Some questions on selling a Focus ST

lightsun

Hi All,

I've gone through the guide on how to sell your car and I have to say some excellent info I wouldn't have thought of.

but now I'm faced with the question do I sell my car off privately or do I try to sell it to a dealer?

Some back ground info. I'll be leaving Ireland to move abroad on the 1st of September. Or rather...end of August. I have a 2006 Ford Focus ST with 70K miles on the clock and it's in great condition, well maintained, taxed, nct untill '14, etc etc.

Would you advise to do a private sale or do you think it might be worth approaching some dealers to see if they are interrested in buying it? I'm just not sure if it's worth it or if I'm going to get absolutely screwed over by dealers or cash 4 car places?

Any advice is welcomed!

Zcott

You'll get more from a private seller but you'll have to hope a buyer comes along. You could sell to a dealer today for less.

djimi

It depends on your time frame to sell. If you are happy to put it online today and wait a couple of months to see what you can get (and are prepared to actually sell if a buyer comes along this week with the right money) then that is probably your best option. A dealer/cash4cars buyer wont give you anything like what you would get from a private sale.

lightsun

Zcott wrote: »

You'll get more from a private seller but you'll have to hope a buyer comes along. You could sell to a dealer today for less.

Do you know roughly how much we're talking about less? I mean I'm not talking absolute figures obviously, but would they offer me 50% of the value or 75% or what would you estimate?

Again I ask because I've bought a few cars in Ireland but never really sold one (it's always been trade in when buying a new one) so I'm slightly unsure with what to do and if I want to go through the hassle of finding a private buyer. Especially since I'm a afraid this car attracts test pilots. (If I'm to believe friends who's sold similar cars e.g. gti's and mazda mps's)

djimi

lightsun wrote: »

Do you know roughly how much we're talking about less? I mean I'm not talking absolute figures obviously, but would they offer me 50% of the value or 75% or what would you estimate?

Again I ask because I've bought a few cars in Ireland but never really sold one (it's always been trade in when buying a new one) so I'm slightly unsure with what to do and if I want to go through the hassle of finding a private buyer. Especially since I'm a afraid this car attracts test pilots. (If I'm to believe friends who's sold similar cars e.g. gti's and mazda mps's)

Id hazard a guess it would somewhere in the region of maybe 30-40% less than you would get for it.

lightsun

Yeah I suppose that makes sense actually considering margins etc etc

grand...think I'll wait a month or so then start going down the route of private sale. Even if I get extremely lucky and find a buyer early in the process a price difference of 30-40% will buy me a few bus tickets for a few weeks ;-)

Cheers for the info/opinions guys!

dar83

Give us some more details on the car, colour, No. of doors, extra's from base factory level etc...

06 ST's generally are going for about €6-6,500 depending on spec.

bazz26

Most dealers will shy away from that car because they are hard enough to shift due to the running costs. So any offer they will make you will be low in the expectancy that it will be sitting on their forecourt for along time.

If I was in the market for a ST I would be looking at the private market as I would want to meet and talk to the owner of the car to find out as much as possible about how they looked after the car rather than going to a dealer who just took it into stock and doesn't know much about it's history.

lightsun

dar83 wrote: »

Give us some more details on the car, colour, No. of doors, extra's from base factory level etc...

06 ST's generally are going for about €6-6,500 depending on spec.

I don't want to turn this into a sales patter but, sure I suppose it never hurts ;-)

So...it's got exactly 71K miles on the clock or 115K in KM. It's a ST-2 with full leather interior, board computer and all ST-2 trim, it's got 3 doors, it's the focus ST blue (think it's called performance blue or something along those lines), nct'd untill mid next year, Taxed untill september, always maintained with stamps in the booklet, recently I replaced the front 2 wishbones so it's driving like a champ again. I've never upgraded or replaced anything on it but kept it stock. And in general it's my baby so always well looked after. Including the paints which only has a few chips on the bottom of the front bumper as I've looked after the rest lovingly. Unfortunately I'm moving to a LHD country. Even with that I've looked at importing it but unfortunately the dutch tax man loves 5 cylinders even more than I do....

and I actually had about 6-6.5K in mind as well. I'll probably advertise it for around 6.5K and end up taking 6K or something along those lines.

lightsun

bazz26 wrote: »

Most dealers will shy away from that car because they are hard enough to shift due to the running costs. So any offer they will make you will be low in the expectancy that it will be sitting on their forecourt for along time.

Yeah I hear your point. That's one of things that's got my worried a bit. I love the brumble of a 5 cyclinder but unfortunately that 2.5 Litre engine is a b*tch when it comes to tax/running cost.

worth it to me and some other people but I can understand it takes a while to get the right buyer in, meaning a lot of standing costs.

Henry Ford III

djimi wrote: »

Id hazard a guess it would somewhere in the region of maybe 30-40% less than you would get for it.

More an amount rather than a percentage really.

I'd say €1500-€2000 less.

dar83

lightsun wrote: »

I don't want to turn this into a sales patter but, sure I suppose it never hurts ;-)

So...it's got exactly 71K miles on the clock or 115K in KM. It's a ST-2 with full leather interior, board computer and all ST-2 trim, it's got 3 doors, it's the focus ST blue (think it's called performance blue or something along those lines), nct'd untill mid next year, Taxed untill september, always maintained with stamps in the booklet, recently I replaced the front 2 wishbones so it's driving like a champ again. I've never upgraded or replaced anything on it but kept it stock. And in general it's my baby so always well looked after. Including the paints which only has a few chips on the bottom of the front bumper as I've looked after the rest lovingly. Unfortunately I'm moving to a LHD country. Even with that I've looked at importing it but unfortunately the dutch tax man loves 5 cylinders even more than I do....

and I actually had about 6-6.5K in mind as well. I'll probably advertise it for around 6.5K and end up taking 6K or something along those lines.

Mileage is slightly high possibly for a purist looking for one, but the leather interior will help the sale for sure. Have you had to replace anything major? Alternator? Oil Filter Diaphragm? Power Steering Pump? etc...

lightsun

dar83 wrote: »

Mileage is slightly high possibly for a purist looking for one, but the leather interior will help the sale for sure. Have you had to replace anything major? Alternator? Oil Filter Diaphragm? Power Steering Pump? etc...

Yeah but they're gentle miles =P ...gentle-ish.

let's see, had to replace the wishbones like I said, replaced a turbo solenoid at one point in time, replaced the alternator right when I got it 3 years ago (dealer sold it to me, I drove it off the lot and battery light popped on 20 miles later. In all fairness to him he did replace it under warranty). And that's it. She's never been any trouble.

The only cost I've ever had have always gone towards front tyres and maintenance really.

bazz26

70k miles on a 7 year old car is only 10k miles per year. This is not high.

dar83

bazz26 wrote: »

70k miles on a 7 year old car is only 10k miles per year. This is not high.

It's not high, but for someone looking at an ST it's on the higher end of the scale of whats out there. (my own is an 07 and has just passed 63k km, it was 42k km when I bought it in 2011)

If the alternator was already replaced that's a plus really. They'll go at some point if it already has then all the better. The boost solenoid replacement is also good, the newer part is probably the revised version, which also helps.

shankespony

70k is around average for a petrol, though high tax and petrol costs will reduce number of buyers Advertise it honestly and have any documentation as a savvy buyer will want some background. Look at the adverts and describe it clearly that would be my advice, you could look to start selling it now and get something on bangernomics as a cash buyer till sept. Its better to sell now and bank your cash, a driver will enjoy driving the ST in the summer not dark evenings of winter. Sell now imo!

Supergurrier

Don't wait a month summer is the time to sell one of these

lightsun

shankespony wrote: »

Its better to sell now and bank your cash, a driver will enjoy driving the ST in the summer not dark evenings of winter. Sell now imo!

That's actually a very good point I hadn't thought of.

I'm going to go on a photoshoot this weekend and start putting some adverts up. Netting an extra 1500-2000 from a private sale as opposed to a dealer is easily going to buy me a banger that'll last me 3 months.