Help selling my car...new MOT?...advertise where?

Martin_Knott-Lewis

I want to sell my 05 reg Avensis, 72,000 miles, all vgc, garaged car, etc.

Having researched sold prices on ebay, webuyanycar, Glass, etc. I put it on gumtree yesterday at £3,750 priced cheap for a quick sale.

I have had quite a few calls, all from Asian minicab drivers who want to offer £3,200-£3,300 over the phone and want a year's MOT.

I really want buyers to see and then offer.

Should I go to the expense of a full MOT? It has 6 months at present.

Where else can I advertise to get a better response, as I really think it should achieve close to my asking price. Or am I being unreasonable?

Is it usual to throw in the tax? I did not advertise the tax as included and thought I might get a refund of the 3 months remaining.

The car is valeted inside and out and had a service a few months ago so isn't due one. Anything else I should do?

Weird_Nev

You're selling a bog standard car of which there are many identical examples at a similar price. You have to make it as attractive as possible to a potential buyer.
Selling without the tax scream cheap skate to me! When you've just paid £3,700 for a car, do you want to drive it directly to the post office (after having hassle getting the insurance certificate in hand) and spend another £200 on tax?
6 months MOT is reasonable. If I'm confident it'll fly through I would normally put it through an MOT so you can advertise it with 13 months MOT - Most people assume (wrongly sometimes) that this means the car is good to go and requires nothingspending on it for that time.

It may not seem very MSE at first glance, but by having the car fully MOT'd and with 6 months tax at least, you help yourself sell quickly and for a good price, which is worth the £150ish investment IMO when selling a £4k car.

I even sold my £1,600 1988 MR2 with 12 months MOT, 6 months tax and a full tank of fuel. It just shows you have confidence in the car.
And I beat the seller of My BMW down £200 as it had no tax - they were over a barrel.

Weird_Nev

Oh, and gumtree is a horrible, horrible place to sell cars. You get time wasters. Guaranteed if you invite a chancer round they'll turn up with £3k and expect you to take it. I'd try Autotrader, but take good photos and price it keenly.

scheming_gypsy

you won't achieve close to your asking price by actually asking it. If you put a car up for sale then people will ask what you'll take for it or make offers a few hundred quid under your asking price.
If you want £3750 then ask around £4000

Martin_Knott-Lewis

Thanks for the advice.

I didn't mention the tax in my advert. I had thought that this is normally negotiable but I get your point, so I'll list it as 3 months tax.

I'll put a new MOT on it.

I've just had a minicab chap round and he offered just £3k, saying it would cost him £300 to get the bumper resprayed which he would have to do to get it licensed as a minicab. Unfortunately the rear bumper lets the car down a bit as it has numerous chip marks from getting shopping in and out.

I won't be selling to him but is it worth me getting the rear bumper resprayed? It is metallic and I've had a price of £180 from my local paint shop.

Martin_Knott-Lewis

A friend has just recommended Exxchange & Mart online. Is that any good?

What about Ebay?

Weird_Nev

I wouldn't bother re-spraying the rear bumper unless it's really terrible. A re-spray (done cheap) often looks worse than a few chips.
Get the paperwork in order and be realistic on price - I don't think you're far off. Cabbies will always want it as cheap as all hell, but then unfortunately avensises only really appeal to cabbies!

Martin_Knott-Lewis

The chips are noticable close up. When they happened I painted them in with Toyota's 2-part touch up paint & laquer kit because the black bare plastic chips were really noticable on the silver metallic. Looks ok, except really close up.

Cabbies have been suspicious of the mileage but it is genuine. I have all the MOTs, service history book and my service invoices. Failed the MOT once for a dulled lightbulb and passed the same day. Once had an advisory for rear brake pads but got it done and have the invoice to prove it.

Martin_Knott-Lewis

Just had another cabbie view it. He wanted it for less than £3,500 but wouldn't name a figure and is going off to view what he called an identical car, same price but lower mileage.

Lower mileage is hardly possible in a car that age.

lincroft1710

Martin_Knott-Lewis wrote: »

.

Lower mileage is hardly possible in a car that age.

Not everybody does 10/12K miles a year. As it is "average" mileage for cars, then some will do 5K, some 20/25K a year.

SteveJW

Appears to be a lot of interest from cab drivers

Before they can use it as a minicab / taxi, it must be examined by the local authority to ensure it complies with the taxi licensing regulations. In the East Riding the examination is far and above the VOSA (MOT) test, as such anyone presenting a taxi / minicab for examination is offered an MOT for an extra £10 on top of the taxi test

Anyone on here seen the new style MOT document, we started issuing them this week. Lots of complaints about how poor and shoddy it looks