Fix AC before selling my car?

danielvmn

Hello all,

I have a very nice Honda Civic 2007 Diesel and I want to sell it, but it has a problem in the AC compressor, basically the AC doesn't work and it's been like this for years because I never bothered to fix it.

I'm planning to sell it on autotrader or ebay and I want to leave it very clear that the AC is not working.There are no other issues with the car, it's MOT'd and taxed.

Should I bother to take it to a garage or just sell it as it is?

Thanks and regards,
Daniel

diesel_dog

It depends if you have the money and time to fluff about with it at the moment.

I think as long as you make it clear to whoever views/buys it that it doesn't work and what it needs, then that should be good enough.

Nice to see some honest sellers for a change :beer:

colino

Have you had it diagnosed properly? (Honda a/cs of this vintage appear to have such a problem). However it can be down to lack of use, a fractured pipe or a hundred and one other things that need properly checking, and the cost assessed, before saying for sure to go ahead and spend.

motorguy

danielvmn wrote: »

Hello all,

I have a very nice Honda Civic 2007 Diesel and I want to sell it, but it has a problem in the AC compressor, basically the AC doesn't work and it's been like this for years because I never bothered to fix it.

I'm planning to sell it on autotrader or ebay and I want to leave it very clear that the AC is not working.There are no other issues with the car, it's MOT'd and taxed.

Should I bother to take it to a garage or just sell it as it is?

Thanks and regards,
Daniel

Several options. If you take it to KwikFit, they will charge you £40 to regas it. BUT if they cant regas it they wont charge you anything AND if happen to be there when you're finishing off, they will tell you why they cant. I'd a 407 with no aircon and it turned out to be a cracked pipe. The pipe cost £12, i fitted it and returned the car for a regas. :beer:

OR sell it as is. I wouldnt necessarily put it in the advert but i would mention it upon viewing, along the lines of 'i think the air con might need regassed as its not particularly cold'. On the receipt mark down 'air con not working and will need further investigation by the buyer if necessary to diagnose and repair at their cost. Car discounted accordingly'. ie, dont mark down 'air con needs regassed' in case its the compressor and they would have justification in coming back.

danielvmn

Thank you all for the input.

After it stopped working, I took it to re-gas, but it didn’t work still, the mechanic said there is something wrong with the compressor and needed to investigate, the place was a bit sketchy so I didn’t leave my car there. Then I actually never bothered about this.

Herzlos

My first thought when buying something and the seller says it just needs whatever simple fix is that if it was so simple they'd have fixed it themselves.

You may be able to find a buyer that doesn't care about the AC working, but most would be expecting a discount of at least what it'd cost you to fix it.

Richard53

Herzlos wrote: »

My first thought when buying something and the seller says it just needs whatever simple fix is that if it was so simple they'd have fixed it themselves.

Agreed. Lots of people sell motorbikes with 'No MoT, but it will pass easily'. I always wonder if that is true, why don't they spend the £30-odd to get a year's MoT and bump up the price? A bike sold with 12 months' MoT is worth much more than £30 more than one without.

As the problem is a bit of an unknown quantity, the seller can either take the risk of getting it fixed and possibly losing money (cost of fix not recovered in asking price) or pass the risk onto the buyer, and drop the price accordingly. As long as the car is described clearly as "aircon not working", then I can't see a problem. Motorguy's suggested wording seems good to me.

danielvmn

I will sure price the car accordingly, my intention was to list it as a no reserve auction on ebay, unless someone can advise against that?

I decided to go to a garage tomorrow to see how much it would be to fix it. I was looking at some parts websites and found out that in case I need a new compressor, it would cost me almost £500! Sans labor.

But looking on ebay, there are some used compressors for much less, around £150, which are removed from Cat B cars, for example: http://goo.gl/KNQVU

Looks like a very reputable seller, I should be safe, right?

Thanks again for the input, you really helped me when I bought my first car and I'm getting some very valuable information now.

Richard53

danielvmn wrote: »

I will sure price the car accordingly, my intention was to list it as a no reserve auction on ebay, unless someone can advise against that?

If something absolutely has to go, then a 99p starting price and no reserve will normally get rid of it for you, but there is an obvious risk there - you could end up selling it for 99p!

There are two ways to avoid that, but neither is perfect. Either set a reasonable reserve (the bare minimum you would let it go for), but you pay additional fees for this and some times it puts buyers off, or list it as 'no reserve' but make the starting price your minimum. That puts off the bargain-hunters but may not deter a serious buyer who knows what things should go for.

You have to ask yourself if you just want to sell it no matter what (ebay is very good for this) or if you have a value that you need to achieve (local papers, freesheets, Autotrader may be better for this, and are not necessarily more expensive).

reeac

Herzlos wrote: »

My first thought when buying something and the seller says it just needs whatever simple fix is that if it was so simple they'd have fixed it themselves.

You may be able to find a buyer that doesn't care about the AC working, but most would be expecting a discount of at least what it'd cost you to fix it.

I've come across plenty of people who won't use their A/C - usually because they fear for its effect on mpg. Sounds like an ideal buy for one of them.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

ahh the honda AC system, many times its the clutch type pully failing to engage, like someone else says a hundred and one other things wrong like a switch.

TBH i would just put down that although the vehicle has a AC system it is not functioning even after a regas. and put it in bold underlined itallic font to clearly highlight that fact, before someone buys it and say i missed that bit or it was muddled in with other bits that was scanned over.