I'm 40 and I've never sold a car

[princeperch]

I've owned 7 cars over the years and I've never, ever sold one or part exchanged one.

Theyve all been either scrapped or written off or I still have them.

My oldest current acquisition is from 2006 which I still own and my newest is from 2019 which I still own and use.

I'm 40, started driving at 17. Has anyone here ever made it the majority of the way through their motoring career and never actually sold a car?

[Box Fresh]

I’m the opposite, never scrapped or written off a car.

[Gordon Hill]

I've never sold one either, I've part ex'd a couple of times but usually run them until they're scrapped.

[CG2020UK]

Sold or part exchanged all mine.

I’d love to be able to keep a car but longest I’ve had a car is 3 years.

[MikeM6]

I've never sold a car privately, I've always part exchanged, or more recently returned for a refund.

I've also never bought a car privately, but I'm beginning to doubt the sanity of that.

[RDMcG]

I dislike selling cars and have never traded one in.
Eight cars currently , all bought new , from 2003 to 2023.


Sold
1979 Toyota Celica
1996 Mercedes 280
2004 BMW 645ci
2006 BMW M6
2008 Porsche Cayenne
2010 Porsche 997.2 GT3RS

After that I just stopped selling. I have one of the current lot, a 2005 Smart ForTwo that is not going to last much longer and will likely be the first car I have ever sold for scrap when it finally expires. Getting too difficult to get parts and there is some rust.

[StoutBench]

princeperch said:

Theyve all been either scrapped or written off

Prince Perch destroyer of cars

[Patio]

I'm 50, been driving since 17 and never owned a car

Got first company van at 22 and had various cars ever since, all company cars

[Baldchap]

I've never written a car off. I have scrapped and sold some cars. I do tend to hoard cars a bit.

[johnsmith222]

I've sold cars in the past, but at the £1k or less end of the market that I drive I would sooner scrap them now. You get all sorts of oddballs that want the world for pennies.

The last car I sold was both heart-melting and frustrating. It was a bottom end of the market A-class (the ugly one) that I wanted off the drive. The first buyer messed me about for two weeks and never showed. The second buyer paid it up in installments.

I needed the space for another car that was sitting on a friend's drive. The guy who bought it was paying in installments to just take it on payment of the first installment, and if he took it away and I never heard from him again I wouldn't have cared.

No, he insisted I kept the car until he had paid in full. The fact he had to pay in 2 installments and me wanting it off the drive ASAP meant I would have happily given him the car. Even for free. He struck me as the "just out the jail, but making a new start and doing his best" type. Writing it now I wish I could have just given him it.

I prefer to keep my cars because I work on them. I don't like working on things just to fix them for the next owner. I often help a friend work on his car, but it gets frustrating when we solve the issues with them, then suddenly it's sold and he has another car with other problems that need fixed.

[Muddle238]

My first car I "sold" to my sister, as she began learning to drive when I moved abroad. After she trashed it for a few years, she then "sold" it our father who intended to use it as a small runabout for a few months. He decided to quite liked it and it has stayed with him ever since, I think it's been in the family for the past 15 years now. When it expires, my father has said that he's giving it back to me, so I'll end up with my first car again at some point. Fun for nostalgic reasons, but my wife has already rejected the idea.

Sold a few cars over the years, but nowadays we tend to hold on to them for longer so there isn't so much of a regular churn of vehicles in our fleet.

[ARHarh]

I had bought, fixed and sold, 2 cheap cars before I could drive. I passed my test 4 weeks after my 17 birthday, way back in 1981. Might have sold a few, scrapped a few, but never had one written off.

[Matt_T]

I'm 48 and have only ever sold 1 car - when I was 21. Rover 820 sold for £250 with £200 worth of football gear in the boot that I forgot about!

Since 21 years old - Ford Escort scrapped (rusted wind screen surround), Rover 620 scrapped (clutch), Ford Focus scrapped (crank sensor), VW Golf (given to my brother).

[DaveH23]

38 and been driving 20 years.

1st car a Corsa, bought for £350 and swapped it in exchange for getting my windows tinted on my 2nd car, a Peugeot 306 bought for £700 which was subsequently written off.

I then purchased a 106 GTi which was sent to auction via a friend who worked for Nissan and then i got a Mazda 3 MPS which I still own.

Owned 4 cars in 20 years and they've cost me £11,500 between them and not one of them has been sold.

I really should get myself something newer.

[Noesph]

37, driving nearly 20 years. Same, 1st car was written off. But I've only had 2 cars. (I got my current car when I was 24).

[anonymous-user]

Bought 11 cars/vans, all private. (106, civic, 406, 106, polo, carlton, bongo, seicento, auris, mazda3, dispatch). Never trust a used car dealer!

Sold 8 privately. Most were fine, 1 was a complete nightmare!

Scrapped 3. 406 - catastrophic engine failure, polo - rear ended and written off / seicento - not worth repairing the constant faults.

Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 16th February 22:19

[Mr Tidy]

That reminds me of a mate of mine who got his first car in the 70s.

The ones that didn't rust away he either wrote off or blew up in a big way.

But then in his 30s he became a motor salvage dealer and I doubt he has any idea of how many cars he has sold!

[911sse]

MikeM6 said:

I've never sold a car privately, I've always part exchanged, or more recently returned for a refund.

I've also never bought a car privately, but I'm beginning to doubt the sanity of that.

[CrippsCorner]

I'm 40, had 11 cars I think... sold every one. Never had a write off or a scrap. Mind you one of those was traded in at a dealer.

[Shooter McGavin]

Interesting thread. My history of car disposals in a motoring career of 35yrs goes:

Sold to a mate who wrote it off 2 weeks later
Sold to a mate of a mate as an unfinished project
Stolen by feral scum
Given away to a hot female placement student who worked for my then partner
Sold to a mate
Sold at a profit to a dealer (bought by me using manufacturer staff discount)
Sold to a mate who is a trader
Part exchanged against a new car

So, since I started driving in 1989, I've never had to actually deal with the proverbial tyre kickers, test pilots or innit bruv types coming round to sneakily put some oil in the expansion tank when I'm not looking.

Long may that continue. I hate dealing with "the public".

For clarity, I last bought a car in 2007 (a 2yo E46 M3) and have owned that ever since and never considered selling it.

Edited by Shooter McGavin on Tuesday 18th February 16:18

Edited by Shooter McGavin on Tuesday 18th February 16:20