Selling a car - best way to do it

[Charles Morgan]

The large amount of money currently being spent on my Allard (and a general fed-up-ness with car problems - neither on my Mercedes) has caused me to re-think my car ownership and I am going to sell one of my Mercs. The reason I ask is I have realised that absent selling an Audi 100 back in 1990 (in the end to my mother as I couldn't sell it) it is the first time I would have sold something privately.

In the learned opinion of members here, if you were seeking to maximise the number of sensible punters rather than loons or losers, which way would you go?

 

[wemorgan]

If it's a standard car then Autotrader has worked well for me on many occasions.

PistonHeads for "driver's cars" or anything modified.

Ebay covers many bases, but as buyers can contact sellers via email it does open the flood gates to time wasters.

For the record - I'm yet to sell a car via a forum advertisement.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

Which car is it that you're selling Charles?

 

[Charles Morgan]

Probably Pistonheads then, thanks Will.

As it is a Mercedes I'll list it here, but take your point.

 

[wemorgan]

There's little harm in putting an advert on the forum - it does help to spread the word.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

I've sold one of my previous W211's by way of this forum, the rest I've just had downright rude offers. For smaller items, no real problems though.

I stopped using auto trader a few year ago, my cars were always similarly priced to others but I just kept getting idiots ringing up, playing daft games.

Tried PH a few times, again I had nothing but professional time wasters on there. Seemed to get a lot of cold-callers asking to sell my car for me (more on PH than anywhere else). When I'm looking for a car, I barely check on their classifieds. I like my personal car to be bought privately, but it seems to be thick with traders.

I've used eBay to sell a fair few of my cars and it seems to have the better ratio of time wasters to genuine buyers. When they message you, you can also see their buying history which I think is a good thing.

 

[ss201]

Pistonheads has been very successful for me in the past.

 

[brucemillar]

Pistonheads or Autotrader work well. E-Bay can be very good but requires a fair degree of patience due to it's wide market appeal. It attracts an awful lot of time wasters..

If using e-bay then be very upfront about what you will not accept.

People with less than 100% feedback
Payment by xx only within xx of he winning bid.
Reserve the right to withdraw from the sale etc.
You are bidding to buy not to test drive.

 

[MercFanUk]

Ebay and autotrader have worked well for me and my family in the past, PH has never yielded any results really, but they were pretty much every day cars and not special, so that might be why.

 

[wemorgan]

Ebay has a classifieds section as well as the more common auction section. The classifieds works in the same way as Autotrader.

 

[juux]

I've sold a couple of cars via Ebay, one through Auto Trader and one through a marque car forum (MLR). Would probably avoid Auto Trader in future though, seems poorer value that it used to be.

wemorgan's advice is spot on though.

Be very explicit in your ad that agencies are not welcome and you'll cut out all but the most desperate. You can then give 'em both barrels though mind!

 

[Troon]

Expect lots of people interested in your car and currently on an offshore oil platform or similar. Scams, don't even bother replying.

I forgot to put a feedback limit on the sale of my last car, and ended up selling it Buy It Now to a nice Polish gentleman with zero feedback who turned up when arranged with an envelope full of cash. £1400 for an LPG'd 52-plate 1.8 Mk3 Mondeo with 149k on the clock. She was immaculate, but that's still above expectations.

The car has since disappeared from DVLA's records with that plate, after having a VIC on record for a couple of months...

 

[A-AvantGarde]

I've currently got a car listed on ebay (selling for a friend) - it's ending today so let's see what happens!

In terms of where's best to sell it depends upon the car:

AutoTrader, Ebay, Pistonheads & even Gumtree have been useful to me in the past.

AutoTrader is probably the site used by most when searching. As others have suggested, if it's a Merc, no harm lisiting it here too.

 

[Mr B.]

Pistonheads has been very successful for me in the past.

same here sold my calibra turbo on there it was on four two day

 

[Deleted member 65149]

Sold my CLK and Porsche in the last couple of months. Advertised them both on here and Autotrader, and the Porsche also on Classic Cars. Only had one genuine enquiry on the CLK, which was through here and ended in a sale . Three genuine enquiries on the Porsche, one from each ad. The Autotrader ad was the one that resulted in a sale .

The Autotrader ad for the Porsche also generated a couple of obvious scams from people offering to buy at just above the asking price and saying they'd arrange shipping. I didn't need to be a genius to know to steer well clear of those!

So there's no best option IMHO. Just make sure your ad is well worded with as much information as possible. Autotrader provide some excellent advice on wording and photos that's well worth looking at even if you don't use them

 

[Nasco12]

I notice no one is suggesting Exchange and Mart.

 

[Charles Morgan]

Thanks all. I am going to get a few chips in the paint sorted then it will go on here and Pistonheads, assuming I don't drown photographing it!