Best deal you ever got.

[coachgrd]

Anyone got a good story of a unbelieveable deal you once got on something? You know, the kind where you almost felt bad taking the item or the kind where you tore out of the place so fast for fear they would change thier minds.

I'm one of those guys who never seems to stumble upon such deals but I sure love hearing about the fortunes of others! Let's hear 'em...

 

[MossRoad]

Someone once gave me a perfectly good '71 Nova 4 door just because they no longer wanted it and knew I liked Novas. I drove it for a year, then it got hit on the street in front of my house. A guy asked if I wanted to sell it. I said, no, but you can have it for free. What goes around comes around.

 

[EddieWalker]

I've been lucky enough to find a few really good deals out there. I'm always looking and start off each day browsing through Craiglist, Ebay and the local classifieds for things that I might find interesting.

One thing that fits what you describe was when I bought my blades for my finish mower. I forget the price of them, but think it was $80 each. My mower takes three blades. They special ordered them, and when they came in, I picked them up. When they charged me, it was just the price of one blade. I told the guy that he made a mistake and that I wanted all three blades. He said no, that's the price for all three. I didn't believe him then, and I still don't believe him, but I paid for it and felt like any second, somebody was going to come chasing after me to pay for the other two blades!!!!! In fact, all the way home, I had that feeling.

My finish mower is a 7ft Landpride that I paid $600. It was from a client who I had just fixed the three way wiring in their kitchen. It took me less then half an hour to find the problem, so I didn't charge them for it. Regular clients get discounts like that from me all the time. Anyway, he asked if I needed a mower. I said that I could always use another mower, but that I really didn't need one, since I already had several. He said that he had that 7foot finish mower and it was just sitting there. He paid allot more for it, but would love to let me have it for $600. I said yes before even looking at it.

My 5ft disk was for sale in the free classifieds ad. Every thursday the new ads come out. I saw it that morning and called on it. They said to come on over and take a look. I was there ten minutes later and agreed to the asking price of $295. While loading it up, the owner said they must have really underpriced it as they had recieved a dozen calls on it after mine.

I saw a brand new Remington 700 bolt action rifle for sale on Craiglist for $200. I called the guy that morning and arranged to meet him at my bank to buy it. It was still in the original box and covered in factory oil. He said he won it at a skeet shoot an didn't want or need it.

I saw a culvert for sale in the local newspaper classifieds for $350. It was 40 ft long and 2 ft in diameter. I called the guy and he said it was used, but in great shape. I asked if he'd take $300 and deliver it. He said yes.

I had been looking for a lazer level for awhile. There were, and are, allot of them on ebay, but the prices always seemed to get crazy the last few minutes. I did some research and decided on what I wanted, then would do a search on ebay for that model. I found one listed in an odd area that nobody was bidding on. This was a few years ago, but I think I won it for less then $200 with tripod, case and everything. It's a Spectra LL220 that normally sells for $600 and more on ebay. Until it arrived, I was in a small panic on whether I'd ever get it or not.

Eddie

 

[Wayne County Hose]

Geez Eddie, at this rate, you will have a garage full of great stuff for almost nothing but you'll never get anything done on your 2008 git 'er done list!

 

[dbdartman]

10 years ago, at the "Mopars at Englishtown" (NJ) show. My brother & I showed up Saturday morning just to check out the cars & walk the swap area. We were not looking for anything in particular, & as such we didn't bring much money (between us we had maybe $300?). We walked one isle of the swap area, & turning onto the 2nd isle, I spotted it. IT was a 69 Dodge Ramcharger fresh air hood, complete with scoops & under-hood duct work, priced at $220. It was red, painted with a brush, & looked pretty bad, but all the parts were there. The back (under) side showed light surface rust, but nothing really bad. Until I lifted the hood to look at the back, my brother didn't know what I was looking at. I didn't even haggle with the seller, just pulled out my wallet & started peeling off 20's. The hood was for my brother's latest acquisition, a 69 Dodge Coronet 500 station wagon.

My brother & his "big" wagon:

The heart of the beast (493 CID, 550HP, 590 TQ).

Today that hood, with the duct work & air cleaner assembly, would sell for somewhere between $1000 & $1500, maybe more!

We had the wagon at the show that day, & with the help of a friend I ran into at the show, we had a crowd watching as we strapped the hood to the roof rack (it was 1" too big to fit in the back ).

 

[MrJimi]

I once bought 2 trucks for $5,800 and I sold one for $6,000

 

[kenmac]

I don't know if it was a deal or not. But, my father in law gave my his daughter

 

[texasjohn]

My best ever deal was at a local truck stop. A buddy comes out often to help me do things finishing up my 40X60 ft metal work shop and we get lunch at the truckstop. We were working on installing lights.....waaaaay up in the air.

On the way out, my eye caught a hydraulic lift that had been sitting way back in the parking area for as long as I could remember. We went over and noticed how grass had long since grown up around it and the grader had gone around it when grading the gravel truck parking area. Just then I saw a fellow taking photos of the parking area and went over and asked him what he knew about the lift. He identified himself as the area manager for the truck stop and they were planning on expanding the parking area. A year or more previously the truck stop had been renovated and the folks had simply left the lift.

With trepidation, I asked if he thought they were coming back for it. He said obviously not, it was abandoned. It was on his parking area and in his way. I asked if he would mind if I took it off his hands....today.... since I could use it in my work shop. He was delighted for me to take it.

So, I got my flatbed trailer and wenched (manual) all 5500 lbs of it onto the trailer. I got used 6V batteries from the local golf club for free, replacing the old ones. There was a wire busted somewhere, so I ran another one to the controls and it now works just fine. Sure eased completion of the installation of lights in the shed. Used it just this week to load stuff onto the top of my metal racks about 10' up. Maximum reach is about 35 feet in the air. Good think I have a concrete floor... it gets stuck on gravel/grass.

So, I got the hydraulic lift I needed, free, and have been thrilled ever since.

 

[Podunkadunk]

I bought a Craftsman 12hp riding lawn mower from Sears several years ago. I didn't have any place to store it (new house was being built), so I asked if they'd hold onto it for a couple months and then deliver it on a pre-arranged day.

They said yes. I called them up a couple months later and told them to deliver it. They said they didn't have the mower, they had made a mistake and sold it to someone else from the warehouse.

I was livid. So, after a couple calls to corporate, I was put on a 3 way call with my local Sears. The lady from corporate told the guy to give me any mower I wanted on the floor and Sears would eat the difference.

I picked out a 16.5hp mower and the salesman (who obviously didn't understand the 3 way calling instructions) asked for my credit card. He credited the entire balance of the 16.5hp mower to my credit card!

I got a 16.5hp mower for free and an extra $450.00 on top of it! I ran out of that store!

Podunk

ps. Almost forgot about this one: When I first went into the military I came home on leave (right after boot camp and tech school). These were the days before direct deposit. I was on 30 days leave and a payday fell in the middle of my leave period. I had been told to go to any military installation and they could pay me, so I did. I went to an Army base and they looked at my pay record and cut me check. They were supposed to annotate that I had been paid, but didn't. When I got to my next command, they looked at my pay record and said "You haven't been paid yet for last payday". Being jr. in rank, I kept my mouth shut to the more senior guy. Got paid twice!

 

[coachgrd]

Now that I think about it, I could have swung a deal this past Christmas. I bought an air hockey table for my kids at Sears. Apparently the guy who loaded it up for me never entered into the computer that I had picked it up because I got an automated call a few days later saying if I didn't pick it up within 10 days the charges would be removed from the bill.

I did think hard about it but called them and expalined that I did already pick it. Things like that have a way of reaching up and biting me you-know-where if I don't do the right thing.