Do I repair car then sell or try to sell with no repair

fitzroy

Am collecting new car on Monday. My vw Polo 1.4 auto 2005 38,000 miles (have had it since new) has idling problems and jerky when in slow traffic. Have had throttle cleaned and valves looked at but still a problem. Garage says new throttle body needed £300 + labour.

I was planning to sell for about £3,500 with room to haggle. Is it worth having the repair done or not have it done and bring the price down to say £2,950 declaring the idle problem in my advert?

Which would be more attractive to a buyer?

bob_a_builder

a fully working car is always going to be more attractive to buyer

once you declare a fault, its going to be rod to beat you with. what ever price you put it up at

Joe_Horner

At that sort of price point you're going to put a LOT of potential buyers off with a declared fault. In the sub-£1k market most buyers are happy to be aware of something and budget to fix it, once you get to your sort of price a lot of people want something they can just get in and drive.

In theory, declaring a fault, dropping the price by more than the repair, and letting people decide what to do about it themselves should make selling easier, but you only have to read some of the other threads on here to see what people expect around that price, whether realistic or not. You also have to face the possibility that they have the repair bodged somewhere then come after you for the fault that you'd "mis-described". Regardless of whether they'd have a case, do you really want the hassle if that happens?

The only exception to that is if it's something particularly rare or desirable, which I'm afraid doesn't really describe an '05 Polo.

colino

In that price range, you fix the car or accept the "whatif" offers.
If a potential buyer does turn up and finds driveability issues in an expensive, private sale, they are more likely to simply walk and find one that doesn't need attention.

ilikewatch

Good grief! £3.5K for a 10 year old Polo - I thought that was a typo, but looking about it seems that people really do pay that sort of money for them... I thought long and hard before spending £500 on a diesel Volvo the same age!

Nodding_Donkey

£300! Get one off ebay for under £80

forgotmyname

I would not spend £3000+ on a car that needed work. I would think a £300 repair would be worthwhile doing to the seller to be able to sell a properly working car with no issues.

In the back of my mind i would be thinking that the £300 part will only be the start of the expenses.

Had the valves looked at? What valves?

motorguy

fitzroy wrote: »

Am collecting new car on Monday. My vw Polo 1.4 auto 2005 38,000 miles (have had it since new) has idling problems and jerky when in slow traffic. Have had throttle cleaned and valves looked at but still a problem. Garage says new throttle body needed £300 + labour.

I was planning to sell for about £3,500 with room to haggle. Is it worth having the repair done or not have it done and bring the price down to say £2,950 declaring the idle problem in my advert?

Which would be more attractive to a buyer?

As everyone else has said, anyone on the market for a mint low miles auto Polo is going to be put off by the fault.

Bite the bullet and have it fixed.

ukpete79

As a buyer, I would be wondering, if they haven't bothered to maintain the car when it needs repairing, what else have they scrimped on?
get it repaired, have it valeted, and make sure the service history is clear and easy to read...it makes the buyer more comfortable knowing you have looked after it

Strider590

The only people who are going to be interested are people who'll try to hammer the price down.

If it were me i'd buy one 2nd hand and fit it myself for about £50.