Do people buy cars privately anymore?

[worldwidewebs]

I'd much rather buy privately if I can

[GT4P]

Sold my last 2 Porsches privately no problem at firm prices and currently in the market for another and have been looking for a long time and would happily buy private! Good cars do sell quickly if priced well even in these uncertain times, recently saw a private advert that caught my eye for a one owner manual 981gts with x73 option it didnt hang around long as well priced. Some private sellers are a bit over optimistic on what their car is worth though, the market dictates the price, amount of time for sale vs price.so if its priced well it should only take a week/10days to sell if not could be along wait.

[alltalk]

Sold my 981GTS privately - very straight forward priced between retail and trade in so we both won. Looking for 992 now happily go private as will have a warranty ... although private prices seem to be the same as retail so a bit hopeful .. shame really as it can work for both if neither are greedy.

[catsey]

LemonTart said:

Do people buy cars privately anymore?

I have always considered private sales preferable, you get to see the car cleaned but not beautified and you can see if the owner is an enthusiast plus you have the bonus they don’t have a slick sales patter.

But am I out of step? I have one for sale at the moment so far the responders have been;
1 knowledgeable person who sounded genuine wanted to leave a deposit then went all quiet on me (was he just after my bank details).
1 decent trader who is clearly very knowledgeable
A number of other traders emailing me with brokerage options or what look like 2 line ramsom demands - accept this and I will pick it up tomorrow...

Am I just out of step with what people do now?

Cheers
Ed

bought both my cars through a Private sale both with full inspections no issues. i now due to a crippling illness prepping my 996 C4s to sell. I know the car is very healthy and can sell with confidence. I hope to reach out for a sale through the TIPEC club and Pistonheads
good luck with the Sale

[Andyoz]

As per the thread title, private sales are still popular but the private Buyers decide the price.

[Rick101]

Collecting Cars does alright and from what I can see that's a riskier proposition that buying private!

Have never had issues selling as long as the price is right to entice buyers.
Have sold up to £40k and my cars would ALWAYS be better than a dealer offering overall.

Same buying private. Do you diligence and you can get a great car for a decent price.
My struggle was finding a private seller. Many prefer to trade in these days!

There are good dealers and traders out there but as with most things, doing it yourself is much cheaper and you'll often get a better job.

[DeuceDeuce]

I’ve bought and sold a couple of Porsches privately and would definitely do so again.

I really don’t understand why more people don’t at least try to sell their cars privately before part exchanging, especially if they change cars with any frequency. It must cost them a small fortune over the years.

I’ve never had any issues with timewasters or fraudsters. Even if somebody asks a bunch of questions and then disappears it’s just one of those things. If you’ve got photos and all the answers to the questions you’re likely going to be asked it’s not a hardship cut n paste to email/WhatsApp answers to queries.

There are also those that do try to sell privately and I wonder why they don’t make more of an effort with description, photos and responses to enquiries.

[LemonTart]

jimmy p said:

I am the previous owner of the car, and have owned another 987 spyder since. Both took a bit of selling tbh, they are a niche car within a niche but I managed to sell both privately eventually after discounting my original asking prices.
The aftermarket stereo did seem to put some people off which I thought odd as surely this is preferable to a cubby hole, and if not, could either be returned to a cubby hole or a cheap second hand porsche unit (non pcm2) could be installed for the oem look if required.

Hope you get a sale soon!!

Edited by jimmy p on Monday 5th April 17:58

Hi Jimmyp, hope all is good with you.

Yes I bought it from you all those years ago, picking it up 1st Jan.

Good to see you are still around on the Porsche threads, maybe bump into you at Chatsworth if it’s being run this year.

Cheers
Ed

[LemonTart]

Must say a big thank you to all that have replied, I never expected so many helpful responses.

Cheers all
Ed

[jimmy p]

LemonTart said:

Hi Jimmyp, hope all is good with you.

Yes I bought it from you all those years ago, picking it up 1st Jan.

Good to see you are still around on the Porsche threads, maybe bump into you at Chatsworth if it’s being run this year.

Cheers
Ed

Would be nice, hoping to get another Porsche soon after being Porsche-less for the past 11 months, not entirely sure what I want but need to sell a BMW M240i first, having same issues as you at the moment!!

[mondie]

worldwidewebs said:

I'd much rather buy privately if I can

Me too, provided I can satisfy myself that the car will be accepted by Porsche for an extended warranty before buying.

[gts.981]

For me 4 owners would be too many. If I buy it I’m #5 and when I sell it it’ll be to #6.

I know folk on here say to ‘buy on condition’ etc but I think too many owners does put people off.

We’re all searching for the one careful owner car truth be told......

[worldwidewebs]

mondie said:

worldwidewebs said:

I'd much rather buy privately if I can

Me too, provided I can satisfy myself that the car will be accepted by Porsche for an extended warranty before buying.

I generally don't care about having a warranty but I do appreciate that many do - so I'll be renewing mine ready for selling the car later in the year. Other than being cheaper than buying from a dealer, I'm not sure what the difference would be. (I also do far better coffee!)

[Tazar]

Yes, I’d buy privately if it was the car that I wanted. You’d hopefully see it at the seller’s home which would be the address on the V5. You’d get an idea of how he/she had looked after it. You might get remarks made about it from family members. You can still get a professional inspection done and the seller should not have a problem with that.

[Orangecurry]

I always buy privately if I can - if a car is rare then I buy from whoever.

gts.981 said:

For me 4 owners would be too many. If I buy it I’m #5 and when I sell it it’ll be to #6.

I know folk on here say to ‘buy on condition’ etc but I think too many owners does put people off.

We’re all searching for the one careful owner car truth be told......

Not me - and I never understood the above.

Each time a 'desirable' (whatever that means) car is sold/bought, money is lavished upon it, and it is treated as new. So that would be 5x refurbish/improvement in your example above vs one careful owner.

Single owner car could also easily mean a gradual decline of maintenance and care.

[gizlaroc]

gts.981 said:

We’re all searching for the one careful owner car truth be told......

fk that!

Same owner for 10 years or so? You may be lucky and get someone who spends loads every single year and still happy to spend £1000s on it in year 10 just before they move it on, but it is a rare thing.

[MPorsche]

My 2 cents.

Advertised my Cayman S. Got something like 2000 views and 25 saves. But almost 0 conversions. Ashgood bought it off me and sold it straight away.

Bottom line is people want and physical store and security when spending that kind of money (my opinion).

[AndrewGP]

I bought my 987.2 privately last September for all the reasons already stated. The owner was a very nice bloke and had clearly loved the car during his tenure. I don’t mind travelling to see the right car either, this was 2 hours away and as it was exactly what I was after, I was more than happy to put the effort in to go and see it.

[Wilmslowboy]

MPorsche said:

My 2 cents.

Advertised my Cayman S. Got something like 2000 views and 25 saves. But almost 0 conversions. Ashgood bought it off me and sold it straight away.

Bottom line is people want and physical store and security when spending that kind of money (my opinion).

Curious to know what was the difference in price you advertised it for compared to the price you sold to Ashgood, and then the price Ashgood sold at ?

[philcray]

I have bought and sold a number of fairly expensive cars privately and never had a problem. The issue is always price, I am looking for a 718 Boxster and the half decent private ones currently are only c£2k less than OPC (who give 2 year warranty) so not interested even in having a chat at that price. I did see one on Autotrader in Scotland a few months ago that was well specced and priced correctly and needless to say it sold quickly.

Most serious buyers will have a quick look at WBAC to get a benchmark, look what dealers are asking and then be looking to pay somewhere below the middle of the spread. Obviously this is a bit different for a niche car as less easy to price, but works for most "normal" cars.