Advice wanted for changing car

djwolf

Okay, I have a Honda S2000 which I've been thinking of upgrading for a good while now because I fancy the newer model and mine is becoming too unreliable lately. It's an '02 with 99k on the clock. I've been to check out another newer one which is an '06 with 70k on the clock. It looked nice and clean and drove well. It was also priced competitively.

The problem is the dealer has only offered me £2,500 for mine as part-ex which is very low indeed and this means I'd have to find £6,000 for their car. Their offer was low because of a few niggly issues my car has. The roof has some wear and tear, latches need replacing, timing chain tensioner rattles and there is some slight rust round the rear arches. They also said the gearbox seemed a bit notchy. Admittedly I guess it would cost a fair amount to sort these out.

Another option I have would be to sell it privately. I'd probably put it up for £3,500ish, however it's not the best time of year to sell these cars and also I'd worry about any possible comebacks if the buyer was not happy due to the issues. Obviously I would explain about these beforehand though.

What do people think about this? Any advice?

Thanks.

motorguy

Its probably a lowish but fair offer, given he'll have to sort out those issues before he sells.

Push him a little harder on the price of your trade in.

Tell him its too low for you to do a deal. Explain you want to but he'd need to come up on yours. See what he says

forgotmyname

But the price he offered gives you a drive in drive out deal.

Selling it privately may entail weeks of time wasters. Give you £500 for it.

Can i pay you £100 now and £20 a week for life or until i get fed up of paying in 2 weeks time.

colino

As you say your car needs body/trim and engine work I'm surprised how high the trade-in offer is. With that shopping list it will be going straight to auction and at this time of year that spells only one thing, the car your trying to buy is also way over-priced. Take the TI out of the equation if you really want the car and ask how much for a straight cash sale.

djwolf

Well the dealer has tried to ring me twice this past two days. The thing is the last time I spoke to them they were still not very willing to increase the part-ex offer and they were also trying to push me to take out HP which I don't want as I'd rather have the flexibility of a personal loan.

I might ring them back over the weekend. Is them phoning twice a sign they are quite desperate to sell their car? Any tips on how to encourage them to increase the offer for mine and to stop them trying to persuade me taking out HP?

I have no problems walking away if they're not willing to offer a fair deal.

Quinny_2

Obviously they will make money out of the hp deal by way of commission, hence why they are trying to push you into it.

Tell them that your not interested in it, and if they can come up better on the trade in, and if they won't budge on either, then walk away.

There are plenty of others if your prepared to look around and perhaps outside of your immediate area.

Tiddlywinks

djwolf wrote: »

Okay, I have a Honda S2000 which I've been thinking of upgrading for a good while now because I fancy the newer model and mine is becoming too unreliable lately. It's an '02 with 99k on the clock. I've been to check out another newer one which is an '06 with 70k on the clock. It looked nice and clean and drove well. It was also priced competitively.

The problem is the dealer has only offered me £2,500 for mine as part-ex which is very low indeed and this means I'd have to find £6,000 for their car. Their offer was low because of a few niggly issues my car has. The roof has some wear and tear, latches need replacing, timing chain tensioner rattles and there is some slight rust round the rear arches. They also said the gearbox seemed a bit notchy. Admittedly I guess it would cost a fair amount to sort these out.

Another option I have would be to sell it privately. I'd probably put it up for £3,500ish, however it's not the best time of year to sell these cars and also I'd worry about any possible comebacks if the buyer was not happy due to the issues. Obviously I would explain about these beforehand though.

What do people think about this? Any advice?

Thanks.

Sorry but an '02 plate with those sorts of issues will make the car hard to sell privately... I think the trade-in offer is quite generous given the condition. You are fooling yourself if you think that list constitutes 'a few niggly issues' - the roof is worn, that's more like a hassle than a 'niggle' to any buyer.

You have to accept that the dealer is not a charity and he does need some profit from the deal.

I think you'll regret it if you buy the car and then try to sell the old one privately - you may be left with two cars for quite some time.

djwolf

Okay, just an update on this.

The dealer tried to ring me several times so thought I'd get back to them. They said they were willing to give me £200 extra for my car making it £2,700 and they were also dropping the price of their car by £200. Also, another £100 came off and the offer was my car plus £5,500 instead of £6,000. I went for H/P and the initial offer was £198 a month but with some haggling I got them down to £189 a month instead. So, in effect I've gained £500 from the price of their car and another £300 from their initial H/P offer. It's a funny situation, it feels like the dealers will just try their luck to get the most they can out of the buyer but when you haggle and dig your heels in they will back down to get the sale.

I think I've done okay and part-exing mine was the only real option due to the number of issues and being a convertible it would have been very hard to sell this time of year.

Do others think this is a decent deal?

forgotmyname

Why do you keep swapping threads?

Your cars 10 years old with issues. YES?

The car your buying is 4 years newer YES?

But your taking out finance for 5 years. So in 4 years your going to have
a 10 year old car with issues and still owe 12 months finance.

YES??

If thats what you want then go for it.

bluesnake

Er, well with whatforgotmyname wrote is correct then this is costing you £11340 over 5 years + deposit??? + still owe finance? This sounds terribly expensive for an old car.

To be honest I'd rather buy a banger for £500 and take out AA. My friend bought a 2002 slk Kompressor with FSH and in pristine condition (no rust) for £1000 (he is not in the car trade).

Your money, your choice!

Zekko

You will have paid out over £11 grand and the car will be 11 years old by then. Fair play to the dealer on this one.