Importing a UK car & selling your old car privately - be cautious

SherryG · 25-10-2018 10:14am #1

Hi,
I recently purchased a 172 Skoda Superb sportline in NI and thought I would have little problem selling my low mileage 131 Skoda Rapid 1.6 which had all the extras possible and was genuinely in great shape in and out. Was very easy to run and I thought would be a sellable car - I was wrong.

Took 2 months to sell and I had to heavily discount it, so any saving on the Ni car was very much eroded by the time and money lost on selling the rapid.
I was relived to sell it to be honest as Christmas is approaching.

People seem very reluctant to buy cars privately these days - it will take months and if you cross over the year end that means less money .
they place a lot of importance on the dealer warranty, which in my experience is very limited anyway and is usually only 3 months on a 5 year old car.
So private seller needs to heavily discount to get a sale.

In the end I paid €100 a week to put it in cars ireland and the Irish Indo and after 2nd week it sold - but at 25/30 % less than the higher group of 4/5 dealer advertised asking prices for comparable miles and spec'd car.

Done deal seems to be no good for cars over 5K. - just my experience.

My advice is - ensure your old car is one which would be a good seller, VW golf, Toyota corrolla, skoda octavia (not Rapid!) models like that- or ideally test the market before you buy in UK.

Brother took a year to sell a 2012 , very competitively priced opel insignia over in the west and had to drop 3.5 K off the first asking.
Neighbour has a 09 Qashqai on the sites for 3 months - priced below dealers but probably not by enough.

ednwireland · 25-10-2018 10:35am

when i bought my last car (from a dealer !) similiar age cars were significantly cheaper privately and when the dealer gave me my car it had been freshly serviced, valeted and dings fixed, new disks on front, pads all round and timing belt done.

when looking at private sales i would have had to do some of these things due to age/mileage so the price differential was eroded significatly by buying from a main dealer.

i think if you want a quick sale make sure its taxed, serviced, have all receipts, if it needs a timing belt soon get it done and have the receipt.

a lot of the time you look at private sale and wonder why someones getitng rid

unless its in bangernomics and even then

alias no.9 · 25-10-2018 10:57am

The only way to do the private sale and private purchase effectively is to sell your old car first. Your observations about donedeal being useless for cars over €5k, the truth is that private sales above €5k are tricky, donedeal being the go to place for private sales just confounds the issue.

Also, anybody else who might choose a private purchase will have the option of sourcing a UK car just like you did, you've got to price your car to compete with imports if you want a sale, that's the competition, obviously allowing for the inconvenience of travelling to the UK.

Turbohymac · 25-10-2018 11:10am

We changed our ex northern Ireland 2012 touran se about 6 months ago and had purchased a 171 from uk main dealer.. the vw made great money but yes it took 6 weeks to find the right genuine person to buy it..in between I had loads of v low offers over the phone with hardly any viewing.. and 1 absolute gangster who wanted me to drive half the length of Ireland and meet at a filling station..claimed he had cash. Then claimed he had just got a bank draft...he pestered me for a few days but one thing certain he wanted the car but wasn't going to pay..
I'd sell again tomorrow if I was upgrading but you need to value your car correctly and stay at that price. Show any damage up front and have long tax and nct.. also loads dealers looking to buy 3k under my asking so they could make quick money
Good luck to all but selling 5 to 6 years old and buying a 6 month old uk preferably or else ni ie a no brainer. Unless you want to lose 5 or 6k for lower spec vehicles to local greedy dealers

CrankyHaus · 25-10-2018 11:11am

I had a similar experience recently getting rid of my old motor after importing from the UK, though I was selling a much cheaper car.

I assume much more potential second hand buyers are going for PCP now and this impacts heavily on second hand values. The car I was selling would have been picked up by someone in their 20s ten years ago, nowadays that person is in a new golf on pcp and the only buyer for old cars is cash in hand types.

Low second hand values would extend to what you'd get on trade in though so you OP are still better off importing.

comerla · 25-10-2018 11:14am

I sold my car very quickly. It was priced to sell though.

It was reserved within an hour and sold 5 days later.

I was aware that the value of cars has dropped so never expected much - was happy with 5k Eur on a 2009 A6. I still got more than a dealer would have given me on trade in.

bazz26 · 25-10-2018 11:48am

I find this topic a little ironic.

The reality is that people who would normally be interested in buying a car here, are going to the UK to import a car just like the OP did because of the weak Sterling and better value over there. That in turn means that every time someone imports a car from the UK, they are one less buyer of an Irish car for sale here. Some people don't seem to get that.

draiochtanois · 25-10-2018 12:06pm

This post has been deleted.

Zubeneschamali · 25-10-2018 12:19pm

OmegaGene wrote: »

Make more sense to sell your car first and then you are under no pressure time wise and whatever you get for it you know what you have to spend.

But then you have no car?

Turbohymac · 25-10-2018 4:18pm

Hi omega gene..yes it's great if it's a marque model like your brother in laws ..but in our case I needed a very high spec standard model car of which there was only about 6 at any given time for sale in the uk and some had close to 20k miles and were also over a year old ..I was looking at gunmetal grey color or close anyway and not much over 6 months old with under 5k miles.. so in my case I simply couldn't jump on a plane to uk in Hope's the car I needed was waiting.. oh also needed the 130bhp and again loads of 1.5 110s so it took a few months and then the ideal car showed up..also as for saying that by selling first you will know what you then have to spend on a new vehicle well I always know what my car will sell for REALISTICALLY and unfortunately lots people overvalue their car when trying to sell it and this creates a big delay in selling.. usually after 5 years I budget 10 to 12 k with the value of my own car and this includes travel. Ferry and vrt &tax of the new car. .. and I always sell my old car fully serviced..full nct 2 years + 3 months and taxed. This means buyers don't need to spend another unknown amount of money after purchasing the car..
Uk purchases works best for me but northern Ireland is ok but more expensive and less choice..
Finally if I was the op I wouldn't be complaining he sold a not too desirable car but he purchased a decent beast of a car worth lots more than any Fabia if both vehicles were valued new..

Mintoe · 26-10-2018 8:42am

Work colleague of the Missus bought a 10 golf poverty model 1.6 dsl up north and stood him €7,500 landed and registered.... he could have bought a highline with less mileage in CHARLES hurst Usedirectireland for similar money & had peace of mind of warranty from local dealer....

http://www.usedirectireland.ie/used-cars/9139208-volkswagen-golf-highline-1.6-tdi-manual-5-speed-105-bhp-5-dr-93/

LESSON IS DO YOUR HOMEWORK BEFORE HEADING OFF UP NORTH... NOT ALWAYS CHEAPEST OPTION ON DAY TO DAY CARS

CrankyHaus · 26-10-2018 9:11am

OmegaGene wrote: »

I’ve done it myself in the past and I wouldn’t be that fussy with a car tbh
Last one I wanted was a frozen white mondeo titanium 140bhp, I sold my car at a realistic price in a few days and started the hunt in the uk, I think I was ten days without a car and hired one to tide me over

If a car is priced right it will sell, people pay for a car and it kills them to drop it to a reasonable price. Buying one in advance of a sale is a bad choice in my opinion, a friend of mine bought a galaxy and said he would sell his 3 year old mondeo when he came back from the uk, and now 18 months later he still has it out the back of the house and not a hope of it selling.

I kind of agree with this, more because temporarily changing insurance and so on with two cars is a massive pain. In future I'll consider selling first and renting to cover any gap, which may be cheaper as well as less hassle. Rentals tend to be shockingly cheap outside high season. Enterprise are at around €100 for a week at the moment.

I can't understand people holding onto a car for 18 months expecting their price to be met, it's constantly depreciating.

biko · 26-10-2018 9:21am

So title
Importing a UK car & selling your old car privately - be cautious
should really be
Difficulties selling my old car

SherryG · 02-11-2018 11:44am

As the OP the intent of my original post was just to warn people of the reality and time delay of selling a car privately, and how it erodes the perceived savings on buying in UK. I priced my car rock bottom - below Irish and NI + VRT prices (as assumed others would consider import too) and still it moved slow. As someone said the Rapid is not the most popular of the skoda's. I guess I assumed people may not want to spend the time to import a 5 year old car where the savings v second hand can be small. Anyway good points all :-) I was very happy to make the sale and not lose my shirt. My partner "unwittingly through no fault of hers" helped me out by writing off our 2nd car (an 11 Superb) the day after I bought the 172 one so was a complicated time car wise! No one injured was the main thing, A piece of a crane flew off a lorry and went under the car while we were up north. Pity I had no dash cam. Was a bit complex having an accident up north as insurance companies here wont tow the car south - anyway that's maybe another post. All's well in the end - as long as we dont have another incident in the next 3 years - and I'm assuming insurance will be up!

Victor · 02-11-2018 11:59am

SherryG wrote: »

Importing a UK car & selling your old car privately

How are these two issues related?

SherryG · 02-11-2018 2:07pm

Assuming you have an existing car, you must sell it in order for the option of importing a car to be viable. Most UK/NI dealers will not give a trade in on an Irish registered car. The sale price, time to sell , ability to store it / insure it while it sells - of your own car can determine whether or not importing is viable. Both are part of the change process.

bazz26 · 02-11-2018 2:15pm

A lot of NI dealers do take Southern reg trade-ins if they think they can sell back to a dealer down south. It depends on the car too.

Shefwedfan · 02-11-2018 3:17pm

Everyone suddenly thinks they are a car dealers and they are going to make a fortune by buying cheap in UK and selling old car for a huge profit over here

It doesn't happen.

As mentioned a Skoda Rapid is hardly high on anyone's list of cars. Bloody awful looking thing. Having a look at donedeal or carzone and then expecting someone is going to rollover and pay the price you expect is always a mistake

Ask a car dealer and they will tell you, go to your car, then look at the cheapest one and take that value. If you make more then thats a plus.....

colm_mcm · 02-11-2018 3:21pm

The real lesson here is don’t expect to easily sell a Skoda Rabid

SherryG · 02-11-2018 3:36pm

yip, unless you know the Pope! The number of times I said, I should have got an Octavia, particularly when selling. the day you buy..... and all that.

I'd say expect 25 - 30% less than the "average" dealer prices and if you get within 500 of the lowest on Carzone you are doing quite well.

milhous · 02-11-2018 8:54pm

I think the major reason people won't buy privately is because the finance rates car dealers can give and also pcp offers making monthly repayments so attractive..

Was contemplating putting my 181 passat for sale, and taking a 10k hit on rrp.. But I doubt id even get that.

SherryG · 02-11-2018 9:19pm

yeah, seems to be a big move toward buying new on those PCP and other deals. Very soon to be offloading a 181, I'm assuming you are not a big fan of the car?

JoeA3 · 02-11-2018 9:50pm

Jeez... the poor OP is getting a hard time here! I for one thought his opening post is reasonable and a helpful message to those less in the know.

Sure, his Rapid isn’t the most desirable, he doesn’t need the smart arses reminding him, but tbh, it’s not that much less desirable than a standard Octavia / Focus / Golf / Astra.

The fact is, selling a car privately is a complete ball ache, particularly if it’s something of any value. This is why going up North / UK isn’t for everyone, and the ultimate saving may not be as much as you imagined. Having to offload a relatively valuable car first is no easy task.

milhous · 02-11-2018 10:53pm

SherryG wrote: »

yeah, seems to be a big move toward buying new on those PCP and other deals. Very soon to be offloading a 181, I'm assuming you are not a big fan of the car?

I'm just looking for something with a bit more poke.. I bought the 1.6tdi. I'm hoping to go a year or two older and buy something faster, but then I'll have to take a hit on the infotainment system not being as good and aesthetics of older screens looking dated too.. It's a tough one!

Importing a UK car & selling your old car privately - be cautious

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