Can't sell my car!

colincork · 23-07-2015 3:16pm #1

Sorry to annoy ye all with my problems but I'm having serious difficulty selling my car

Car is spot on with 13 months NCT and very clean yet I've had no calls offers or viewers

Listed it originally for €1800 but would take €1500 now as I need cash for my insurance

Is there something wrong with my ad or is it still overpriced?

http://www.adverts.ie/8341861

Any help would be great

Willfarman · 23-07-2015 3:19pm

Wrong website to try sell anything. Done deal it. Price looks ok.

colincork · 23-07-2015 3:21pm

Willfarman wrote: »

Wrong website to try sell anything. Done deal it. Price looks ok.

http://cars.donedeal.ie/view/9809931

I've had it on donedeal and every fb group as well.
I've never had so much trouble selling a car and can't understand why

Special Circumstances · 23-07-2015 3:24pm

Get NCT.
Donedeal.
Better pictures with less distraction in background.
Prioritise the good points and cut out some the waffle.

Willfarman · 23-07-2015 3:24pm

Too deer then. A big litre engine small car is high tax for size of car. Customers limited maybe. Bump up ad drop price a bit.

23-07-2015 4:29pm

I'd be open to a swap for my 99 Toyota Celica VVTLI - just past the 100k miles, nct til Oct.

colincork · 23-07-2015 4:44pm

[Deleted User] wrote: »

I'd be open to a swap for my 99 Toyota Celica VVTLI - just past the 100k miles, nct til Oct.

No thanks need cash

bazz26 · 23-07-2015 4:52pm

If your in a hurry to sell then you might have to review the asking price. This is what you are up against:

http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/audi-a3-1-6-petrol/9654334?offset=7

http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/audi-a3/9831810?offset=8

Other than that I'd give it a good wash and take better photos.

dingding · 23-07-2015 6:50pm

Also no pictures of the inside of the car, as a previous poster said give it a good wash it looks very dull when compared to the first link above.

Also you will probably need to drop the price another couple of hundred.

EDIT Sorry just noticed the interior shot on the done deal ad.

Volvoair · 23-07-2015 10:06pm

its 1.6 PETROL....(nobody buys PETROL Audi/BMW/VW. cars)
has only 2 DOORS....
why no mileage given....impossible to read from picture.
its 13 years old....
worth maximum 800 cash.

unkel · 23-07-2015 10:07pm

bazz26 wrote: »

If your in a hurry to sell then you might have to review the asking price. This is what you are up against:

And neither of those has sold either. Christ. €1,800 was too much but I thought €1,500 was realistic. Obviously not so. Maybe advertise at €1,250 and take it from there?

Special Circumstances · 23-07-2015 10:11pm

unkel wrote: »

And neither of those has sold either. Christ. €1,800 was too much but I thought €1,500 was realistic. Obviously not so. Maybe advertise at €1,250 and take it from there?

I thought 1500 was realistic too. Couldn't picture there being loads of better cars 1.0 to 1.6 for that kinda money?

No mileage shown in ad is a major alarm bell though.

snipey · 23-07-2015 10:11pm

nearly 15 years old, insurance will be impossible to get the way things are going.

Boxtroll · 23-07-2015 10:44pm

€500 is its value, cannot make a racehorse out of a donkey.

5ub · 23-07-2015 10:47pm

Your pictures could be better. Get one of the other side of the car and take down the picture of the alloy, they don't really look in great nick so I wouldn't be advertising that

colm_mcm · 23-07-2015 11:07pm

3 door a3 1.6 is quite saleable. You just need to lower the price a bit and take better pictures.

Noccy_Mondy · 23-07-2015 11:14pm

"Cash is King" and "try me", two of the things I hate to see on an ad. Sound so cheesy to me. Reword. I'm nitpicking sorry! Better pics, plain open background, straight to the point, I find bullet points work great, quick, concise delivery of information.

Either choose an area or just leave it at the county, instead of "select nearest area". Nitpicking again, but I spent an hour and a half on an ad lately, ensuring everything was right. A nicely presented ad, that has time spent on it, generates an impression of the seller (and thus the car) before it is even viewed.

colm_mcm · 23-07-2015 11:16pm

I'd get rid of the "miser on juice" bit too.

Celly Smunt · 23-07-2015 11:20pm

Swop 4 a iPhone 4 nd sum cash?

suchafunkymonke · 24-07-2015 8:23am

Its not selling because €1500 for that car is way above its value.

I'd value it closer to €800 if that. Its not a popular or attractive model, has damaged alloys, dirty bodywork and costs €500 a year to tax.

A buyer looking at it would think "if they haven't bothered to wash it before trying to sell it, what else haven't they bothered to do when owning the car".

Indricotherium · 24-07-2015 8:57am

15 year old 1.6 petrol car with ruined alloys and no NCT ..... €500??

Also putting waffle such as "interior like new" in an ad for a 14 year old car is just nonsense.

Toyotafanboi · 24-07-2015 9:14am

Volvoair wrote: »

its 1.6 PETROL....(nobody buys PETROL Audi/BMW/VW. cars)
has only 2 DOORS....
why no mileage given....impossible to read from picture.
its 13 years old....
worth maximum 800 cash.

suchafunkymonke wrote: »

Its not selling because €1500 for that car is way above its value.

I'd value it closer to €800 if that. Its not a popular or attractive model, has damaged alloys, dirty bodywork and costs €500 a year to tax.

A buyer looking at it would think "if they haven't bothered to wash it before trying to sell it, what else haven't they bothered to do when owning the car".

pretty much what i thought.

it seems harsh, but it's an undesirable car. it's like a Golf, but more anonymous (if that were possible), bland and with less street cred. It does sound vein too, but it's true, nobody wants a petrol German car or at least nobodies admitting to it.

it's 1.6 petrol which, to the Irish car buying public is something a priest would tell you to say 3 Hail Marys and an Our Father to try and get rid of.

It's also high mileage by Irish perception, past the magic self imploding 100k miles.

It's out of tax for a good while too, so when (and people will) try and beat you down because it's a "high" tax hatchback, you can't even try and justify it somehow because you know they are right because you havn't been taxing it either, because you too perceive or acknowledge that it is too dear.

It has numerous other problems like being a small car in size but a big car in bills.

advertise @ €900, take offers over 750.

advice for the ad?
- remove "miser on juice", nobody believes it and it makes you look tight.
- remove "try me for swaps, but cash is king", makes you sound like a waffler. do it the old fashioned way; play it cool, sell the car for cash, take said cash and buy a new car.
- remove "no offers", replace it with "or nearest offer", because no offers makes you sound like an unreasonable person, and lets face it, you'd break someones arm for €1250
- leave the german plates on the car, they make it look good, but remove any mention of them from the ad.
- don't respond to any questions on adverts unless someone is looking for your phone number, advertise on donedeal.

Special Circumstances · 24-07-2015 9:21am

I challenge anyone who thinks it's not worth a grand on a bad day to find a better option for a young driver with a bit of badge snobbery.

Toyotafanboi · 24-07-2015 9:37am

Special Circumstances wrote: »

I challenge anyone who thinks it's not worth a grand on a bad day to find a better option for a young driver with a bit of badge snobbery.

when you throw badge snobbery into the mix, it gets more difficult, i'l admit. i guess that's because you and i know that €1500 will buy a much better car in every way if badge snobbery isn't a concern :pac:.

however, if i was young and wanted a badge snob mobile, as many people do.

here are the first two cars on donedeal when i searched for golfs under €1500.

there's a 1.4 petrol and 1.9 diesel to suit everybodies taste. both have a good list of recently renewed serviceable items and both have more test than the audi. better street cred too.

they both have questionable mods, but lets face it, this is saving you time, because when you buy a mk4 golf as a young lad, questionable mods are always step 2.

http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/vw-golf-4-tdi/9906455?offset=4
http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/ww-golf/9950407?offset=1

or an audi that people would actually recognise as an audi (if that's what you're into). because it's not giving "the audi impression" if you have to tell people that it is one. "it's an audi, like the A4 Joe has, but smaller", that's a strong womanising line.
http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/audi-a4-for-sale/9972428?offset=18

or maybe this nice bora, i'd say you'd lift it for €1100
http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/volkswagon-bora-tdi-nct-7-16/9972643?offset=17

ot if you really want to go premium, this is only like €100 a year extra to tax and the rare chance of sideways action.
http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/mercedes-benz-c-class-c180-kompressor/8908548?offset=17

320d
http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/bmw-320d-for-sale/9936793?offset=12

316i for the chaaaaep tax but premo badge perception
http://cars.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/bmw-3-series-316i-96k-1500-buys/9383484?offset=1

just some of the vehicles you are competing with in the €1k to €1500 price bracket and while they all have their faults, none have a dashboard quite as coma inducingly dull as this

AMKC · 24-07-2015 9:43am

snipey wrote: »

nearly 15 years old, insurance will be impossible to get the way things are going.

I think its only for new drivers that insurance companys will not insure a 15 year old car for. But if its a driver that has been driving a while and has a full licence than they might possibly be able to get insurance on a car that old or older.

ShaunieVW · 24-07-2015 9:45am

As a fellow a3 owner( but with a better engine) Id price that at 1200 with a test, 700 without. Problem for you is that people that want the petrol variant want the 1.8t and not the 1.6 as its slow and does the same mpg as the 1.8t, the vast majority want the tdi version. Yours is the very basic spec so that goes against you.

I'd try to sell it as a reliable, solid and comfortable car. The thing with ads is to include all the relevant info in the most concise way you can, no one reads waffle. Also clean it and put up decent pics.

Special Circumstances · 24-07-2015 9:53am

Yeah, some decent alternatives there, not sure how insurable/sensible some of them would be for a young driver, but some options in the same ballpark money wise.
Now, someone else try it for the 500-800 euro farcical figures being thrown out!

Special Circumstances · 24-07-2015 9:54am

ShaunieVW wrote: »

Yours is the very basic spec so that goes against you.

That never shtopped Paddy or Mary getting their arses into an Audi or beemer.. :P:pac:;)

AMKC · 24-07-2015 9:58am

Id say try 900 to 1000. Not going to get anymore than that for it. The gearstick looks a bit worn and the alloys a bit damaged too. Try and get a new gear stick top. Take the alloy pics down or get them touched up. Take down the miser on fuel bit maybe say very easy on fuel if you want. Would sound a lot better.
As for the interior being boring it might bet is very well arranged very simple and would make a great first car for someone if they could get insurance. The Merc interior in the C class someone but up is not exactly exciting either.

DoctorStrange · 24-07-2015 10:09am

Needs more pictures, can't see the driver side and people might think you're hiding something.

Take it out on its own, away from house / other car and take more and better pics. Can't claim the interior is like new and then have a picture with a wrecked gear knob. You could stick a 2nd hand one on for cheap.

Also say what brand tyres you have and mm left on them.

Needs a good wash too, paint looks very dull in those pics, you can do this for €5! Maybe even throw on a coat of wax.

The engine will put people off too, relatively high costs with none of the oomph

Toyotafanboi · 24-07-2015 10:16am

Special Circumstances wrote: »

Yeah, some decent alternatives there, not sure how insurable/sensible some of them would be for a young driver, but some options in the same ballpark money wise.
Now, someone else try it for the 500-800 euro farcical figures being thrown out!

Special Circumstances · 24-07-2015 10:22am

Well obviously 1300-1500 would depend on the fresh NCT the OP mentions next week.
Ah maybe the 500/800 euro people assume a car over 10 years is practically impossible to NCT.

batskat · 24-07-2015 10:26am

AMKC wrote: »

I think its only for new drivers that insurance companys will not insure a 15 year old car for. But if its a driver that has been driving a while and has a full licence than they might possibly be able to get insurance on a car that old or older.

Its worse than that when your still with the insurance company and your car reaches 15 years old the insurance rate triple .Been there done that .
Nothing changed no points or crashes or claims
My FBD quote arrived and it was three times price because my car was 1999 car .
FBD would not budge. It seems the story is FBD is getting out from car insurance .

Brady insurance in Cavan saved me and got the insurance for the old price .

However probably next time around in august this year 2015 renewals they will be quoting 3 times higher as its a 1999 car that is then a 16 year old car .

The reality is after the insurance companies last august brought in the no car older than 15 years old they caused the MASSIVE DROP in value of second hand cars to start and one year later its impacting big time

The OP has found out the hard way his car is worth max €500 at best and my 1999 car I probably cant give it away

The real drop will be when people see their 5 year old cars drop in value by 30% or more because the car insurance age of car factors in

I probably will get a quote for renewal that if I put the money into buying a 2003 car and taking into the reduction in insurance would be cheaper than trying to insure a 1999 car

Who fault is it clear as day the government who allow these scum bag insurance companies steal us stupid with high insurance rates and devalue our car massively overnight

And you ant seen nothing yet some Insurance companies are looking at making cars over ten years old subject to massive Insurance hikes and when that happens second hand car values will plummet further

Batskat

Special Circumstances · 24-07-2015 10:33am

batskat wrote: »

The reality is after the insurance companies last august brought in the no car older than 15 years old they caused the MASSIVE DROP in value of second hand cars

The OP has found out the hard way his car is worth max €500 at best and my 1999 car I probably cant give it away

Batskat

Hadn't taken that into account, thought it was just the two companies in the news - are most other companies just putting in a "soft" ban on older cars with outrageous ramp up of quotes?
That puts a different spin on things alright..:(

unkel · 24-07-2015 10:34am

batskat wrote: »

The reality is after the insurance companies last august brought in the no car older than 15 years

Let's not lose the run of ourselves here. There are only 2 insurance companies (out of about 30) that do not insure cars older than 15 years. And that is only for new business, existing customers are fine with their over 15 year old cars.

And look on the bright side. Some cars over 15 or 20 years old can be insured on a very cheap classic car policy. Will be applying for classic insurance for my '01 next year myself

batskat · 24-07-2015 10:40am

unkel wrote: »

Let's not lose the run of ourselves here. There are only 2 insurance companies (out of about 30) that do not insure cars older than 15 years. And that is only for new business, existing customers are fine with their over 15 year old cars.

And look on the bright side. Some cars over 15 or 20 years old can be insured on a very cheap classic car policy. Will be applying for classic insurance for my '01 next year myself

Most insurance companies if you put in the car is a 1999 model it rejects the car automatically and that was some 20 companies I tried online

Its a car Insurance industry wide decision the car insurance CARTEL who met up and decided 15 year old cars were to be crapped on from on high eg triple the rate or reject them .

The few smaller car insurance companies who still insure older cars will be made to tow the car insurance CARTEL line soon

As long as the government allows the car Insurance cartel to rob us stupid then expect to loose your car value faster than you can count

Also classic car insurance has to be second car and drive less than 5000 kilometers a year so it no use to many people with place to only park one car or who dont want to own two cars
Batskat

porsche boy · 24-07-2015 10:43am

Drop the 'no offers below asking price' bit. It's acknowledged the listed prices are a starting point for negotiations. Also you sound stand offish and unapproachable.
Regrettably your valuation is ott and needs to be revised to the 1000 area. Offer it for 1250 obo and you might see some interest.

5ub · 24-07-2015 10:43am

unkel wrote: »

Let's not lose the run of ourselves here. There are only 2 insurance companies (out of about 30) that do not insure cars older than 15 years. And that is only for new business, existing customers are fine with their over 15 year old cars.

And look on the bright side. Some cars over 15 or 20 years old can be insured on a very cheap classic car policy. Will be applying for classic insurance for my '01 next year myself

Exactly this.

I've never had trouble getting a quote on an older car. Usually there is some negotiating to be done with them but never had point blank refusal.

If those two companies (axa and someone else) don't want my custom thats fine by me

batskat · 24-07-2015 10:46am

5ub wrote: »

Exactly this.

I've never had trouble getting a quote on an older car. Usually there is some negotiating to be done with them but never had point blank refusal.

If those two companies (axa and someone else) don't want my custom thats fine by me

There is umpteen threads here on Boards where you get the car insurance for older cars but the premium is double or triple the price than before
Of course there is no blank refusals its simple muggins want to part with cash for triple the price we can screw you this way or that way which way you want to be screwed muggins

batskat

unkel · 24-07-2015 10:48am

batskat wrote: »

the car insurance CARTEL who met up and decided 15 year old cars were to be crapped on

There are 30 companies offering motor insurance in this country. There is no cartel.

I wouldn't take any of the online quotes as a benchmark. They genenerally only quote you in very limited circumstances (where the margin is also high for them). I'm afraid even in 2015 you still have to ring around to get the best deal. Ring all insurers and many brokers...

batskat · 24-07-2015 10:57am

unkel wrote: »

There are 30 companies offering motor insurance in this country. There is no cartel.

I wouldn't take any of the online quotes as a benchmark. They genenerally only quote you in very limited circumstances (where the margin is also high for them). I'm afraid even in 2015 you still have to ring around to get the best deal. Ring all insurers and many brokers...

Well time you looked the many threads on the Boards where people on the know said the major Insurance companies all met up and brought in this new 15 year old car rule

Now in any lingo its called a CARTEL when the big players in any industry all work to follow the same hymn sheet.

To hide their activity from the bought off castrated car Insurance ombudsman they own they let a few smaller companies not follow the CARTEL's plan for few years
Eventually after few years all the 30 insurance companies will say sorry new car insurance Industry standards define 15 year cars as un-insurable and dont slam the door on the way out

The reason the car Insurance CARTEL can do all this is because the government lets them and probably gets nice new cars as bungs for letting them screw the muggins Irish who will take anything up the rear end

Thats how all these scams work creepy creepy slowly slowly boil the frog in the pot

batskat

unkel · 24-07-2015 11:08am

I hope to prove you wrong next year

I expect insurance on my 14 year old car will go down when it hits 15 next year. We will just have to wait and see.

batskat · 24-07-2015 11:38am

unkel wrote: »

I hope to prove you wrong next year

I expect insurance on my 14 year old car will go down when it hits 15 next year. We will just have to wait and see.

You got two chances non and zippidy do all

All the info shows that the Insurance in general industry the house cars boats farms the lot are lossing tons of money

Some sectors of Insurance are worse than others such as flood damage to Houses and Farms with large claims for all sorts of reason.

In the ideal world the car insurance industry would stand on its own two legs and charge only for the accidents within its own industry

However because the Irish Insurance industry is small they tend to lump the car industry in with the big losers like flood damage to houses..

Also Insurance companies invest the premiums and recently the investments have all been rotten apples

I can find no real proof that Irish cars are involved in more crashes recently or even that personal injuries have gone up .

All I can see is that if the Insurance industry makes bad bets they pass the costs of their incompetent bad bets onto the next years suckers who get their renewals

Also I see that house owner insurance rates would go orbital if they didn't put some of that risk onto car owners many who are not house owners and make them take up some of the costs of the massive losses house insurance claims made .

So your logic the insurance for your car will go down is not factoring a sudden flood damage claims for several thousand houses that might occur this year or some other Insurance claim and the need for the Insurance bosses to still get their bonus even if they continue to make bad investments

Good luck with your renewal next year I promise you the Insurance Industry will screw you for more if they need the cash .

batskat

ION08 · 24-07-2015 12:27pm

avoid using terms such as "miser on juice" to begin with..

Brian Scan · 24-07-2015 1:03pm

batskat wrote: »

You got two chances non and zippidy do all

All the info shows that the Insurance in general industry the house cars boats farms the lot are lossing tons of money

Some sectors of Insurance are worse than others such as flood damage to Houses and Farms with large claims for all sorts of reason.

In the ideal world the car insurance industry would stand on its own two legs and charge only for the accidents within its own industry

However because the Irish Insurance industry is small they tend to lump the car industry in with the big losers like flood damage to houses..

Also Insurance companies invest the premiums and recently the investments have all been rotten apples

I can find no real proof that Irish cars are involved in more crashes recently or even that personal injuries have gone up .

All I can see is that if the Insurance industry makes bad bets they pass the costs of their incompetent bad bets onto the next years suckers who get their renewals

Also I see that house owner insurance rates would go orbital if they didn't put some of that risk onto car owners many who are not house owners and make them take up some of the costs of the massive losses house insurance claims made .

So your logic the insurance for your car will go down is not factoring a sudden flood damage claims for several thousand houses that might occur this year or some other Insurance claim and the need for the Insurance bosses to still get their bonus even if they continue to make bad investments

Good luck with your renewal next year I promise you the Insurance Industry will screw you for more if they need the cash .

batskat

Even if everything you said was true why would that result in older cars not being insured?

Toyotafanboi · 24-07-2015 1:17pm

Brian Scan wrote: »

Even if everything you said was true why would that result in older cars not being insured?

because the companies have come out and said they won't insure them. They have told us, it's fact, it's happening.

Brian Scan · 24-07-2015 1:20pm

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

because the companies have come out and said they won't insure them. They have told us, it's fact, it's happening.

I just wondered how the post I quoted was relevant to what Unkel had said.

Toyotafanboi · 24-07-2015 1:27pm

Brian Scan wrote: »

I just wondered how the post I quoted was relevant to what Unkel had said.

the insurance companies have told us that prices are constantly rising because 15+ year old cars are death traps. Unkel has (correctly) pointing out that that is by and large not true. the post you quoted was telling us a more realistic explanation as to why car insurance prices have really risen.

Skatedude · 24-07-2015 5:00pm

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

because the companies have come out and said they won't insure them. They have told us, it's fact, it's happening.

i pay 400 a year for a big old car. 4.4L bmw and never had a problem getting insurance. and it's 18 years old

snipey · 24-07-2015 5:51pm

Skatedude wrote: »

i pay 400 a year for a big old car. 4.4L bmw and never had a problem getting insurance. and it's 18 years old

i'd believe it when I see it.

unkel · 24-07-2015 6:08pm

snipey wrote: »

i'd believe it when I see it.

Why don't you believe him? I used to pay €500 fully comp for insurance on a BMW 735i V8. And that included a hefty premium for full bonus protection and for business use

I used to pay €325 fully comp for a 4.7l V8 310BHP Porsche (over 20 years old on classic insurance)

I'm paying €389 now on a 14 year old convertible (and I only have 1 years NCB at the moment)

Ring, ring, ring, negotiate and save yourself a lot of money...

Can't sell my car!

Comments