Seriously. I understand why people trade in.

[Wacky Racer]

J4CKO said:

We bought our C1 off a lovely couple, price was already competitive, but you always have to negotiate, or at least try, I said I would like the car and he said,

"Ok, it works like this, for £6000 you can take the car, for £5999 you cant take the car"

Cant say fairer than that.

You should have said "I'll give you £5999.50.."

[9mm]

david hockney said:

I've got a 911SC posted for sale on Piston Heads right now- it's the first car I've ever tried to sell private and it's been thoroughly demoralising.
It's listed for £22,750- I've had blokes email would I accept 18k Er.......no. Random emails- what would I take for it?
I had one bloke ask for a fully detailed record of service history- where it was serviced, at what mileage and work done-
The car is 32 years old !!!!- I'd have to take a day off work......I'm not desperate to sell the car so I've got to the point I can hardly be bothered to respond to the tyre kickers...

That's a car that only two or three years ago would have been more like £12k-£14k asking. Your pricing (and judging by your comments the car is anything but pristine) suggest a pretty speculative price right in the middle of one of the biggest bubbles seen. I think you can expect plenty of offers many thousands below what you're asking and hopefully you'll get an acceptable one before the current bubble bursts. I only posted about this car because it's a good example of where I feel it would be perfectly understandable if potential buyers pitched in with offers £5k-£10k below asking, especially those with good memories.

[DonkeyApple]

Negative Creep said:

Efbe said:

despite the st attitude I do agree with 9mm in some ways. This is somewhere for people that like cars.

in addition. poor does not mean you need crap cars. There are awesome £2000 cars, £1000 cars and £500 cars.
On the other hand there are absolutely shocking £20k, £30k and £50k cars.

Then again PH has become a bit full of badge snobs, concourse polishers and must-better-the-joneses people.

I agree there are loads of interesting cheap cars out there as SOTW proves time and time again, but sometimes circumstances dictate we need something dull to get us around for a while. You can have fun driving anything, and some of the most memorable drives I've had have been in cars that would be the very antithesis of what a "real" petrolhead would drive. I'd wager someone who enjoys driving their £500 Fiesta around would make a better contribution to this site than someone who bought a £50k BMW because it makes them look important and no one on their street has the latest registration yet

Sorry but it was made perfectly clear by insecure, debt monkey Porsche drivers last year that £8,500 was the cut off. If your vehicle is worth less than this then you are scum and not to dare speak or converse in any way with the superior humans such as insecure, debt monkey Porsche owners.

I believe I should also be informing you that as such you are now 'dismissed'.

[TheHound]

david hockney said:

I've got a 911SC posted for sale on Piston Heads right now- it's the first car I've ever tried to sell private and it's been thoroughly demoralising.

I had one bloke ask for a fully detailed record of service history- where it was serviced, at what mileage and work done-
The car is 32 years old !!!!- I'd have to take a day off work......I'm not desperate to sell the car so I've got to the point I can hardly be bothered to respond to the tyre kickers...

A very valid question and probably a serious buyer.

Maybe this deserves a Seriously, I understand why people buy from a reputable dealer thread.

Edited by TheHound on Friday 6th March 07:51

[ukwill]

UK345 said:

It's all about holding out for the right buyer. It is only natural for people to barter with the price. I will soon be selling my old fiesta which ill advertise at £1250 but id accept £1000 for it. Always worthwhile adding a wee bit over what you actually want so that it gives the buyer confidence that they are lowering the price. We all do it. The potential buyer is always in the strongest position when looking at your car. I don't mind people coming and viewing the car even if in the end it isn't for them - at least i tried.

What's yer best price mate, innit bruv?

[anonymous-user]

Selling my VXR was the worst.

VXR attracted so many idiots, chancers and the 'innit' brigade, ended up selling to a lad from Liverpool who looked about 17 and came with a bag full of cash that had been counted incorrectly (he overpaid by £260), well he would off if I wasn't honest. 'Cash now, innit' no go away I don't need cash now, I'm in no rush so please F*** off.

E92 / Mk1 MX5 were the easiest to sell, loads of interest but filtered out the divs and first view of both sold the car.

Cheap and fast is not a good combination, I don't envy Impreza sellers!

[ZX10R NIN]

When buying a car haggling is part of the process weather from the dealer or private this trend for taking 1000's off stems from programs like Wheeler Dealers, so you will get people who are really chancing their arm, but if one of those calls comes off for them then for them it's been worth the hassle.

I have always sold privately yes the first week or so is the usual haggle monkeys(funnily enough I get more of these from AT than from Ebay) then the serious buyers start to show interest I'd say on Average it takes 3-4 weeks to sell a car.

What amazes me is the number of people who don't even bother to wash the car before taking a photo?! My cars are always detail cleaned when I first get them then valeted every Four Months & cleaned by me in between & generally kept in good condition.
I do this because the car next to the house is my biggest expenditure & while I may lose money I'll try & keep that loss to a minimum.

Good photos a full breakdown of spec & history work for me every time, Sold my F80 M3 Privately & the OH 2010 C63 in Jan it took two weeks for the M3 & five for the C63 yes there were the usual what's your best price etc but there were also genuine buyers.

The hard part is getting people to view your car everyone wants to do a deal over the phone, I just say "I'm open to negotiations but only in person" once they've seen the car in the flesh then they'll either buy or won't & you get a better feel for them.

Obviously it's harder with mainstream cars like a 1 series as you have to convince someone it worth travelling to see yours 200 miles away when they can see 10 within 30 miles, I found this when selling my CLK daily driver that took four weeks.

Edited by ZX10R NIN on Friday 6th March 08:35

[rouge59]

david hockney said:

I've got a 911SC posted for sale on Piston Heads right now- it's the first car I've ever tried to sell private and it's been thoroughly demoralising.
It's listed for £22,750- I've had blokes email would I accept 18k Er.......no. Random emails- what would I take for it?
I had one bloke ask for a fully detailed record of service history- where it was serviced, at what mileage and work done-
The car is 32 years old !!!!- I'd have to take a day off work......I'm not desperate to sell the car so I've got to the point I can hardly be bothered to respond to the tyre kickers...

If I was considering spending 20 grand plus on a 32 year old 911 & the vendor couldn't be arsed to give me at least a précis of the service history & work carried out on the car, then I'd walk away, as I'd imagine most right minded people would.

[glazbagun]

BaronVonV8 said:

It drives me fking crackers.

If I was a serial killer then I would probably select my prey by advertising on Autotrader. Anyone calling me bruv or offering half the asking price will be invited to view the car, lured into the garage and bludgeoned to death with a copy of Parkers.

[Toaster Pilot]

Mahoolah said:

Recently sold a ropey old Mondeo on Ebay. 99p start , Buy it now of £800.

I had Endless inquiries as to "What I'd take for it" via ebay.

Eventually the auction ends an a charming man from Coventry with 1 feedback wins the car for £700. He calls me fairly promptly so i gave him the benefit of the doubt.

He turns up the same evening with his family in tow. Before even looking at the car his fat wife was doing an incredibly pungent log in the toilet ("I'm bustin' love can I use yer toilet").

Test drive goes well, he likes the car (its fairly well kept). Before shaking on the deal he insists on phoning his second cousin ("he used to work for Kwikfit yer know"). Second cousin manages to diagnose a fault with the flywheel down the phone in an incredibly poor mobile phone reception area very precisely (despite the extensive service history showing a flywheel replacement less than 10k ago), and advises the buyer to walk away.

This was annoying, and no amount of protesting about coming to see the car before bidding will make him change his mind, so I suck it up, get out the air freshener and move on.

Sold it on a relist for the same price to a nice man from Brentford who broke several laws on the test drive.

Original bid winner then left me negative feedback on ebay due to car not being "as advertised".

I find eBay even worse than trying to sell a car via classified ads (although Gumtree runs close) - far too many people "win" an auction and then never turn up to buy

[DSLiverpool]

Mahoolah said:

He turns up the same evening with his family in tow. Before even looking at the car his fat wife was doing an incredibly pungent log in the toilet ("I'm bustin' love can I use yer toilet").

Oh mate my missus would be going nuts she has terrible "stranger on our bog" syndrome.

[john2443]

I might live to regret this when I sell the next one but I've sold all my cars privately over 30 odd years, apart from 1 to the scrapper and one to the auctions, probably 30 cars (without spending time to add them up) and have never had any trouble apart from bloody Autotrader calling.

This has been in Nottingham and Brighton - is it a regional problem, maybe just London??

[VolvoT5]

One of the things that really puts me off changing car is knowing that the only options to dispose of my old car are 1) P/X and getting shafted by a dealer at both ends of the transaction or 2) dealing with these moronic 'best price bruv' tossers on eBay/Autotrader.

Then there is always the worry they will buy the car and then turn up 3 months later and moan that they have a flat tyre or chipped windscreen and you "have to offer 6 months warranty innit".

I actually sold a car once cheaply as it was cat C repaired. The 3.141 + key that bought it flogged it on immediately, using my own pictures and description but omitting the fact it was cat C. The next owner phoned me up (found my number from some service history invoice) and started moaning at me about 'did I know it was cat C' and 'how come the fuel consumption is so bad' and 'is there any way to disconnect the turbo to make it better?'............... because it is a 2.5 turbo petrol auto you fkwit and NO, you idiot!

Edited by VolvoT5 on Friday 6th March 09:38

[Fastchas]

glazbagun said:

BaronVonV8 said:

It drives me fking crackers.

If I was a serial killer then I would probably select my prey by advertising on Autotrader. Anyone calling me bruv or offering half the asking price will be invited to view the car, lured into the garage and bludgeoned to death with a copy of Parkers.

Have another one <snigger>


I once sold my Yamaha FJ1200, think it was on AT. I actually had a phone call, AT 12.36AM IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT!!! two months later asking if it was still for sale! I can still clearly see the time etched in my brain as I looked at the bedside clock in my half-awoken state.

Edited by Fastchas on Friday 6th March 09:40

[jimi]

rouge59 said:

If I was considering spending 20 grand plus on a 32 year old 911 & the vendor couldn't be arsed to give me at least a précis of the service history & work carried out on the car, then I'd walk away, as I'd imagine most right minded people would.

Absolutely.

I have been looking for a weekend car recently and asking some fair questions like this over the email before wasting time asking over the phone - also gives a good record to refer back to...

I often ask for the last MOT test number to run the history report from directgov - good source of information to show you the cars condition over the years. I must have sent 15 - 20 messages in the last month and only had 2 replies, one of those was "car sold". Yes there are plenty of poor quality "buyers" but there are in my view far too many lazy and in many cases rude sellers as well.

[Sump]

VolvoT5 said:

One of the things that really puts me off changing car is knowing that the only options to dispose of my old car are 1) P/X and getting shafted by a dealer at both ends of the transaction or 2) dealing with these moronic 'best price bruv' tossers on eBay/Autotrader.

Then there is always the worry they will buy the car and then turn up 3 months later and moan that they have a flat tyre or chipped windscreen and you "have to offer 6 months warranty innit".

I actually sold a car once cheaply as it was cat C repaired. The 3.141 + key that bought it flogged it on immediately, using my own pictures and description but omitting the fact it was cat C. The next owner phoned me up (found my number from some service history invoice) and started moaning at me about 'did I know it was cat C' and 'how come the fuel consumption is so bad' and 'is there any way to disconnect the turbo to make it better?'............... because it is a 2.5 turbo petrol auto you fkwit and NO, you idiot!

Edited by VolvoT5 on Friday 6th March 09:38

Regardless of the jackass not doing a HPI check, a bit of a thing to do is omitting the fact it's a Cat C.

[Conscript]

Sump said:

VolvoT5 said:

One of the things that really puts me off changing car is knowing that the only options to dispose of my old car are 1) P/X and getting shafted by a dealer at both ends of the transaction or 2) dealing with these moronic 'best price bruv' tossers on eBay/Autotrader.

Then there is always the worry they will buy the car and then turn up 3 months later and moan that they have a flat tyre or chipped windscreen and you "have to offer 6 months warranty innit".

I actually sold a car once cheaply as it was cat C repaired. The 3.141 + key that bought it flogged it on immediately, using my own pictures and description but omitting the fact it was cat C. The next owner phoned me up (found my number from some service history invoice) and started moaning at me about 'did I know it was cat C' and 'how come the fuel consumption is so bad' and 'is there any way to disconnect the turbo to make it better?'............... because it is a 2.5 turbo petrol auto you fkwit and NO, you idiot!

Edited by VolvoT5 on Friday 6th March 09:38

Regardless of the jackass not doing a HPI check, a bit of a thing to do is omitting the fact it's a Cat C.

He didn't.
The guy who bought it off him then sold it immediately did.

[davamer23]

jimi said:

Absolutely.

I have been looking for a weekend car recently and asking some fair questions like this over the email before wasting time asking over the phone - also gives a good record to refer back to...

I often ask for the last MOT test number to run the history report from directgov - good source of information to show you the cars condition over the years. I must have sent 15 - 20 messages in the last month and only had 2 replies, one of those was "car sold". Yes there are plenty of poor quality "buyers" but there are in my view far too many lazy and in many cases rude sellers as well.

I usually ask for this and it's often met with horror that somehow I will use the info to scam the seller, it's only part of the checks I would do before doing a deal on any secondhand car but some just don't get it.

[anonymous-user]

Sump said:

Regardless of the jackass not doing a HPI check, a bit of a thing to do is omitting the fact it's a Cat C.

A friend of mine sold a Cat C or D (can't remember) BMW 330Ci recently, and was honest about the Cat status, put it clearly in the advert etc. Guy comes and buys it, and within 1 week it's back up for sale with no mention of the Cat status and an inflated price and slightly better photos.

Some people must make a small business out of reselling Cat C/D cars whilst failing to mention the history.

[J B L]

Whilst the experiences I read in this thread make me laugh and cringe in equal measure, I must say I must have lived a very sheltered life.

I only sold 3 vehicles privately over the 9 years I lived in England.

- MGF: 2 viewings, 2nd man bought it after some light haggling, got what I wanted for it.
- Golf TDi mk6: 1 viewing, sold. No problem. a few retarded emails but nothing offensive, just chancers.
- Yamaha R1: 12h from going onto ebay to being loaded in a van. Couple of text messages, 2 phone calls, done.

So it's not all bad... and I live close to Coventry