Selling dilemma...

[HughS47]

My 2001 330d touring with 91,000 on the clock has come back from diagnostics at a local specialist requiring two new fuel injectors to help fix an intermittent DDE light that has been troubling it (only appears under hard acceleration at higher revs). One of the injectors is apparently leaking as well. The car has recently gone through its second set of front discs in less than 4000 miles (since October) due to warped items (replaced under parts warranty). It also needs a new rear wiper spindle to pass the MOT in October as the current one has seized. The car is starting to get a bit shabby and the plan is to change it and move to something a little fresher. It originally cost me £2900 a year ago.

What would you do in this situation:
A) Fix the problem at a cost of £600 reconditioned parts and sell privately to try and get back as much of my purchase price as possible
B) Sell on PH classifieds/eBay/gumtree with a full description of the problems and see what offers I get.
C) Advertise it as is ‘bombproof’ and lie in the advert, hoping no-one gives it the beans on the testdrive and doesn’t test the rear wiper…..(not keen on this)
D) Part-ex it and try and beat every last pound out of the part-ex price (offered between £900-£1300 at last ask).
Help!

[AngryPartsBloke]

£600? Fix it!

[Aydena]

Didn't think rear wiper was a fail? Especially if you take it off!

[Matt UK]

Do A, B or D - not C!

I'm sure you hate a time waster as much as the next man - so don't become one to try and turn a fast buck.

[mnkiboy]

If it only happens at high revs and hard acceleration, can you just drive round the problem? Presume the injectors are not a cause of an MOT failure.

[lbc]

Fix it for £600 is a lot cheaper than buying another car that may also need £600 of repairs at some point.

[*Al*]

I'm also sure that the rear wiper is not an MOT item, at least remove the blade and it won't fail.

[Snowboy]

If you are selling it, then just sell as is.
Be honest in the advert.

No point in wasting time and money on a car you're selling unless it's going to make significant profit.
£600 to fix a <£2k car won't be profitable.

If you want to keep it though; £600 is worth paying.

[VeeDub Geezer]

Buy a couple of second hand injectors from a reputable breaker's yard and then sell once it's working?

The rear spindle is a common fault. It's another part that can be picked up cheap from a breaker's.

[HughS47]

mnkiboy said:

If it only happens at high revs and hard acceleration, can you just drive round the problem? Presume the injectors are not a cause of an MOT failure.

Have been so far and it is working/driving fine. I figured that the rear wiper is a fail come MOT time?

[HughS47]

Snowboy said:

If you are selling it, then just sell as is.
Be honest in the advert.

No point in wasting time and money on a car you're selling unless it's going to make significant profit.
£600 to fix a <£2k car won't be profitable.

If you want to keep it though; £600 is worth paying.

True, but then how do you set the price of a car that requires these sorts of repairs? I wouldn't touch an advert like that if I were looking!

[rallycross]

If you pm me some more details on your 330d I will buy it from you with these faults (at a sensible price) provided its still a nice clean example that I can run for a couple of years once fixed (as a cheapie).
As I could do with something that does more than 25 mpg. Not in a rush so that gives you time to find a replacement..

[TooMany2cvs]

HughS47 said:

True, but then how do you set the price of a car that requires these sorts of repairs?

You don't. You list it on eBay, all faults declared, "spares or repair", and let the market sort the value out.

[HumbleJim]

I would repair it to get the best value. I'm always suspicious when some says "x" is wrong and it'll only cost "y" to fix.

[prg1]

Could you put it in a local car auction as is?

[Mr Classic]

Why does everyone think its acceptable to offload a dodgy car to a trader as part ex? You make it seem as though they are all huge companies with limitless pockets...

[HughS47]

Mr Classic said:

Why does everyone think its acceptable to offload a dodgy car to a trader as part ex? You make it seem as though they are all huge companies with limitless pockets...

I don't think that it seems that way at all - part-ex a near on 15yr old car with nearly 100k on the clock and they will know exactly what to expect and most likely throw it in an auction and minus the part-ex price from the dealer discount.

[TommoAE86]

Mr Classic said:

Why does everyone think its acceptable to offload a dodgy car to a trader as part ex? You make it seem as though they are all huge companies with limitless pockets...

Given the number of threads on here with people complaining about stuff going wrong with their new/used cars bought from traders/dealers I'm not sure this statement has any relevance given that alot of dealers offload crap cars onto punters anyway

[Snowboy]

TooMany2cvs said:

HughS47 said:

True, but then how do you set the price of a car that requires these sorts of repairs?

You don't. You list it on eBay, all faults declared, "spares or repair", and let the market sort the value out.

This.
A lot of people won't touch a car like that, but plenty of people will.

You don't need hundreds of potential buyers.
You just need on actual buyer.

[TooMany2cvs]

Snowboy said:

TooMany2cvs said:

HughS47 said:

True, but then how do you set the price of a car that requires these sorts of repairs?

You don't. You list it on eBay, all faults declared, "spares or repair", and let the market sort the value out.

This.
A lot of people won't touch a car like that, but plenty of people will.

You don't need hundreds of potential buyers.
You just need on actual buyer.

Two or more, preferably. If you only have one, then it sells for your nice attractive bring-the-punters-in low starting price. And I'm _sure_ you'd rather get more than 99p...