Is eBay a good place to sell a borked car?
Is eBay a good place to sell a borked car?
Author
Discussion

Bill

Original Poster:

58,772 posts

285 months

Saturday 13th December 2014
quotequote all
Just after ideas of a figure to suggest to my BiL as I think I've managed to persuade him not to throw any more money at his XC90. I reckon it's worth £4k fixed and he's looking at a £1.5k bill.

McSam

6,753 posts

205 months

Saturday 13th December 2014
quotequote all
Just make sure you advertise it explicitly (in the title and all) as spares or repair, else you'll get a colossal amount of timewasters.

I've had decent experience selling an MOT failure on eBay, but at a much lower price point. There seems to be a lot of owners/specialists keeping an eye out for cheap spares cars or projects to turn a profit on.

Renovation

2,031 posts

151 months

Saturday 13th December 2014
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It can be - however you can also get a lot of fools who don't read the ad.

So whilst a auction can get surprisingly good results I prefer a classified ad for such things so people have to come and view it before committing to buy it.

marshalla

15,902 posts

231 months

Saturday 13th December 2014
quotequote all
You'll probably get more for it if you take it apart and sell the parts.

Bill

Original Poster:

58,772 posts

285 months

Saturday 13th December 2014
quotequote all
He doesn't have the time, space or knowledge for that.

S10GTA

13,808 posts

197 months

Saturday 13th December 2014
quotequote all
Bill said:
Just after ideas of a figure to suggest to my BiL as I think I've managed to persuade him not to throw any more money at his XC90. I reckon it's worth £4k fixed and he's looking at a £1.5k bill.
AWD borked?

Shaw Tarse

31,898 posts

233 months

Saturday 13th December 2014
quotequote all
We Buy Any Car?
Though they may offer him 50p?

WinstonWolf

72,863 posts

269 months

Saturday 13th December 2014
quotequote all
£1.5k of parts or parts and labour?

Bill

Original Poster:

58,772 posts

285 months

Saturday 13th December 2014
quotequote all
S10GTA said:
AWD borked?
Yes, but the turbo is the main issue and it has an unspecified dash fault. And that's after spending about £2k in the last 18 months. eek

Walford

2,259 posts

196 months

Saturday 13th December 2014
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Should have bought a TVR

boyse7en

8,200 posts

195 months

Saturday 13th December 2014
quotequote all
How Borked is it?

I look for "Spares or Repairs' cars quite regularly on eBay, but many (not all) are well over-optimistic on price. I always assume that the main issue stopping the car being fixed is only one out of many, most of which are not being disclosed.

Also remember that, if the car is not drivable, the purchaser will factor in cost to collect with lorry/trailer. An XC90 ain't a lightweight vehicle to tow around so will be pricey to move.

Bill

Original Poster:

58,772 posts

285 months

Saturday 13th December 2014
quotequote all
WinstonWolf said:
£1.5k of parts or parts and labour?
That's an optimistic quote for both, at an indie.

And I'm not even sure it's worth as much as 4k sorted. I'm starting to wonder what a breaker might offer him.

Ozzie Osmond

21,189 posts

276 months

Saturday 13th December 2014
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The arithmetic is simple.

If it's worth £4,000 fixed and will cost £1,500 to fix, is it worth £2,500 unfixed? Doubt it.

In my experience cars which "don't work" have very little value at all. (And in my language any car without an MOT certificate would be a car which "doesn't work".)

Sounds as though the main issue facing your BiL is to find a competent repairer.

marmitemania

1,571 posts

172 months

Saturday 13th December 2014
quotequote all
A traditional scrap yard will probably offer you around £200. A specialist might offer around a thousand maybe. I would not expect a lot because of the labour involved in stripping down the car. Good luck with shifting it.

Bill

Original Poster:

58,772 posts

285 months

Saturday 13th December 2014
quotequote all
All good points, thanks. frown

hairyben

8,516 posts

213 months

Saturday 13th December 2014
quotequote all
It's an extrapolation of "AC just needs regas honest guv"

You're looking at punter willing to speculate not someone shopping for a £4000 car, if your figures are accurate I'd have thought it'll get 1500 give or take

N Dentressangle

3,453 posts

252 months

Sunday 14th December 2014
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I sold an utterly knackered motorbike on Ebay a few years ago.

The engine was gubbed, and I hadn't had it apart to find out exactly how gubbed. turned out to be 'very' in the end.

Anyway, the level of optimism on the part of bidders was bizarre. I was entirely up front in the ad, pointed out that in all likelihood a new engine would be needed, but it still bid up to nearly £1k. Collected and paid cash no problem. The guy could have had a running bike with an MoT for about 50 quid more.

Would agree about being utterly explicit in bold capitals about the problems, but apart from that I think the Ebay auction format can be a good one for a knackered car.

confused_buyer

7,130 posts

211 months

Sunday 14th December 2014
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Stick it on ebay £0.99 no reserve. Give as good a description as possible.

The bizarre thing about ebay is that cars on auction don't seem to fetch a lot less as spares or repair as perfectly good ones.

Alternatively, if it starts and moves forward at 5mph without belching smoke out of the back or making horrible noises bung it in a local auction with a £2500 reserve.

SuperHangOn

3,486 posts

183 months

Sunday 14th December 2014
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East Europeans will probably buy a car like that to export and break for parts. You might get a surprising amount. Just be clear that it's spares repairs to avoid jokers.

N Dentressangle

3,453 posts

252 months

Sunday 14th December 2014
quotequote all
SuperHangOn said:
East Europeans will probably buy a car like that to export and break for parts. You might get a surprising amount. Just be clear that it's spares repairs to avoid jokers.
yes

My bike went in the back of a van to Hungary.