Needing to sell a car quickly - best sites?

MrsWassire

I can get over £7k from any number of car buying websites so I'm not going to drop it more than that. I'm just looking for other options I might not have thought of.

DUTR

MrsWassire wrote: »

It's not a holiday, I'm emigrating, hence needing to sell by a certain day.

bobbymotors it's a 2012 (61 plate) with 44k mi, partial service history (think it was last serviced in Jan but is over on the miles), VTR+, auto, average condition (scratched passenger mirror back from a lovely anonymous person scraping it in a car park, the metal 'trim' that goes above the rear bumper has a crack in it that Motability didn't deem worth fixing, about 1" high at a guess), automatic with manual option as most of these seem to have, and it's red. Private sale valuation was £8.5k. I know I won't get that but I expect to get over £7k. If I was offered £7.5k right now I'd take it.

That's probably why it's not selling then, you should could have sold once you knew you were emigrating and then get a disposable run around to tide you over.

bigjl

WeWantAnyCar pay a few hundred pounds more than WeBuyAnyCar.

In fact when we sold them our 116d before going on Holiday the price obtained after inspection at WWAC was higher than the offer from WBAC.

And the car had been hit up the rear by an idiot in a Ford Focus the day before aswell.

So without that damage they would likely have not taken anything off.

BykerSands

MrsWassire wrote: »

It's not a holiday, I'm emigrating, hence needing to sell by a certain day.

bobbymotors it's a 2012 (61 plate) with 44k mi, partial service history (think it was last serviced in Jan but is over on the miles), VTR+, auto, average condition (scratched passenger mirror back from a lovely anonymous person scraping it in a car park, the metal 'trim' that goes above the rear bumper has a crack in it that Motability didn't deem worth fixing, about 1" high at a guess), automatic with manual option as most of these seem to have, and it's red. Private sale valuation was £8.5k. I know I won't get that but I expect to get over £7k. If I was offered £7.5k right now I'd take it.

In that case it's about cutting your loses unless someone can sell it for you and hold out for the price you want.

bigjl

Yours has nearly double the miles, is a year older and has body damage and is overdue a service.

All for £9999 (plus IF of £99)

http://www.cargiant.co.uk/mobile/detail.asp?id=754932&mk=Citroen&md=C4_Grand_Picasso

That is also a dealer sale so full coverage with SOGA and the chance to finance it easily.

The Autobox in your car has a fairly poor reputation.

So people might also consider a manual.

Slightly higher miles than yours but again a 62plate rather than a 61plate.

All for £8499 (+£99)

http://www.cargiant.co.uk/mobile/detail.asp?id=752416&mk=Citroen&md=C4_Grand_Picasso

Sorry to say but unless yours it advertised at £7.5k or maybe a bit less then it is not going to be considered a bargain by anybody.

bigjl

MrsWassire wrote: »

I can get over £7k from any number of car buying websites so I'm not going to drop it more than that. I'm just looking for other options I might not have thought of.

I think what you might mean is any number of car buying websites made an offer of over £7k subject to inspection.

Where they will "chip" you a couple of hundred for the overdue service, maybe £400 for the bumper damage, actually could be as much as £1000 if the bumper needs replacing. The more I probably another £300. They will then look at each wheel for the slightest scuff. Budget £200 for wheel refurb.

So an online offer of £7000 from WBAC is actually a firm offer of £5500.

WBAC sell their cars via the nearest BCA site.

At auction your car is probably worth £5800 maybe £6000.

And BCA want to make a profit on both the selling price and also the commission they charge the buyer. They don't charge theme selves commission.

WBAC know exactly what cars sell for as they are now part of BCA and have been for at least 2yrs or so.

The only reason cars don't sell is because they are priced too high or the owners think it is worth more than it actually is. Usually after valuing it via Parkers or WhatCar, which are guides, and not overly accurate guides either.

Even the Glasses and CAP are guides. A car is worth what you can get somebody to pay you for it and no more.

Just to add most of the decent ex Motability vehicles, those without body damage, get sold to CarGiant anyway. Only the tatty stuff goes to Auction now and then makes it way into the smaller dealers.

BeenThroughItAll

MrsWassire wrote: »

It's not a holiday, I'm emigrating, hence needing to sell by a certain day.

bobbymotors it's a 2012 (61 plate) with 44k mi, partial service history (think it was last serviced in Jan but is over on the miles), VTR+, auto, average condition (scratched passenger mirror back from a lovely anonymous person scraping it in a car park, the metal 'trim' that goes above the rear bumper has a crack in it that Motability didn't deem worth fixing, about 1" high at a guess), automatic with manual option as most of these seem to have, and it's red. Private sale valuation was £8.5k. I know I won't get that but I expect to get over £7k. If I was offered £7.5k right now I'd take it.

Looking at your autotrader ad (it's not difficult to spot) the problems I can see are:


Terrible pictures. Get the kids out of the shot (you're not selling a 'lifestyle' here, you're selling a utility 7-seat family wagon) and take some more pictures of the outside of the car in good light and with a decent camera. Take some good pictures of any defects and damage.


All the 'arty' camera angles just make it difficult to see what's actually in the shot. Also, you don't need to take random pictures of the dashboard. People want to see the outside and inside in general detail, not a close up of the hazard warning light switch.


The 'I need a service' spanner symbol on the dash doesn't scream 'well maintained bargain' to a buyer, either.

The car looks dirty. Clean the boot and the seats, get all the extraneous bits and bobs like your seatback 'organisers' out and take some better pictures again.

Get the air freshener(s) out of it. To non-smokers like me, air fresheners represents a warning sign that the car may have been smoked in. I don't know if yours has, but that's what it says to me and could to others.

Yours may be a lower price, but it's the wrong colour for many and unfortunately if you can buy from a dealer for £500 more and get a lower mileage, better colour and a warranty, you're probably going to do that.

Location is another factor. Being north of Aberdeen, you're not going to have as many buyers around - since most people seem to think going further than next door to buy a second-hand car is madness, your car needs to be either really cheap, really rare or really good to attract a buyer from further afield.


Yours is none of those.


As already said, if you want to sell quick, you need to drop the price. A lot.

zappahey

MrsWassire wrote: »

It's not a holiday, I'm emigrating, hence needing to sell by a certain day.

You're certainly not in a strong position to hold out for the best price and you need to come to terms with that pretty quickly. Having been in your situation, I decided way in advance that I would be putting the car on ebay and just taking what I could get for it, knowing that it was probably still better than trying to get the best price but not having control of the selling date.

dannyrst

Your only bet to get a decent price is:

1) Leave it with family or friend who can sell for you and pass on the money (probably cut them a small amount for the hassle).

2) Sell to a garage for a marked down price and have it gone.

Really, you should have been doing this ages ago. There is no chance you will sell the car privately in time. People are going to just knock money off and think about it, have to sell their car first, need to sort out insurance and tax money etc etc.

bigjl

BeenThroughItAll wrote: »

Looking at your autotrader ad (it's not difficult to spot) the problems I can see are:


Terrible pictures. Get the kids out of the shot (you're not selling a 'lifestyle' here, you're selling a utility 7-seat family wagon) and take some more pictures of the outside of the car in good light and with a decent camera. Take some good pictures of any defects and damage.


All the 'arty' camera angles just make it difficult to see what's actually in the shot. Also, you don't need to take random pictures of the dashboard. People want to see the outside and inside in general detail, not a close up of the hazard warning light switch.


The 'I need a service' spanner symbol on the dash doesn't scream 'well maintained bargain' to a buyer, either.

The car looks dirty. Clean the boot and the seats, get all the extraneous bits and bobs like your seatback 'organisers' out and take some better pictures again.

Get the air freshener(s) out of it. To non-smokers like me, air fresheners represents a warning sign that the car may have been smoked in. I don't know if yours has, but that's what it says to me and could to others.

Yours may be a lower price, but it's the wrong colour for many and unfortunately if you can buy from a dealer for £500 more and get a lower mileage, better colour and a warranty, you're probably going to do that.

Location is another factor. Being north of Aberdeen, you're not going to have as many buyers around - since most people seem to think going further than next door to buy a second-hand car is madness, your car needs to be either really cheap, really rare or really good to attract a buyer from further afield.


Yours is none of those.


As already said, if you want to sell quick, you need to drop the price. A lot.

Is it actually up for £7500 BeenThroughItAll?

If so that is top money for a really nice 61plate.

Actually you could probably find a below average 62plate for that money if you tried.

Pictures with the service light clearly shown?

To sell quick the price needs to be around £6500 I suspect.

I stand by my previous statement that in visiting WBAC the offer of around £7k will end up being chipped down to closer to £5500.