before the prices of used cars went nuts. . .
 
I hear what yer saying, Carmine. I have had some luck with CarGurus. During the past two years, I found a 2005 Lincoln LS and a 2018 Ford Edge Sport using their filters and other functions. Both cars were sold by dealers, but there were some private sellers in the mix. Of course this experience was long before the prices of used cars went nuts. . .

Agree. The insane used car prices have me considering just driving out in my own car and buying nothing.

Booooorrrrring!
 
Agree. The insane used car prices have me considering just driving out in my own car and buying nothing.

Booooorrrrring!

For what the used cars are selling for around here I'd drive out. My brother in-law found a '15 Tacoma at a local dealer a couple of weeks ago. I told him to look at the price of the new ones as well. He came home in a '21 Tacoma for the asking price of the '15. :wtf:
 
Agree. The insane used car prices have me considering just driving out in my own car and buying nothing.

Booooorrrrring!
Nothing make sense to me about the current market/pricing... Viv just purchased a new, ugly POS for less than the 2 year old POS she was planning to buy and has a full warranty and nobody else's farts in the seats.

I miss the Auto Trader publication more and more each year.

I've been trying to find a replacement DD for a long time... but can't fall off my wallet to buy at the asking prices I see. My list of likely candidates is short and mostly too popular. My 'burb is still running fine, but if I start making her prettier, I'd need to find a lot of nonexistent interior stuff. I do think I'll take a swing at the PA junkyards while at Carlisle, but know that's still a long shot. I just saw an add for one like mine for $15k... a 99 with low miles and shiny paint, no efing way! Everything else in the era I see seems to be worse than what I have, and over priced for what it is... or new problems vs the newer, more reliable machine I'd want.

My only advice is to keep searching, when ANYTHING worth considering comes up, it seems to go away very quickly.

I've been planning an AZ trip too, and had similar thoughts... The few vehicles I did find that might have worked for me, all would have been something I'd have wanted to get rid of by the end of the trip, or didn't inspire me to think they'd be worth fooling with for a long drive. Currently, I'm thinking I'll rent for a couple of days when I can't borrow a car.

I'll let you know if I see anything promising.
 
I prefer searchtempest.
I did buy a truck off of carguru's 2 years ago. That worked great.
Now the prices are out of hand.
Every time I go to the parts store or the hardware store or I spark a conversation with someone I mention how I am always looking for cars. Locals tend to have the best deals. But that's just regular old boring cars. Rarely do I find a classic like that.
 
Fb market place keeps track of what you have already looked at and thinks you want to look at similar items. The more random junk you click on, the worse it gets.
It gets worse, I have a mate who has a trans am, type that into fb and get 2 real items, type in corvette, get the nearly dozen ones up for sale (large radius, but impressive given we are in oz).
Staying logged out and in an incognito tab helps reduce the chaff, but thier algorithms are junk...
 
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