Advice on car selling needed!

cuppatea_2

I'm wanting to sell my car - it's a great model, low mileage, well looked after and just out of its warranty. I've never sold a car before so thought that placing an ad in my local newspaper (which has hundreds of car adverts on a Saturday) was the way to go.
I looked at the value online and have used that as my starting price (though I've decided I'm willing to take £1000 less), the description was good - but as yet had no phone calls!
Are there other ways I can sell my car? I've thought about eBay, but not too sure about that; reluctant to take it to a dealer as I know I'll get a lot less; and unfortunately noone I know is in the market for a family car.
Would I be as well to readvertise or should I look at a 'Plan B'?!
Any advice would be gratefully received.

My great plan was to sell the car - buy a small runaround and clear a 1/3rd of my debts..........best laid plans and all that!:rolleyes:

harveybobbles

www.autotrader.co.uk is the best bet.
Or ask around friends, family, work people etc incase they fancy it. Plus it saves and fees involved.

cuppatea_2

Thanks Harveybobbles I'll check out Autotrader.

Unfortunately I've asked all my friends/family and colleagues but no one is in the market for a new car.

I'm also wondering how long I should wait before I drop the price etc on the ad - as I said I'm happy to drop £1000 if push comes to shove but I'm hoping for a relatively quick sale.

It's all a learning curve!

hewhoisnotintheknow

what car, what is in the advert where do yoyu live

harveybobbles

Have a look on autotrader for what similar cars are priced at and put yours in at £400 cheaper. So hopefully it will stand out.

monkeyspanner

If you use a local paper ad you will get a number of canvassing calls from organisations saying they have buyers waiting. These are cons generally.

Last car I sold was via ebay £8 to adverise and £8 if sold, this price includes a number of photos. This worked well but I had to keep the price reasonable to start interest off.

gje99

I'd recommend being as honest as possible - that way you'll only get calls from serious enquirers. Also take time to check what buyers are usually looking for with this car - are there repairs that need to be made at certain mileages (eg. cambelts) - have they been done? How often have you had it serviced? Is the specification unusual? You need stuff that will reassure people and make your car stand out from all the rest. Ebay is a good place to sell because it lets you put as much information into the advert as you want. But make sure your starting price is one you'd be happy to sell it at. Having said that, tough time to sell a car at the moment.

I hope this helps!

Keeping_Positive

Not a great time to sell a car. I used ebay, local rag and Autotrader a few months ago.

Dont bother with ebay unless you really dont mind a low bid. Autotrader worked in the end (about 4 weeks in) but I did have to go fairly low with price (not as low as ebay). You can amend the bid as often as you want/need. I had no interest from local rag.

Good luck

tom555tom

autotrader
not ebay as its a waste of space too much choice on there, ebay is used mainly for smaller shippable items. cars dont sell too well on there

put a poster on you window in the car with a contact number

check out autotrader and see what other cars of same spec are listed at

cars take time to sell.

also do you have a local post office? which allow little advertistments in the window?
things tend to sell quite well in them windows

goldspanners

tom555tom wrote: »

autotrader
not ebay as its a waste of space too much choice on there, ebay is used mainly for smaller shippable items. cars dont sell too well on there

ebay is not a waste of time, plenty of people use it to buy and sell cars,yes there is ahuge choice on there but not all of them are on your door step,if you know how to use ebay (most folk do) then its easy to find the right car for you.
ive sold 2 cars on there,didnt get as much as i would have liked but did need qucik sales and the finishing prices was the very minimum i would have took,it is worth a try,but if you really need a certain price then put a reserve on it. otherwise as others have said use autotrader and advertise at the price you want.

terryya

I've just sold my car recently so thought I'd share my experience; for what its worth!

I think ebay is quite good although I went for a classified ad rather than an auction. Of the top of my head i think it was £12 but the ad stays up for 28 days.

Another option, and the one that was successful for me, was gumtree. It is completely free so an absolute no lose situation. It allows you three pictures and as many words as you want. I put in all the cities near me and refreshed it every few days so it stayed near the top.

The main thing though, and most important IMHO, is to have a bit of patience. If you have done your research and priced it right and don't have to sell (both of which it seems apply) then it is just a case of waiting for someone who wants your car. I had nothing for over a week then two people got in touch within an hour of each other, with the first person buying it.