Which is the most effective sites for selling a car, 16 February at 7:58PM in Motoring 13 replies 254 views

htrj

Hi, Ive got a used car to sell. Ten year old BMW diesel. Clean and tidy, low miles well looked after etc etc but nothing particularly special really. Probably between 3 and 4 grands worth. 
Just wondering which sites apart from Ebay people have had good results selling cars on? Of course theres Facebook, Gumtree, Piston Heads, Autotrader etc and I dont mind paying a bit to advertise, if its effective, but just putting the feelers out for some new suggestions. Not planning to knock the doors of Wewantanycar though....... 

hollie.weimeraner

I've had no success with Gumtree but have always done well with Autotrader apart from the odd timewaster.

Green_hopeful

In my experience it depends on the value of the car. I normally check it on autotrader and sometimes Parker’s and if it cheap go for gumtree. I have always managed to sell cheaper cars really quickly. I think people are less fussy and just want one that runs.  If it’s a better quality/price then autotrader is ok. Not tried any others. 

Mercdriver

Often it is all down to how you present the car to sell.  No good spending more money on say Autotrader if your photos aren't up to much and your description doesn't inspire confidence.  In many ways I would say this is as important as where you place the ad.

htrj

The car presents well, ive neatly touched up all the chips, replaced a tyre, fixed the number plate fixings, cleaned it to within an inch of its life and put a new air freshener in.... its not bargain basement stuff but its not going to be pocket money either so i think its worth the effort.

I had been wondering if Autotrader had had its day, swallowed up by the plethora of other internet advertising platforms but if you experienced folks have had good results with it, then I think I should give it a try....... and im sure its wont hurt to use the free platforms as well. 

htrj

and its just been serviced, and has 12 months mot..... hopefully this will be confidence inspiring stuff. 

foxy-stoat

I would try local faceache selling pages and marketplace for a couple of weeks.  If it doesnt sell after then, they pay the £20 for ebay classified for a month.

You will get timewasters and chancers but if its priced well and good photos then you may have a chance.

I have noticed the new way of selling cars on faceache, put the price up for free or £12345 and little to no information and autotrader put the mileage as a tenth of the actual mileage so it comes up higher on mileage search options.

DoaM

htrj said:

Ten year old BMW diesel. Clean and tidy, low miles well looked after etc etc but nothing particularly special really. Probably between 3 and 4 grands worth. 

Does your model have a DPF? If yes then low miles isn't necessarily a selling point.

Mercdriver

htrj said:

The car presents well, ive neatly touched up all the chips, replaced a tyre, fixed the number plate fixings, cleaned it to within an inch of its life and put a new air freshener in.... its not bargain basement stuff but its not going to be pocket money either so i think its worth the effort.

I had been wondering if Autotrader had had its day, swallowed up by the plethora of other internet advertising platforms but if you experienced folks have had good results with it, then I think I should give it a try....... and im sure its wont hurt to use the free platforms as well. 

YOU have to present it well in the ad.  Good photos and a description that draws people in.  Also you need to price it realistically.  Look for similarly specc'd BMWs of the same model.  What price are they?  How long have they been on the site?  If they have been there for a long time then they might be overpriced.  Price yours below theirs. 

Mutton_Geoff

I have sold a few cars privately (between £1,500 and £37,000) over the last couple of years, placed ads on Ebay, Pistonheads, specialist model forums and Autotrader. Without a doubt they all had the best quality enquiries and eventual sales all through Autotrader. I won't bother with the others anymore.

BOWFER

Facebook marketplace (the little house logo at the bottom of your face book screen)
Sold two cars there over past 2 months, it's free too.
Do a good advert, the amount of people who do crap ads on FB marketplace is baffling.
I always list every little good things about the cars. really 'sell' them,