Auto trader 2nd hand cars

Jason79

I have never purchased a second hand car and have been browsing through auto trader the past few weeks due to my company car being returned. 

At 1st glance the site seemed great and suggested dealers were selling cars a a good, great, low or fair price so I was surprised to find out when using auto trader and taking a registration for a car they had up for sale and starting to build an add as if I was going to sell the car every car I checked the price they suggested I should sell the car at after entering the same details from the add on their site was around £1000 lower.

How can a car advertised on auto trader marked as being a great price or a low price then have a suggested selling price of 1000 less if I was going to sell it. All the cars I was looking at were around the £6000-£8000 range. I thought auto-trader were a reputable company but something stinks here.  Can anyone explain this or have any other tips on how to value a second hand car.

macman

Are you talking dealer prices, private sale, or part exchange? They are all different. Dealers expect to make a minimum of £500 on a sale and more like £1K on bigger ticket cars. Private sellers have no overheads to consider.

Jason79

macman said:

Are you talking dealer prices, private sale, or part exchange? They are all different. Dealers expect to make a minimum of £500 on a sale and more like £1K on bigger ticket cars. Private sellers have no overheads to consider.

I was looking at both private and dealers. The private ones don’t say good price on any of them even though they are cheaper than dealers with same mileage and year.  Very misleading for someone new to all this. I thought the value of the car is the value and dealers would get them cheaper with part exchanges but just looks like auto trader are pushing dealer sales when they are in fact way over the suggested price I should sell the car for and lot more expensive than buying private. 

angrycrow

Dealers have to cover their overheads and need to guarantee the car is up to scratch. If the car develops a fault you have consumer rights protection against the dealer.

Private sellers have no overheads and there is very little chance of them having to pay if the car develops a fault after the sale is completed.

In view of this dealers charge more for the same car. What you also need to watch out for is dodgy door step traders pretending to be private sellers to pass off the rubbish the dealers don't want to retail whilst avoiding their responsibilities under the consumer rights act 2015.

Grumpy_chap

Jason79 said:

The private ones don’t say good price on any of them even though they are cheaper than dealers with same mileage and year.  

The high / fair / good / great / low is only for trade adverts.
https://trade.autotrader.co.uk/price-indicator/

I also noted that there are only about 400 k cars listed at present - typically over 500 k listed

KimJongUn88

Why are you comparing sell prices between yourself as an individual private seller and a dealer?

Do you provide a warranty? Do you provide finance? Do you provide trade in options? Do you have a showroom and staff to pay for? Do you have a profit to make? Do you pay vat on any profit?  Do you spend money on prepping the car before sale?

onlyfoolsandparking

Nobody is 'forced' to pay the advertised price of any vehicle although everyone is correct in pointing out the big difference between private and dealer sellers. I am currently in the market for a new car and have been studying the market for a fair few weeks now on the model I'm after. Ironically the car I'm after was around a grand cheaper 6-7 weeks ago than it is now but that doesn't worry me, there will be many reasons for this, supply and demand probably being the biggest BUT as a tester I bid a dealer at 8K on a 9K car last week only to be told 8.5K was the lowest they would go, was a fair offer, especially from a dealer but I was pitching around 8K for that particular car and so will keep on perusing until I get what I want.

New reg plates in September might? work in a buyers favour but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it IF I don't find one sooner. As the old saying goes 'You pay your money, you takes your choice' 

macman

If dealer were to buy in stock and sell it at at the same price that a private buyer could sell at, then no-one would bother with the hassle of selling privately. It's an absurd comparison.

Flight3287462

Car prices are significantly higher that they were in January, bought a Kamiq registered in December and now the price is £2k more for similar, I think at one point a couple of months ago it could have been £3k more.

New cars are in short supply at the moment.

https://europe.autonews.com/automakers/german-production-forecast-cut-supply-chain-problems-persist

onlyfoolsandparking

Hunyani_Flight_825 said:

Car prices are significantly higher that they were in January, bought a Kamiq registered in December and now the price is £2k more for similar, I think at one point a couple of months ago it could have been £3k more.

New cars are in short supply at the moment.

https://europe.autonews.com/automakers/german-production-forecast-cut-supply-chain-problems-persist

Which is obviously pushing up the prices of the used market too, ah well keep on trucking lol.

motorguy

Jason79 said:

I have never purchased a second hand car and have been browsing through auto trader the past few weeks due to my company car being returned. 

At 1st glance the site seemed great and suggested dealers were selling cars a a good, great, low or fair price so I was surprised to find out when using auto trader and taking a registration for a car they had up for sale and starting to build an add as if I was going to sell the car every car I checked the price they suggested I should sell the car at after entering the same details from the add on their site was around £1000 lower.

How can a car advertised on auto trader marked as being a great price or a low price then have a suggested selling price of 1000 less if I was going to sell it. All the cars I was looking at were around the £6000-£8000 range. I thought auto-trader were a reputable company but something stinks here.  Can anyone explain this or have any other tips on how to value a second hand car.

Theres no conspiracy.

Its simply that a dealer will charge more than you will be able to sell yours privately for.

And the "great price", "lower price" monikers are for dealer cars, not private sale cars.