Preparing cars for sale.

[Tan]

Hi

I went to see a W211 E500 today, lovely car but the px value they offered for our Audi was very low leaving the cost to change much higher than I wanted to pay.

The two points that the dealer said needed addressing on our car was the drivers seat colour has worn and the wheels need refurbing.

What are the likely costs of putting these two things right? Secondly, in this morket are private cars selling for much less that the dealer equivalent?

And if anyone knows anyone interested in a 2003 Audi A4 Cabriolet then please let me know. I will post more details in the classifieds section soon.

Many thanks

Tan

 

[A210AMG]

Seat colour assuming leather? either get some dye off a leather company and try on somewhere you cannot see first or just get some leather cleaner (I use Autogym) should bring it up a treat....and smell new..


Wheels should be able to be refurbed for anywhere from £40 each wheel and up (to around £80) depending on size, finish requires.

Are they knocking money off because of this?

Is the E500 immaculate....check his wheels / trim etc....

 

[Tan]

Their E500 is fairly mint, there a few marks on the bumpers but they said that they would sort these.
To be honest he has 2 other A4 Cabriolets, so I think may be, he just did not want to take the car in.

 

[A210AMG]

Summers (cough) on its way....

A convertible should be easier for them to shift than a 5.0L car?

 

[Will]

How much of a difference do they really think these two areas make in the value they were prepared to give you?

To be honest, if they're in the trade they'd probably have the car valeted (and the leather treated) for about £50, and I'd be surprised if they'd pay much more than about £100-150 to refurb the wheels.

Sounds as though they're using them more as an 'excuse' rather than the real reason.

If I was a trader these days, I'd be giving very, very very low PX offers unless I was making a killing on the other car. Who knows how long they'll have to sit on a car before it sells anymore, and everyone is trying to get a bargain hence they all want to knock £££s, if not ££££s off the advertised prices. They probably want your car for slightly less than it's auction value so that they can dispose of it with the least risk.

Will

 

[peterg1965]

What model and spec is yr A4 Cab? I had a silver 2.4 Sport, blue roof, blue leather and heated seats, loved it. I bought that new in May 03, it kept its value really well when I sold it 18 months later.

 

[Will]

What model and spec is yr A4 Cab? I had a silver 2.4 Sport, blue roof, blue leather and heated seats, loved it. I bought that new in May 03, it kept its value really well when I sold it 18 months later.

Yep, the A4 cabs used to have great residual values. I had one on lease for two years from 05-07, it was great value for money helped by the strong residuals.

Nice looking car and the interior was good, but I had many mechanical faults with it - a bit of a lemon

Will

 

[Tan]

What model and spec is yr A4 Cab? I had a silver 2.4 Sport, blue roof, blue leather and heated seats, loved it. I bought that new in May 03, it kept its value really well when I sold it 18 months later.

Its a 2003 A4 3.0 Sport Cabriolet. Blue with cream nappa leather, Sat Nav, Bose, CD Changer, Auto with Tiptronic function, rear parking sensors, Fridge in glove box. Done 45k miles, we paid best side of £19k from Audi Finchley in September 2007.... the dealer offered £6750 today.

Its hard to guage the real value as I have seen them advertised recently from £9k to £13k for similar age / mileage / spec.

 

[peterg1965]

Its a 2003 A4 3.0 Sport Cabriolet. Blue with cream nappa leather, Sat Nav, Bose, CD Changer, Auto with Tiptronic function, rear parking sensors, Fridge in glove box. Done 45k miles, we paid best side of £19k from Audi Finchley in September 2007.... the dealer offered £6750 today.

Its hard to guage the real value as I have seen them advertised recently from £9k to £13k for similar age / mileage / spec.

I am gobsmacked! What a difference a couple of years makes to the market, I suppose that A4 cabs are plentiful these days, when I ordered mine there was a 6 month waiting list. If I wanted an A4 Cab I would buy it off you, but regretably I don't. My understanding is that the Audi Multitronic Auto Box is not particularly well regarded, mine was manual. I suspect if the trader had that off you it would be on sale for £9995, or something close to that.

Why don't you try eBay. I was amazed at the interest in my Jag in just a few days, I priced it carefully so it was competitively priced compared to the others of a similar spec. Just for interest, there is a 77,000 mile, 51 plate, W208 CLK320 Cab which looks lovely in Quartz blue with pale alpaca leather and AMG alloys, in an auction format which has reached £7500 with a day to go. I would have thought that your A4 Cab would easily get more than that.

 

[jaymanek]

the dealer is having a joke... the bottom book is £9K for a car with 68 on the clock.. yours is a good spec and less miles... I would expect a trader to give you £9500-£10000... and a dealer would not quibble over alloys needing a refurb.. it costs a dealer £35 a wheel max...

 

[dsolds]

Bottom book means nowt though in the current market. I live a couple of miles from a BCA site and quite often go and look at what's going through. You would be surprised at how little the German cars in general are fetching.

I also looked at doing a PX of my E500 estate against a Ferrari F456 MGT (late modificato car with manual box) and was shocked by the offer. Bear in mind it's a 53 plate E500 estate with 95% of the available options - the starting offer was £5750 for mine against £49995 for theirs.

I got my brother to enquire about the F456 as a straight cash deal - they will take £42000. huh ???? That's screwed up for sure. What I make of it is that dealers all want to sell stock without buying anything in right now. Depreciating stock on the forecourt is bad news for them I guess, more so if they are not sure how long before something will sell. In 6 months the cost of fuel could be back through the roof etc etc, who knows....So I guess I'll keep the old girl another year. Not a major hardship really

Mind you, your Audi should sell OK in a month or two - coming up to the months when it's roof down time. Clean it up really nicely, sort the wheels and seats and march/april should bring top dollar for it. Etiher way, avoid PX deals. Dealers are having a tough time so they seem to be maximising margins everywhere. Cold hard cash will still talk a much better deal for you right now.

 

[stats007]

and a dealer would not quibble over alloys needing a refurb.. it costs a dealer £35 a wheel max...

You get a smart repair for that - most of the time the wheels don't even come off of the car .

 

[jaymanek]

yes they are a semi smart repair but mine come off, get rubbed down properly in the van and then painted and baked... they spend 6-7 hours doing a set of 4..

Retail they charge around £50-60 per wheel for the same..

 

[stats007]

Trade price is £45 + VAT for that sort of thing here - smart repairers without the proper equipment charge £30 + VAT a wheel and it stays on the car.

I still don't understand why anyone who trades in a car complains about the price offered. Sell it privately if you want to get the right money.

 

[Tan]

I still don't understand why anyone who trades in a car complains about the price offered. Sell it privately if you want to get the right money.

There are different price levels for everything, obviously one would make the most by selling privately, but surely it is not unreasonable to expect a sensible trade in price and question it if its ridiculously low. I don’t believe that anyone expects top resale money as a px value.

 

[stats007]

The dealer is offering you what it is worth to him - in the current cllimate I don't think sensible factors into it!

 

[SilverSaloon]

reminds me of when i traded in my Rover 400 for a Mondeo. Dealer moaned about my Rover having some paintwork marks on it and said it was too old for him to sell and would just auction it..... what he failed to realise was that the same model Rover was in his showroom just 2 metres behind him, 1 year older, and that the Mondeo also had its bodywork faults. I mentioned this to him, at which point he refused to budge on barganing. Mondeo was decent price and spec i specifically wanted, so i dealt anyway.

if you want best money, stick it on ebay for a week - if it doesnt sell, trade it in on the dealers terms..... selling car privatly wont be much hassle if its a good one

in the current car climate, he probably doesnt want your trade in - probably would prefer to buy cheaper/economical/easier to sell cars elsewhere than a car that is going to be hard to shift.

ebay will probably just be "advertising" the car - i sold my E300D via ebay, ok for a lot less money but same principle applies. stick it on there, if its good then a buyer will buy it when they view it, and you already know your bottom price so anything above is a bonus and you can deal in cash with the dealer then too.

 

[jaymanek]

most dealers will offer just below glass's trade value... just below is £9K... £6750 is taking the michael..

used prices are going back up.. auctions are ram packed with dealers trying to replenish stock... i havent managed to buy anything much for a couple of weeks...

 

[peterg1965]

ebay will probably just be "advertising" the car - i sold my E300D via ebay, ok for a lot less money but same principle applies. stick it on there, if its good then a buyer will buy it when they view it, and you already know your bottom price so anything above is a bonus and you can deal in cash with the dealer then too.

Agree, put it on an eBay as a 'Classified Ad with Best Offer' it costs about £15, takes an hour or so to write a full description and take some decent pictures. Ensure it is a realistic price compared to the competition and sit back and wait for the emails and offers. I sold the XJ6 and the X-Type on this form of Ad, both within a week. Some of the offers may be stupid, all you have to do is select the 'No' button and that is it.

Additionally, cut and paste the ad and put it on Pistonheads, that is free. Give it a couple of weeks and if you haven't sold it then either reduce the price or go for the trade in.

 

[wemorgan]

Are people no longer using Autotrader?
I had always thought that to me the first port of call when buying/selling cars?