Anyone sold a car recently?

cavanmaniac

Will be putting my 02 Audi A4 diesel 130bhp (115k miles) on the market shortly, after I NCT it, and was wondering if recent private sellers would share their experiences here?

I'm just keen to know if people are having to advertise cars very cheaply to get any inquiries or interest from their ads, or what the market is in general out there? The prices on carzone for vehicles similar to mine range from about €8,500k to the usual hilarious optimists looking for €13k.

I ask because I want to advertise my car at a realistic price and don't want to be faffing about with it waiting for months to sell it, if at all possible.

So in short, how long did it take you to sell your car and how low did you have to go? Or if someone wants to give me a rough estimate of how much my car is worth, then feel free...

Fizman

cavanmaniac wrote: »

Or if someone wants to give me a rough estimate of how much my car is worth, then feel free...

First off you'll need to provide us with pretty much every detail of the vehicle, in order to value it accurately at all. Colour, engine (i'm guessing its a 1.9tdi), additional spec and so on.

Could be an interesting thread though, provided there are people here who have sold recently!

I haven't read enough of it to know if the 'I need help selling my car' thread has some info that would help you though.

OutlawPete

cavanmaniac wrote: »

Will be putting my 02 Audi A4 diesel 130bhp (115k miles) on the market shortly, after I NCT it, and was wondering if recent private sellers would share their experiences here?
.

It all depends what condition it's in, was it looked after, valeted often, full Audi service history, timing belt done when it should have been etc.

You know yourself, you can see some A4's falling apart and then a 99 one will go buy and turn your head with it's gleaming bodywork etc.

I mean you could get a 2002 Audi A4 for 7 or 8,000 Eur but if it was well loved and had all the above then I know I'd go an extra 1,500 to 2,000 Eur for the peice of mind.

The way I look at it is if I bought a car just cause it was a bargain I'd only end up spending a few grand with the inevitable problems I'd be forking out on.

Good look selling and post a link to pics if you take any.

Nico

Big Nasty

Price similar car with similar mileage and spec in UK, add VRT plus €500 for travel expenses and that should give you a decent indication.

Lots of websites where you can post ads for free but the only ones you are likely to get any response out of you will have to pay for, e.g. Carzone / CBG.

frag4

the A4 is dating pretty well Imho

johndaman66

Sold a car and bought a car privately recently enough, albeit for somebody else I done the dealing. I will say that the price I bought and sold for was a nice bit lower than the general average of carzone prices. The car I sold was a 1998 corolla G6 1.3 litre in average condition and with some NCT and tax, sold for 2k euro even. Sold car within a few weeks of advertising it in the buy and sell. The car I bought was a new model 2001 Ford Mondeo, 1.8 petrol, with average mileage and almost two years NCT, in nice condition for 2,600 euro. I know the prices of these cars will be of no real direct relevance to you but just making the point that I wouldn't pay too much heed to the prices on carzone and I will suggest that for the most part the prices cars are being sold for in the real world are somewhat different perhaps.

If the car is not Irish reg I would suggest making it clear in the ad title or even if it is Irish reg make it clear also maybe. There are so many English reg Audis and BMW's on carzone now and going through them and comparing like with like can be difficult and annoying. At this stage if I seen an Audi or BMW going for good money on carzone and didn't see the reg I would automatically assume that its not on Irish number plates and skip through it

Matt Simis

On Carzone:
My car is getting 2k views per month, lots of interest and some exchange offers. Unfortunately the trades didnt interest me and the rest of the callers can only buy once they sell their car. No credit, same for everyone unless you are talking really cheap stuff.

By comparison my parents car is getting about 100 views per month and its 2nd cheapest (Imo a nice spot for a seller) in its class, I guess theirs will have to go a little cheaper or something.

richardsheil

Matt Simis wrote: »

On Carzone:
My car is getting 2k views per month, lots of interest and some exchange offers. Unfortunately the trades didnt interest me and the rest of the callers can only buy once they sell their car. No credit, same for everyone unless you are talking really cheap stuff.

By comparison my parents car is getting about 100 views per month and its 2nd cheapest (Imo a nice spot for a seller) in its class, I guess theirs will have to go a little cheaper or something.

It's not a question of how many views etc. That is irrelevant. All you need is one person to see and buy. Clearly thiese cars are too expensive.

Last November I sold our 99 Ford Galaxy in three days. For the full price. All other 99 Galaxies were advertised at around 6k. I advertised for 3.3 k and sold. The other cars were advertised at pure fantasy prices.

To sell, the car must be good, described honestly, and match what you were told it would be (.ie no lies) and cheap.

wba88

Hey im heading over to England in about 10 days to get an Audi A4 1.9TDI, they are very overpriced in comparison over here. Also it is extremely hard to find a nice choice here with low mileage. I have checked up the north and in my opinion I think all the decent A4s up there have already been imported.

Thought I'd post anyway and let you know the price of importing, for me im looking at an A4 1.9TDI less than 75k miles, FSH etc (some have leather or the bose sound system) but overall im looking at approx €7,000. Much cheaper than over here, less mileage and more choice over there.

Matt Simis

richardsheil wrote: »

It's not a question of how many views etc. That is irrelevant. All you need is one person to see and buy. Clearly thiese cars are too expensive.

To sell, the car must be good, described honestly, and match what you were told it would be (.ie no lies) and cheap.

Dont think you really have the situation as sussed as you believe. "One person" hmmm.

- Views are an indication of interest, they matter immensely if you understand the significance
- The Price is visible before a user "clicks", therefore too high a price and no one will click it.

Selling an average family wagon for half the going rate at such low absolute cost (a <€5K car sale) isnt an achievement. In my parents case there isnt huge demand for their car (and they could prolly do something on the price too) and in my case its priced favorably to the UK import cost, there is Zero choice in Ireland for the model.

I could (and do) move my price around, but its not going to change the fact its in a price range (EUR30k+) that requires either a buyer with a loan or previous car sale, neither if which are happening atm.

So no, the easy answer of "clearly these cars are overpriced" is not always correct.

philstar

well for me its no joy

have it on the B&S and four websites...and just one call:(

and its going at a giveaway price ahemm hint hint

PauloMN

Sold a car last week in less than a day. Many cars on Carzone etc. are over-priced. A car is only worth what someone will pay, and you can price it high with the intention of holding out, but you could be waiting months only to be bargained down anyway.

The car I sold went in at the bottom end of the price scale for the model on Carzone. My view on selling a car privately is to advertise it at a competitive price, but stick to your guns on the price when a buyer comes to view the car. Once someone comes to see the car, they've seen your asking price, you know it's low compared with most/all other asking prices, and if the car is in good shape with nothing majorly wrong, you are guaranteed a sale imo.

My own advice would be:
- Clean the car inside and out until it's spotless
- Take loads of decent quality photos (make sure to take these in front of a clean and tidy background, it makes a difference)
- Advertise it with the key points - condition, service history, extras, mileage, colour, engine, NCT, tax
- Note any expensive jobs already done - timing belt done @ 60k, new tyres, new discs and pads all around etc.
- NEVER put "quick sale", "must go", "has to go this week", "dropped price again", "no reasonable offer refused" etc. etc. on an ad. Looks desperate imo.
- Never blank out the reg. People like to be able to run a check on the reg number, I usually just skip over ads with blanked out reg plates. There is NO reason to blank out a reg.
- When someone calls to see the car, let them take a good look around it and a test drive. Make sure to show them the receipts and service history, even if they don't ask for it. People love seeing folders of receipts and history - shows the car was looked after. It can easily be brought into the conversation when they ask about the car, condition etc.

I firmly believe if you get someone out to see the car, that should really end in a sale.

Lex Luthor

A friend of mine had his 07 Passat 1.9TDi on Carzone and then a few of the free online ads for months. Nothing.

3 day ad in the Evening Herald & Independent over Thurs-Sat and he got 21 calls and sold straight away.

boomshackala

I actually started another post to find this out, where's the best place to advertise, seems like print is much better than online still

Gumbo

i sold my avensis in less than a week!
i was gobsmacked to be honest.

http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=92828&cat=2

Esel

Lex Luthor wrote: »

A friend of mine had his 07 Passat 1.9TDi on Carzone and then a few of the free online ads for months. Nothing.

3 day ad in the Evening Herald & Independent over Thurs-Sat and he got 21 calls and sold straight away.

I have made this point a few times!

unkel

kceire wrote: »

i sold my avensis in less than a week!
i was gobsmacked to be honest.

http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=92828&cat=2

Isn't that nearly two months between you put the ad up and you sold the car?

Anyway, congrats with the sale - well done!

Gumbo

unkel wrote: »

Isn't that nearly two months between you put the ad up and you sold the car?

Anyway, congrats with the sale - well done!

LOL good detective work

yeah i put it up on adverts but i put it into the buy and sell 2 weeks ago and got a call 2 days later!
buyer viewed the car and arranged to pick it up a week later (last Tuesday).

should of been a bit more precise in what ad sold it for me!

rabbitinlights

Sold my 2005 A4 2.0tdi in under 5 weeks - 1st guy who came around bought it a week later - cash in hand.

Matt Simis

Lex Luthor wrote: »

A friend of mine had his 07 Passat 1.9TDi on Carzone and then a few of the free online ads for months. Nothing.

3 day ad in the Evening Herald & Independent over Thurs-Sat and he got 21 calls and sold straight away.

Im giving this a shot this weekend, bloody pricey though!

Anan1

Matt Simis wrote: »

Im giving this a shot this weekend, bloody pricey though!

I dunno about the Herald for your car, the Irish Times might be a better bet. Even more expensive, though.

Lex Luthor

kceire wrote: »

i sold my avensis in less than a week!
i was gobsmacked to be honest.

http://www.adverts.ie/showproduct.php?product=92828&cat=2

I'm surprised you got 18k for it...!!!!!!!!

Lex Luthor

Matt Simis wrote: »

Im giving this a shot this weekend, bloody pricey though!

€66? This is what he paid

Matt Simis

Anan1 wrote: »

I dunno about the Herald for your car, the Irish Times might be a better bet. Even more expensive, though.

Someone else just said that to me too!

The advert "package" is spread across:

Irish Independent
Evening Herald
Sunday Independent

I dont really do papers, do you think thats a spread across a wide enough demographic?

Lex Luthor wrote: »

€66? This is what he paid

Nah, more. I have to do a bit of explaining on my car due to what it is, so had to buy a couple of extra lines (plus the 3 paper spread as above).

Anan1

You're targeting ABC1 readers, and the Irish Times has most of them sewn up. You do get some wealthy farmers reading the Independent, though.

neosmaster

Had a 02 new shape Corolla in Carzone for about 6 weeks with not as much as 1 call and it was going on the lower end of the price scale as it had high milage (110K ) other wise it was showroom condition with full 2yr NCT and Toyota service history

Put it in the Galway Advertiser (Thurs ) and guy came and drove away in it on the Saturday.

If you ask me I think the parper ( local if it's free ) is a better bet.Seems to be the case here in the west anyway

Cyrus

Matt Simis wrote: »

Someone else just said that to me too!

The advert "package" is spread across:

Irish Independent
Evening Herald
Sunday Independent

I dont really do papers, do you think thats a spread across a wide enough demographic?



Nah, more. I have to do a bit of explaining on my car due to what it is, so had to buy a couple of extra lines (plus the 3 paper spread as above).

let me know how that goes matt

Big Nasty

Would Motoring titles not be better than national / local papers? I mean the person who makes the effort to go out and buy Car Buyers Guide or Autotrader would seem to me like a more serious potential buyer! A better (and cheaper?) option than sticking an ad in the paper, most likely with no pictures!

Matt Simis

Cyrus wrote: »

let me know how that goes matt

You put yours in the Times then and we can compare results next week!

MCMLXXV wrote: »

Would Motoring titles not be better than national / local papers? I mean the person who makes the effort to go out and buy Car Buyers Guide or Autotrader would seem to me like a more serious potential buyer! A better (and cheaper?) option than sticking an ad in the paper, most likely with no pictures!

I dunno, I thought Car Publications were struggling (they ring me like twice a week each time with better offers) sales wise. A national paper also has the casual browsing factor that a specific car mag doesnt have, where someone is specifically looking for something. Saying that, Autotrader made me a good offer on 4 weeks in the print today and I went with it. Might as well try at least once.

cavanmaniac

Thanks for all the replies folks!

I'd describe my car as in good condition, not excellent, pristine, showroom etc, just good condition. I'll have it valeted and gleaming when I go to sell it though and it will look smashing, paintwork is in good nick.
It's the 130bhp diesel, denim blue, 2002, 115k on the clock, new tyres last year (€550), brake pads, wheel balancing, rear shocks just replaced (€400 service), getting it NCTd in next few weeks. Timing belt was done back at 60k. FSH but not with Audi, have you seen what those hoors charge?:eek:
Driving perfectly and all that as well. Usual A4 spec, alloys, climate etc. I had been thinking of advertising it about €9,000 or so.