Best site to sell a car?

[johnfm]

Apart from advertising on here, where do you guys suggest advertising a < 5 year old BMW?

Ebay or autotrader?

Or somewhere else?

Want to sell the wife's car without too much hassle or cost.


Cheers

[jimmyjarvis]

Ebay. Autotrader is a rip off

[johnfm]

Ebay 1 - Autotrader 0

[93Jay]

Ebay & Pistonheads

[johnfm]

Cheers

Never sold a car on ebay. will give it a go.

[trickywoo]

I'd say ebay too but only because the 'trader is so poor.

[falkster]

eBay, just make sure you take as many detailed photos as poss, you can never write too much (obviously relevant) and go with a no reserve auction starting at 99p. Honestly it will make more money than starting it at £X,XXX reserve not met. This just puts people off. I have tried both and on all occasions I've made more with no reserve then I had by setting a reserve so now I only do it the one way.

[Rakoosh]

Interesting that people say this - I think it depends on the car.

Here is a question for you- if you were looking for that particular car which website would you use?

When shopping for the OH's car - I used Autotrader... this in spite of the fact I like pistonheads.

Autotraders search criteria was a closer match to what she was searching for (she wanted a 4x4 / mpv, i.e. a high car, from a trader as we had a car to trade in, certain price, automatic, less than 60k miles, etc).

Pistonheads search is great when you know which car/model you want - when you're interested in a broader spectrum then I found autotrader to be pretty good.

[6potdave]

Everyone knows autotrader, and that's where people look first. Pistonheads is free so it might as well go on there regardless, ebay has a lot of competition and you tend to get a lot of timewasters on there but it's cheap enough. I've used gumtree as well and that worked. I just put mine on as many free sites as possible first, then start to pay if that doesn't work.

[johnfm]

The car is a 2007 BMW 320i convertible.

We want around £14k for it. We're not that bothered if it sells or not - but would prefer to move it on as we now want to get a classic car.

So, if we did a 99p no reserve auction, we would be very nervous if 'the market' decided it only wanted to pay £11k for the car. We'd just keep it.


Is it worth using the ebay 'classified ad'? £15 fees, but no extra reserve fees or final value fees. Or can only dealers do a 'classified ad' in Ebay?

[All that jazz]

6potdave said:

Pistonheads is free

Except it isn't unless you've been a member here since 1920.

[TTwiggy]

I've been trawling the classifieds recently, looking for relatively rare cars (Audi C5 S6, or B6 S4).

I started with autotrader and here. I found that similar cars were generally more expensive on here for some reason.

I also tried gumtree and ebay, and found ebay to be good.

[All that jazz]

johnfm said:

The car is a 2007 BMW 320i convertible.

We want around £14k for it. We're not that bothered if it sells or not - but would prefer to move it on as we now want to get a classic car.

So, if we did a 99p no reserve auction, we would be very nervous if 'the market' decided it only wanted to pay £11k for the car. We'd just keep it.


Is it worth using the ebay 'classified ad'? £15 fees, but no extra reserve fees or final value fees. Or can only dealers do a 'classified ad' in Ebay?

You can do a classified on Ebay for £15 yes, you can also add an additional 'make offer' button too for no extra monies. I always advertise my cars this way and they always sell.

You may struggle selling privately at that price though. Vast majority of people looking to buy a 4 year old BMW at that sort of price will be wanting finance and I imagine you'll be wanting cash.

[funkyrobot]

Interesting opinions on here as my Mazda 3 will be up for sale shortly. I'll look at utilising PH and Ebay before forking out for AutoTrader.

[falkster]

johnfm said:

The car is a 2007 BMW 320i convertible.

We want around £14k for it. We're not that bothered if it sells or not - but would prefer to move it on as we now want to get a classic car.

So, if we did a 99p no reserve auction, we would be very nervous if 'the market' decided it only wanted to pay £11k for the car. We'd just keep it.


Is it worth using the ebay 'classified ad'? £15 fees, but no extra reserve fees or final value fees. Or can only dealers do a 'classified ad' in Ebay?

You say you want £14k for it? What is it actually worth? It's pointless having a figure in your head if this figure is way off the realistic value, only use price guides as just that, a guide - traders use them to give you as little as poss for your car and you can only really split the difference between other guides (this is car specific though).
You'll have to look at what comparable cars are selling for and not advertised for on the usual sites.
One for instance, I've got a friend that wants £9k for his CLK because he'd seen them advertised at that. Actual value was around £6,500 because there was evidence of them selling for that whilst the classifieds were still there for months on end.
Only you can decide, put it on at whatever price you want classified and then revise but be warned people will notice this then leave it until you've revised your price a couple of times and keep coming with silly offers.

[Rakoosh]

For a £14k car - and pretty mainstream I would say go with Autotrader. Decide how serious you are I guess before plumping.

That said I quickly punched in 5 yr old, bmw, 3 series, within 10 miles of my postcode, etc etc and the first car that came up was a dealer and it was priced at 12k ... no idea what your spec is mind you but at that price you might struggle in which case it might be worth keeping?

Here is teh search:

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2012...


I can't speak for petrol heads but I would say the vase majority people I see shopping for cars at work will look at autotrader ... and for that type of car its where I would look first too as much easier to find one in the vicinity (as it uses a full postcode).

johnfm said:

The car is a 2007 BMW 320i convertible.

We want around £14k for it. We're not that bothered if it sells or not - but would prefer to move it on as we now want to get a classic car.

So, if we did a 99p no reserve auction, we would be very nervous if 'the market' decided it only wanted to pay £11k for the car. We'd just keep it.


Is it worth using the ebay 'classified ad'? £15 fees, but no extra reserve fees or final value fees. Or can only dealers do a 'classified ad' in Ebay?

[falkster]

Rakoosh said:

Just done the same, 2009 iSE with 40k on the clock for 14k. That's a classified so presume a bit of discount could be had.

I'd keep it OP.

[frosted]

Possibly overpriced at 14k , I know it's a BMW therefor greatest thing ever built by man however probably best you see how much webuyanycar are offering then add 10-15% and that's how much is worth IMO. Part exchange on the classic you want ?

[Mustard]

Pistonheads

Over the years i've Sold a 10yr old Audi A3 1.6SE, a 16yr old BMW E34 520i SE, a 18yr Lotus Elan SE and a friend sold a 9yr old 330ci M Sport Convertible

All via established member free adds, only other place I use is carandclassic (again free)

[johnfm]

Yeah, the value is an odd thing.

I too did a bit of looking around on autotrader for similar spec cars.

The cheaper ones tend to not have full leather and/or average or higher miles - but not all. The market is an odd thing.

I totally agree, a car is only worth what someone will pay. Personally, I think it is worth £13k - but if you advertise at £13k, most people will assume you want £11k for it... So, I will give punters some room to play the 'I bid him in the nuts' game.

I'll try ebay, see what offers I get and take a view. Not that desperate to sell, but will do if we get close to £13k ish.