Had good luck in December, drove 3+ hours to see a travel trailer, and successfully closed the deal with a private seller. They came down a bit on price, and I got a weight distributing hitch thrown in. I got a decent deal on a well taken cared for older trailer, they got to not deal with tire kickers anymore.
Bought a cement mixer last Fall. Got a hold of the guy late on a Friday - he offered to drive back to their shop on Saturday to meet me, probably something like a 30+ minute drive. I told him "if it works as described, I'll give you your asking price" - it did, I paid asking price. I got a good deal, he got something gone w/o any nonsense.
Nice when everybody wins. Being reasonable goes a long way; I don't expect something for nothing unless it is advertised as such. Both above deals were off Kijji, as it's more popular than CL here.
I'm especially impressed today, when things are still done on a handshake. In a similar discussion on here, somebody commented that in certain areas, cattle deals are still done on just a handshake. The impression I had was that we aren't talking about $1,000 or even $10,000 worth of cattle, but often much more.
I started reading about a gent (because of a medical item) in his 80's, who is a legendary custom home-builder in the Toronto area. Still runs around on rough framing... we all know the type - gets more done in a day than many people half his age. Builds high end homes. The article ended by talking about a recent project, something like a $9 million home - agreement was on a handshake.
And, BTW, the future owner of the to-be-built $9 mil home.... a Real Estate Lawyer !!!
If you ever had any doubts about the value of of a written contract.....
Rgds, D.