sell car privately

stranger12

Hi Guys,
As we all know dealer normally makes 2-3k over the or some good margin when they sell a car.

I have a car worth 17k trade price and around 14k trade in.

Do you think it will be difficult to sell it for 15.5 private ?
what is your experience with selling privately ?

is is easy to sell, is there a season not to sell ?

forgotmyname

Depends on the car and the demand.

Is it the sort where nobody pays the book price due to little demand or reliablity question marks?

Sort of car i would offer the dealer £15k?

bobbymotors

I have sold 5000 cars in my life...now retired.

With a £17k retail car you will struggle to find a private buyer even for £15k

the reason is that people that can afford a £17k car want the full main dealer experience including buying the car on the drip and thinking they have somewhere to go if things turn sour.

sorry...but it will be hard work!

stranger12

well if the car is 2013 then not much that can go wrong and also BMW which is the most demanding car in britain ( 3 series) or very close to top

bigadaj

stranger12 wrote: »

well if the car is 2013 then not much that can go wrong and also BMW which is the most demanding car in britain ( 3 series) or very close to top

Beemers may well have their issues but I wouldn't class them as the most demanding car in Britain.

Seriously look on autotrader and see what they are selling for on there, that's probably the best guide you're going to get, though asking prices aren't selling prices.

Herzlos

I think he means most in demand, rather than most problematic.

That said, at £15k you're heading out of the range of private buying because most people don't have that much cash and are wary about spending it on a private sale. If it's a good car at a good price you might be alright.

What you can do (and I usually do) is get a quote from webuyanycar and list it privately for a bit (maybe £1k) above that, give it a couple of weeks and then just sell it to a car buyer, or trade it in against the new car. Gives you a bit of balance between getting the best price, and not having to keep insuring/taxing it.

knightstyle

Go through filling in the Autotrader pages to sell a car privately and it will advise you how much to advertise it for. Then see how much you will get as trade in and make your decision.
We recently sold a 63 plate Juke on Autotrader for over £2k more than two garages offered as trade in.
We were then also in a strong position as cash buyers for a discount. The garage we bought the replacement from said they would have offered more, really? So why didn't they at the time?

neilmcl

stranger12 wrote: »

well if the car is 2013 then not much that can go wrong and also BMW which is the most demanding car in britain ( 3 series) or very close to top

Exactly what make/model, age, mileage and where did you get your figures from?

Not saying you're wrong but you may be surprised at the trade-in price for your car, most people are.

arcon5

knightstyle wrote: »

Go through filling in the Autotrader pages to sell a car privately and it will advise you how much to advertise it for. Then see how much you will get as trade in and make your decision.
We recently sold a 63 plate Juke on Autotrader for over £2k more than two garages offered as trade in.
We were then also in a strong position as cash buyers for a discount. The garage we bought the replacement from said they would have offered more, really? So why didn't they at the time?

You would have been in a stronger position for a discount as a credit buyer. Cash is no longer king at that end of the industry

arcon5

#3 has hit the nail on the head really. Most people will want peace of mind and wouldn't be too fussed about saving £2k if the cost is just that.

It's naive to say it's 3 years old not much can go wrong, anybody that's worked in this industry and even those who haven't know anything can happen at anytime in any car. Just bad luck sonetimes

dannyrst

arcon5 wrote: »

#3 has hit the nail on the head really. Most people will want peace of mind and wouldn't be too fussed about saving £2k if the cost is just that.

It's naive to say it's 3 years old not much can go wrong, anybody that's worked in this industry and even those who haven't know anything can happen at anytime in any car. Just bad luck sonetimes

Exactly.

My dad got a brand new Focus the other week. It is already back in the garage for three separate issues.