Car-Selling Tips

[Adam Easy Wishes]

I have a car that I want to sell, but I have no experience of this (or buying cars for that matter), whatsoever.

I obviously want to get as much for it as possible, so do you have any tips/advice on how to do this effectively?

[HateEvent]

Clean it VERY well before taking pictures of it. Do this again for viewers coming to see it.

Do your research as to the going rates (pistonheads.com, autotrader.co.uk etc.).

Take into account anything that the car needs as prospective buyers will use these as reasons to bring you down in price (for example, if you have 2 tyres need changing and - for your tyre sizes - they cost 100 each, a buyer will try get you down from 5000 to 4800 straight away due to immediate expense required, whether you have accounted for that in your pricing or not).

Make sure it is serviced so that it runs fine, fixing obvious things.

MOT and tax will be a big thing for buyers as they can drive it away there and then - you'll get more interest as there is less needing done to get it on the road. This is of great appeal.

For actual advertising - the sites I mentioned above (pistonheads and autotrader) are great. Free listing as well for a standard advert (that's what I used and got 10 phonecalls by the next morning) on PH at least.

Make your advert stand out, rather than just basic spec and a phone number. Why buy yours and not one of the other 100 on there? Because you take care of it (in terms of servicing)? Because it is of a low mileage and garaged at all times? and so on.

If you need a hand with anything, fire me a PM. I'm a big car enthusiast and would easily help (even if just with cleaning it up as I have stuff I can use for a nice shine ).

[Adam Easy Wishes]

Nice one, thanks!

Are there major advantages selling privately vs using a dealer? I assume you get a better deal from a private buyer?

[HateEvent]

Nice one, thanks!

Are there major advantages selling privately vs using a dealer? I assume you get a better deal from a private buyer?

Dealers are good at telling you (even CONVINCING you) reasons as to why they are only going to offer you certain amounts (which they always lowball with) so that they can get the most when they mark it up as they know a buyer will scrutinize over the things they would've with you anyway!

Dealers sell for more than private sellers due to offering some sort of a little warranty which you cannot offer, but if a buyer knocks a dealer down from 7000 to 6700 to get a car with a 3 month warranty, why not let them knock you down from 6500 to 6200 for the same car with no warranty so you get 6200 than getting 5000 from the dealer.

The only thing that is good about going to a dealer to sell your car is for ease. It's more of a wait (depending on the car and the current market) to get something sold privately. Though this is the same for any market (musical instruments being another great example! You can trade stuff into R&B as part exchange to buy another guitar you want, but you wouldn't get as much for your old one as you would selling it privately, but you would get it there and then with minimal hassle factor).

[Guest Gladstone]

I've used Parker Used Car guide a couple of times, and it's good as a guide for price - but don't treat it like a bible. I got stung with my last car - Ford Mondeo, which got a really good reliability score, which was top priority for me. It said something like "some models have reported technical issues" which was a massive fucking understatement - it was a total pain in the arse. I got a good year out of it and then it was in and out of the garage due to the computer fault detection system thingy playing up constantly and the mechanic not having a clue.

I know you're talking of selling a car, but if you're looking to buy a new car I can recommend German cars through experience. My wife's family are into cars, and they speak very highly of Volkswagen and Audi. I don't really know much about cars, but what I do know is I pushed the boat out a bit to get that Mondeo so that I could have a good, reliable car for commuting, but when it got fucked I had to buy my mate's 15 year old Audi A4 off him for pretty cheap, complete with 150,000 miles on the clock, and it ran like a dream (and still does actually), and I've now got a newer (but still older than my Mondeo) A4 Quattro, which is so much better (and cost much about the same price as the Mondeo). My wife has a VW Golf with quite a lot of miles on the clock as well, and it's a magic car. They just seem to be built so much better than the Fords. My mate has an Astra (about 4 years old), and says it's turned into a complete bucket of shit in the past year or so, so he would steer you well clear of Vauxhall's on his experience.

[HateEvent]

German cars are indeed solidly built and have superior plastics for their interior trim and such, but LOTS are riddled with electrical issues (electric windows with minds of their own and so on).

My personal preference is with Japanese cars. Hondas, for example, have bombproof engines that will last forever and ever. They cost less to maintain than the German cars too (generally).

I'm using my phone for this at the moment but may edit and expand on it later when I'm back at a computer

[Cabbage]

I'd recommend scot ad's as well, for private sales, it gets a good audience.

Also look out for chancers, I've had heaps of folk trying to get stuff for bugger all. Don't take the "your never going to get that price" chat, unless you really are being cheeky with the price!!

And buy Japanese!!

[ub7rm]

Don't forget to brew some coffee in it just before people come round. That always helps.

[Scootray]

If it's not been said already...

Think of the price you'd be happy to accept then advertise it for a bit more. Just gives you that extra room for haggling whilst still achieving a reasonable amount. There will be loads of folk trying their hand for a better deal and they'll think they've got themselves an excellent deal when in fact you're quite prepared to let the car go for the final value anyway.

[Guest Gladstone]

If it's not been said already...

Think of the price you'd be happy to accept then advertise it for a bit more. Just gives you that extra room for haggling whilst still achieving a reasonable amount. There will be loads of folk trying their hand for a better deal and they'll think they've got themselves an excellent deal when in fact you're quite prepared to let the car go for the final value anyway.

But not too high or people just won't bother looking at it. You don't want to price would be buyers out by advertising too high.

[Bigsby]

My personal preference is with Japanese cars. Hondas, for example, have bombproof engines that will last forever and ever. They cost less to maintain than the German cars too (generally).

And buy Japanese!!

Thought I would just chip in to point out that there are good and bad cars with any manufacturer unfortunately, and that if you are buying second hand you are taking the risk that it could be a fucking bucket.

My last car was a Honda Accord and it was indeed a good and reliable motor until it developed a strange and worrying problem whereby all four brakes would slowly, but surely bind on. Nobody had ever heard of this before on this model, ended up replacing the master cylinder and servo which would cure the problem for up to 6 months but it would always come back, final straw was when it reappeared en route to a Mark Knopfler concert.

Off loaded it to the mugs at webuyanycar.cunts, who thought they were doing well by offering me well below book but had a nasty surprise in wait as soon as anyone drove it a few miles further than their "test drive", which consisted of taking it round the car park because "Honda's are reliable".