Another "assistance selling my car" thread

slave1

Folks,

I've had my SMax on sale for a while now, have received some low ball offers and whilst I accepted two offers previously the folk making the offers went dark.
I think I've good photos, I've been honest with all work done and it's the lowest priced on the usual car websites.
This past month or so I've made a note of cars on sale in dealers, waited for them to be sold and then phoned up enquiring and asked what they sold for, the average sale of an 09 (usually with higher mileage, lesser condition, perhaps a model up or so) is €10.6k to €11k according to what the dealers told me.
Also, some of the cars up for sale are not available when I contact the dealers, some dealers seem to make up cars for sale, now that I've been tracking the sale for a month or so I'm seeing the same car photo popping up for different ads and of course when I phone up the car is sold but they have another one "just in" blah blah.

Anyhow, appreciate any advice or feedback, car is on Donedeal, Carzone, local paper and I've the link below to Adverts.

http://www.adverts.ie/car/ford/s-max/2009-ford-s-max-low-mileage-long-nct-tax/11201203

Thanks in advance!

millington

Ad seems fine to me. Little bit long winded as I prefer sort of bullet points of information but theres nothing bad in the description or anything. Pictures are fine too.

Price seems OK if dealer cars are making 10-11k. Maybe they're a hard sell.

Atlantic Dawn

Does it have 138k km on it or 138k miles on it, ad is not clear and mileage not mentioned in main body of ad.

Alanstrainor

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Does it have 138k km on it or 138k miles on it, ad is not clear and mileage not mentioned in main body of ad.

It's km, shown in one of the pictures.

slave1

When placing the ad the km/mileage is keyed in and configured by the Adverts layout, I've added 138,000kms to the body of the ad now, cheers

Henry Ford III

Don't accept an offer without a non refundable deposit next time.

Atlantic Dawn

Alanstrainor wrote: »

It's km, shown in one of the pictures.

slave1 wrote: »

When placing the ad the km/mileage is keyed in and configured by the Adverts layout, I've added 138,000kms to the body of the ad now, cheers

Yes I missed it in the pics, just gave them a quick scan. I'd say the Donedeal ad is the largest audience and best chance of selling, make sure the ad there has mileage clearly listed, bump the ad there at lunchtime tomorrow for the weekend buyers.

bazz26

I'd say your biggest problem is that your are competing with people taking advantage of the weaker sterling over the last few months. Unfortunately people can probably buy a slightly newer similar car in the UK for similar money.

Also while the car looks well taken care of and in good condition it's fairly basic, windy windows in the rear, plastic wheel trims, etc. While it may not bother some people, more may be a bit fussier and hold out for a higher spec car or source one in the UK.

slave1

Henry Ford III wrote: »

Don't accept an offer without a non refundable deposit next time.

Whilst I agree with you in some respects, I think I have to accept it's a buyer's market so that may be too harsh, perhaps a compromise is to continue to advertise it until paid for and taken away

Atlantic Dawn

Yes continue to advertise it if you get an offer and if someone comes out to you and offers the same amount of money as the person making the offer sell it to them. If there's a deposit of €200 down hold the car for a week, if not fully payed in a week keep the deposit to cover depreciation and other costs, then readvertise. The amount of times I have had offers over the phone with people who had no intention of buying the car and in the meantime I told others interested it was gone only to be left with nothing, now it's no offers over the phone without a viewing and car kept for 7 days with €200 deposit.

slave1

bazz26 wrote: »

I'd say your biggest problem is that your are competing with people taking advantage of the weaker sterling over the last few months. Unfortunately people can probably buy a slightly newer similar car in the UK for similar money.

You know I thought the exact same but just checked the cheapest equivalent from autotrader at £6k, with todays FX that's about €7k, VR is €2.5k and let's say another €0.5k to cover transport to Ireland and comprehensive RAC test.
Landed would be just about over €10k so even with wiggle room on the UK purchase it stands up well financially ignoring the full history/less hassle etc.

bazz26

slave1 wrote: »

You know I thought the exact same but just checked the cheapest equivalent from autotrader at £6k, with todays FX that's about €7k, VR is €2.5k and let's say another €0.5k to cover transport to Ireland and comprehensive RAC test.
Landed would be just about over €10k so even with wiggle room on the UK purchase it stands up well financially ignoring the full history/less hassle etc.

Here is a 2010 2.0 TDCi Titanium private sale for just over £5k:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201611159793684?onesearchad=Used&year-from=2009&fuel-type=Diesel&sort=price-asc&radius=1500&model=S-MAX&maximum-badge-engine-size=2.0&make=FORD&advertising-location=at_cars&transmission=Manual&postcode=se10ab&page=2

Henry Ford III

slave1 wrote: »

Whilst I agree with you in some respects, I think I have to accept it's a buyer's market so that may be too harsh, perhaps a compromise is to continue to advertise it until paid for and taken away

Nah. If they want to buy the car (and not risk losing it) a deposit won't be a problem.

It obligates them in a small way also, and will eliminate time wasters.

bazz26

I'm guessing the offers were made through adverts.ie. That place is full of idiots who make offers on stuff with no intentions of following through on them. Some come back and cannot remember what their offer was or what they made it on. Best avoided when trying to sell a car imo.

ShadowHearth

Do you have it only on adverts or on donedeal too?

Adverts are horrible to sell cars. Good for small stuff though.

bazz26

Both according to the OP.

Pkiernan

bazz26 wrote: »

Here is a 2010 2.0 TDCi Titanium private sale for just over £5k:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/201611159793684?onesearchad=Used&year-from=2009&fuel-type=Diesel&sort=price-asc&radius=1500&model=S-MAX&maximum-badge-engine-size=2.0&make=FORD&advertising-location=at_cars&transmission=Manual&postcode=se10ab&page=2

That's a Category D insurance write off. Not a fair comparison.

punisher5112

Op its a very bad time of the year to sell but honestly hold out if you can.
Christmas is just a month away and many won't splash out with it so close.

I would suggest putting on premium section of done deal and remember carzone is mainly dealers.

I remember when carzone was the best site until they lost the plot and increased their prices to a crazy amount.

the_syco

Maybe retake a picture #12 taken with the car started. IE; no yellow symbol?

bazz26

Pkiernan wrote: »

That's a Category D insurance write off. Not a fair comparison.

Sorry I completely missed that on the advert. However Cat D is the lowest insurance classification of write off which normally means an economic write off due to very light or cosmetic damage where a body panel or two were replaced. Would be hard enough to find a nearly 7 year old Irish car that hasn't had the same except we have no record of it here but I still take your point. There were a few 2009 non Cat D ones going for around the £5k mark on autotrader too.

slave1

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Yes I missed it in the pics, just gave them a quick scan. I'd say the Donedeal ad is the largest audience and best chance of selling, make sure the ad there has mileage clearly listed, bump the ad there at lunchtime tomorrow for the weekend buyers.

Ad bumped on Donedeal for the weekend crowd!

Captainsatnav

Hi folks,
Boards has been a great help to me is looking at what needs to be done re UK imports. ..however having some difficulty shifting my own (time of year combined with £ being toilet paper - I know)

I've had the attached ad up for a while now - spotlighted it too and bumped a week or so ago. I don't think the price is out of line.
Any thoughts hugely appreciated.

https://www.donedeal.ie/cars-for-sale/opel-astra-sxi-gtc/13690469

bazz26

Price is too high imo. Below is one from a dealer asking the same money. Ask yourself, why would someone pay the same money privately with no comeback when they can get a warranty from a dealer for the same money?

http://www.driving.ie/used-cars/Opel/Astra/SPORT-DESIGN/201214557869303720/

Captainsatnav

bazz26 wrote: »

Price is too high imo. Below is one from a dealer asking the same money. Ask yourself, why would someone pay the same money privately with no comeback when they can get a warranty from a dealer for the same money?

http://www.driving.ie/used-cars/Opel/Astra/SPORT-DESIGN/201214557869303720/

Yes - valid point. I didn't see this particular one tbh when I was researching prices. Fact there's almost double the KMs on the clock still wouldn't play on a buyer's mind would it I suppose when they've a warranty.

goochy

You sound like a used car dealer who doesn't own the car personally calling it a sporty red number.

Supergurrier

I wouldn't talk money over phone with any potential buyer. Great way to weed out idiots when they ask.

bazz26

Cork123456789 wrote: »

Yes - valid point. I didn't see this particular one tbh when I was researching prices. Fact there's almost double the KMs on the clock still wouldn't play on a buyer's mind would it I suppose when they've a warranty.

47k km or 80k km, both are low mileage for a nearly 7 year old car. Most buyers would probably buy a dealer warranted 80k km car than a privately sold 47k km car when there is no financial difference. Your car needs to be priced a good bit cheaper than the dealer in order to attract a buyer away from paying the dealer for his warranty.

Captainsatnav

Many thanks all. Much appreciated.

slave1

bazz26 wrote: »

I'm guessing the offers were made through adverts.ie. That place is full of idiots who make offers on stuff with no intentions of following through on them. Some come back and cannot remember what their offer was or what they made it on. Best avoided when trying to sell a car imo.

Just as an update, got silly €3k (and then bumped to €3.3k) offer on adverts, honestly!
I emailed one of those guys advertising cash for car type scenario on Monday, they came back with a not too impressive offer so I decided to phone them and see what negotiation room exists yesterday and he immediately dropped the email offer price by €1.5k, WFT?

Appreciate a PM from anyone who has dealt with one of these cash for cars folk and could recommend from personal experience.

bazz26

Your wasting your time with these cars for cash crowds. They buy cars that desperate owners want rid of, at prices well below trade value in order to flog them on at a profit. Whatever low price they initially give you over the phone, you can be guaranteed they will knock more off it when they look the car over by knit picking on small issues making you think their offer is generous. I'd rather let the handbrake off and let it role over then nearest cliff than give it away to those cute hoors.

slave1

Wow, just checked my ad on DoneDeal in detail and my phone number was deleted out of the body of the contact details and a new photo put in with another guys email address!
I've edited my ad back to my contact details but that's shocking lack of security on behalf of DoneDeal, I sent them off a message via their contact page.

slave1

So DoneDeal got back to me, whilst I'm reasonably tech savy they are saying I edited my details of the ad on an unsecure website and someone then gained access to my account and password and edited my ad? I've only ever used their website, never the app
Does not make sense to me, is this not saying the DoneDeal website is unsecure (or at least was at some stage in the last week or so)?

punisher5112

slave1 wrote: »

So DoneDeal got back to me, whilst I'm reasonably tech savy they are saying I edited my details of the ad on an unsecure website and someone then gained access to my account and password and edited my ad? I've only ever used their website, never the app
Does not make sense to me, is this not saying the DoneDeal website is unsecure (or at least was at some stage in the last week or so)?

Quite possible you didn't sign out and was on none secure WiFi or network. These hackers are unreal they can get into most things these days.

Just keep an eye on the ad.

Its going to take time as you know very bad time of year but hold out.

jackofalltrades

slave1 wrote: »

Just as an update, got silly €3k (and then bumped to €3.3k) offer on adverts, honestly!
I emailed one of those guys advertising cash for car type scenario on Monday, they came back with a not too impressive offer so I decided to phone them and see what negotiation room exists yesterday and he immediately dropped the email offer price by €1.5k, WFT?

Appreciate a PM from anyone who has dealt with one of these cash for cars folk and could recommend from personal experience.

I was trying to sell my car recently.
I might have got €200-250 selling it privately.
Car auctions were saying I might get €100-200.
The best price I got for scrapping it was €75.

I got a quote from a reputable Cash for Cars outlet just for the craic.
They offered me €20!
The fuel in the tank was worth more than that.

They're out and out gougers and from reading other threads on them can be dodgy enough as well.
I'd wait until the New Year as well, can't imagine many families are looking to buy a new car two weeks before Christmas.

Cee-Jay-Cee

jackofalltrades wrote: »

I was trying to sell my car recently.
I might have got €200-250 selling it privately.
Car auctions were saying I might get €100-200.
The best price I got for scrapping it was €75.

I got a quote from a reputable Cash for Cars outlet just for the craic.
They offered me €20!
The fuel in the tank was worth more than that.

They're out and out gougers and from reading other threads on them can be dodgy enough as well.
I'd wait until the New Year as well, can't imagine many families are looking to buy a new car two weeks before Christmas.

In fairness a car worth €100 at auction is little more than scrap and to expect anyone to give you anything more is a little unrealistic of you.

You say you might have gotten €200-300 selling privately but you didn't and probably won't.

Take your €75 scrap value and be rid of it.

jackofalltrades

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

In fairness a car worth €100 at auction is little more than scrap and to expect anyone to give you anything more is a little unrealistic of you.

You say you might have gotten €200-300 selling privately but you didn't and probably won't.

Take your €75 scrap value and be rid of it.

I think you misunderstood my post.
I wasn't looking for advice or complaining about how much I was being offered.
It was more to show just how little Cash for cars outfits can offer you.
And that other options are significantly more likely to offer you more money.