Selling my car - Online valuations - advice appreciated
- Thread starter markjay
- Start date
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I think it's sad that a perfectly good car is worth so little. My C180K is only 3 years away from that age and I feel as though it has a lot of life left in it yet. In fact it still looks and drives almost like new.
I tend to keep my cars long term and what this does confirm for me is the decision to service the car myself. There is no point spending many £000's over the period of ownership keeping up the maintenance history. How much could lack of a full service history make when the car is only worth £2000.
I tend to keep my cars long term and what this does confirm for me is the decision to service the car myself. There is no point spending many £000's over the period of ownership keeping up the maintenance history. How much could lack of a full service history make when the car is only worth £2000.
OP
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I agree. We scrap perfectly serviceable vehicles simply because there is no demand for them any more. The well-oiled marketing machine of the big car manufacturers ensured that we are constantly tempted into buying new models and ditching the old ones.
This 11 years old car was well looked-after, has no rust, and with under 60k miles on the clock can run trouble-free for another 10 years.... but it won't. Because it will soon become 'unwanted'.
Such is life...
c63chris
MB Enthusiast
I tried WBAC and although the price looked good to start with their man knocked money off for the slightest I,perfections including small chips on the edge of the door. When he had finished the price was less than the main dealer offered me. Wouldn't budge or renegotiate either.
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I would personally post the details up on here.
I did with my E55 and sold it not long after.
I had to field a few questions but the second viewers bought the car and I feel I got the best price I could for the car - and they got a cracking car.
I think most on here are enthusiasts and not timewasters.
It is subject to demand of course but I reckon there would be for a straight motor running well.
Yes, it needs a bit of time investment but I hardly spent any time at all on mine.
I did with my E55 and sold it not long after.
I had to field a few questions but the second viewers bought the car and I feel I got the best price I could for the car - and they got a cracking car.
I think most on here are enthusiasts and not timewasters.
It is subject to demand of course but I reckon there would be for a straight motor running well.
Yes, it needs a bit of time investment but I hardly spent any time at all on mine.
OP
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I don't actually have a 'for sale' set of pictures for the car... here's a picture I took last year, to satisfy your curiosity
If I do decide to sell it privately I'll post some proper photos, but - with respect to those forum members who showed interest (some PMed me) - I would rather give webuyanycar.com a go first.
I don't actually have a 'for sale' set of pictures for the car... here's a picture I took last year, to satisfy your curiosity
My post was more about highlighting some of the advantages of advertising the car for sale on here - it's not like advertising to Joe Public IMO.
Anyhow - it's your car so good luck with selling to the trade!
tylerdurden
Active Member
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2006 with 58k is v low mileage. Will attract lots of private buyers assuming it's in good nic and genuine miles and good service history.
Priced right on auto trader it will sell within a day or two. Prob for >1k more than any of those peeps.
There are loads of peeps looking to buy a car in that bracket.
Just done the same. I found it painless. Auto trader won't put your personal number online
Priced right on auto trader it will sell within a day or two. Prob for >1k more than any of those peeps.
There are loads of peeps looking to buy a car in that bracket.
Just done the same. I found it painless. Auto trader won't put your personal number online
OP
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New V5C arrived yesterday in the post.
Car booked for tomorrow (Monday) with webuyanycar.com.
Their quote stands at £2,575. I am aware that there's also a transaction fee of £49.99, plus £29 fee if I want immediate payment (otherwise they pay within 4 days).
If they try to negotiate the price down, I am hoping that COMAND NTG2.5 (~£600 on eBay) and 4 brand new Dunlop BluResponse (£240 from blackcircles.com) will help shift up the price back to the original quote.
At any rate their nearest location is 15 minutes drive from where I leave, so it's worth a shot - if they give me grief I will just leave.... we'll see what they say.
It is an interesting experience for me anyway... will keep you posted.
jotter22
MB Enthusiast
How did you get on Mark? All go according to plan.....
Tony
Tony
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Not great.... didn't sell the car.
Their revised quote was £1970 after £49.99 fee.
Essentially they look at three things: service history, paintwork, and alloys. Nothing else was seriously checked.
Then each stone chip is a panel respray and each mark on the alloy is alloy refurb... you can see how the price they offer plummets very quickly.
Which was 20% lower than their initial quote , quite a reduction.
Just proves that the first price was only to get you through the door.
Kenny
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My point was that the minor paint blemishes and alloys are consistent with a car of this age in good condition. I pointed out that it is unreasonable to assume that 10 year old cars will be presented with full respray and 4 refurbished alloys...
Their view was the the assumption is that the car is in 'pristine' condition (their wording) unless otherwise stated. Apparently I had the option on the website to report paint or alloy damage. I didn't see that section - but even so it would not have occurred to me to note these imperfections.... and as I did not report the stone chips etc the quote was based on 'pristine' condition.
Also, it is not a coincidence that they check very carefully the service history, paint, and alloys - these are three areas where it is very easy to use as excuses for dropping the price. In my case he made a big fuss over a missed service in 2009 (it wasn't missed, he misread the date......), the point being that this was clearly an attempt to drive down the price - even if there was a missed service (there wasn't), does it really matter on a 10 years old car with otherwise perfect history?
I have traded-in several cars before and never seen the dealer focus on these particular areas.
So not impressed....
Their view was the the assumption is that the car is in 'pristine' condition (their wording) unless otherwise stated. Apparently I had the option on the website to report paint or alloy damage. I didn't see that section - but even so it would not have occurred to me to note these imperfections.... and as I did not report the stone chips etc the quote was based on 'pristine' condition.
Also, it is not a coincidence that they check very carefully the service history, paint, and alloys - these are three areas where it is very easy to use as excuses for dropping the price. In my case he made a big fuss over a missed service in 2009 (it wasn't missed, he misread the date......), the point being that this was clearly an attempt to drive down the price - even if there was a missed service (there wasn't), does it really matter on a 10 years old car with otherwise perfect history?
I have traded-in several cars before and never seen the dealer focus on these particular areas.
So not impressed....
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OP
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The chap who inspected my car was apparently relatively inexperienced, whenever he had an issue he went to ask his boss who was sitting on the next room. And most of the things he said sounded scripted - as if he was reading them from a script - presumably that's part of their staff training.
But the interesting bit is that when I pointed-out that their baseline assumption that the car is 'pristine' unless otherwise stated, is unreasonable, as very very few 10 years old cars will be presented in this condition - even the trade meaning of 'excellent condition' is not the same as 'pristine' - the answer was always that the car was 'not as described' which is pretty much the only answer he had for me.
This again sounded scripted - and I suspect that having their hand slapped by the OFT in 2010, they are now training their staff to walk on the legal side of the thin line between fair and fraudulent - just.
When I pointed out the the car 4 brand new premium tyres he said 'well that's part of the cost of running and maintaining a car and does not add to the value sir'. I bet that part-worn tyres would have reduced the price further... because I did not declare that the tyres were not new.... etc.
So in short be aware that unless otherwise stated, the quote is based on your car being in 'as new' condition... and the price will go down from there.
Would be interesting to see what their online quote would look like if I added 'minor stone chips' and 'some kerbing on wheels'.
On a general note, while it was plain obvious to me that pedantically focusing on service history, paint (he actually checked the paint thickness on each and every panel with a gauge - though nothing was mentioned so I am assuming he found nothing he could use to lower the price), and alloys, simply serves the purpose of finding reasons to reduce the price - I do have some sympathy for trade buyers.
My car is well looked-after and in perfect working order, but nothing was checked mechanically - he started the engine, drove the car 3 feet forward, then reversed back into the parking space, had a look under the bonnet then closed it shut - less than 5 minutes all in all. I am assuming that most 10 years old car dumped to the trade have a catalogue of issues that owners never reported and knew won't be checked by trade buyers, so the trade take a hit on blown head gaskets and failed auto-boxes and worn suspension components and what-have-you - none of which would have been spotted by today's 'inspection'. In reality, I suspect that quite a few sellers bring their cars to trade buyers because they know they won't pass a thorough inspection by private buyer. So I suppose that it's a bit of a cat-and-mouse game.
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ChrisCLS55
Active Member
I hate the likes of webuyanycar.com with a passion as they are effectively robbing people. Although I can see why people do use them, however. They are to car owners what wonga is to borrowers IMO. Good luck with the sale of your car!
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Here are a few photos to give you some idea what the car looks like (though I could not post photos of the stone chips / lacquer scratches because they don't show up on the pictures taken with my phone camera):
