Selling a high value car

mel123

Hi
Probably been asked before no doubt, but i cant find anything.

Scenario is family member has a car worth (going by carzone etc) 25kish. Ideally what they would like to do is sell it, and then buy a car up the north (ive done this so ive planted the seed).

Anyway then i was thinking, how do you sell a car of this value or is it not worth the hassle? Do people buy high value cars privately? I guess unless you bring the buyer to the bank to lodge the money ifyou do sell it so you dont get scammed with fake notes etc?
Or is the best advise to tell them to forget it, and stick with trading in here in a dealership?

Any advice would be welcome, if it wasnt for reading threads and threads here about importing i wouldnt have the lovely car i have now (a5 quattro)

Hard work selling a car for 25k privately.

It'll generally mean the prospective buyer will need a personal loan or to otherwise have the cash in hand to buy it, which means you'll have fewer prospective buyers. Or you'll be selling to a dealer who will buy at a low enough price to ensure a decent margin on resale.

Depends on what the car is, full spec, how desirable it really is and so on. But as a general rule, expect a sale price of several thousand below that a dealer will trade at when you're in and around 25 grand.

Yourmama

Selling 25k car privately is next to impossible these days. Anyone who doesn't buy at dealers goes to the north themselves. Your only option is to sell to a dealer I'm afraid. I've gone through this myself and sold my car to the dealer after 11 months of advertising. My car was the cleanest and the cheapest on carzone, didnt make a difference. And mine wasn't in your price league.

cruizer101

What about selling by auction. Merlin Car sales accept cars to sell and sell cars of that price range. I'm not sure the full details of cost of listing and commission but would think it is an option worth exploring.
I'd say will still take a hit on the price compared to list price but might be worth it.

You do need to consider the hit you would take on price vs the savings of going up north. You might save a few thousand but are losing that by selling private vs trading in down here anyway.

Max Prophet

mel123 wrote: »

Hi
Probably been asked before no doubt, but i cant find anything.

Scenario is family member has a car worth (going by carzone etc) 25kish. Ideally what they would like to do is sell it, and then buy a car up the north (ive done this so ive planted the seed).

Anyway then i was thinking, how do you sell a car of this value or is it not worth the hassle? Do people buy high value cars privately? I guess unless you bring the buyer to the bank to lodge the money ifyou do sell it so you dont get scammed with fake notes etc?
Or is the best advise to tell them to forget it, and stick with trading in here in a dealership?

Any advice would be welcome, if it wasnt for reading threads and threads here about importing i wouldnt have the lovely car i have now (a5 quattro)

Take 1/3 off the price and that's how much you should expect. So 16k or so

MarkN

Max Prophet wrote: »

Take 1/3 off the price and that's how much you should expect. So 16k or so

OTT in my opinion. Stick it up looking very clean with good pictures and priced more competitively than others online and see how you go.

Bought and sold a car like this two and one year(s) ago respectively.

Is it an anyway special car or what is it? That will be a factor and depending on car you might forget all I’ve said above

mel123

Thanks for all the advice, it’s basocally what I was thinking myself -it’s a non runner really and the only way to go is trade it in with a dealer down here

It’s a Merc, C220, after that not sure exactly. It’s low miles and there isn’t a scratch on the car, it’s extremly fuel efficient it runs on air almost.

Thanks again

carsfan2

I wouldn’t think it’s impossible to sell at this level privately.
I have done so in the past. Work out what a comparable uk/ni car would cost after vrt and travel and price it a little higher to allow wriggle room. Emphasize in the ad that it is priced same as imported car without the hassle for the buyer of importing. It’s worth a try anyway as there may be someone looking that has cash but doesn’t want to have the trouble of bringing it in themselves. Not everyone is comfortable importing themselves.
I hope it has a D reg which will improve your chances of success.

porsche boy

cruizer101 wrote:

What about selling by auction. Merlin Car sales accept cars to sell and sell cars of that price range. I'm not sure the full details of cost of listing and commission but would think it is an option worth exploring. I'd say will still take a hit on the price compared to list price but might be worth it.

Expect to get around 70% value in auction if it goes well

Mooooo

If they are going to a dealer up north they may take it as a trade in, no harm to see. Dunno whether it'll work to your advantage or not

0lddog

Mooooo wrote: »

If they are going to a dealer up north they may take it as a trade in, no harm to see. Dunno whether it'll work to your advantage or not

What level of VRT rebate should the owner expect to receive if it was exported to NI ?

CiniO

0lddog wrote: »

What level of VRT rebate should the owner expect to receive if it was exported to NI ?

Same as cost as vrt for such car if you were importing it minus 100 euro

Henry Ford III

Price it right and it'll sell. See if you can buy a warranty too.

millington

When you calculate the loss of selling the car privately, it might be just as good value to trade it in down here.

mel123

millington wrote: »

When you calculate the loss of selling the car privately, it might be just as good value to trade it in down here.

Yeah, i understand what your saying. Ive done the maths and if i could manage to sell it here, at a half decent price, it would work out in their favor. For the same money they would spend down here, they would get a better spec car buying up north (including vrt).

Nothing to lose i guess by putting up an ad and seeing if there is any interest.