Are people scared to buy a + £10k second hand car privately?

Are people scared to buy a + £10k second hand car privately?

Author
Discussion

arthur t

Original Poster:

97 posts

204 months

Sunday 15th November 2015
quotequote all
I have many cars in my time, but now as I get older I now spend more money on my cars. I currently have a 2011 S3 for sale, now I have had very little interest. The car is amazing and the price is right, but still not really getting anywhere.

I am kind of thinking is it just that people are willing on taking the risk on a "cheap car" less than say £10k, but over that the private buy is to high risk??.

I have never had this much trouble selling a car before, but I have never tryed to sell a circa £18,750 car.

Throughout welcome.

DukeDickson

4,721 posts

212 months

Sunday 15th November 2015
quotequote all
A lot of money for a car with roots in 2003 and from a private seller?

Not my thing, but only a grand and a bit more, younger, looks decently equipped, low miles, warranty, negotiation on part ex and so on:


http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...


KungFuPanda

4,324 posts

169 months

Sunday 15th November 2015
quotequote all
When you go over £10k, people want dealer facilities. They want to be able
to part ex their old car or finance. None of which you're able to offer. So
You're left with selling to people who have cash in the bank and are ready to buy outright. This obviously limits your market.

anonymous-user

53 months

Sunday 15th November 2015
quotequote all
overpriced, retained value after 4 years at 63% is too high.

broadspeed offer a new one for 28k.

DuraAce

4,240 posts

159 months

Sunday 15th November 2015
quotequote all
Price it right and it will sell. Clichéd I know, but it's true.

Your price needs a bigger gap to dealers. If a dealers car is 1/2k more then people will go their. If yours is cheaper then you've a chance.

I sold a car last year for 24k when similar (overpriced IMHO) dealer cars were £27+. Had 5/6 calls and sold fairly quickly.

I take it you have researched prices with AT, eBay etc? I like Ebay as you can see sold, rather than asking prices. Price it up with we buy any car and you should get more than their offer as a private sale. Not the best time of year though to be fair, not many folk looking to splash out on new motors in the run up to Xmas.

hman

7,487 posts

193 months

Sunday 15th November 2015
quotequote all
its easier to sell a car at £5k or below (and £1000 or below is mega easy)

My last sale at circa £13k took 2- 3 weeks with 3 people seeing it, 2 of which clearly didnt have the means to be anywhere near the asking price and uickly left when I refused to drop between £3-4k from the price!!

I ended up pushing up the price on the advert which gave me more room to haggle, and ended up getting more than I expected result.

Money went through by bank transfer if you want to know.

va1o

16,029 posts

206 months

Sunday 15th November 2015
quotequote all
KungFuPanda said:
When you go over £10k, people want dealer facilities. They want to be able
to part ex their old car or finance. None of which you're able to offer. So
You're left with selling to people who have cash in the bank and are ready to buy outright. This obviously limits your market.
Exactly this!

Very limited market unless you're offering finance and PX basically.

daemon

35,724 posts

196 months

Monday 16th November 2015
quotequote all
va1o said:
KungFuPanda said:
When you go over £10k, people want dealer facilities. They want to be able
to part ex their old car or finance. None of which you're able to offer. So
You're left with selling to people who have cash in the bank and are ready to buy outright. This obviously limits your market.
Exactly this!

Very limited market unless you're offering finance and PX basically.
+1

And generally those who can buy with cash, are relying on selling their own car first, so you end up with no car until you find another.

Plus too many chancey sellers these days and people dont want to hunt around the entire country to find the car that actually is as described.

daemon

35,724 posts

196 months

Monday 16th November 2015
quotequote all
arthur t said:
I have many cars in my time, but now as I get older I now spend more money on my cars. I currently have a 2011 S3 for sale, now I have had very little interest. The car is amazing and the price is right, but still not really getting anywhere.

I am kind of thinking is it just that people are willing on taking the risk on a "cheap car" less than say £10k, but over that the private buy is to high risk??.

I have never had this much trouble selling a car before, but I have never tryed to sell a circa £18,750 car.

Throughout welcome.
Wayyy too expensive.

You can buy a low miles Approved Used one from an Audi main dealer for that sort of money.

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2015...

oldnbold

1,280 posts

145 months

Monday 16th November 2015
quotequote all
As others have pointed out, you are asking a simular price to dealers, but with none of the benefits.

As often happens you have valued your car to highly, lower the price and it will sell. Find out what WBAC would offer and pitch it £500 - £700 more than that.
The last 2 cars that I sold were at £11k and £15k and both sold within 10 days or so and within £200 of the asking price.

Edited by oldnbold on Monday 16th November 17:57

Adrian E

3,248 posts

175 months

Monday 16th November 2015
quotequote all
As above, get WBAC value as absolute bottom feeder price, a dealer part exchange value and look at dealer prices. There needs to be enough between dealer part ex and forecourt price to make a private sale worthwhile for both buyer and seller

I couldn't sell a 3 yr old Leon Cupra R some years ago. Only private sale interest were offers under the one from the supplying dealer to buy it back for stock!

I have no qualms buying privately at any price (our current S5 was only bought from a dealer because the seller wanted ita replacement a week before we were in a position to buy) but the price need to be right. It helps if the spec is better than average too

akadk

1,478 posts

178 months

Monday 16th November 2015
quotequote all
I've sold x6 V10 R8's privately over the years all for £60k+ privately

as said. price is key

your car is too expensive, get over it

Wilmslowboy

4,189 posts

205 months

Monday 16th November 2015
quotequote all
Sold my wife's discovery a couple of months a go

Advertised at £26,500 (it was very competitively priced)

Best private offer was £23k, had three trade bids over £24k, sold for £25k (to a trader who sold it on for £28k)

Private buyers want an absolute bargain - or something special/rare


the-photographer

3,479 posts

175 months

Wednesday 18th November 2015
quotequote all
  • People want finance above £5000 / £10,000 / £15,000
  • Trusting you with "big money" at anything above shed level
  • Market choice, is it rare?
For example, I spent 3 months looking for a MK5 GTI, eventually paying way above WBAC prices because I found one with 30,000 miles, very rare for a 9 year old car.

daemon

35,724 posts

196 months

Thursday 19th November 2015
quotequote all
Wilmslowboy said:
Private buyers want an absolute bargain - or something special/rare
That is the best summary i have seen of the state of the market.

si_xsi

1,189 posts

194 months

Thursday 19th November 2015
quotequote all
Possibly time of year has something to do with it too? My 08 plate golf gti is on here at the moment at £6k and not one phone call in 3 weeks. Reduced price by 1k an no difference. Don't think it's overpriced?

rb5er

11,657 posts

171 months

Thursday 19th November 2015
quotequote all
£18.7k for a nearly 5 year old Audi a3? Mental.

Must be very few people looking to buy that.

DuraAce

4,240 posts

159 months

Thursday 19th November 2015
quotequote all
si_xsi said:
Possibly time of year has something to do with it too? My 08 plate golf gti is on here at the moment at £6k and not one phone call in 3 weeks. Reduced price by 1k an no difference. Don't think it's overpriced?
You say that, but I bet it'd sell if was £1 wouldn't it? You might not want to sell it for that of course but it's worth what someone will pay. (cliche I know)

Put it on eBay at 99p start and let the market decide it's value....

superlightr

12,842 posts

262 months

Friday 20th November 2015
quotequote all
exactly. It will sell immediately at £1 and never at £100,000. So its overpriced if it does not sell at the price you have it up for.

akadk

1,478 posts

178 months

Friday 20th November 2015
quotequote all
not fecking brain science is it !