Selling my car

hels1912

Hi,

I'm new to posting on MSE so forgive me if I've posted in the wrong thread.. I normally lurk in DFW.

I need to sell my car and I've never sold a car privately before. Where's the best/ cheapest place to advertise?

Any hints & tips gladly received!

Thanks )
Hels

heymylastnameislewis

auto trader is always good, as is ur local paper. ebay is ok especially if u get people who want to buy it out of the auction (i sold my last car like this) just make sure u know how much u want 4 it at don't get suckered in by any company saying "we have buyers waiting for your car" they are all CONS! the best advice is only sell to a cash buyer and take the money off them b4 handing over the keys and make sure u fill out the v5 in full and post it ur self! ive had road tax reminders 4 2 cars i had sold!

heymylastnameislewis

also and this isnt meant to be sexist but if ur a woman try to get a bloke with u to sell it when the buyer comes. people are less inclined to any funny business with a bloke! and b4 any1 say anythin i read this sum where not me just being sexist!

hels1912

thanks for your advice.. my car is quite expensive (about 10-11K) and I have a loan against it, however I have heard that you can ask the buyer to pay off your loan (whatever is outstanding) and give you the difference, then check that the loan is cleared before handing over the keys.

Would you suggest that I try eBay first? what kind of costs are in auctioning your car on eBay?

thanks )
Hels

md_14uk

Not sure exactly on the cost. My advice for ebay would be to look at other auctions and see how they have set up the pages.

When I sold my car on ebay (long time ago, that's why I can't remember the cost!) I got a lot of messages askign me about obvious facts about the car that I had missed off the description V annoying writing the same msg over and over again!

Normally I would tell people not to bother with priority listing on ebay but with cars it works. On the last sale I listed my car and it got to £1800 ish, I wanted a bit more than this so I listed it again with a priority listing and it reached £2250!

Another tip is to list on a thursday or friday on a ten day auction that way you take in two weekends (and end on a weekend), the time when car buyers go shopping!

I do seem to remember that ebay do special low cost deals on car adds quite frequently so pick your time to advertise well.

Sorry for the long post I got carried away! :rotfl:

hels1912

thanks for all the advice! I'll keep my eyes open for car specials on eBay!

Hintza

I think the biggest mistake most people make is thinking their pride and joy is worth more than the market is willing to pay.

Personally I would try and get some trade in prices to act as a base point, then search Auto trader for similar examples (err on low side) and then check past ebay sales.

By then you should have an idea within 10%-20% of what the car is worth and where your best place to sell will be.

If you chose EBay make sure every ding and stain is noted you don't want a buyer to pull out of an EBay sale because there is a scratch that you failed to mention.

manhattan

also, make sure you get some good pictures of the car.

spend a few hours cleaning the car inside and out before you take your pictures,also try and photograph it with a nice background,it will make a difference!

motorguy

hels1912 wrote:

thanks for your advice.. my car is quite expensive (about 10-11K) and I have a loan against it, however I have heard that you can ask the buyer to pay off your loan (whatever is outstanding) and give you the difference, then check that the loan is cleared before handing over the keys.

Would you suggest that I try eBay first? what kind of costs are in auctioning your car on eBay?

thanks )
Hels

is it a personal loan or a hire purchase agreement?

jpvic

If you have a loan on it, it's not your car to sell

hels1912

it's a car loan so I guess it's more HP than personal loan.

The loan is finally worth less than the car (well, the redemption figure is!!) so I can now sell it.

Looking on autotrader, the most expensive car in my area with same specs is 11.5K whereas I'm thinking of advertising at 10,995 then taking 10K min.

(btw. It's a Seat Ibiza Cupra 1.9TDI 04 model)

opinions are graciously welcome!