Best Way to sell my old car

[Mazdarese]

Gents

I'm in that position now where I have my new car and take very good care of it. My old car is sitting outside the house feeling sorry for itself. It's been a great car and I'll be sorry to see it go, but I have no use for it now.

It is a 2003 plate Alfa 156, 85k, little service history, cambelt changed last year, wishbone earlier this year and just had new radiator and thermostat. It's mechanically sound and is a great little drive.

I need to sell it quickly as the insurance runs out in a couple of weeks, so I'm looking at my options.

Do I:

(a) Stick it in PH Classifieds and play the waiting game with the relatively small audience, but at least it's free
(b) Stick it in Autotrader, pay for it, and have the larger audience
(c) Ebay Auction. Start at the lowest price I'd like to get for it with no reserve. Almost guaranteed sale in 7 days.
(d) Ebay BIN. It could sit there for weeks without any interest.
(e) We Buy Any Car. They've suggested £850, which I imagine they'll try and knock down. Plus there's a fee.

I paid £2000 for the car in October 2009, and I'm hoping to get around £1200 back if possible which will mostly be spent on my new whip.

I'm currently thinking an Ebay auction starting at £900 would be my best option.

[Munter]

The top 2. A free PH advert and Autotrader.

You could also ask www.wewantanycar.com who tend to offer a few pounds over webuyanycar.

[CraigyMc]

Mazdarese said:

Gents

I'm in that position now where I have my new car and take very good care of it. My old car is sitting outside the house feeling sorry for itself. It's been a great car and I'll be sorry to see it go, but I have no use for it now.

It is a 2003 plate Alfa 156, 85k, little service history, cambelt changed last year, wishbone earlier this year and just had new radiator and thermostat. It's mechanically sound and is a great little drive.

I need to sell it quickly as the insurance runs out in a couple of weeks, so I'm looking at my options.

Do I:

(a) Stick it in PH Classifieds and play the waiting game with the relatively small audience, but at least it's free
(b) Stick it in Autotrader, pay for it, and have the larger audience
(c) Ebay Auction. Start at the lowest price I'd like to get for it with no reserve. Almost guaranteed sale in 7 days.
(d) Ebay BIN. It could sit there for weeks without any interest.
(e) We Buy Any Car. They've suggested £850, which I imagine they'll try and knock down. Plus there's a fee.

I paid £2000 for the car in October 2009, and I'm hoping to get around £1200 back if possible which will mostly be spent on my new whip.

I'm currently thinking an Ebay auction starting at £900 would be my best option.

for (e) I'd imagine you'd actually be offered more like £500 once they've got you at their offices.

[GreatGranny]

Local rag?

Newsagent window?

[rallycross]

without any doubt autotrader is where you will sell it quicky if listed at the right price.

2 weeks is not long so take some photos and put it online.


remember to put NO CANVASSERS in your add.

[Efbe]

rallycross said:

without any doubt autotrader is where you will sell it quicky if listed at the right price.

2 weeks is not long so take some photos and put it online.


remember to put NO CANVASSERS in your add.

no one goes on autotrader any more tbh... try ebay buy it now. you will get more views, and its cheaper.

[Mazdarese]

rallycross said:

without any doubt autotrader is where you will sell it quicky if listed at the right price.

2 weeks is not long so take some photos and put it online.


remember to put NO CANVASSERS in your add.

The thing with Autotrader, and in fact PH, is that at this price point I'm going to get so many time-wasters coming round. And I really hate that.

Local rag will be too small an audience for a quick sale.

I think I'll go for PH classifieds and an Ebay auction.

[A205GTI]

Don't do Ebay, People Email offering stupid money to end early or turn up offering p/x there crapmobile. Or win but dont communicate as they changed there mind. which means hassle of claiming back fees etc...

I'm sure I read that about 40% of Vehicle auctions on fleabay end up with winner not communicating.

Though I did see a listing for a BMW 850i go for £1200 (Didnt put reserve started at 99p previously wanted £2500) guess what winner couldnt contact!!

Pistonheads and Autotrader, Also what about something free like Trade it etc...

Get ready for Timewasters!!

[rallycross]

Efbe said:

rallycross said:

no one goes on autotrader any more tbh... try ebay buy it now. you will get more views, and its cheaper.

what utter nonsense.

[volvoforlife]

I never knew PH was free. I'm sure I paid about £15 or something last time I put a car up.

Anyway I have found that AutoTrader gives you the best return. It is phenomenolly expensive but it gets results. Ebay is good value for money but not sure how good a price you'll get - can't hurt to put a classified up though (rather than auction).

[Mazdarese]

volvoforlife said:

I never knew PH was free. I'm sure I paid about £15 or something last time I put a car up.

Anyway I have found that AutoTrader gives you the best return. It is phenomenolly expensive but it gets results. Ebay is good value for money but not sure how good a price you'll get - can't hurt to put a classified up though (rather than auction).

If I start the auction at £900 it would cost less than a BIN. If it went for £900 I'd be a little disappointed, but at least the car would be gone within 7 days. In theory!

Can nobody see the poll?!

[Chris_w666]

Personally I would have a crack at a PH ad first, if it is priced well you might strike lucky. If not I would pass AT and go straight to ebay, it is a sad fact though that from either channel you will need to deal with the illiterate, the terminally stupid, and people who will be expecting a pristine show quality car or those that will assume you are desperate and will call you mate lots then bid you at least 50% below your asking price.

[Efbe]

Efbe said:

rallycross said:

no one goes on autotrader any more tbh... try ebay buy it now. you will get more views, and its cheaper.

what utter nonsense.

I sell a lot of cars, I do it as a part time job for other people. Prepare for sale, then sell.

around 70% of my actual sales come from ebay, irrespective of car i'm selling.
however around 50% of calls ceom from autotrader. but are generally just people trying on with low-ball offers.

Autotrader was hit badly with their latest website change, and due to this, less people look on there now.
You can present your car much more nicely on ebay, even though you are limited by photo numbers more so than AT.

That being said, an auction on ebay will get a lot of views, however most people shill bid a reserve price on ebay auction. something I am not willing to do. I think a BIN price on ebay shows the car is not a quick sale as well, which can help or hinder you dependant on situation.

[varsas]

eBay is for tat that people want rid of (IMHO) sounds like your car is reasonable. I'd put it on autotrader. The cars I've put on have gone within a couple of days, my Stag sold within 24 hours.

Edited by varsas on Wednesday 24th November 12:14

[kambites]

I've never had a problem with buying cars on e-bay, although I've never sold one. I think you can demand a minimum feedback rating for buyers when you put an advert up or something?

Since people will probably be bidding "blind" you need to make sure you are very accurate with your description because if something is not as described, they are not bound to buy.

[anonymous-user]

I used both PH and Autotrader for mine, got a fair few enquiries but forgot to ask them where they'd seen it. Don't bother with WBAC, they made me a pathetic offer and now won't stop sending me emails.

ETA: PH'ers who have been members for 'x' amount of years (can't remember sorry!) automatically get premium ads for free

Edited by Symbolica on Wednesday 24th November 12:16

[rallycross]

Efbe said:

Efbe said:

rallycross said:

no one goes on autotrader any more tbh... try ebay buy it now. you will get more views, and its cheaper.

what utter nonsense.

I sell a lot of cars, I do it as a part time job for other people. .

Really? Well you need to look at your tactics maybe you will sell more cars for more profit if you start using autotrader. Our family is in the motor trade and have accounts with autotrader, ebay and other sites.

Autotrader always works, whether its just a cheap £1,000 banger or a decent car (priced sensibley).

Ebay attracts all the idiots, if you enjoy replying to moronic questions from people who will never actually buy your car then I recommend ebay, its a great way of wasting time! Ebay classified adverts hardly attract any interest at all. Ebay auctions result in low prices if its just an average car with no great following.

The flip side, is if you just want to sell something quickly for less that its real value - ebay will work just fine.

But why would you do that when you could use autotrader with a well written advert and attain better price from more serious buyers, and cut out most of the morons at the same time. Ebay attracts morons, I've noticed a lot of the questions get asked between 10pm and 2 am which says a lot about your audience.

Autorader is not that expensive for a private advert maybe £30-£50? (much as I would rather not recommend people to spend money with autotrader the fact is it works).

[Dr Doofenshmirtz]

Efbe said:

even though you are limited by photo numbers more so than AT

With eBay, you can add as many photos as you want to your add...

Upload photos to Photobucket
Select photos and click the 'generate HTML tags' option.
Go to eBay, create your add, click the 'view as HTML' option, paste HTML from photobucket.
Job done - you can add 100's of photos and it won't cost a penny.

Either way, try PH first, then eBay.

Edited by Dr Doofenshmirtz on Wednesday 24th November 12:37

[Efbe]

rallycross said:

Really? Well you need to look at your tactics maybe you will sell more cars for more profit if you start using autotrader. Our family is in the motor trade and have accounts with autotrader, ebay and other sites.

Autotrader always works, whether its just a cheap £1,000 banger or a decent car (priced sensibley).

Ebay attracts all the idiots, if you enjoy replying to moronic questions from people who will never actually buy your car then I recommend ebay, its a great way of wasting time! Ebay classified adverts hardly attract any interest at all. Ebay auctions result in low prices if its just an average car with no great following.

The flip side, is if you just want to sell something quickly for less that its real value - ebay will work just fine.

But why would you do that when you could use autotrader with a well written advert and attain better price from more serious buyers, and cut out most of the morons at the same time. Ebay attracts morons, I've noticed a lot of the questions get asked between 10pm and 2 am which says a lot about your audience.

Autorader is not that expensive for a private advert maybe £30-£50? (much as I would rather not recommend people to spend money with autotrader the fact is it works).

I advertise on both simultaniously usually, unless the car will obviously fit one better than the other, and usually manage to sell within 2 weeks, unless the person I am selling for is willing to hold out for a higher amount, and not as concerned with speed of sale. most people are however, so you have to be carefu with your pricing to get the sale in quickly.

quite the opposite with ebay and AT on the idiot front though. AT attracts a lot of chancers looking for a good deal phoning you up, then coming to view and offering 50% value cash in hand.
on ebay its usually just messages for these offers(and loads of trades/pxes!), so much easier to deal with.
as I said before, more people call from the AT ad, but more people buy from the ebay ad.

other locations such as ph and forums are great however. any calls from these are usually guaranteed sales, it just takes a lot longer to sell this way. Also PH classifieds has a reputation for overpriced cars.

[PAULJ5555]

Could we do some sort of rafle £1 entry, how many people are on PH enough to sell 1200 tickets?