selling your used car on a garage forcourt

[JohnDeere8530]

I have been trying to sell my wife's 2 yr old Mini Cooper (immaculate 17.5k mile green) over the last few months without success.

A local used car salesman has appoached me (who I dont know) asking if he could put it on his forcourt and sell it on my behalf. In principle I like this idea, hower I guess with anything there are potential pitfalls

If he should find a purchaser and sells it to them, I guess he will handle the money side of things. How can I protect myself so that I can guarantee that I receive the money? After all he could go bust or just make off with the money?

What is a reasonable fee for selling it, this has not been discussed yet since he has not been out to see the car. My lowest price is £11.5k for it, he thinks he can get more (even though I have not sold it in AT for that price!). I assume he will pocket the difference which I am happy with.

However realistically I think it will be slow to sell due to the timing of the sale. I am happy to sit on it as I guess in the spring car sales make pick up slightly? If it does sit around and goes for my bottom line, what would you think a fair fee for his time and effort would be say £200 ??? Or should I offer him slightly more and state that all advertising is down to him, ie I cant be asked for addnl monies to advertise it ??

I guess I should write a brief contract stating that he is fully responsible for the car and he will keep it fully insured for any loss to me? I assume the contract will mention his commission and that no commission is payable should a sale not go through ? Anything else I should mention in it ??? Should I put the mileage down and state that no more than say 100miles can be covered, as to stop him using it for private use ?

 

[Sp!ke]

What if he just uses your car and drives it about for 4 months before returning it unsold?

If he's confident about selling your car for a healthy markup then surely he should be willing to buy it off you up front. Sale or return suggests he's anything but confident.

Besides, you're effectively lending a total stranger 11.5k by doing this. I'd want some strong assurance that the guy is not going to do a runner.

 

[corned]

You say that you don't know him - so have you verified that he is actually who he says he is?

No amount of paperwork is going to protect you from a total loss if he simply drives away into the blue yonder with your motor!

 

[neilrr]

http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/525938-post16.html

 

[SilverSaloon]

i wouldnt bother with the salesman, too risky and not worth it.

where have you had it advertised for the past few months?

i'd stick an ebay auction up with a reserve or a buy it now (with best offer) ad with lots of good photos and a good description. The only interest i got via AT was the usual scammers and people who wanted it to ship to ireland/nigeria. On ebay it sold straight away.

if you've had absolutely no interest at all in a few months of it being on sale then may i suggest there is some flaw in your advert? are you asking more than its worth? yes it may be immaculate but is it more money than the other immaculate minis on the market?

assuming the salesman will take a healthy commision for selling it, why dont you just offer it to him for the price you are asking minus his % for him to just buy it from you, or advertise it elsewhere at that price.

 

[p1nny]

ebay it.

 

[aka$h]

Sometime you will find a main dealer may do this too. If the car is new enough and the right mileage. My dad had a Jaguar S-type 6-7 years ago, I tried to sell it on Autotrader and Ebay with little joy. I approached Jaguar Crawley and they agreed to take it on a sale or return basis. I wanted £13k for it, they put it up for £15995 after giving it a valet and inspection (both FOC).

I still had other adverts running, and had a phone call from a chap in Tyne and Wear. The distance was an issue, would have been a long wasted trip if the car was not as described. I mentioned it was currently on Jaguars forecourt and that seemed to swing it. He flew into Gatwick, and we went to Jaguar together to get the car back from them, next a bank and he drove home.

Get onto your local mini dealer, its worth asking.

 

[Deleted member 37751]

If you really are bothered about selling it, which you don't seem to be to be honest, then it is simple what you need to do.
Put it on eBay on a 7 day auction with a 99p starting bid and pit a reserve on for whatever you will take bottom price-wise and you will be amazed how much interest that you will generate.
If it is as good as you say then it will be gone before you know it

 

[tagnut]

Agree with everything mentioned above. With Ebay and Auto Trader you effectively have the same market reach as this guy and can sell the same car for less because there is no middle man. The downside for a potential purchaser is lack of warranty in a private sale but as this car is only two years old presumably there is a year of warranty left on it? Make sure this is clear in the ad.

As Silver Saloon said, make sure your ad is up to scratch with lots of information and good pictures and make sure the price is very realistic for this car in a private sale. You have as much chance of shifting it as this other guy and none of the risk of using him.

 

[davidjpowell]

When I bought my W210 E320 it was a company car and we p/ex a Passat that was surples to requirements. We got what we thought was a healthy price for it.

To our surprise a few months later we had a call from the trader suggesting that he had not p/ex'd it and had merely agreed to sell it on our behalf through a trader mate of his who had now gone bust, and therefore the car needed to come back to us.

All got legal and messy for a short while, but to cut a long story short his solciitor was more scarey than ours so that was that.

In summary, if you do not know this trader I would not tough him with a barge pole. Way too many wrong streets to go down.

 

[hawk20]

When cars don't sell the price is usually wrong -especially if it is a popular car like the MINI.

First job is to see what a few dealers will offer in part ex against your next car. That sets a base. Second job is to check Glass's Guide (do this free via the Vauxhall website uner 'finance -value my car').

I don't know the details on the OP's car, but I put in a 58 plate Mini Cooper manual with 18k miles and it gave around £8k as the average condition part ex value and a bit over £9k in excellent condition. Maybe add a grand or two for a private sale.

It would help if we knew a bit more like date of first registration, model etc etc.

 

[grober]

Don't touch this arrangement with a barge pole.

 

[JohnDeere8530]

thanks for the advice guys, yep its always good to get an opinion. Incidentally the ad I have of it is :-

2008 MINI COOPER 1.6 3dr Auto Hatchback

I'm not sure if I can post this as it is an ad, but there again I see little or no chance of it being sold to MB enthusiasts. Have a look at it, are there any flaws in the ad? I was hoping it is purely down to timing and things may pick up in spring. I would be happy to sit on it to then

 

[vincenz]

Don't touch this arrangement with a barge pole.

As above, have a read of this to see how pear shaped it can go....

Dream Machines

(specialist TVR dealer went busy with many sale or return cars sold without owners knowing)

 

[manalishi]

I did this once. It was a Skyline GT-R (back when they were still relatively rare) that was a complete nightmare to sell privately. After AutoTrader ads and E&M, I put it on commission-sale with the dealer that had done the SVA and servicing. It went to their showroom in S London. I already had a 'relationship' so I trusted them to at least some point. And they dealt with all of the muppets, insurance hassles, etc.

That said, I still suspect they grabbed up more money when they told me the only reasonable offer that had come in. After a 2-3 months of no interest in it (so far as I knew), I went for the lower offer that was on the table. There's no way I could know if that was the actual offer, or whether they made a grand or so extra for themselves.

Live and learn.

 

[neilrr]

I did this once. It was a Skyline GT-R (back when they were still relatively rare) that was a complete nightmare to sell privately. After AutoTrader ads and E&M, I put it on commission-sale with the dealer that had done the SVA and servicing. It went to their showroom in S London. I already had a 'relationship' so I trusted them to at least some point. And they dealt with all of the muppets, insurance hassles, etc.

That said, I still suspect they grabbed up more money when they told me the only reasonable offer that had come in. After a 2-3 months of no interest in it (so far as I knew), I went for the lower offer that was on the table. There's no way I could know if that was the actual offer, or whether they made a grand or so extra for themselves.

Live and learn.

See post 4.

 

[JohnDeere8530]

thanks for the replies. Certainly food for thought. There are many potential pitfulls. Ok guy looks ok but you never know 100%.

As for the money I told him categorically that I am unwilling to accept less than £11.5k and am in a fortunate position to be able to sit on the car rather than let it go less than I think its worth. Worse case my wife uses it as a runaround. Therefore being pushed into a lower price is not an issue here.

However the other potential problematic areas of him running off with car/money, the car becoming damaged or used for extensive private mileage is enough to put me off even with a written contract between us.

I guess anyone buying a car looks at autotrader first anyway, the only advantage for a dealer sale is that it appeals to more people due to the perceived safety factor and possible trade in

 

[Beetnik]

thanks for the advice guys, yep its always good to get an opinion. Incidentally the ad I have of it is :-

2008 MINI COOPER 1.6 3dr Auto Hatchback

I'm not sure if I can post this as it is an ad, but there again I see little or no chance of it being sold to MB enthusiasts. Have a look at it, are there any flaws in the ad? I was hoping it is purely down to timing and things may pick up in spring. I would be happy to sit on it to then

It's a Chili pack (i.e. one 'l' and not Chilli) which means that anyone who wants this and puts it in the search parameters won't find yours. May go part way to explaining any lack of interest.

 

[HR17]

Your ad specifies no canvassers or traders, yet this guy is trying his luck. Maybe he think's he'll get lucky with you where other more legitimate traders haven't. If he's cheeky enough to try it on now, be wary!

 

[gIzzE]

Just had a look on Autotrader, put in I wanted a 1.6 auto and up to 3 years old, and there are quite a few there under £10k, some with 20k miles some with 25k and some more, but that sets my target price as sub £10k.
Chili pack cars at dealers are around £11995 mainly, £11500 after a bit of discount?
So I think £11500 is a little optimistic imho.

If you put a decent ad up at £10950 it would appeal a whole lot more.