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Was I done wrong?

Long story short, I found a car I liked on Craigslist. The seller advertised it for $1500 but came down to $900 as soon as I expressed serious interest. The car was about 200 miles away from me, so I had "Lemon Busters" go out to inspect the car. They said it was fine. So the buyer and I arranged for a day, date, and time to meet to complete the sale. I made travel arrangements (car rental and hotel reservations) down to Austin. The day before I leave, he calls and says that he sold the car for a higher amount to someone who lived in Austin. We had a verbal agreement that I was going to buy the car. Was I done wrong?

Public Comments

1. Verbal agreements dont hold. It`s always first come first serve.
2. He was a jerk, but you're without legal options. Chalk it up to a lesson learned, don't take such risks in the future, forgive him because his childhood was probably abusive, and forgive yourself for not being perfectly able to detect lies and other BS because everyone makes mistakes and no one's perfect or expects you to be.
3. It was probably listed OBO (or best offer). That's typically how that works, although the seller is supposed to take your offer, wait a few days to see if anyone makes a higher offer, then sell. But, people don't care about anyone but themselves, what do you expect? I'd rather buy from a dealer because at least you can hold them liable in a court of law.
4. Let me put it to you this way: If you were selling something for $900, and then someone offered you more, would you take it? I think the right thing to do is to honor your commitments, but a lot of people don't do that. The seller in Austin, for one. Still, it's hard to turn down a higher offer for the same car. I can see both sides of the argument, but I think you should have at LEAST been given the chance to match the higher offer before the seller sold his car. I've got another question for you too - why are you traveling 200 miles to buy a $1500 car? In my experience buying and selling cars (and I've got about 10 years of professional experience doing just that), most $1500 cars are pretty much the same. Are you hooked on a particular brand or model? If so, let that idea go. When a car is only worth $1500, miles, condition, and wear and tear are MUCH more important than make and model. When they get that old, it's a crap shoot anyways. My advice would be to chalk this one up to experience. In the future, I would focus on finding a car in your local market. Don't get attached to a particular brand or type. Second, don't expect a seller to hold a car for you if someone offers them a better price. Third, when you have an inspection done (which is a VERY smart idea by the way), be able to buy the car immediately afterwards. Had you scheduled the inspection for the same day you could travel to the car, you wouldn't be out the inspection fee right now. That's probably not what you wanted to hear, but I hope it helps.
5. Disappointing, but not really wrong. Unless you put down a deposit all your seller had was a promise. There are an awful lot of people who promise to buy something and don't follow through (I sell on Craig's List, Ebay, etc.) and don't feel your seller was particularly outside the norm here. The fact he got more money for it isn't really the point although I'm sure it was a factor.