Selling private for first time - advice?

Phibsboro

Hi,

I am thinking of selling my 05 Mini privately. Previously I have always just traded in but I feel I might get more for it if I sell it myself.

Not having done this before, could I ask for some advice?

1. Where is the best place to advertise? Online? Evening Herald?

2. What price to ask? I know thats like saying how long is a piece of string but the variance in the asking price for 05 Mini's is amazing, with no obvious reason why. Is there a standard place to look for guide prices for a car with a certain spec?

3. This is the bit that really worries me - how does the transaction actually take place? Given it will be a whole pile of cash, how is it done? If bank draft, are they absolutely secure? Is it acceptable to do the deal beside a bank and actually go in with the person? Anybody ever do an electronic transfer on a sale? On my side, what am I handing over - the car registration document I assume is the key thing?

Any other things I should be thinking of? Any safety concerns with meeting people etc?

As always any advice would be gratefully received.

Cheers,
C

who_ru

there are many similar posts on here from people looking for advice on selling a car privately.

if you do a quick search of the forum using the search function under "selling privately" you will get lots of good tips and advice.

make sure you have the best possible photos of the car and be flexible on the price, there are a lot of cars for sale privately at the mo.

good luck.

bazz26

Watch out for scam artists, they are a penny a dozen these days with plenty of time on their hands.

You may receive phone calls from "agencies" telling you they have 100 or so potential buyers interested in your car and will pass your details on to them for a fixed fee usually around €99. They take the money off your credit card and you never hear from them or the potential buyers again.

Another common scam is that an interested buyer e-mails you telling you he/she is currently working abroad but will buy the car (usually for the full asking price and without even seeing it). They will tell you that they will send you a cheque for more than your asking price, tell you to send the outstanding amount to their shipping company which doesn't exist.

Rule of thumb is that if something seems to good to be true chances are it is.

pow wow

Another question on this topic that doesn't seem to come up......what's the deal with insurance and people test driving when you're selling privately? Do you check their policies are open drive or just pray nothing happens on the spin round the block?

Toots

I sold my car privately a few weeks ago, I had enquired about trading it in, and brought it around a few dealers to see what I would get, most of them told me what they would offer me and also what I would likely get for it selling it privately, so that might be a good try. Also look in dealerships for cars with similar milage and spec to yours and try to work out the average, you don't want to overprice it, but by the same token don't sell for less that it's worth. Look on Carzone, they've usually got a good selection of cars there. As for advertising, stick it on www.carzone.ie www.carsireland.com www.buyandsell.ie and there's also the adverts section here! Those are the ones I put mine up on and it was sold by the end of the week. There are loads of car selling websites out there so put it where ever you want. I think carzone seems to be the most popular tho. Also put up pics if possible.

As regards payment, my car was sold for 2500 so it was a cash deal. Obviously an 05 Mini would be going for considerably more so they might not be prepared to hand over that much cash. If do decide to take a bank draft, tell them that you will give them the car when the draft has cleared in your account (usually 3-5 days). If you ring the branch that the draft was drawn on they may be able to confirm if it is genuine (some will some wont, it's down to their discretion). They could also transfer the funds into your account if you are happy to give them your bank details. When you hand over the car, you get them to fill in the back of the registration cert, but you post it yourself. The reason being that the registered owner of the car is responsible for any speeding tickets etc incurred by the vehicle, and also for the motor tax so they may take the cert, not post it on and then go get a load of tickets in your car and you'll be stuck with the fines (unlikely I know but better be safe than sorry).

It would also be worth checking out what the situation is with test driving the car and insurance in case someone damages the car!

edit: also forgot to add that if you do take a bank draft, foreign drafts should be avoided like the plague, as it can take over 4 weeks for some to clear. Had a guy in work last week who accepted a sterling draft in payment for his moped, waited 5 days then handed it over, 3 weeks later it was returned as it was fraudulent and he had pretty much no comeback.

Phibsboro

Great advice guys, I appreciate it.

C