Donate to Remove ads

Got a credit card? use our Credit Card & Finance Calculators

Thanks to johnstevens77,Bhoddhisatva,scotia,Anonymous,Cornytiv34, for Donating to support the site

selling a used car

Passion, instruction, buying, care, maintenance and more, any form of vehicle discussion is welcome here
gryffron
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 3608
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 10:00 am
Has thanked: 551 times
Been thanked: 1587 times

selling a used car

#17382

Postby gryffron » December 22nd, 2016, 9:37 am

1) Where's the best place to sell a used car these days? c£1000 Aygo. Ebay? Autotrader? Honest John? I looked in the local paper and there were only about 6 cars in it.

2) Can I safely take payment by FastPay as well as cash? It looks to me like Fastpay is irreversible. So once the cash arrives in my account we're sorted?

3) Any other advice?

Thanks,
gryff

swill453
Lemon Half
Posts: 7962
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 6:11 pm
Has thanked: 984 times
Been thanked: 3643 times

Re: selling a used car

#17388

Postby swill453 » December 22nd, 2016, 9:57 am

gryffron wrote:2) Can I safely take payment by FastPay as well as cash? It looks to me like Fastpay is irreversible. So once the cash arrives in my account we're sorted?

You mean Faster Payment, i.e. direct bank transfer? FastPay isn't an abbreviation I'd necessarily associate with that, there's at least one commercial company called FastPay that's not doing the same thing.

And yes, it's a safe way to take payment. As soon as you see the money online in your account, it's irreversible.

Scott.

redsturgeon
Lemon Half
Posts: 8912
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 9:06 am
Has thanked: 1309 times
Been thanked: 3667 times

Re: selling a used car

#17394

Postby redsturgeon » December 22nd, 2016, 10:11 am

For a £1000 Aygo I'd be inclined to only accept cash or direct transfer to my bank.

At that price perhaps Gumtree might suit too, it's free.

John

bungeejumper
Lemon Half
Posts: 8066
Joined: November 8th, 2016, 2:30 pm
Has thanked: 2846 times
Been thanked: 3939 times

Re: selling a used car

#17422

Postby bungeejumper » December 22nd, 2016, 12:00 pm

Always cash at this sort of price level. Anyone who's seriously looking for a cheap car will go out with a wad of cash, because he knows that if the right car turns up he'll be able to secure it on the spot.

Are there any free ad magazines in your area? Around these parts there's something called Trade-It (www.trade-it.co.uk/motors), which has a section for cheapies. Price it a couple of hundred above what you expect, and prepare to get knocked down toward your target.

Beware of phone callers telling you that they've got three red-hot buyers for your car at full price, and all you have to do is pay them a £99 processing fee. Scammers, always - you'll never hear from them again once you've paid them.

BJ

DrFfybes
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 3733
Joined: November 6th, 2016, 10:25 pm
Has thanked: 1171 times
Been thanked: 1964 times

Re: selling a used car

#17436

Postby DrFfybes » December 22nd, 2016, 12:46 pm

gryffron wrote:1) Where's the best place to sell a used car these days? c£1000 Aygo. Ebay? Autotrader? Honest John? I looked in the local paper and there were only about 6 cars in it.

2) Can I safely take payment by FastPay as well as cash? It looks to me like Fastpay is irreversible. So once the cash arrives in my account we're sorted?

3) Any other advice?

Thanks,
gryff


Experience from selling a Toyota Corolla and a Volvo V70 about 3 years ago... IIRC both Pistonheads and Autotrader were about a tenner ofr an online advert.

Autotrader probably better than Pistonheads or Ebay for that sort of car - people seem to trust ads on Autotrader a bit more. Gumtree is free to advertise but never heard a dickybird.

The V70 sold through Pistonheads to someone who wanted a 'nice' estate as a second car to his TVR, I had no interest on Autotrader.

The Corolla got nothing from PH but sold to a local(ish) nurse via Autotrader within days.

A few tips...
For that price, take cash. Most people won't drive it away at first visit anyway as they'll need to sort insurance (and VED!) so take a deposit and balance on collection.

Give it a quick check over - oil, coolant, tyre pressures, interior lights working, etc - the sort of stuff buyers will check.

Have ALL the paperwork ready in chronological order, and all the keys.

Be honest in the advert listing the good and bad points, history of the car and why you're selling, take plenty of photos showing good and bad points, give it a darned good clean inside and out but don't go silly with tyre dressing etc - an over prepped car can be offputting.

If THEY want to test drive it, ask to see photo ID and ask if they have insurance. If they don't, you can be prosecuted.

Put it online on Sunday - that sort of car and price will appeal to people getting an envelope from mum and dad for Xmas, and most people are off work next week to go and view.

Paul

BT63
Lemon Slice
Posts: 432
Joined: November 5th, 2016, 1:22 pm
Has thanked: 59 times
Been thanked: 121 times

Re: selling a used car

#17554

Postby BT63 » December 22nd, 2016, 8:21 pm

I know someone who sold a cheap-ish car privately.
After several days the new owner brought the car back saying the engine wasn't working properly. The new owner also brought along a couple of mates to help secure the refund.
The poor-running car was then garaged for a short while because the seller had acquired another car.
Eventually they got round to looking at it to find that the person who had bought and returned the car appeared to have done an engine swap.

Clitheroekid
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 2858
Joined: November 6th, 2016, 9:58 pm
Has thanked: 1385 times
Been thanked: 3773 times

Re: selling a used car

#17571

Postby Clitheroekid » December 22nd, 2016, 9:51 pm

I'd also suggest that you consider selling at auction. There seem to be plenty of private buyers who now buy this type of car at auction, so that you might find yourself getting quite a decent price.

It also avoids all the hassle of dealing with `tyre kickers', worries about payment and the sort of problem mentioned by BT63.

gryffron
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 3608
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 10:00 am
Has thanked: 551 times
Been thanked: 1587 times

Re: selling a used car

#17634

Postby gryffron » December 23rd, 2016, 10:35 am

Thanks for everyone's advice. I'll be careful. No auction locally so I'll give autotrader a go. It had occurred to me to try next week when everyone off work.

Thanks all
gryff

moorfield
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 3523
Joined: November 7th, 2016, 1:56 pm
Has thanked: 1546 times
Been thanked: 1402 times

Re: selling a used car

#18273

Postby moorfield » December 27th, 2016, 6:07 pm

1) Where's the best place to sell a used car these days? c£1000 Aygo. Ebay? Autotrader? Honest John? I looked in the local paper and there were only about 6 cars in it.


For c£1000 Aygo webuyanycar website also worth a look if you want the convenience of getting rid quickly. We shifted our last motor there no questions asked with 3 weeks left on the MOT (we already had a new motor and couldn't be pfaffed to sort that out). The aircon had also just failed, wheel trims had a nasty habit of slipping and slicing the valves off, the (auto) clutch was aging, one wing mirror had a different trim (due to previous knock), a few dinks in the body work, minor repaired crack on the windscreen. We could have done better privately, but the convenience was certainly worth it.

deadeyedjacks
Posts: 25
Joined: November 24th, 2016, 8:54 pm
Has thanked: 60 times
Been thanked: 3 times

Re: selling a used car

#18994

Postby deadeyedjacks » December 31st, 2016, 1:26 pm

WeBuyAnyCar and the like, offer way below part exchange values, so only good for wrecks and non-runners in my opinion.

For any car in good working order and above good condition a private sale will get maximum value.

When taking cash do it at the bank with the buyer, no concerns over security or fake notes that way.

I've sold three cars and taken Faster payments as payment with no issues.

redsturgeon
Lemon Half
Posts: 8912
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 9:06 am
Has thanked: 1309 times
Been thanked: 3667 times

Re: selling a used car

#19001

Postby redsturgeon » December 31st, 2016, 1:50 pm

deadeyedjacks wrote:WeBuyAnyCar and the like, offer way below part exchange values, so only good for wrecks and non-runners in my opinion.

For any car in good working order and above good condition a private sale will get maximum value.

When taking cash do it at the bank with the buyer, no concerns over security or fake notes that way.

I've sold three cars and taken Faster payments as payment with no issues.


I am afraid your opinion about webuyanycar just is not a reflection of my actual experience with them earlier this year. I sold my car to webuyanycar for more than the garage were offering in part exchange and in fact not much less than I saw similar cars being advertised for sale at car dealers and as much as similar cars were being advertised for sale privately on Autotrader. Prices may differ for different makes and ages of cars but with my car they offered a very straightforward process, I knew up front what was being offered and was able to say yes or no depending on how close their final offer was to the money offered via the website.

They will offer a top flight price assuming no damage to the car and take off money for each damaged panel, damage to interior etc. I'm not sure they would be a good option to try to sell a wreck or non runner since you need to drive the car to their offices. So all in all I'm not sure what you are basing your opinion on. They took £90 off theirn original offer due to multiple stone chips on the bonnet...far enough IMHO. The money as transfered to my bank in the four working days promised, no problems.

I would agree that often a private sale will get you the best money but there are caveats:

1. If the car is worth a lot of money (say >£10k) then most people would be wary of a private sale.

2. You need to be confident enough to prepare the car to maximise its sale value.

3. You need to know what you are talking about in dealing with the people who will come to see the car and try to knock your price down.

4. You need to be prepared to either wait for the right buyer at a decent price or to drop your price for a quick sale.

5. You need to be ready to fend of the spam callers who will assure you that they have many willing buyers for your car if you pay them a small up front fee.

If the above is OK with you then selling privately can be the best route to go and your advice re. money is sound.

John

gryffron
Lemon Quarter
Posts: 3608
Joined: November 4th, 2016, 10:00 am
Has thanked: 551 times
Been thanked: 1587 times

Re: selling a used car

#19014

Postby gryffron » December 31st, 2016, 2:26 pm

Update,
So it appears the car is not in good condition. Last trip out I had to fight it for every gear change. ?Broken clutch? Great timing :(
Since I figured no private buyer would touch with a bargepole in that state, I tried webuyanycar, being completely honest about the fault. Sold, same day for £400. Obviously I could have got more if I'd been bothered to replace the clutch (£250+) and everything else that was wrong with it. But I was happy to cut and run. I didn't think that was a bad price considering the condition and the faults.

gryff


Return to “Cars, Driving, Motorbikes or any Transport”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 10 guests