Selling / marketing classic to overseas markets
Discussion
Has anyone done this?
I'm considering a bit of car jiggling and am wondering about selling a car or two to the overseas market.
The classic car press would have us believe that there is quite an appetite for classics in the middle & far east, as well as mainland Europe. Plus, used car prices are generally stronger in most places ex-UK so I'm thinking about this to maximise cash.
Is it as simple as seeking out local market websites etc or are there better ways? I'm not too keen on using a broker as what I have in mind will require the use of every last penny and I'm not looking to pay X% of the sale price.
I'm considering a bit of car jiggling and am wondering about selling a car or two to the overseas market.
The classic car press would have us believe that there is quite an appetite for classics in the middle & far east, as well as mainland Europe. Plus, used car prices are generally stronger in most places ex-UK so I'm thinking about this to maximise cash.
Is it as simple as seeking out local market websites etc or are there better ways? I'm not too keen on using a broker as what I have in mind will require the use of every last penny and I'm not looking to pay X% of the sale price.
Couple of years ago I sold my Austin 7 Swallow saloon. Advert into www.carandclassic.co.uk free of charge. Car was sold to a chap in Japan through the advert, he employed an intermediary at his expense. Give it a go, nothing to lose.
as crankedup has said free web sites can be very good, there are a few of them about, paid sites are good too - all web sites are worldwide even if they're not target specific
even eBay can get high sales prices for the right cars
seems to me, only from what I've read, that overseas buyers accept a fair priced good car without haggle and the only comeback you get is a letter or postcard to say how happy they are with their purchase - rather than more local where you get moans about the car "you sold them"
I'm not talking from bitter personal experience as I always sold my cars at the lower end of their value to see them go as quickly as possible and the buyers realised they'd got a good deal
if the car is a good one at a good price it will sell and at a good price for seller
another consideration is the NEC (subject to charges)
many years ago a mate sold his car off the club stand to an Irish chap who paid full price and drove it away at the end of the show, later my mate got a call to say how pleased he was with the car and if he had any other bits for it he'd buy them
note all the whinges about the price of NEC tickets on here, the international visitor seem to appreciate the value more
even eBay can get high sales prices for the right cars
seems to me, only from what I've read, that overseas buyers accept a fair priced good car without haggle and the only comeback you get is a letter or postcard to say how happy they are with their purchase - rather than more local where you get moans about the car "you sold them"
I'm not talking from bitter personal experience as I always sold my cars at the lower end of their value to see them go as quickly as possible and the buyers realised they'd got a good deal
if the car is a good one at a good price it will sell and at a good price for seller
another consideration is the NEC (subject to charges)
many years ago a mate sold his car off the club stand to an Irish chap who paid full price and drove it away at the end of the show, later my mate got a call to say how pleased he was with the car and if he had any other bits for it he'd buy them
note all the whinges about the price of NEC tickets on here, the international visitor seem to appreciate the value more
Edited by na on Sunday 28th October 20:30
Paracetamol said:
What type of car is it. I am middle east based and have bought classics using eBay USA site. I have found uk classic car sales sites to be very poor.
It is a 1970's Citroen DS. Frankly I'm struggling to get my head to a place where I could sell it but I've just got such an itch to fully race/rally prep a Porsche 356 for the Mille Miglia/Tour Auto etc but don't have the funds available to do both.The 'problem' with the DS (if you can call it that) is the difference in the UK market to the rest of Europe, Asia and possibly Australia.
The UK seems to like the £10,000 DS shítbox frankly and there isn't much market for expensive ones unless they're decap (convertible) models. Mine would be nowhere near the cost of one of those (£150,000+) but it would be significantly more than the kind of fayre usually flogged on carandclassic.co.uk and the like.
Mine is set up for competitive rallying too so it would be looking for a bit of a niche market. However it would come with all the kit/spares for quickly swapping back to standard road use (the wife insisted on that!) so I'm not too concerned.
I'd expect the car to bring around £10,000 more in Europe than the UK, possibly more further afield - BUT - only if I can find someone who is a bit mental
I've sold two classics from UK to Europe during the last 4 years (LHD R5 Turbo 2 and RHD Subaru 22B). The appetite for these sort of cars and your DS (LHD?) is often stronger abroad.
I had them advertised on about 4 free websites and kept an Excel file of all the interested Parties. I got about 20 enquiries each of which about 5 or 6 were wasters, 10 seemingly genuine European and the rest UK.
The Renault ended up going to Madrid (guy turned up at Luton airport with a carrier bag full of Euro notes and a pair of trade plates!). He looked the car over in the short-stay car-park, handed over the Euros (which we took to the airport Currency Exchange: that surprised them!), attached the plates and headed off to Madrid via the Tunnel on a Friday afternoon. I never heard from him again, so I assume he got there OK. I was surprised how much interest there was from Spain (they certainly like their rally cars), but this was prior to them having 25% unemployment.
The 22B ended up going to Luxembourg and was also collected from me and driven there by the new owner.
Quite a few foreign buyers do also search PH classifieds and other UK-based websites because they appreciate how many classics are available here, but it's also worth picking at least one in other potential markets if you can, especially if you can place it in their language. I advertised in webmycar.com for the French interest and also in another German language website that I've forgotten. You may also get enquiries from other websites asking you to try them.
Back then though, placing adverts in all of these sites was absolutely free, so I had nothing to lose by spreading the net.
I had them advertised on about 4 free websites and kept an Excel file of all the interested Parties. I got about 20 enquiries each of which about 5 or 6 were wasters, 10 seemingly genuine European and the rest UK.
The Renault ended up going to Madrid (guy turned up at Luton airport with a carrier bag full of Euro notes and a pair of trade plates!). He looked the car over in the short-stay car-park, handed over the Euros (which we took to the airport Currency Exchange: that surprised them!), attached the plates and headed off to Madrid via the Tunnel on a Friday afternoon. I never heard from him again, so I assume he got there OK. I was surprised how much interest there was from Spain (they certainly like their rally cars), but this was prior to them having 25% unemployment.
The 22B ended up going to Luxembourg and was also collected from me and driven there by the new owner.
Quite a few foreign buyers do also search PH classifieds and other UK-based websites because they appreciate how many classics are available here, but it's also worth picking at least one in other potential markets if you can, especially if you can place it in their language. I advertised in webmycar.com for the French interest and also in another German language website that I've forgotten. You may also get enquiries from other websites asking you to try them.
Back then though, placing adverts in all of these sites was absolutely free, so I had nothing to lose by spreading the net.
Very interesting, thanks.
Yes, the car is LHD. I only really go for LHD classics as I race/rally them mainly on the continent.
Language is not a problem, between my wife and I we have fluent French, German and Spanish.
If I can get my head around selling it then I think I'll put together a good ad and punt on carandclassic and one a piece (in local Language) in FR/DE/ES.
Cheers.
Yes, the car is LHD. I only really go for LHD classics as I race/rally them mainly on the continent.
Language is not a problem, between my wife and I we have fluent French, German and Spanish.
If I can get my head around selling it then I think I'll put together a good ad and punt on carandclassic and one a piece (in local Language) in FR/DE/ES.
Cheers.
benjj said:
Won't be around for the NEC either but then the car just isn't right for the wider UK market I don't think.
just to betterv explain what I meant - the NEC is an international show attracting vistors from overseas, the Irish chap who bought my mate car was visiting the show from Ireland and returned there with the caron the very few walk rounds I do of the show (I help out on the SBDR stand) I've seen these classic race cars for sale there on dealers' stands
the Classic Motor Show is just an example other shows may be suitable
if I had a decent car to sell I'd be looking to avoid the miserable UK buyers
Ben, you could try Retromobile in Paris next February,
http://en.retromobile.com/
Great show which I attend every year
http://en.retromobile.com/
Great show which I attend every year
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