Advice on selling car

[A S P]

Car in question: '99 BMW 328i (e46) SE Touring. FSH, 97.5k. Blue with cloth sport seats. Alpina-style wheels and Eibach springs

I've had my car listed on Pistonheads & Autotrader for a few weeks, and the response has been really poor. I know it's all about price, especially now on any relatively large engined car, but I've dropped the price (from something rather ambitious I now realise) and state I'm open to offers, and still no real inquiries.

I'm not going to list the car here for breaching advertising rules, wondering if anyone had any thoughts, apart from giving it away..

[A S P]

£4295

[alfabadass]

that seems like an okish price, what sort of blue is it?

Lack of leather on a large engined tourer is a downer but not much. Problem is like you said, a large engined car isn't going to sell fast.

It's right up my street, but sellng my 2002 high mile Alfa 156 is going to be just as hard.

[A S P]

Orient Blue



ETA

If you turn this post into and ad it will be deleted.

Edited by Big Al. on Thursday 31st July 18:19

[insideout]

1. In your description you might want to put how much each of the options cost (e.g. costs of alloys, springs, tyres, ipod connection, sound on top (which is very good upgrade!) etc.)
2. Some performance info perhaps? e.g. 24v, 192bhp etc.
3. Also state that it is exempt from the upcoming road tax increases!

I wouldn't go into too much detail about the service history (it's FSH), you can mention this when the buyer is on the phone or when viewing the paperwork

I would also try to ensure that it appears on the first page of the autotrader results page. Not easy with a 3 series as there are so many! You might want to drop to £4000 help achieve this.

HTH

Z

[A S P]

insideout said:

1. In your description you might want to put how much each of the options cost (e.g. costs of alloys, springs, tyres, ipod connection, sound on top (which is very good upgrade!) etc.)
2. Some performance info perhaps? e.g. 24v, 192bhp etc.
3. Also state that it is exempt from the upcoming road tax increases!

I wouldn't go into too much detail about the service history (it's FSH), you can mention this when the buyer is on the phone or when viewing the paperwork

I would also try to ensure that it appears on the first page of the autotrader results page. Not easy with a 3 series as there are so many! You might want to drop to £4000 help achieve this.

HTH

Z

Thanks for that.

Funny you should mention the car tax. I was speaking to a dealer today, and he asked if I used Pistonheads. He says he likes to keep track of buyers feelings and said that he was getting the impression that anything pre-2001 big-engined car was reaching the limit of dropping in price, with general buyers being aware of the tax advantages of the earlier cars in a years time.

[A S P]

A S P said:

Orient Blue



ETA

If you turn this post into and ad it will be deleted.

Edited by Big Al. on Thursday 31st July 18:19

Sorry about that, not wanting it to be an advert, hence the wording in my first post

[gizlaroc]

Problem you have is loads of 330i tourings have been selling for £4k, with leather and some with the nav, admitedly the older 4:3 nav but it still makes the cabin feel modern and is easily changed to the 16:9 screen for £300.
Some of them are manuals and some autos which is generally the prefered choice, and even the 330i manual after march 2001 is still under the dreaded 225g/km threshold.

So if they are selling for £4k with 100k miles, leather and with a newer more powerful, and more economical engine it doesn't bode well.

[alfabadass]

TBH I'm in the market for a tourer. I love the design and its much more exclusive than the saloon. Plus people think you have a life.

They've taken a tumble recently in price. Like the person above says, 330i tourers have been going for about 4k in PH. I had a look at your ad and if you look at the price point you've put yourself in, there are about 10 other 3 series at the same price. Be prepared to haggle hard.

Would you be interested in £3500?

I'd happily give my alfa to my sis for nothing as it'll be too much hassle selling!

[SJobson]

Some proper BMW alloys rather than replicas might encourage people to look at it.

[Noisy]

Some times its very hit and miss with selling cars, I had an older 5 series up for sale for ages and ended up swapping for a smaller car which went the same day I put it on the trader, I then swapped the ad around and put the rover 620 turbo I had as well on and that was gone the following day, came as quite a shock as was only really testing the water.

Maybe try dropping the price a little more, if you are getting your next car from a dealer ask him what PX you'll get, that way you'll know what is actually a good deal.

[bazking69]

Market is flooded at the moment with people needlessly panicking about the price of fuel. Used values have been kicked in the gonads as a result too. Plus very few people are treating themselves to a new car at the moment.