Selling cars before you go - help
Jul 27th 2005, 7:31 am
#16
.
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 21,374
Re: Selling cars before you go - help
Originally Posted by bridiej
Maybe if you've got good cars it's an idea to sell them months ahead of when you need to and just buy a banger to keep you going?
My car is hopefully going to my sis-in-law but it's not worth much now anyway (N reg Tigra) and Malc has a banger so it will just go to the scrap yard if we cant sell it for a few hundred.
My car is hopefully going to my sis-in-law but it's not worth much now anyway (N reg Tigra) and Malc has a banger so it will just go to the scrap yard if we cant sell it for a few hundred.
Jul 27th 2005, 7:35 am
#17
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 6,360
Re: Selling cars before you go - help
Originally Posted by fraser
I resent that I've had a banger for ages and I'm seriously considering driving it to the airport and leaving it in the car park
Jul 27th 2005, 7:55 am
#18
Mount Eliza
Joined: Feb 2005
Location: Mount Eliza
Posts: 382
Re: Selling cars before you go - help
We've been trying to sell our BMW for the last 3 weeks in Autotrader and not had anyone interested. Well, only about 200 canvassers!! Only bought it 12 months ago for £18,000 and one BMW garage has offered us £11,500 
We're now going to try Ebay and put a reserve on it, anything above what the dealer is offering us is a bonus.
Hubby reckons Ive jinxed any sales because I dont want to sell it
Good luck all those selling cars.
Jo
We're now going to try Ebay and put a reserve on it, anything above what the dealer is offering us is a bonus.
Hubby reckons Ive jinxed any sales because I dont want to sell it
Good luck all those selling cars.
Jo
Jul 27th 2005, 9:56 am
#19
Lost in BE Cyberspace
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 9,397
Re: Selling cars before you go - help
It's a definite problem 'cos, as we all know, you HAVE to have transport until the last minute yet can't afford to leave yourself with an unsold car on emigration day.
Perhaps we've been lucky but, FWIW:
Sold loads of household and personal things over several boot sales and garage sales in Florida: printed out a sale notice for the car and displayed it at the sales. One lady bought some things, realised we looked after our kit and told her son who bought the car - allowed us to keep it until the day we left and met us at the airport with the cash.
In England arranged with a local garage to take the old Honda a couple of weeks before we left: we got a couple of hundred less that we might have got from a private sale but it was worth it to be sure of the sale. (We also advertised for free on preloved.com (great site, folks) and had several emails pleading for it after we'd agreed the sale.
Finally our almost new Accord I sold to a chap I played golf with: we lost a packet on it but got a premium on what the garages offered AND once again the buyer allowed us to keep it to the last minute - in fact he drove us up to Heathrow saving the taxi fare!
Short answer: if you can offload your car a few weeks in advance and keep it until you go it's worth a lot for the peace of mind. Just make sure you have a written agreement and hold non-returnable deposit so that the buyer isn't tempted to drop it and go elsewhere.
Perhaps we've been lucky but, FWIW:
Sold loads of household and personal things over several boot sales and garage sales in Florida: printed out a sale notice for the car and displayed it at the sales. One lady bought some things, realised we looked after our kit and told her son who bought the car - allowed us to keep it until the day we left and met us at the airport with the cash.
In England arranged with a local garage to take the old Honda a couple of weeks before we left: we got a couple of hundred less that we might have got from a private sale but it was worth it to be sure of the sale. (We also advertised for free on preloved.com (great site, folks) and had several emails pleading for it after we'd agreed the sale.
Finally our almost new Accord I sold to a chap I played golf with: we lost a packet on it but got a premium on what the garages offered AND once again the buyer allowed us to keep it to the last minute - in fact he drove us up to Heathrow saving the taxi fare!
Short answer: if you can offload your car a few weeks in advance and keep it until you go it's worth a lot for the peace of mind. Just make sure you have a written agreement and hold non-returnable deposit so that the buyer isn't tempted to drop it and go elsewhere.
Jul 27th 2005, 10:07 am
#20
Forum Regular
Joined: Feb 2005
Posts: 53
Re: Selling cars before you go - help
I'm not surprised with your disappointment.
It happend to us last Saturday. We took our Ford Ka to a garage and they said 1,000 so we came back thinking we might have to accept it at the end with our flights booked for the 8th Aug.
We thought of autotrader website before giving up our hope and we received three phone calls within half an hour.
As we didn't have much time left and wanted to put it out of our way, we offered 1,450 on the website and the next day we sold the car to a couple who drove to Egham from Kent.
Good luck
Yeon
It happend to us last Saturday. We took our Ford Ka to a garage and they said 1,000 so we came back thinking we might have to accept it at the end with our flights booked for the 8th Aug.
We thought of autotrader website before giving up our hope and we received three phone calls within half an hour.
As we didn't have much time left and wanted to put it out of our way, we offered 1,450 on the website and the next day we sold the car to a couple who drove to Egham from Kent.
Good luck
Yeon
Jul 27th 2005, 10:14 am
#21
ah-beng
Joined: Aug 2004
Location: ^.^
Posts: 3,113
Re: Selling cars before you go - help
EBAY is the way - had 450 people lookng at my car if id been desperate to sell i could've sold it for 8500 3 times over but hung on for 9750
Put LOTS of photos - like 7 or 8 of them , inside, real close ups of the bodyowkr, tyres, door panels, seats, etc. Show it how it is lots of description etc.
If you take the reserve off you will sell it - but thats like it could go for 1 quid.
LEave reserve on it and then if it doesnt sell and you get stuck jsut start offering it to the people that bid on it one of them will tak eit.
Put LOTS of photos - like 7 or 8 of them , inside, real close ups of the bodyowkr, tyres, door panels, seats, etc. Show it how it is lots of description etc.
If you take the reserve off you will sell it - but thats like it could go for 1 quid.
LEave reserve on it and then if it doesnt sell and you get stuck jsut start offering it to the people that bid on it one of them will tak eit.
Jul 27th 2005, 10:34 am
#22
BE Forum Addict
Joined: Oct 2004
Location: Mona Vale, Northern Beaches, Sydney
Posts: 1,076
Re: Selling cars before you go - help
Originally Posted by sherman989
Hi
Just spent an afternoon trailing around car dealers trying to get one to buy our two cars. Its a joke they say the market is full of cars and second hand ones are worth a bean!.
My car is only a few years old low mileage and now they are telling me they can take it reluctantly off my hands for £ 1500, it was £12000 new!.
The other car is older and worth a little more.....
What have other people done to get a decent price, we don't want to be greedy but would appreciate £4000 for two good cars.
Anyone got any ideas?, should we give ebay ago, pay Autotrader.
What have you done or are going to do??
Thank your your help!!
Mandie & Sherman
Just spent an afternoon trailing around car dealers trying to get one to buy our two cars. Its a joke they say the market is full of cars and second hand ones are worth a bean!.
My car is only a few years old low mileage and now they are telling me they can take it reluctantly off my hands for £ 1500, it was £12000 new!.
The other car is older and worth a little more.....
What have other people done to get a decent price, we don't want to be greedy but would appreciate £4000 for two good cars.
Anyone got any ideas?, should we give ebay ago, pay Autotrader.
What have you done or are going to do??
Thank your your help!!
Mandie & Sherman
Also August is a really abd time to sell cars and houses, people are preoccupied with holidays
www.loot.com
Tara
Jul 27th 2005, 2:08 pm
#23
Alive and boinging!
Joined: Nov 2004
Location: Kinross, WA
Posts: 348
Re: Selling cars before you go - help
Spalen's right - E-bays winning bids are like everything else - negotiable. I had to settle for less than the winning price with one cash buyer because I unaccountably cost the service book the day before having advertised it as full service history. The other car I negotiated off line with a keen buyer as he offered me a good price early on for a vehicle with a low starting price and no reserve.
As for the second hand prices in Oz, I reckon we've done OK - a '97 Camry and a '99 Landcruiser for less than $26k altogether. You've just got to shop around.
As for the second hand prices in Oz, I reckon we've done OK - a '97 Camry and a '99 Landcruiser for less than $26k altogether. You've just got to shop around.
Jul 27th 2005, 2:12 pm
#24
Alive and boinging!
Joined: Nov 2004
Location: Kinross, WA
Posts: 348
Re: Selling cars before you go - help
... oh and agree with Joanne on Autotrader ... all I got was constant pestering calls from someone guarenteeing me a sale if I paid them another £70.
Jul 27th 2005, 3:13 pm
#25
Moomin member
Joined: Aug 2003
Location: Warnbro PERTH
Posts: 858
Re: Selling cars before you go - help
Originally Posted by bal56
Flogged two on e-bay the week before we left. It's a bit of a nerve racking process as I set no reserve price and low starting prices to get rid. It worked OK though. The advantage of e-bay is the visibility of how much similar models sold for in the past, so with some research it's relatively easy to gauge what price you're likely to get (more so than through the car price guides, which seem completely inconsistent).
Jul 27th 2005, 3:21 pm
#26
A former regular of BE
Joined: Oct 2004
Location: Carramar, Perth
Posts: 6,241
Re: Selling cars before you go - help
Originally Posted by peppi
can you tell me how to view what similar vehicles sold for in the past please...? Ive just had a look and cant suss out where to go for that info
http://www.whatcar.co.uk/Valuations_Search.asp
My wife is an Ebay expert. I will ask her how to search for old sales tonight.
Jul 27th 2005, 4:01 pm
#27
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2004
Location: Exmouth Devon
Posts: 36
Re: Selling cars before you go - help
Originally Posted by worzel
A lot of internet guides use Glass's Guides but they cost £2.95. Parkers do a very basic one that doesn't take into account mileage etc for free. I prefer What Car as they do more detailed valuations for free:
http://www.whatcar.co.uk/Valuations_Search.asp
My wife is an Ebay expert. I will ask her how to search for old sales tonight.
http://www.whatcar.co.uk/Valuations_Search.asp
My wife is an Ebay expert. I will ask her how to search for old sales tonight.
I suppose it helps that I'm a bit of an EBay addict. I get hopelessly obsessed about looking up items I'm bidding on / selling! They also have EBay in Australia - well I had to check didn't I?
With regards to looking up previous prices I'm not aware of a way to do this so the best thing to do is to start a search for your make / model of car with similar mileage mark them to watch in my EBay and see what they end up going for. Once you've watched half a dozen you should have a pretty good average price that you could expect.
I'll let you know how we get on.
Cheers
Sherman
Jul 27th 2005, 4:16 pm
#28
Moomin member
Joined: Aug 2003
Location: Warnbro PERTH
Posts: 858
Re: Selling cars before you go - help
Originally Posted by worzel
A lot of internet guides use Glass's Guides but they cost £2.95. Parkers do a very basic one that doesn't take into account mileage etc for free. I prefer What Car as they do more detailed valuations for free:
http://www.whatcar.co.uk/Valuations_Search.asp
My wife is an Ebay expert. I will ask her how to search for old sales tonight.
http://www.whatcar.co.uk/Valuations_Search.asp
My wife is an Ebay expert. I will ask her how to search for old sales tonight.
Jul 27th 2005, 8:42 pm
#29
Forum Regular
Joined: Jan 2005
Location: Sydney but also lived in Melbourne
Posts: 221
Re: Selling cars before you go - help
If you want to look for sales that have completed, just do an advanced search and check the completed sales button.
From another Ebay addict!!!
From another Ebay addict!!!
Jul 27th 2005, 11:25 pm
#30
Forum Regular
Joined: Feb 2005
Location: Warwick...but Melbourne bound!
Posts: 47
Re: Selling cars before you go - help
Originally Posted by sherman989
Hi
Just spent an afternoon trailing around car dealers trying to get one to buy our two cars. Its a joke they say the market is full of cars and second hand ones are worth a bean!.
My car is only a few years old low mileage and now they are telling me they can take it reluctantly off my hands for £ 1500, it was £12000 new!.
The other car is older and worth a little more.....
What have other people done to get a decent price, we don't want to be greedy but would appreciate £4000 for two good cars.
Anyone got any ideas?, should we give ebay ago, pay Autotrader.
What have you done or are going to do??
Thank your your help!!
Mandie & Sherman
Just spent an afternoon trailing around car dealers trying to get one to buy our two cars. Its a joke they say the market is full of cars and second hand ones are worth a bean!.
My car is only a few years old low mileage and now they are telling me they can take it reluctantly off my hands for £ 1500, it was £12000 new!.
The other car is older and worth a little more.....
What have other people done to get a decent price, we don't want to be greedy but would appreciate £4000 for two good cars.
Anyone got any ideas?, should we give ebay ago, pay Autotrader.
What have you done or are going to do??
Thank your your help!!
Mandie & Sherman