Private sale - 100% record

[Wilmslowboy]

Ads been up just over a couple of days, had three email contacts - All three scammers.

And we begrudge SOR agents their fees

[EL77]

What is the scam?

[Nano2nd]

yep thats why i moved mine back to SOR after trying private, scammers and dreamers

also got my M4 for sale private... loads of "will u take 40 grand mate" - yeah of course i'll take £5k less than BMW offered me!

it not limited to high end stuff either, got my missus Tiguan for sale too... someone telling me to "consider it sold" and they are disabled and can only pay by paypal as they don't have access to a bank account or credit card... err. A. how would you fund the paypal account? and B. why wouldn't you get a car on the Motability scheme if your genuinely disabled.

[Wilmslowboy]

EL77 said:

What is the scam?

one was swap for residential & commercial property...the other involved an agent, south of France and Italy.


saying that my faith in the human race has been returned.

Two sensible, polite and enthusiastic callers today.

Fingers crossed.

[SimonOcean]

I'd recommend that you stick with it a while. These scammers are pretty easy to detect. And there are plenty of genuine car enthusiasts that are out there checking the classifieds. If you don't get any enquiries from genuine customers after a couple of weeks, then you need to review. Either reconsider pricing or go SOR.

Anyways: good luck with it!

[jdwoodbury]

Have you had the '"wot wud you take for cash mate" txt yet

[Wilmslowboy]

The saga continues

Dropped the price ...by £5k (see graph below)

String of offers (Tarde and private at about the same range) -

No viewers but 5 offers via email/ text/phone etc
Viewing booked in for today but just been cancelled by text. (Had it cleaned and then avoided driving it during the week)

This private selling is much harder than it needs to be.


I know the answer is always price but below is a distribution of all similar cars, with sub 10k miles.

Mine is the Red dot....about £15k behind similar cars.

[Drclarke]

Wilmslowboy said:

The saga continues

Dropped the price ...by £5k (see graph below)

String of offers (Tarde and private at about the same range) -

No viewers but 5 offers via email/ text/phone etc
Viewing booked in for today but just been cancelled by text. (Had it cleaned and then avoided driving it during the week)

This private selling is much harder than it needs to be.


I know the answer is always price but below is a distribution of all similar cars, with sub 10k miles.

Mine is the Red dot....about £15k behind similar cars.

Why are people making offers before they have even seen the car?!?!

Tyre kickers!

[Wilmslowboy]

Drclarke said:

Why are people making offers before they have even seen the car?!?!

Tyre kickers!

I assume its a combination of things

Near new car - so kind of know what to expect
I have a full inspection report & video from the last service (2 months ago), that I share with them (body, brake, tyre inspection etc)
They have a budget in mind and don't want to travel (waste anyone's time) if the car cant be got at budget.

The best trade bid (from a very serious McLaren buyer) is just 1.3% below the best private bid.



I genuinely think I priced it too low (for private buyers) - trade always have a price (value) in mind, where as I think private buyers (in the main) just want n% off.


I was selling because I wanted to get into a 720s sooner....but at this rate I will wait till spring (even if the car sells for £5k less than current bids) at least I'll get 6 months more use out of it.

[Drclarke]

Perhaps, but if your car is priced competitively, why are people making offers on that price and then having those declined and no doubt ending up wasting someone else’s time.

[TP321]

Wilmslowboy said:

I assume its a combination of things

Near new car - so kind of know what to expect
I have a full inspection report & video from the last service (2 months ago), that I share with them (body, brake, tyre inspection etc)
They have a budget in mind and don't want to travel (waste anyone's time) if the car cant be got at budget.

The best trade bid (from a very serious McLaren buyer) is just 1.3% below the best private bid.



I genuinely think I priced it too low (for private buyers) - trade always have a price (value) in mind, where as I think private buyers (in the main) just want n% off.


I was selling because I wanted to get into a 720s sooner....but at this rate I will wait till spring (even if the car sells for £5k less than current bids) at least I'll get 6 months more use out of it.

When something isn't selling, its always down to the price. There are a few still cheaper than yours, but i accept that they are older and with more mileage. However you have to accept that silver is probably the worst colour you could pick for a supercar. Alastair Bols has a couple at your price point, and he prides himself with offering private sellers an extra 10% over trade bids, so that must make the trade price of his in the £140k mark...

[Wilmslowboy]

yep price

Trade on my car is just shy of £150k - I know this because I have had two offers at this in the last week....this means retail on my car (from a dealership would be mid to late £160ks (supported by the fact advertised prices for 15 plate cars with sub 10k miles are £169k (mine has half this miles)

I'm looking for a couple % more from a private buyer - who could potentially save themselves £15k plus - yet the private offers have as near as damit matters been the same as the trade bids.

The spread between trade and retail is £20k (about 12%)...it appears to sell to a private buyer I need to give 90% of this benefit to them...

[TP321]

Wilmslowboy said:

yep price

Trade on my car is just shy of £150k - I know this because I have had two offers at this in the last week....this means retail on my car (from a dealership would be mid to late £160ks (supported by the fact advertised prices for 15 plate cars with sub 10k miles are £169k (mine has half this miles)

I'm looking for a couple % more from a private buyer - who could potentially save themselves £15k plus - yet the private offers have as near as damit matters been the same as the trade bids.

The spread between trade and retail is £20k (about 12%)...it appears to sell to a private buyer I need to give 90% of this benefit to them...

So if you have trade bids of £150k, why bother adversing it at £155k, as any potential buyer would want a discount anyway? You should be happy, knowing that you can sell at 96% of your advertised price. It just goes to show that private buyers dont exist.

[RamboLambo]

TBH for £5k less you are better off not having all the stress and hassle and just trading the car.
Nice spec, nice miles but the biggest factor for me would be the colour. Not saying it doesn't look nice for a change but silver is just not a good Supercar colour for some reason

[andy355]

I would be surprised if has anything much to do with colour

Most buyers of expensive cars want to go through dealers. Motivation is security, finance and the buying experience.

[TP321]

As long as dealers have cheaper cars (although older and with more miles), private seller will struggle to sell a similar model more expensively. Dont forget that some of these dealer cars have been sitting there for months if not nearly a year. Unless you have a very unique or very limited edition car, as a private seller you will struggle. In the end, we all end up either selling to the trade or letting it go at trade prices.

[Ferruccio]

RamboLambo said:

silver is just not a good Supercar colour for some reason

Worked for the Silver Arrows?

[TP321]

Ferruccio said:

Worked for the Silver Arrows?

Was that paint or naked aluminium?

[hornbaek]

The first "Silverarrow" from Mercedes was the W 25 which raced in the 750 kg class. On race day the car which was painted white originally, was sanded down to bare aluminum in order to get below the 750 kg and the silver arrow name was born. Later cars were painted silver.

[Deano84]

Drclarke said:

Why are people making offers before they have even seen the car?!?!

Tyre kickers!

Interesting comment- I always make an offer before I go and see a car, i normally have to travel quite far because of where I live to get the cars I want.

I don't want to waste my time viewing a car if my offer won't be accepted by the owner.

Having said that, I sold cars privately I have received many offers from tyre kickers who have no intention of buying.