Will an NCT pre-test help sell my car?

cantdecide

My Mazda 323F 2.0 Sport's NCT is up in January. I'm certain it will pass. I've been through the car with a fine tooth comb in the 11 months I've had it and it's been repaired (with some whinging) regardless of cost. I've spent about €1,500- €1,800 on maintenance, repairs and improvements with the intention of keeping her as long as possible.

My plans have changed and I think I'm off to Oz/ NZ in the next month or two and I'm in the situation where I'll be selling a car with just a little NCT left. I have the feeling it won't be extremely easy to sell so I'm just worried about making things as easy as possible.

The question is; will an 'NCT Pre-test' be scoffed at or will people respond to it?

< totally unrelated question; when you put an ad on DoneDeal, you can put search criteria list. The last time I placed an ad for a car, it wouldn't let me do this. How can I get around it? I think a 323F sport won't be a popular search >

Atlantic Dawn

Pre test is a waste of time and money, if I saw it in an advert it would make me assume something was dodgy with the car to start with, I wouldn't bother. Put your money towards replacing dodgy tyres or lights that may need replacing. I'd put down how much you spent in your advert and say if you have receipts to back it up. For your ad there's no point in sticking in 100 different terms like putting every major car brand in it, if someone wants to buy a 323F they will search for a 323F or will search by budget on what they have to spend, in both cases they will find your car.

AdamLB

Agree with Atlantic.. pre NCT is complete waste of money. (sorry to all the mechanics). The mechanics in the NCT centre are only human and will miss somethings and pull you up on others that you might think are a waste of time.

NCT's are just part and parcel of a car. If it happens to be short it's the buyers rsponsibility to give it a good check and thats what most buyers do anyway. Be honest and explain that you're going away. It won't devalue the car as long as you give a good explanation when your selling it. The more info the better. Disks, service history, sparks, tyres, belts, etc.. show the faults too so there are no surprises. Every detail. Lots of detailed pics. You don't want to waste your time showing the car to 10 people. I had an Astra that was failing NCT on emmissions. I tried everything. decided to sell it and took 10 good pics..wrote an A4 page of history and condition and had it sold 10mins after putting it up. had to take the add off after 20 minutes cause i had about 20 emails and 50 calls.

coylemj

cantdecide wrote: »

My Mazda 323F 2.0 Sport's NCT is up in January. I'm certain it will pass. I've been through the car with a fine tooth comb in the 11 months I've had it and it's been repaired (with some whinging) regardless of cost. I've spent about €1,500- €1,800 on maintenance, repairs and improvements with the intention of keeping her as long as possible.

I agree with the previous posters, pre-NCT test is a waste of money.

If you can show receipts for all expenditure you talked about that would be very useful. However that's a lot of money to spend in 11 months, I hope most of it was for improvements - big bills for maintenance and repairs might scare someone off! Might be a good idea to bury the 'repair' bills!

Buffman

cantdecide wrote: »

I'll be selling a car with just a little NCT left.

How long's left? You can do the NCT 3 months before it's due.

I agree with everyone else, pre-tests are a waste of time and money.

cantdecide

Buffman wrote: »

...I agree with everyone else, pre-tests are a waste of time and money...

Right you be. I'll forget about it.

Buffman wrote: »

...How long's left? You can do the NCT 3 months before it's due...

It's due in the middle of January which is about three months after I need to be gone.

Nothing freakie. There are receipts for everything;

New timing belt & service
Long life plugs
2 new tyres
Brake pads
New Battery
Front drop links
Front roll bar bushings
Front shocks
Wheels straightened & refurbished
All coil packs & leads
Rear roll bar bushings
Rear Roll bar links
Removed all dings
Painted and re-mounted the front bumper
Pro valet
Plates/ blanks/ nozzles/ wingwongs/ doodads

I'm bloody well proud of the thing. It's a bit of a sleeper, too. I'm a fool for doing everything to it and immediately selling it :rolleyes:

Anyone want to venture a valuation? It's got a 135000 miles, it'll be taxed until 11/11. I'll probably start selling it soon. I have my bikes to fall back on.

coylemj

Year?

cantdecide

2002

Might make 2 thou.

unkel

cantdecide wrote: »

I've spent about €1,500- €1,800 on maintenance, repairs and improvements

:eek:

If you like the car that much (and I take it it's a complete minter now), maybe put it in storage for a few years? Agree with RJ, you're unlikely to get over 2k for it. Even with a fresh NCT.

cantdecide

unkel wrote: »

:eek:

If you like the car that much (and I take it it's a complete minter now), maybe put it in storage for a few years? Agree with RJ, you're unlikely to get over 2k for it. Even with a fresh NCT.

I could have been luckier with it, tbh- it wasn't perfect when I bought it and it needed the belts etc done. I wasn't in love with it but I was going to tip away at it and see how well it would come along.

There were a couple of them on Done Deal last year and, being the cheapest, this was all I could afford. The straighter ones had price tags of almost €3k at the time. Now it looks like I'll be lucky to get the original outlay back :rolleyes: Why is it the minute I buy a car, they become worthless?

Before I sling my hook, I'll have to clear the loan on it. I owe what it's worth. I may think about some way of hanging onto it but I doubt there's a way. Will I never learn:rolleyes:

unkel

cantdecide wrote: »

Before I sling my hook, I'll have to clear the loan on it. I owe what it's worth.

Jesus man, would you not have paid off the loan before starting to do the car up? Anyway let us know how you're getting on, GLWS and best wishes for your new life down under

cantdecide

unkel wrote: »

Jesus man, would you not have paid off the loan before starting to do the car up? Anyway let us know how you're getting on, GLWS and best wishes for your new life down under

I was beyond broke when I got it and the stuff that went wrong wasn't really optional. Then I actually saw my old beetle beautifully restored and decided I wasn't going looking at a rough Mazda any longer!! Ah well. One has to suffer for ones passions sometimes!

Thanks for the good wishes. Itll be all two wheels for the first while in NZ but I'll switch back to four when I can afford something that'll make you jealous!!