Is no one buying second hand cars at the moment?

motorguy

Stevie1 wrote: »

Sorry, I'm not being argumentative but doing a search on Autotrader for a BMW 3-series, 3L upwards, up to 5 years and 60k miles - nationally - I only get 99 cars. the cheapest is £7,995 and the one after is £10,495.

So not quite what you are saying above...

Your search is wrong.

Heres my search and its pulling back 446 cars

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/search/used/cars/bmw/3_series/postcode/bt622hb/radius/1500/keywords/320d/onesearchad/used%2Cnearlynew%2Cnew/transmission/manual/maximum-mileage/up_to_60000_miles/maximum-age/up_to_5_years_old/body-type/saloon/fuel-type/diesel/sort/default

Norman_Castle

as its such a risk when your spending your hard earned money - we are now buying the same car from a small dealer and car comes with 3 months warranty and everything - the peace of mind is so much better - knowing that if anything goes wrong in that time we are covered

On the flip side I've spent months driving to dealers to view £2-£3k "excellent condition" cars which have turned out to be rusty, dented (enough to write them off) crates. Many with obvious faults. Worn clutch, doors that don't open, obviously noisy waterpump and tappets. When mentioned, the dealers "hadn't noticed"! On one that seemed fine I asked about a warranty, not avaliable. I was also told the sale of goods act did not apply as "basically, you're buying a shell". If there are good dealers out there they are well hidden. Good luck.

BaileyB

We just drove 8 hours (9 hours in total. Break/paperwork) to buy a car. Ok cost us £80 in petrol and a day. But we saved around £500 off the normal price car aswell as getting the spec we wanted, and having the main common fault fixed (flywheel) with receipts.

There are some buyers who are after cars who are not afraid to travel.

People who cannot travel or don't see the point in going all that way will not be the ones paying you £9.5k in cash. They rather just pop down their local garages and have trouble free with them.

Rolandtheroadie

My longest was Sleeper to London Euston, tube to some other station (liverpool st perhaps), 3 hours or so to Plymouth, then drive 470 miles home again. At around 50-55 miles an hour in a 1973 VW Camper.

Last two bikes have been 150 and 250 miles respectively (one way) and my last 2 cars have been 85 miles each (again, one way)

If it's what someone's REALLY looking for, at a price they're willing to pay, they'll travel for it.

TrickyWicky

I've done 3 long distance trips to collect cars. The shortest one was 220 miles back (440 total). Then there was a 269 / 568 miles trip for the second and the last one was really long - 14.5 hours and 301 / 602 miles.

For the right car, people will go insane distances to collect it. If they're not doing that and you're getting no calls then as others have said the price is too high and you're not selling it well enough to make people interested.

cardinalbiggles

Down from Aberdeen to Luton Airport then the bus from there to Aylesbury to pick up a new car three years ago, then the journey back up to Scotland. Went quickly though, I had new toys and gadgets to familiarise myself with on the trip back. Saved me 2k over anything any of the Scottish dealers could do so was worth it.

As with anything, everything sells at the right price. If your BMW is not selling its cos its not the right price.

TrickyWicky

cardinalbiggles wrote: »

If your BMW is not selling its cos its not the right price.

To re-phrase that into something else the op might understand..

It's only worth what someone will pay for it. If no-one will pay for it then its not worth it.

Graham_Devon

I'd say its at least 1.5k overpriced.

I've had a quick look on Autotrader around Manchester and I can get an 07 plate, with less miles, with better spec, for £300 less.

And thats the TRADERS asking price. That includes a warranty and all the protection buying from the trade gives.

If you want to sell it, you should be thinking about wiping 1.5 - 2k off the price.

Also, dunno if I am missing something but...

Stevie1 wrote: »

Sorry, I'm not being argumentative but doing a search on Autotrader for a BMW 3-series, 3L upwards, up to 5 years and 60k miles - nationally - I only get 99 cars. the cheapest is £7,995 and the one after is £10,495.

You have a 2 litre (says 320D in your ad?), not a 3 litre. The 3 litres are much more expensive cars. So either your ad is wrong and people are seeing an overpriced 2 litre, or you are basing the pricing on a higher spec, more expensive car.

Mobeer

mkirkby wrote: »

..1.8 diesels seem to be a more popular choice at the moment as well.

Stevie1 wrote: »

..search on Autotrader for a BMW 3-series, 3L upwards...

It's a 2 litre engine

..

with a hazard warning light showing on the dash (at least low fuel, but who knows what else..)

cte1111

I agree that the ad doesn't stand out it in any way. The pictures almost look like stock pictures rather than a real car (I know that sounds odd but it's how they looked to me).

In general, to make me look at a car ad (I bought a second hand car a few months ago after looking for ages in autotrader mainly), it would have to be either:

• exactly the specification that I was looking for (an unusual colour, built in sat nav, cruise control and climate control were my must haves)
• a real bargain (at least a few hundred under the lowest comparable for a dealer, probably more like £5-800 less for a private seller as I didn't like the lack of protection)
• very near by (no harm in looking and at least I would save time if I could buy one locally, would also feel reassured that if there was a problem I could go back to get it sorted)

Any 1 of those factors could overcome the others, but a combination of 2 would make me more likely to actually make the effort to view the car. Hope that helps.