Best / Most reliable way to price a car

jackm25

Can anyone recommend a good place to get an accurate price on a car?
I have a 320 Mercedes 03 which is absolutely eating me alive for petrol (even though I love it) and I need to downsize to a more fuel efficient car.
Am reluctant to take it to a garage and trade in until I have an accurate barometer as to how much it is actually worth.

Any help in this regard is very much appreciated
Cheers
Jack

jackm25

OSI, cheers for that. What road should I go down then? Just try to sell it privately first?

bazz26

Unfortunately it's an old car that not many people may be interested in. If you have the time and patience to put it up for sale privately then you might get a half decent offer on it. As a trade-in its not going to be worth much and will totally depend on what it's worth to a dealer and how easily they think they can sell it on for.

Sometimes it might be just less painful and less hassle to just take the hit and trade it in rather than dealing with time wasters coming to look at your car with no intention of buying.

jackm25

Thanks to both for the advice, much appreciated. I will have a look around for a garages that may take it or else consider the private sale option.

I also need to figure out what the most fuel efficient automatic car would be to replace it with. (Can't bear to go manual again). For some reason I have the perception that if one wants any kind of high end brand on a budget one is going to get completely done in terms of fuel efficiency.

What do you think would be the most fuel efficient option for a young man (28) around the 3/4k mark?

Really appreciate all of the help thus far.

MuffinsDa

Coming from an E320 you are going to be bitterly disappointed with most cars on offer in that price range. If you want something that's half-decent and nice then I would look at Diesel Saab 93 or 95s, as well as Volvo S40s or C30s. You may also be able to get a good E200 (1.8 liter) at that price range.

Dia1988

jackm25 wrote: »

Thanks to both for the advice, much appreciated. I will have a look around for a garages that may take it or else consider the private sale option.

I also need to figure out what the most fuel efficient automatic car would be to replace it with. (Can't bear to go manual again). For some reason I have the perception that if one wants any kind of high end brand on a budget one is going to get completely done in terms of fuel efficiency.

What do you think would be the most fuel efficient option for a young man (28) around the 3/4k mark?

Really appreciate all of the help thus far.

One sounds very posh! ��
Has one considered a Honda Accord ?

ShadowHearth

Well, if you don't mind paying high tax as you did with Merc then and keeping it 3-4k something like this:

Jag s-type 2.7D - economical, cheap, a bit less on tax. Still luxury and auto.

Lexus gs300 - for a 3.0L petrol it is economical, on long runs it will manage to do solid 35mpg. I think it will do better then Merc for sure. Plus it's a luxury monster.

Dsg gearboxes have good rep and give even better mpg then manuals. Maybe early, good speced golf GTI? It's a bit of wild shot.

Other then that, good Volvo s60 can be gotten in auto. 2.4 diesel.

jackm25

Thanks to all for the replies, really helpful.

P.S. One likes the sound of the Jag

bmwguy

What's your mileage Jack? Is it fuel and tax you want to get down or just fuel?

Is the tax on that 1800 a year?

I'd suggest a E220d since you like the car (i think there was a 220d anyway)

Or the BMW or Audi equivalent I suppose. 530d e39 is a beast of a car, definitely more fuel efficient than yours but still 1500 tax. A6 always had a 2.0d as far as I know.

Or a good 320d or a4?

colm_mcm

Spend the few grand your spend getting something else on petrol and tax.

Everyone wins

You're welcome

jackm25

@BMWGuy the tax is 1500 approx per year, it is more the fuel cost which is restrictive as its about 95 to fill the tank and it lasts me about 10 days so about 300 per month.

Annually including insurance which is 800 with 6 years NCB the total cost is approx 6K - which is wild.

Need to get that down to about 3.5/ 4k min - so a decrease in fuel cost to say 50 per 10 days from 95 would save me 2k per year approx. I just hate the concept of unnecessarily paying for an inefficient car fuelwise.

Will need to shop around to see whats in the budget - could potentially raise the budget to 5k at a stretch.

Thanks all for your comments / help.

colm_mcm

How many miles are you getting for your €95?
What type of driving are you doing?

jackm25

@colm - driving about 7km each way to work per day so prob roughly about 150km per 10 days

colm_mcm

Are you only getting 150km from €95?

That's 6mpg.

wild turkey

jackm25 wrote: »

@BMWGuy the tax is 1500 approx per year, it is more the fuel cost which is restrictive as its about 95 to fill the tank and it lasts me about 10 days so about 300 per month.

Annually including insurance which is 800 with 6 years NCB the total cost is approx 6K - which is wild.

Need to get that down to about 3.5/ 4k min - so a decrease in fuel cost to say 50 per 10 days from 95 would save me 2k per year approx. I just hate the concept of unnecessarily paying for an inefficient car fuelwise.

Will need to shop around to see whats in the budget - could potentially raise the budget to 5k at a stretch.

Thanks all for your comments / help.

For what your spending on it you could get yourself a brand new car using your guzzler as scrappage or get 0% finance . Most brands offer an automatic for each model.

colm_mcm

Diesel won't even be warmed up by the time you get to your destination.

Get a Prius!

bmwguy

colm_mcm wrote: »

Are you only getting 150km from €95?

That's 6mpg.

I agree, something very wrong with car or with calculations. I have an 04 525i petrol which should be roughly comparable to an E320 (although slightly better I would imagine).

I changed jobs but I had a similar commute up to last year and was talking 30 Euro a week including a few small spins to training, shopping, parents whatever at that time.

If you are only doing 15km a day your savings,will be negligible buying something new but if you are spending a tenner a day you must be doing more miles

Bigus

colm_mcm wrote: »

Diesel won't even be warmed up by the time you get to your destination.

Get a Prius!

I second that , try a Prius , not as big a come down from an old Merc like you'd assume .

jackm25

@ Colm & BMW I think you are right my calculations are probably wrong, I probably drive a bit more. To be honest I am not 100% sure. It is hard enough to guage.Are the Priuses very fuel efficient?

colm_mcm

Yes, especially for the type of driving you probably are doing.

askU

colm_mcm wrote: »

Are you only getting 150km from €95?

That's 6mpg.

holy mother of fk