Selling a car - best money saving way - gumtree/autotrade?

[Deleted User]

I'm thinking about selling one of my cars soon (a 14 year old diesel 206, with 130k on the clock), and want to get the best price for it - I'm in no hurry and can allow a couple of months.

What are the best places to advertise?

Gumtree - free, but how many buyers look there?

Ebay - not free, but I'm a fairly experienced ebayer buying and selling (but not cars yet).

Autotrader - expensive to advertise, but do more buyers look there?


The is worth less than £1000, so obviously this needs to be considered when paying for advertising

BeenThroughItAll

eBay classifieds work for me. 15 quid for 28 days.


HOWEVER: the reason my ads work is because they are VERY detailed indeed, and I price things realistically so there is very limited room for people to knock me down on price. I make sure when I sell a car it's the cheapest (not by much) of comparable vehicles within 60 miles of me (and keep an eye on that), and I list every conceivable detail which someone might try and use to haggle. That way when they turn up and try to get money off, they end up wasting their time.


Of the five or six cars (including mine, plus friends and family) whose sales I have helped with in the last year (I don't trade, don't take commission, don't do-up and sell-on, don't try to make money) I have sold all of them within three visits and never taken more than a hundred quid off the asking price.

GabbaGabbaHey

If you do put an on Gumtree for your car, be prepared for a whole lot of scammers to contact you.

I sold an MX-5 recently, and had a number of text messages asking me to email various people "about your Gumtree ad" (no specifics) and emails saying that they would take the car at asking price if I just used their escrow service, etc, etc.

There are a number of other free places to advertise a car - Preloved, Loot, Friday Ads, AVForums - as well as any owners' forums.

I paid for an ad on PistonHeads, which is where the car sold from.

[Deleted User]

I do like that honest approach, so many adverts only list the good things, and it's very annoying for buyers having to ask for simple stuff like if it has any service history.


"I make sure when I sell a car it's the cheapest (not by much) of comparable vehicles within 60 miles of me (and keep an eye on that"
Have you ever tried asking 10% more? I've been surprised sometimes by things I've been able to sell on ebay that are more expensive than rival ads.
A friend of mine sold his car about 20% overpriced on gumtree, by simply being patient, it took 3 months, only one or two enquiries about it, and then one day someone did call, liked the car, and bought it.


Did you ever try auctioning a car (on ebay) rather than 'buy it now'?

ilikewatch

I've sold a few cars over the last few years and in my experience eBay gets the best money, but attracts the most idiots... Whichever way you sell, try to sell it with a full MOT if possible - that can make a huge difference to the value of an old banger.

A few months ago an acquaintance was moaning that he had listed his car 3 times on eBay on a £300 Buy It Now and it hadn't sold - I gave it a wash, polish and hoover, stuck on 2 part worn tyres and MOT'd it then stuck it on an auction with loads of pictures and a detailed description and it sold for £1100!

jimjames

I've always had success on Autotrader for cars under £3000 but for recent sale used Ebay classified and was very impressed.

I had no calls from Autotrader but sale was via Ebay in the end.

BeenThroughItAll

[quote=[Deleted User];65996856]
Have you ever tried asking 10% more?

Did you ever try auctioning a car (on ebay) rather than 'buy it now'?[/QUOTE]


1 - Yes, or even more than that but only when I don't mind waiting. Ultimately though, most cars will find their own value and you have to recognise that most people overprice things. So although my car may be the cheapest in the area, other people will have to knock money off for every little fault whereas if mine has a scratch on the dash I mention it in the ad. Squeaky brakes? Mention it. Scuff on the leather? Mention it. I know damn well what's wrong with everything I sell, so I'm rarely caught out by someone finding an issue I don't know about. Price realistically, sell quickly for asking price.


2 - Yes, whenever I've had something I just want rid of. My MIL had a Polo with loads of nastiness about it. She was going to scrap it but I stuck it through an MOT which it passed with a couple of bulbs and some brake discs/pads. Stuck it on an auction, again honestly described (I don't want someone haggling after winning the auction) and got five times as much for it as she'd have got for scrap, and someone else got what was basically a sound car with at least another 12 months motoring in it, which looked horrible and smelt badly of dog, for £500.

BeenThroughItAll

ilikewatch wrote: »

A few months ago an acquaintance was moaning that he had listed his car 3 times on eBay on a £300 Buy It Now and it hadn't sold - I gave it a wash, polish and hoover, stuck on 2 part worn tyres and MOT'd it then stuck it on an auction with loads of pictures and a detailed description and it sold for £1100!

Good point there - presentation, a good ad and lots of decent pictures (pay for the bigger pictures!) make all the difference. Decent camera, good lighting, clean car = decent money.

ilikewatch

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

Good point there - presentation, a good ad and lots of decent pictures (pay for the bigger pictures!) make all the difference. Decent camera, good lighting, clean car = decent money.

It amazes me that so many people don't think about presenting their car well when selling it. There was someone near me selling a Volvo V40 diesel on eBay a couple of months ago - it looked like a complete dog, with an interior full of KFC wrappers, a flat tyre and little or no description. A mate of mine won it for £350 Turned out it was low mileage, full main dealer service history and only needed the tyre fixing to pass an MOT - would easily sell for £1200 now.

[Deleted User]

What about the selling to a friend/co-worker avenue?
I think you can get a better price this way, because the buyer gets the reassurance that you wouldn't sell them a lemon.

BeenThroughItAll

[quote=[Deleted User];65997862]What about the selling to a friend/co-worker avenue?
I think you can get a better price this way, because the buyer gets the reassurance that you wouldn't sell them a lemon.[/QUOTE]

No chance. I wouldn't sell anything to a friend, no matter how good it is. Not worth the aggro.


There's just too much risk with cars that something unforeseen will go wrong a week later, and if it's someone you're going to see every day, do you really want to hear about it?


I sold my S40 about five years ago, with 117K on it and a noisy clutch. Buyer was well happy with that, he didn't mind, he was sure it'd be the release bearing. I told him I didn't know for sure what it was, but he was still happy to take it.


Got a text from him three days later. It was at Volvo, who wanted to charge him £1200 for a new clutch, flywheel and fitting. I replied with 'Oh? Not the release bearing then?'


Never heard from him again. That's the beauty of honesty.