stupid offers on a private sale

RobAMerc

has anyone else tried selling a car privately recently?

were you plagued by stupid offers?

I am trying to sell a car @ 16250.
So far I have been offered - sight unseen 14,500 by a BMW dealer ( its a BMW), 13,500 by someone who expected me to meet him 50miles away to show it to him, luckily I made it clear I needed to know if he was willing to pay the asking price before I travelled - he admitted he was thinking 13,500 :mad: and most ridiculously a guy offered me 8k and his 98 Mitsubishi.

I've also had 2 more serious offers via txt of 14k sight unseen.
how do people think that 8k or even 13.5 k is a valid offer on something asking 16k plus

Kadongy

Maybe you are asking for too much. Used big cars are very cheap recently.

The offers dont sound stupid. The 13.5k guy sounds like a chancer though - hoping you would just accept the offer after travelling so far to show it I think.

Brian?

The way the used car market is at the moment I'm not surprised. They are plenty of people desperate to sell, so why not chance your arm with a low ball offer to see if you can pick up a bargain.

I realise that's going to be a pain in the hoop for the seller, but if I was looking to buy I'd give it a go.

RobAMerc

Kadongy wrote: »

Maybe you are asking for too much. Used big cars are very cheap recently.

The offers dont sound stupid. The 13.5k guy sounds like a chancer though - hoping you would just accept the offer after travelling so far to show it I think.

What makes you think its a big car?
I was offered 16.5k for it as a trade in and the BMW dealer rang me offering to buy it cash for 14.5k - how often does that happen if it wasn't a rare desirable car ? and what does he think he could have sold it for if he was willing to buy it for 14.5k.

I realise there is a lot of people stuck for money, but 14.5k is not a reasonable offer on something priced at 16,250. If you don't think it's worth 16,250 don't offer anything, go find something else!

I have bought and sold a lot of cars privately through the years, people come to see stuff, offer 500 less than asking with the expectation of getting it for 250 off, not 2k off !

Seweryn

RobAMerc wrote: »

has anyone else tried selling a car privately recently?

were you plagued by stupid offers?

Yeah, I was at the same boat. Silly offers are common these days and the best way is to ignore them. What you need is as follows:
- Make sure your car is priced right (not too high with some room for haggling),
- Your advert is well presented with detailed description and good photos,
- Patience. Just ignore the time wasters and wait for the right buyer to come. It will take some time, but you will sell it.
By the way, how long ago did you place your first ad for the car?

Good Luck with the sale.

Bigcheeze

You seem to be taking it personally.

Two Things to remember:

1. Nobody is going to offer you the asking price. They're all going to offer at least 10% less no matter how fairly you think it's priced.

2. If you're going to insist on getting the full asking price you're not going to sell the car. If 16,250 is your minimum, price the car over 17k

Hootanany

What car is it

MarkR

Without you telling us more about your car, we can't really tell if any of those offers are stupid really.

What model, year, mileage etc is it?

anewme

Contrary to popular belief, the second hand car market is actually thriving and some dealers simply do not have enough stock, hence the BMW dealer offering cash. I would ask the BMW Dealer if he could up his price. He may already have a buyer in mind and would be willing to take less of a margin.

If the car is a popular/rare model, there should be no problem selling.

My sister sold her year old car in a day last week. Got a very good price too.

skyhighflyer

I would agree, good used cars are thin on the ground and are only going to get thinner as a result of the crash in new car registrations from 2009 onwards.

If a BMW dealer offered you 14.5k then the car is obviously well-priced at around €16k.

I have a couple of rules about private sellers that usually weed out messers:

1. They come to visit me; and

2. no dealing until they see the car first.

Atlantic Dawn

skyhighflyer wrote: »

I have a couple of rules about private sellers that usually weed out messers:

1. They come to visit me; and

2. no dealing until they see the car first.

Exactly, when selling a car it's best not to entertain any offers over the phone from anyone, tell them price is negotiable and they need to view it to make an offer. Otherwise you have people with no intention of buying expecting you to hold the car for them until they figure out they can't afford it.

I can't believe you expect to get the full asking price, I'd love more details of this rare and not big BMW

wyndham

RobAMerc wrote: »

What makes you think its a big car?
I was offered 16.5k for it as a trade in and the BMW dealer rang me offering to buy it cash for 14.5k - how often does that happen if it wasn't a rare desirable car ? and what does he think he could have sold it for if he was willing to buy it for 14.5k.

I realise there is a lot of people stuck for money, but 14.5k is not a reasonable offer on something priced at 16,250. If you don't think it's worth 16,250 don't offer anything, go find something else!

I have bought and sold a lot of cars privately through the years, people come to see stuff, offer 500 less than asking with the expectation of getting it for 250 off, not 2k off !

10% off your asking is not a "stupid offer" and would be a reasonable starting point imo. €5,000 would be a stupid offer.

alias no.9

The place is full of people making stupid offers regardless of the car and it's market value. I'm usually dealing with much cheaper motors, but when I get an offer unseen, I respond by restating the asking price, inviting them to view the car, then telling them they're welcome to make an offer once they're satisfied with what they see. I've only once had to show a car to a second person, and at that, the first person who saw that car was left disappointed, that they hadn't made a firm offer in time.

alias no.9

wyndham wrote: »

10% off your asking is not a "stupid offer" and would be a reasonable starting point imo. €5,000 would be a stupid offer.

It may not be a stupid offer after viewing a car, it's stupid to do unseen, the car could be a wreck and you're already committing to a price.

Owen

You should try selling small stuff! I've a moped for sale for 375 euro. I've web offered 50, 100, an xbox, two people have offered asking then disappeared without viewing ... and I got offered a collection of DVDs. Not the interesting kind

Seweryn

alias no.9 wrote: »

The place is full of people making stupid offers regardless of the car and it's market value. I'm usually dealing with much cheaper motors, but when I get an offer unseen, I respond by restating the asking price, inviting them to view the car, then telling them they're welcome to make an offer once they're satisfied with what they see. I've only once had to show a car to a second person, and at that, the first person who saw that car was left disappointed, that they hadn't made a firm offer in time.

True, and the same happened to me. Hundreds of silly offers over the phone and no viewers for a month or two. Then a single interested person viewed it and bought the car week after.

Ev84

Sure wouldn't it be worse if you were getting NO offers for it? Getting offered 14.5k is only 1.75k off your asking price so you are close to getting a decent offer. It shows there is good interest in it so why complain? Good luck with the sale...

mickdw

If the dealer is offering 14.5k cash, I would assume that 16.5k is not out of bounds for it.
Still nothing strange about people offering 13.5k etc.

x in the city

your nuts to expect full whack price.

what is this rare not big BMW you refer to and put us out of our misery sir.

Hootanany

Must have some nice alloys with a go-faster stripe up the middle oh and a big exhaust

RobAMerc

Only a two on carzone at that price that are private sales.....


2006 320 M sport saloon
http://www.carzone.ie/search/BMW/3-Series/320-I-M-/201104201051656/advert?channel=CARS


2004 X5
http://www.carzone.ie/search/BMW/X5/X5-3.0SE/201045200210978/advert?channel=CARS

Not either of them anyway.

RobAMerc wrote: »

I've also had 2 more serious offers via txt of 14k sight unseen.

How can a text be considered a serious offer if they haven't viewed the thing?

listermint

http://www.carzone.ie/search/BMW/3-Series/SE/201043200004991/advert?channel=CARS

this is the closest i can find to yours although this is an '07 with quite a good spec. Maybe your priced too high tbh, also maybe the dealer needs a specific car as part of a deal and wont make profit on it.

10% off asking is standard fair and work from there.

you gave no mileage or spec of your 320D touring so its hard to judge.

listermint

listermint wrote: »

you gave no mileage or spec of your 320D touring so its hard to judge.

A 320d ? Seriously

RobAMerc wrote: »

how often does that happen if it wasn't a rare desirable car ? ...

dharn

i have a 06 320d se fully specced 100000 k full bmw service history i would be delighted to be getting 16000 ono for it ,a bmw dealer only valued it on a trade in at 12..13 k recently

listermint

RoverJames wrote: »

A 320d ? Seriously

my eager spidey search sense came back with that nugget. E90 320D Touring. 16+ is dealer prices tbh.

muckwarrior

I've seen plenty of threads on Adverts where someone offers maybe 80% of the asking price, the seller laughs and tells them to feck off, then weeks or maybe months later the car still hasn't sold and the seller has lowered the asking price to below the offer he scoffed at.

listermint

muckwarrior wrote: »

I've seen plenty of threads on Adverts where someone offers maybe 80% of the asking price, the seller laughs and tells them to feck off, then weeks or maybe months later the car still hasn't sold and the seller has lowered the asking price to below the offer he scoffed at.

Agreed, have seen this countless times myself. There are too many people expecting to achieve dealer prices with no warranty and no come back as it is a private sale. Im all for maximising your return when selling but you have to be realistic if you want to change vehicles.

Ive always been realistic when selling. undercut the competition and sell on as soon as i can. And I keep my vehicles in great nick. Ive sold to friends and family in the past and would hate to hand over a junker.

opinion guy

Sold a car privately back in September and got lots of stupid offers. In then end I had to take the least stupid one.

ottostreet

What's wrong with 14.5k offer on 16.25k?

I think thats a very reasonable offer

dr.fuzzenstein

ottostreet wrote: »

What's wrong with 14.5k offer on 16.25k?

I think thats a very reasonable offer

Exactly it's called haggling.
This is how it works:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n3LL338aGA

MrDerp

RobAMerc wrote: »

What makes you think its a big car?
I was offered 16.5k for it as a trade in and the BMW dealer rang me offering to buy it cash for 14.5k - how often does that happen if it wasn't a rare desirable car ? and what does he think he could have sold it for if he was willing to buy it for 14.5k.

I realise there is a lot of people stuck for money, but 14.5k is not a reasonable offer on something priced at 16,250. If you don't think it's worth 16,250 don't offer anything, go find something else!

I have bought and sold a lot of cars privately through the years, people come to see stuff, offer 500 less than asking with the expectation of getting it for 250 off, not 2k off !

Why didn't you take the 16.5K trade in? You are buying another car, right?

Sounds to me like you want someone to meet your asking price for a cash sale, so that you can make a low-ball cash offer for your next car.

It's called having your cake, and eating it too

Gumbo

RobAMerc wrote: »

I have bought and sold a lot of cars privately through the years, people come to see stuff, offer 500 less than asking with the expectation of getting it for 250 off, not 2k off !

im afraid those days are gone OP.
14.5k on a 16k car is a great offer imho.

last year i bought an E90 for over 3k off the list price by playing hard ball and walking away onky for the dealer to call me back inside

ShadowHearth

14,5k offer from dealer was not bad. You would sell it with less hassel then private seller too. As dealer would look at what he needs, then in 5 secs tell: yes or no.

If you expecting to get same price as dealer offered you as trade in... Well good luck... We all know dealer will tell you higher price that he gives you for you car, while at the same time he bumps up the price on his own car he sells to you...

Offer of 8k is silly, offer of 1.5k less im cash, then you asking is great.

Owen

I think we need to be careful about pigeon-holing what is, and isn't a fair offer. So far in the thread we've a carte-blanche about 14.5k being a fair offer on a 16k odd car - but would that also hold true if that car was by far the cheapest car like for like on the Internet for sale?

I just think the mindset of 'whatever the price is, offer 3k less' doesn't always apply, and has the potential to screw up a lot of sales for people out there.

ShadowHearth

PaintDoctor wrote: »

I think we need to be careful about pigeon-holing what is, and isn't a fair offer. So far in the thread we've a carte-blanche about 14.5k being a fair offer on a 16k odd car - but would that also hold true if that car was by far the cheapest car like for like on the Internet for sale?

I just think the mindset of 'whatever the price is, offer 3k less' doesn't always apply, and has the potential to screw up a lot of sales for people out there.

Well yeah, but if dealer offering same car for 16k too, which one you would go see first, if youbwould be an average Irish Joe?

Owen

Well yeah, but that's not the point I made.

richardsheil

PaintDoctor wrote: »

I think we need to be careful about pigeon-holing what is, and isn't a fair offer. So far in the thread we've a carte-blanche about 14.5k being a fair offer on a 16k odd car - but would that also hold true if that car was by far the cheapest car like for like on the Internet for sale?

I just think the mindset of 'whatever the price is, offer 3k less' doesn't always apply, and has the potential to screw up a lot of sales for people out there.

I sold an 06 Accord a few weeks ago. The guy came and looked at the well priced and good condition car.

I said to him that it was well priced and that I could only give him 50 quid off as it was well priced. He agreed and bought the car.

Happy days all around. I sold it and he got it at a good price.

Crackity Jones

So are we gonna find out what kind of BMW this is? I'm curious to know which model the BMW garage is interested in. I'm guessing not mine...

dr.fuzzenstein

Yep, right now we're diagnosing the problem without seeing the patient.

voteforpedro

kceire wrote: »

im afraid those days are gone OP.
14.5k on a 16k car is a great offer imho.

last year i bought an E90 for over 3k off the list price by playing hard ball and walking away onky for the dealer to call me back inside

would totally agree with kceire here. it's a buyers market and offers are always gonna be way below what u think its worth. sometimes both sides will meet somewhere in the middle. as it stands its about 10% off which is defo fair imo

copacetic

PaintDoctor wrote: »

I think we need to be careful about pigeon-holing what is, and isn't a fair offer. So far in the thread we've a carte-blanche about 14.5k being a fair offer on a 16k odd car - but would that also hold true if that car was by far the cheapest car like for like on the Internet for sale?

I think people are saying it's a reasonable offer, not a 'stupid offer' as the OP is making out. Whether it is fair or not is another thing, but generally private sellers overprice by 15-20% imo, until their car has been on sale for a few months.

SV

This thread made me lol so much.

Thanks RobAMerc for the delusion

alias no.9

muckwarrior wrote: »

I've seen plenty of threads on Adverts where someone offers maybe 80% of the asking price, the seller laughs and tells them to feck off, then weeks or maybe months later the car still hasn't sold and the seller has lowered the asking price to below the offer he scoffed at.

The problem is that people see a realistic offer on an over priced car and then think they should apply the same percentage discount to a keenly priced car. I sold my wifes car for €3,400 last year, it was advertised at what at the time was a competitive price of €3,700, I could have sold 10 of them if I had them, given the level of interest by phone.
The adverts add is
http://touch.adverts.ie/car/other-cars/other-cars/2004-nissan-micra-1-0-5-door-metalic-gold/214012
I don't know if that guy ever got his second car, but to get a good deal, you either move quickly on a keenly priced motor or bide your time with an overpriced one. Making silly offers on keenly priced cars will leave you disappointed every time.

RobAMerc

lads - I'm not going to tell ye what the car is as I think I might as well keep the suspense. And I'm delighted you guys are so well able to tell me the value of the car without even knowing what car it is, what condition its in etc. I'm even being called delusional when you don't know what the fupp I am selling

As for 14.5k being a stupid offer, the way I look at it is if a dealer is willing to pay that much for it cash then its got to be worth more to a private buyer ( those this not make sense to anyone else here ?)

I'm on car 36 or 37 at this stage, I've only bought about 5 of these via dealers, I never expected not to haggle with serious buyers, but I never sold a car for less than 5% off what I advertised it for.

I'm glad I started this thread now as if the boards motors form is a sample of the muppetry thats now in the market I think I'll just find something to trade it against.

SV

Stage 2, go.

ottostreet

320d

Is this it?

even if it isn't...that car is a bit of a dealer, so probably not a 'lady owner'

Wildly Boaring

The people ringing offering don't know what you've been offered by a dealer. Don't take it so personally.

Would expect offers about the 14500. Got offers of 12000 on car I sold before christmas for about 14500. (Was advertising 15200 at the time.)

Everyone buying thinks they're gonna get a great bargain cus of the way the country is.

No need to be gettin snooty with people when you don't even tell them what car it is.

unkel

RobAMerc wrote: »

I never sold a car for less than 5% off what I advertised it for.

Things are very different from what they were a few years ago. If you reckon the car will make €16k in a private sale (you might very well be right if the dealer offers you €14.5k cash), you should advertise it at €17-17.5k. Much better chance of getting the €16k offer you are hoping for / expecting

ottostreet

I don't actually really care that much, I'm just really having fun trying to figure out what car it is online.

Assuming you have told us the right price RobAMerc...if that is your real name... *squints with suspicion*

RobAMerc

RobAMerc wrote: »

lads - I'm not going to tell ye what the car is as I think I might as well keep the suspense. And I'm delighted you guys are so well able to tell me the value of the car without even knowing what car it is, what condition its in etc. I'm even being called delusional when you don't know what the fupp I am selling

As for 14.5k being a stupid offer, the way I look at it is if a dealer is willing to pay that much for it cash then its got to be worth more to a private buyer ( those this not make sense to anyone else here ?)

I'm on car 36 or 37 at this stage, I've only bought about 5 of these via dealers, I never expected not to haggle with serious buyers, but I never sold a car for less than 5% off what I advertised it for.

I'm glad I started this thread now as if the boards motors form is a sample of the muppetry thats now in the market I think I'll just find something to trade it against.

Muppetry, see below :pac:

RobAMerc wrote: »

has anyone else tried selling a car privately recently?

were you plagued by stupid offers?

I am trying to sell a car @ 16250.
So far I have been offered - sight unseen 14,500 by a BMW dealer ( its a BMW), 13,500 by someone who expected me to meet him 50miles away to show it to him, luckily I made it clear I needed to know if he was willing to pay the asking price before I travelled - he admitted he was thinking 13,500 :mad: and most ridiculously a guy offered me 8k and his 98 Mitsubishi.

I've also had 2 more serious offers via txt of 14k sight unseen.
how do people think that 8k or even 13.5 k is a valid offer on something asking 16k plus