Car listed for a month, only two calls. Tips/feedback?

acri

So a fourth weekend has come and gone and not so much as a peep from my phone from a prospective buyer. I've had my Clio listed for about a month and have only received two calls, both of which were on the first weekend, even after a €15 "Spotlight" weekend on DoneDeal. I've moved cars on before, but none at this price.

I was hoping I could maybe get a bit of feedback on my ad from anyone that's either bought or sold newer cars privately before. Is my price unrealistic? Could my pictures be better? Should I put up a Cartell Report? What specifically would you look for if you were to spend this kind of money on a new car? For sure these would help me highlight selling points I may have missed.

Cheers.

bear1

Price might be on the strong side.
There is a 151 same spec as yours but with sat nav and it's 2k less.
I'd want more pics of the interior and service history to show you're keeping up with the scheduled services.

acri

When I first posted my ad, it was among the cheapest Clio IVs on DoneDeal. For whatever reason in the last week, a rake of Clio's have gone up for under €9.5k. Ffs...

I'll take more shots of the interior (and the SatNav). Service History might be a problem. I forgot to get the book stamped/signed the first time, and the last service I did myself, of which I have all relevant receipts.

dogmatix

Exterior pics are good - car looks like new. But more interior shots - pic of the front from the passenger seat, rear seats and boot. Maybe one of the engine bay with the hood up. You can never have too many pics - well maybe 16 or more is too much.

acri

Thanks, I'll get on the better interior pics as soon as I valet the car.

I honestly thought this would be a quick sale. Throw it up for ten k, be gone in a week, grand job. How naive...

Henry Ford III

What happened to the 2 enquiries? Did they view it?

acri

Henry Ford III wrote: »

What happened to the 2 enquiries? Did they view it?

Yep. The first was a gift for his daughter, but she didn't seem too enthusiastic. The second couple decided to go with a cheaper Fiesta. However, both did comment that the car looked straight and honest.

OSI wrote: »

It's a petrol in a country with a horn for diesel hatchbacks which won't help. You also say it has a 5 year engine warranty, but that's useless without a service history.

This may be problematic. I have no evidence of a 2015 service, in 2016 I serviced the car locally in Tallaght, of which I think I've lost the invoice. A few weeks ago I carried out the service myself (I enjoy that kind of thing) and have the receipts, but thinking about it now, what punter is going to trust a stranger over a qualified mechanic. Short-sighted on my part. Is there much I can do to sway favour from a potential buyer? Just bite the bullet and get another service?

kindalen

Price seems to high to me for a private sale 141 Clio. I'd advertise it at 8250 and snap hand off anyone willing to offer round 8k. Second hand values have dropped due to imports and cheap pcp deals.

dar83

acri wrote: »

This may be problematic. I have no evidence of a 2015 service, in 2016 I serviced the car locally in Tallaght, of which I think I've lost the invoice. A few weeks ago I carried out the service myself (I enjoy that kind of thing) and have the receipts, but thinking about it now, what punter is going to trust a stranger over a qualified mechanic. Short-sighted on my part. Is there much I can do to sway favour from a potential buyer? Just bite the bullet and get another service?

This will be your biggest problem. If you have a new (or relatively new) car that should be within warranty, then you always get it serviced at the main dealer and on time until the warranty is no longer in effect. Someone looking to buy a car in this age range is going to expect a fully stamped service history on the car as it has realistically only needed 2-3 services by now and it shows that the car was looked after from day one, which without that stuff you now can't prove.

The only way around this is to lower your asking price accordingly. The fact that you will have a lot of the 141 financed cars coming back onto the market right now is going to mean in order to sell, you're going to have to be more aggressive with your price to begin with. I'm sorry to say it but with the servicing issue and your timing, you've not done yourself any favours at all on this one.

Also, fill the 10 picture slots on the Ad, think about what you would want to see in a car you want to buy. A photo from each main angle (front, back, both sides, maybe an angled front shot) and then at least 2-3 interior pictures as well as a documentation/NCT/service history/receipts picture. make sure the car is clean and that you take the pictures in a neutral location with neutral lighting, if possible. So no pictures on grass, and preferably on a bright but cloudyish day so not to get direct sunlight glare etc...

acri

Right, so I've taken your criticisms on board and updated my ad. Dropped to a more competitive price (I'm not expecting to sell for that full amount), and uploaded more pictures.

This morning I got off the phone with Renault and yes, it looks like I've voided the warranty by not servicing with a licensed Renault dealer. I've never owned a car under warranty before so it never even entered my mind. Live & learn. In fairness to Renault Mullingar, they seem like they genuinely want to help out and said they'd call back if there's anything I can do to keep the car under warranty. It is unlikely, though.

Thanks for all your input, hopefully I'll get a few more bites. People go mad for buying cars on the Easter weekend, right?

goz83

Delete the last line. Makes you look desperate to sell and tight all at once. People want think they can haggle.

Atlantic Dawn

Is the centre rear headrest and parcel shelf missing?

bmwguy

Your dilemma is another reason I am convinced PCP will go bang soon unless there is a viable option to buy a used car.
Here you are, trying to sell a perfectly good 3 year old car for about half the price of a new one, so your price is in the right ballpark anyway.

For me to buy that car, I have to either have 9k in cash or go to a bank and borrow at an interest rate of approx 10%.

If I head down to my local Renault dealer with 4k in cash and sign a form for 40 quid a week payments, I can walk out with a brand new one with warranty. Sure I'll worry about the trade-in in 3 years time , that's ages away.

Making a new car such an attractive proposition has the effect of making a used car unattractive, pushing prices down and making the whole thing unsustainable long term.

Instead of buying your car outright, I would like to put down a deposit of 2k, pay 25 quid a week and then trade for another 3 year old in 3 years. But can't do that so I'll just buy a new one.

But best of luck with sale, looks a genuinely nice car to be honest. If I was in market for that class of car I would probably buy a Clio.

Pkiernan

BTW you have not voided the warranty by using an independent mechanic.

Toyotafanboi

Pkiernan wrote: »

BTW you have not voided the warranty by using an independent mechanic.

He won't have voided it by using an independent mechanic but he has as good as voided it by having no proof of services and he will have voided it by servicing it himself.

acri

Pkiernan wrote: »

BTW you have not voided the warranty by using an independent mechanic.

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

He won't have voided it by using an independent mechanic but he has as good as voided it by having no proof of services and he will have voided it by servicing it himself.

Yep. If the car was serviced by an independent mechanic but used Renault-approved parts, warranty would not be voided. I did myself no favours by not documenting services properly and by servicing a car myself under warranty. I suggested taking the car to Renault to have one of their own mechanics inspect it (at my own cost), even get another Renault service, but nothing doing.

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Is the centre rear headrest and parcel shelf missing?

The parcel shelf is there. Come to think of it, I don't think there ever was a centre headrest.



*Thanks to whichever mod corrected my title grammar. It was annoying me, too.