A tough market?

[volvos60s60]

It's been 18 months since I've advertised & a sold a vehicle, modern or classic. Back then the market seemed ok. Now, I've had my TR4 advertised on a number of internet sales sites, including PH. A good restored car, at a reasonable price, & not a single call, not a dickie bird, not even time wasters!!!. How are others finding selling their 'mainstream' classics?

[neutral 3]

Things are VERY Tough at the moment,i have never known it so bad. Very little is moving unless it is either Very Cheap, Very TOP End of the market, Aston, Ferrari etc or Rare/Desireable/unusual.

[Pistom]

Try buying a car - that's even tougher. I spent 6 months looking for a decent TR6. Not the rarest of cars but the amount of overpriced rubbish I saw was disheartening.

I've now got lovely example but the seller wouldn't knock a penny off the asking price as he had people behind me ready to buy!!

I think it's just a case of finding the right buyer. TR4s have shot up in price so some buyers might be afraid there's going to be a correction in the market.

[mgroadster]

Could it be that where you have advertised it, does not suit the car? Is the price competitive for other similar models? Have you described the car well enough? Are you in a difficult part of the UK..ie N Scotland or West wales/Cornwall etc? Have you shown plenty of pics in the ad? For the ad to be 18 months, something is amiss somewhere, try looking at every angle, and assess if you can improve.

[Pistom]

I agree something is not right as if anything, it appears to be a sellers market judging by the prices I've seen cars go at auction and on Ebay.

There are lots of people who are quite happy to sink £20K in a car that they can enjoy when their money is doing nothing is savings or other investments.

[na]

Ian, just my opinion, from a quick look

your photo location and setting do nothing to lift the car, take new photos on a bright sunny day somewhere like a village green or out in the countryside, somewhere that shows off the colour

it may be the photo but the in one the interior and dash looks dull - all photos should show a gleaming car

I don't know what the tonneau material is (or sure of its colour) but if it's vynil make it (sheeen) shine

if you make anything black on the car look clean sparking black then the surrounding colours will also standout more, same with shiny clean glass

spray the new tyres with something like Tire Foam to give a black not grey finish to the tyres (not gloss black) so they actually loook new and (sheen) shiny

there's no photo of the hood up - if the hood is in very good condition show it erected, clean and shiny including rear window

yor descriptio is factual but very flat, spicy it up a little, mention photos and receipts, offer 12 month MOT, mention free road tax

got to go tea ready now

[volvos60s60]

NA,& all, some really useful comments, thanks.

I do have to get some better photos, but I'm waiting for this damn weather to improve. The car is on the London/Herts border but the setting for the photos should, as you say, be better. Also the photos do not show the powder blue in it's true glory, the shots make it look wishy washy.

To the other poster, it's not been advertised for 18 months - it's been 18 months since I last sold a car of mine!!!!!

[lowdrag]

Agree with everything that has been said above. The photos don't do your car justice, but with a bit of judicious tweaking with Photoshop you can bring them to life, but a good location and more thoughtful wordage should improve matters.

[Efbe]

volvos60s60 said:

NA,& all, some really useful comments, thanks.

I do have to get some better photos, but I'm waiting for this damn weather to improve. The car is on the London/Herts border but the setting for the photos should, as you say, be better. Also the photos do not show the powder blue in it's true glory, the shots make it look wishy washy.

To the other poster, it's not been advertised for 18 months - it's been 18 months since I last sold a car of mine!!!!!

agreed with the other comments, but try this as well:

if advertising on ebay, then put very very little information on there. keep it to a few sentences. This may sound odd, but different people use different mediums to search for cars.

Those using AT usually don't really know what they want (all in my experience!), so they need lots of details. lots of facts etc
Those using PH want to know the car has been cared for, so lots of fluffy stuff about you and the car. same goes for forums.
But on ebay, people know exactly what they are after, and generally will only spend a few seconds looking at each advert. So two lines, very succinct. what do they really need to know that isn't blatantly obvious. gerenally major issues or abnormal things about the car.

This has worked for me in the past and recently. it may sound odd, and be counterintuitive to put on less info, but try it!!!

[na]

Efbe said:

agreed with the other comments, but try this as well:

if advertising on ebay, then put very very little information on there. keep it to a few sentences. This may sound odd, but different people use different mediums to search for cars.

Those using AT usually don't really know what they want (all in my experience!), so they need lots of details. lots of facts etc
Those using PH want to know the car has been cared for, so lots of fluffy stuff about you and the car. same goes for forums.
But on ebay, people know exactly what they are after, and generally will only spend a few seconds looking at each advert. So two lines, very succinct. what do they really need to know that isn't blatantly obvious. gerenally major issues or abnormal things about the car.

This has worked for me in the past and recently. it may sound odd, and be counterintuitive to put on less info, but try it!!!

very good point about tailoring your advertising style and description depending on where the advert is placed, the main body of facts and description remains the same just different presentation and length

don't assume the potential buyer knows much or anything about the make and model of your car but that doesn't mean you should list every difference in make, model and level of finish, only the very interested with do much reading and they may not be interested in buying just interested in the car in general

I agree that a couple of short lines or bullet points can head or start the description but even on eBay this should be followed by more detail or you could confuse or lose a potential buyer

advertise on the classic car web sites that have free adverts as buyers from abroad are a lot happier to pay asking price without hassle and take the car away

prepare a neat folder(s) of the history of the car in reverse chronological order including photos, bills, receipts, tax discs, former owners from DVLA (£5), show plaques, summary list of work and servicing done with dates and mileage - this will impress and also provide you with a quick ready source for accurate answers

be prepared for time-wasters, people not turning up or ringing when they say they will, stupid questions, silly offers but be patient as one of these could turn out to be your buyer

[mgroadster]

Efbe said:

agreed with the other comments, but try this as well:

if advertising on ebay, then put very very little information on there. keep it to a few sentences. This may sound odd, but different people use different mediums to search for cars.

Those using AT usually don't really know what they want (all in my experience!), so they need lots of details. lots of facts etc
Those using PH want to know the car has been cared for, so lots of fluffy stuff about you and the car. same goes for forums.
But on ebay, people know exactly what they are after, and generally will only spend a few seconds looking at each advert. So two lines, very succinct. what do they really need to know that isn't blatantly obvious. gerenally major issues or abnormal things about the car.

This has worked for me in the past and recently. it may sound odd, and be counterintuitive to put on less info, but try it!!!

Thats a very interesting train of thought. I have to admit that when I have bought motors off Ebay, the more there is written about it the better. I have to say that I have skipped over cars with very short descriptions, wondering "Huh, they're not saying much, what are they hiding" and moved on to the next one.

[Efbe]

mgroadster said:

Thats a very interesting train of thought. I have to admit that when I have bought motors off Ebay, the more there is written about it the better. I have to say that I have skipped over cars with very short descriptions, wondering "Huh, they're not saying much, what are they hiding" and moved on to the next one.

i'm the same as you I like description, but I have sold quite a lot recently, and a really really short description on ebay works wonders!

[JoeBolt]

I always like to see photographs of the engine bay and boot.

[Efbe]

JoeBolt said:

I always like to see photographs of the engine bay and boot.

This is a good point.

also remember that most people know what a car looks like from the outside, but these days there are more versions of internal trim, than exterior, so internal pictures and really really important!!!

[volvos60s60]

Thanks for all the input.

Reverting back to my original post, what is the state of the market for fairly priced good condition classics. Do they have to be cheap to sell (in which case I'm keeping it!!!)? - What is the recent experince of people selling thir classic in today's market?

[na]

I've seen Spridget cars and thinngs like Spidget hardtop go for very, very high money - if it stands out from the crowd the money is there, well for Spridgets that I've seen most sold on eBay, £14,000 Midget had a very long description - and I could have bought that car a few months earlier for £7,500

[crankedup]

volvos60s60 said:

Thanks for all the input.

Reverting back to my original post, what is the state of the market for fairly priced good condition classics. Do they have to be cheap to sell (in which case I'm keeping it!!!)? - What is the recent experince of people selling thir classic in today's market?

The car has to be priced competitively, people are not mugs, especially those in the classic/vintage market. A good car fairly priced should sell within a a matter of weeks, not months. If a car hasn't sold you have to ask yourself why, its usually over priced. In my personal experience I have found that rare cars are certainly more difficult to sell than more common classics.

[volvos60s60]

OK, I've changed the photos & will do the text when I am in a little more of a creative mood. For those who kindly viewed the ad on PH, I think the photos in a better setting are a big improvement, do you agree?

[na]

to be honest - yes but not a lot all are kerbside shots with little of interest around them (no hood up, boot, engine shots either)

park up on a village green under a tree or somewhere without kerbs just a grass verge - or on a long stately gravel or tamac/concrete private drive - or on a singletrack road with short hedges and farmers fields behind

research as many other adverts for classic cars and particularly your model and copy the good points, look at dealers photos and descriptions

you must get your adverts out to as many relevant potential customers as possible then you must attract these people to your advert by its heading and intitial photo, then to actual read your advert finally to encourage them to contact you, this you must make as easy as possible to reply or contact them back immediately

always be available to contact potential purchasers don't dissapear even for a short time or so could your sale