Can't sell my car - help!

JennyP

I got a new job last Easter and, to cut a long story short, the excitement of having a bit more money than I'd had for a few years, sent me over the edge and I bought a new car. Well, secondhand, but new to me and fairly pricey and luxurious. By my standards anyway.
A couple of months on and I'm not enjoying my job and my boyfriend has lost his. We're setting up in business and I could really do with selling the car.
I've had it on Autotrader for 3 weeks, which cost £44 and I've not had one enquiry (unless you count a dodgy person after my bank account details!)
I've reduced the price 3 times and it's now on at a substantial discount compared with the price it should be according to Parkers.
What should I do? Any ideas to get it sold. I don't want to reduce it much more as it's already about £1500 cheaper than it should be.
I can't believe no-one has even come and looked at it.

save-a-lot

Hi

Try putting it on pistonheads for free
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/
my brother got enquiries through pistonheads, whilst not being able to sell his car on Autotrader. Autotrader tends to attract scamsters as he had 10+ enquiries all doing the same scam.

Try a sign in the window and leaving it parked somewhere prominant aswell.

sillygoose

I don't know if it works or how much it costs but just a thought - how about ebay? I hear they sell vast numbers of cars now. Unlike normal auctions, car listings are more like seller/buyer introductions on ebay.

save-a-lot

What is the car by the way?

marty1888

save-a-lot wrote: »

What is the car by the way?

Yeah, I wouldnt mind knowing what kind of car you have knocked £1500 off.

stumpjumper

I had no luck selling my car on autotrader either. I did manage to sell it on ebay classifieds though, which is cheaper and attracts less scammers.

vikingaero

It does depend on the make and model of the car. Is it an unusual car? There's no point setting the price of the car at the book price if the market price of comparable cars is below that level.

If you can tell us more info then we may be able to give a better guide:

Make & Exact Model
Colour
Mileage
Year and reg (eg 05 55)
Unusual spec

JennyP

A Merc C200K, 03 reg, about 52K miles.
Leather upholstery pack, tinted windows, sports extras pack, private plate included (not a very exciting one admittedly but at least you can't tell how old the car is!).
What else?
It's silver.
It has a full Merc service history. two owners before me but they were in the same family - one passed ownership to the other.
It's the manual model not the automatic and it's in lovely condition.
I wouldn't be selling it but - well the thought of having some cash in the account whilst we're trying to get a business off the ground.
It's on at £9500. A friend who knows about cars says that's a bit of a bargain and it's just a matter of time. But it's nerve-wracking waiting!
Thanks for all the encouraging messages!

save-a-lot

save-a-lot wrote: »

Hi

Try putting it on pistonheads for free
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/
my brother got enquiries through pistonheads, whilst not being able to sell his car on Autotrader. Autotrader tends to attract scamsters as he had 10+ enquiries all doing the same scam.

Try a sign in the window and leaving it parked somewhere prominant aswell.

Definately try pistonheads with it, it is free for private sales and it is the place on the internet where people with a genuine love of cars congregate. My brother got lots of enquiries via pistonheads when trying to sell a Shogun, which via Autotrader would not budge.

Here is the Parker's write up and valuation
for the Elegance version
http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/used-prices/Valuation.aspx?deriv=23404&plate=72&buysell=buy

for the Aventgarde version
http://www.parkers.co.uk/cars/used-prices/Valuation.aspx?deriv=23406&plate=72&buysell=buy

I can't see why it is not selling really, your price should include an adjustment for mileage though on the price shown at Parkers because of the mileage the car has done.

kitchpoo

For the type of car and the price you are asking I would give Autotrader another go, but at a larger advert - I know it costs more but I think it needs it. Dont put too many pictures on - let people come and see it to see more. A 'dealer's tip' if you are listing it online on autotrader, put the milage as 55 , not 55000, as this will throw up more on people's searches.

Viz_2

JennyP wrote: »

A Merc C200K, 03 reg, about 52K miles.
Leather upholstery pack, tinted windows, sports extras pack, private plate included (not a very exciting one admittedly but at least you can't tell how old the car is!).
What else?
It's silver.
It has a full Merc service history. two owners before me but they were in the same family - one passed ownership to the other.
It's the manual model not the automatic and it's in lovely condition.
I wouldn't be selling it but - well the thought of having some cash in the account whilst we're trying to get a business off the ground.
It's on at £9500. A friend who knows about cars says that's a bit of a bargain and it's just a matter of time. But it's nerve-wracking waiting!
Thanks for all the encouraging messages!

Just my opinion....

Most Mercedes owners usually go for an automatic gearbox and wouldn't go for the tinted windows look.