A good car classifieds advert?

[Parabola]

I'm helping my friend advertise her car. Was going to start with an advert in the Pistonheads classifieds.
Could anyone point me towards an example of a good, well written advert with decent photos. Something I could base our ad on.

Also, what section should a 1999 Mini Cooper S go in?!

All thoughts and input appreciated.

Cherrs!

[Parrot of Doom]

The important thing (for me) is lots of good quality photographs.

You want photographs of all sides of the car. Closeups of the bonnet to show lack of stonechips. Closeups of the bumper corners to show no scuffs. If you have any damage, no matter how minor, include photographs of it. You also want photographs of the interior, pics of the seat bolsters to show wear or lack of it, pics of the carpets, the trim, the central console, the dash, everything a potential buyer would be interested in. Also pics of the wheels to show kerbing, pics of the engine bay, etc.

All this saves the buyer's time. Nobody likes turning up to view an "immaculate" car, only to find minor scrapes not mentioned in the advert.

Be absolutely 100% honest in your description, don't fluff up the language, just tell it as it is. No bullstting, no "this is a really great car and turns heads", none of that ste. Any mechanical problems, mention them.

[petrolsniffer]

To reduce the amount of time wasters and questions.

First is clear infocus properly exposed pictures of these areas interior,boot,engine bay,front back and sides or 3/4's

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/1655552.htm kind of like this.

Then just the usual price,how much mot/tax,service history,options

[Parabola]

Great, thanks for the thoughts, that's exactly the kind of information I was after. Thanks for the link (Not sure how I managed to miss the mini section!)
I'm giving the car a good clay, polish & wax on Saturday so will take a load of shots then.

Regarding the no bulst- I recently bought a classic car with my father, the advert repeatedly called the car 'Marilyn' and the seller insisted we continued to call it that after it was sold. Most odd!

[edo]

I would humbly suggest this isn't a bad example of a private advert (it has sold, so it cant be that bad).

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1695421.htm

[Graham E]

Advoid daft superlatives. Buyers don't want to know if it turns heads, or whatever. they want all their questions answered within reason:
no. owners
mileage
tax (if cheap to renew, mention it!)
condition
history - list old MOT's / mileages.
List services, who by, mileages. Much more convincing than "Full service history"
Spec - wat extras does it come with?
How much tread left on tyres?

And as people above have said, good pictures. Clean the car first, put in a photogenic location. The location will influence more buyers than you think. Photos should cover all panels if possible - front, rear, both flanks. Interior shots - lose any tat in there, wheel straight ahead, hoovered, etc etc.

Good luck!

[Scho]

Here's what I do:

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/1630541.htm

-Photograph the car outside your house (Gives buyer confidence in you)

-Make sure It's clean and you photograph it on a clear day, No rain. Get shots down the wings and detailed images of any plus points you feel the car may have.

-Write a clear description of facts, I split it into body/mechanics/interior. Don't over do it, You want to have something left to tell them on the phone!

-Host some larger pics on photobucket or similar and paste the links into the ad text, Much clearer, more attractive and you can post as many as you like.

Good luck!

Edited by Scho on Wednesday 19th May 11:12