Quick Car Auction question - selling

Mizuno Man

Just looking for any experiences or hints anyone can provide regarding selling a car at auction rather than buying...

I am looking to get a car from the UK. I will need to sell my current car to help with the finance. Selling privately isn't an option as I find the whole thing too unreliable with time wasters and the completely hit and miss results timewise. The timing between shifting my old and buying the new car has to mesh fairly well.

My current car is a UK import 2004 Jaguar X-Type 2.0l Diesel S with 130,000 miles on it. Half Leather interior, parking sensors, and a couple of other bits and pieces. It's immaculate. I know I am biased, but it really is spotless. The exterior paintwork has only ever been washed by hand and looks like new. Full and complete Jaguar Service History. Only big work done was a new power steering pump about 1,000 miles ago. The only sign of wear and tear is the radio volume control button on the steering wheel is slightly worn!!! Oh, and one alloy has a half inch kerb mark on it - thank you Mrs Mizuno Man!

A Jaguar dealer in NI has offered me £3,500 trade in on my current car which isn't too bad really. Trading in across the water doesn't work with the Irish Reg. Trading in here will see me screwed.

So I am thinking of the auction option.

Can anyone tell me how likely my car would be to shift for a decent number at an auction here?

How likely would it be to shift quickly?

Which Auctioneers would you recommend?

And anything else you can think of that might be of use!

Bigus

Go around a few dealers first for a cash offer and get a dose of reality before you consider auction, after all it's mainly dealers who buy at auction, but a least if you visit them they get a chance to drive it and talk to you unless there's something to hide, this way you should get more and the two of you agree timescale to suit both.

Mizuno Man

Thanks Bigus.

I think I am probably guilty of painting all dealers with the same brush I suppose. I really should go and talk to a few of them and see what they say. In the distant past my experience of that has been quite poor though. I do remember one or two actually sniggering when I told them I wanted to sell my car and was wondering if they would have any interest in it. Might be different with this car perhaps.

Bigus

It costs nothing bar a bit of time to talk , so give it a try , in person not on the phone or email.

Good luck.

Mizuno Man

Bigus wrote: »

It costs nothing bar a bit of time to talk , so give it a try , in person not on the phone or email.

Good luck.

Thanks Bigus. I would only do it in person anyway but thanks for the advice. Is there any particular dealer you would recommend by the way?

I still feel that it's unlikely I'll see anything close to what the car is worth via that route as the dealer himself has to make a decent profit from the transaction. I would think the auction route might get me a little closer to the retail value. Worth a try anyway though as you say....

Mizuno Man

Does anyone else have any experience selling at auction?

lifer_sean

I would have thought that if you put it up for sale privately at the nett price you would expect to get at auction (ie less their fees) then you should get lots of callers ?

Often bought at auction, only once sold at auction. Didn't get a great price for the car but suited me at the time to walk away from it.

George Dalton

How much would you want/expect the car to fetch at an auction?

Mizuno Man

I would like to get at least around the 4-5k mark really.

From what I can see online, most x-types on offer are of lower spec with similar years with similar mileage and are around that price. I would consider 4-5k for the condition my yoke is in to be a bargain despite the mileage. I've put 90,000 of the miles on it myself and around 85,000 have been motorway cruising!!

Might drop into Merlin this week and see what they have to say....

burke027

You must be dreaming if you think you will get between 4 and 5 grand for that car. I bet you you wont get a hole lot more the 2.5k or 3k. I no im being blunt but im just prepairing you.

Mizuno Man

I was expecting a reply similar to that I must say!

You may be right burke027. But I do have a dealer in the north who will give me around 4-4.5k euro for it as a trade in. I wouldn't think he would be that far off the value really.

He said around £2.5k initially but after seeing the car and it's condition he felt £3-3.5k comfortably.

Howandever, reality can be shockingly different from theory, so you may well be right on the mark yourself.....

George Dalton

I would say you would realistically get about €3000 nett at an auction to be honest. That is the trade price of your car IMO. You might get lucky if a couple of private punters spot it in the catalogue and get a dose of auction fever on the night.

According to an email I got earlier Wilsons auctions at Citywest are doing a no sale no fee offer coming up to Christmas so you may as well try it anyway

Del2005

Mizuno Man wrote: »

I was expecting a reply similar to that I must say!

You may be right burke027. But I do have a dealer in the north who will give me around 4-4.5k euro for it as a trade in. I wouldn't think he would be that far off the value really.

He said around £2.5k initially but after seeing the car and it's condition he felt £3-3.5k comfortably.

Howandever, reality can be shockingly different from theory, so you may well be right on the mark yourself.....

I could give you €10k as a trade in and still do you if I over price the car I'm selling. You need to look at the cost of change not trade in price.

Mizuno Man

Del2005 wrote: »

I could give you €10k as a trade in and still do you if I over price the car I'm selling. You need to look at the cost of change not trade in price.

That's a great point Del. And it may well be the root of my optimism.

I may welll be that the guy upping the trade in value by £500-£1,000 after seeing the cars condition could all be part of the choreography too I guess.

In any case, I am happy that my car is 'worth' a lot more than 3k euro when compared to other similar vehicles, but that means nothing unless I can find someone willing pay the price.

Given that auctions seem to be mostly trade attended I am hoping that I get it on the floor with a reasonable reserve and have a few interested private buyers see it....

Hmmmm, starting to sound less and less likely really.....

SRFC

I'd go the donedeal route and put up with time wasters if you get the right price it be worth it.

Mizuno Man

Well, my car went up on a few websites a couple of weeks before Christmas, got a call two days later, deposit on it a week after that and it is with it's new owner today. I pick up my new (to me) car tomorrow.

All in all, it could not have worked out any better. I got exactly the price I was hoping for, timing worked out seamlessly and all proved totally hassle free.

I did talk to Merlin and they were very helpful but ultimately told me 2.5 to 3k would be all I'd get. The guy very honestly told me to strongly consider selling privately instead as he himself said he had not seen a similar car in better condition.

So thank you to all who gave me advice here. It proved to be pretty much spot on!!!