Selling my car - should I service it?

Snoozy2012

Hello all,

I need to sell my car (2008 VW Fox) and am umming and ahhing about getting it serviced for the sale. It had its last service in June 2016 (somehow I forgot about 2017) so I've lost the ability to say it has a full service history. As it is 2 years overdue it will need to be a full service. I was planning to ask for about £1700 for it so is it really worth paying the extra to get it serviced; will it make the sale that much quicker and save me some hassle overall?

(I should note I am going to have to tax and insure it just to take it to be serviced / sold/ test driven as I thought I was being clever swapping cars just when the tax was running out so have SORNed it on my driveway and moved my insurance over... I guess you'll only learn from your mistakes!)

Your thoughts would be most appreciated :j

Mercdriver

Snoozy2012 wrote: »

Hello all,

I need to sell my car (2008 VW Fox) and am umming and ahhing about getting it serviced for the sale. It had its last service in June 2016 (somehow I forgot about 2017) so I've lost the ability to say it has a full service history. As it is 2 years overdue it will need to be a full service. I was planning to ask for about £1700 for it so is it really worth paying the extra to get it serviced; will it make the sale that much quicker and save me some hassle overall?

(I should note I am going to have to tax and insure it just to take it to be serviced / sold/ test driven as I thought I was being clever swapping cars just when the tax was running out so have SORNed it on my driveway and moved my insurance over... I guess you'll only learn from your mistakes!)

Your thoughts would be most appreciated :j

You'll also have to make arrangements when people want to test drive it...don't get done for permitting your car to be driven with no insurance. That way lies much pain (and 6 points)

Without a service you are going to get people trying to knock down the price. So look at how much a service would cost and balance that against how long it might take to sell the car and how much you would need to discount it.

It doesn't need to be serviced at the dealer's. It could be a decent independent. Getting it serviced will make the year it hasn't done look like it might be a blip rather than it being neglected. Though people could also think it was just done to assist the sale. But at least the service is done.

forgotmyname

2 years with no service, buyer cannot test drive it??

Hopes its really cheap compared to similar cars and expect some silly offers.

Snoozy2012

forgotmyname wrote: »

2 years with no service, buyer cannot test drive it??

Hopes its really cheap compared to similar cars and expect some silly offers.

I was of course planning to get it temporarily insured and taxed so that it can be test driven. I was just wondering if a service was highly prized on an older car under £2k as insurance and tax and servicing will quickly eat into my profits (silly me for not thinking of the test drive; at the time I was just considering that the buyer would need to purchase insurance to take it away and that renewing my tax was a waste of money since it can't be transferred any longer...) Well it seems the opinion so far is that a service is valued. At least if I can get a quick sale then I won't have to pay over the odds temporary insurance for too long a time.

Thank you for your thoughts on the matter so far!

Ectophile

My attitude to a car that hasn't been serviced for 2 years is that I would expect a big discount compared with others on the market.


The first thing I would have to do is to take it to a local garage to get them to do a major service on it. I would expect the garage to come up with a list of jobs that need doing beyond the service, because the car's been neglected for 2 years. So I will end up paying for a major service, and an unknown number of other repairs.

forgotmyname

Service history is my top priority. Not just stamps in a book. I want receipts for things also.

Even if you lived next door i would not look at your car, the lack of servicing put me off right away. Its a neglected shed in my mind.

You cannot be bothered to service it so my thoughts are you treat it like its a piece of scrap metal.

£1700 seems optimistic.

System

2 years without a service suggests a lack of bothering to look after it, who knows what could be wrong with it? Unable to test drive as well I'd not buy it. In fact if you told me those facts over the phone I'd not even bother to come round and look at it.

facade

Change the oil & filter, so when the buyer dips the oil it looks fresh, say nothing about the servicing except "some service history" if there is one and expect them to want to knock the price down to nearer £1300 because you have no recent service history.


You won't get much more for it if you pay for a full service, they are on autotrader from £1500 at dealers, and people looking in the £1000-£1500 range don't take much notice of bits of paper, it is all about condition, and the impression of the owner.

motorguy

Get an oil and filter service done on it ASAP.

The £50-£100 cost will be recouped come resale time.

giraffe69

If you can't drive it you could get a mobile mechanic to carry out whatever service you decide on.

JimmyTheWig

How confident of the condition are you?

If it hasn't been serviced in the last two years, coupled with the fact that you're selling it) I'd expect there to be quite a bit wrong with it and would offer accordingly. In fact, I may wonder if you _did_ get it serviced but are choosing not to show me the paperwork as the defects are that bad!

So if you know it's in good condition, then a piece of paper confirming that would be worth it.
But if you suspect that there's plenty wrong with it then don't bother.