I was just nearly carjacked and/or killed over a high mileage car on Craigslist. The buyer claimed to drive 3 hours, had another driver for them, and did the classic foot in the door technique.
I've sold on Craigslist before and followed basic safety guidelines: never use your real name and address, meet at a well lit populated area with cameras, and don't bring cash. I tried calling him before he left, but only wanted to text.
He kept saying he was running late because of traffic, then said he couldn't find the place because his GPS was not working and wanted me to meet him just off the freeway. My Spidey senses were tingling.
I told him he could follow me to a different location. He wanted to view the car there and in let him, then rode with him to test drive it over to the original location I wanted to meet him at. I was being too trusting and sympathizing with him driving 3 hours for a car, I should not have done that.
He parked the car a bit further from the lights than I wanted so I turned on all the interior lights and kept the car door open. How demeanor changed considerably when we started talking money.
Now he started talking about how desperate he was for a car, how he wasn't driving back home without one, and how I was being unreasonable to him. He started getting angry with me and calling me greedy, selfish, stupid, unfair, etc. because I want coming down enough in price (to about 60% of what I was asking). He wasn't budging at all and that's when I realized he only brought enough cash for what he wanted it at.
Then he started threatening me, to beat me up and drive off with the car. How all the shit and pressure in his life was coming to a head and that unfortunately I was the one he was going to erupt at and he didn't know what he was going to do. I started texting my wife to call the police and was getting frustrated that she was slow to action.
The minutes ticked by like an eternity as I waited for the police to show up, but never came. He was getting increasingly belligerent and started sizing me up. Even though I thought I could take him in a fair fight, that's stupid to think because for all I know he could have a gun, a knife, or his friend in the other car had something waiting for me.
I kept trying to calm him down and talk about his life situation, but came to the realization that it was just all bullshit from the way he couldn't describe certain things. Every now and then he would start to get mad at me and threaten to kick me out of the car and beat me up, but I tried to dismiss it and focus the conversation on the car.
Then I started to think he didn't actually have any cash and was trying to intimidate me into just giving the title to him. He started making texts while saying "all right, this is what we're going to have to do then."
Finally, I have never been so thankful to see police SUVs in my life. It was like the cavalry was showing up. I immediately got out of the car with my hands up walking towards the officer and directed him to the driver. I quickly explained what was going on and spilled the past hour in about 10 seconds, it was such a relief.
They just had the potential buyer give his license to the officer and question him for a bit. The officers really weren't taking him as seriously as I thought, especially when he was just explaining what a desperate situation he was. They also were chatting about Craigslist and the company's policy and I couldn't believe it. I probably would have been more mad, but I was just mostly relieved to be out of the car with him.
They had me stand in front of another police cruiser in the cold. There was probably a lot more nerves than low temperature, but I was shaking like a leaf. He claimed he forgot something in the car and asked to go get it. I got scared what he might tried to do, but the officers wouldn't let him. He claimed he forgot his cell phone, but they couldn't find it in there.
Then they told him to drive off, but he started searching his own vehicle first and that's when shit got more real. I told the officers to watch him and what he might be getting. I started walking behind the nearest cop who started gripping his pistol. I was genuinely scared there was going to be a shooting so I ducked behind the police cruiser. I told the other officers to watch out for him because he threatened to do something drastic without the car and they started paying more keen attention. He ended up just slinking back into his driver's seat sand his driver drove away.
I still didn't want to leave until he was away from the parking lot and out of sight. The cops ended up forgetting to write down his license plate so had to try to follow him to find him again. They ended up all leaving me in the parking lot so I finally thought I needed to get out of there.
Tldr: take EVERY precaution when meeting people on Craigslist, especially for big sales/buys. Cash only, cameras, well populated area, daytime, bring another friend or two, have another on spend by, and trust your instincts to leave an unsafe situation. You are not obligated to anyone over a business transaction.
(Sorry for the length and appropriateness of the post, my adrenaline is still pumping)
Submitted January 14, 2021 at 05:28AM by essendoubleop https://ift.tt/3idnxeC
