Selling car with history of problems

kiele1980

I am currently looking to sell my 55 reg Vauxhall Astra 1.9CDTi, however over the last year or so I have had a significant amount of problems with the car. Some of these are general wear and tear problems, however some have been more unexpected given the age of the car. This culminated with my gear box failing a few months ago, at which point I decided to have a cheaper reconditioned box fitted and cut my losses and sell the car.

My problem is how much of the repair work I have had done should I mention when it comes to advertising and selling the car. Obviously mentioning the repairs is likely to reduce any offers I might get, but not mentioning these might give any buyer chance to come back at me (if say they have it serviced and someone notices a great big ‘reconditioned’ sticker on the gear box).

I was hoping someone on here might have experience with selling second-hand cars that have experienced fairly major repair work and can offer any advice.


Thanks for your help

jd82

If you're worried sell it to a trader or something like webuyanycar.com you might get a few hundered less but at least you will be able to be sleep at night.

There is a good chance the car is as good as any others and it probably won't go wrong for the next owner. There is nothing ilegal about selling a car with recon parts but if the seller asks any questions you need to be truthful.

harveybobbles

Might be worthwhile keeping the car? As you've spent just under £5000 on repairs recently (as per your post earlier on in the year IIRC)

No point buying another car, which will be an unknown quantity on reliability and that too could need a whole host of (costly) things doing.

jd82

I think the OP needs to move on some cars are just jinxed. I had a Corsa, only did 3000 miles in in in a year and still needed to spend well over £1k in repairs (MAF, ball joints, springs, shocks, pads, full exhaust, tyres, service etc) and it had 12 months MOT and my machanic inspected it before I bought it.

After I had spent the £1k I thought at least it will sail through the MOT, just two months before the MOT was due the steering developed a clonk and the head gasket went. At that point it didn't matter how much I have lost through the car I just wanted rid. I sold it for £250 and bought a brand new car.

If I had spent £700 on a new chain, head gasket, water pump etc then I could be the certain the next thing go was the gearbox or that electric power steering motor.

eschaton

Sell the car to a dealer.

I had a car just over 5 years ago with a knackered engine with a £3,500 replacement cost.

Could probably have got up to £12k selling the car private but took £10k from a dealer that I didn't like.

sickofusernames

I couldn't sell it privately knowing all the problems, I believe in karma. Do the right thing and px it.

pendulum

What's all this? Just sell it (private if you want), you don't have to declare previous repairs! It isn't like you know the car has a problem - the car had problems but were repaired so its fine now. If it goes wrong in the future it's not your fault, its a private sale so you'll have no obligation even if the engine blows up the day after. It could last the new owner years without a problem.

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

Stick it in an auction.

Hammyman

eschaton wrote: »

Sell the car to a dealer.

I had a car just over 5 years ago with a knackered engine with a £3,500 replacement cost.

Could probably have got up to £12k selling the car private but took £10k from a dealer that I didn't like.

Madness. You know its got a new engine. I'd have hung onto it.

JQ.

Hammyman wrote: »

Madness. You know its got a new engine. I'd have hung onto it.

I think he's saying he sold it with the knackered engine still in place.

colino

Keep the car! You've swallowed the costs of all the expensive repairs, either due to previous neglect or bad original build quality. Much as we often think different, its only a hunk of metal with no memory or personality to go in a sulk.
If you sell to the trade we would positively boast of the high, recent expenditure on the car as a peace of mind to the new owner.