Selling a car - light resto or “as-is”

[Lefty]

My son is selling his 106 Rallye.

Mechanically it’s perfect, drives brilliantly and has new brakes, beam etc but the paintwork is crap. Few little dents, plastics don’t fit perfectly, few little rust spots around aerial and screen.

Underside is a bit scabby, could do with a few days of wire brushing and painting.

Is it better to do all that and spend a couple of grand on paint which might add at very most, 2 or 3 grand to the value or sell it as is and just be honest with it? I’m of the view the latter is better and if I was buying a car like this and wanted it “nice” I’d rather pay less for the car and get the work done myself so I know it’s done right and can see the before and after.

It’s got loads of miles but very comprehensive service history (including original invoice!)

We’ve washed it and valeted it. Made it look as nice as it can.

PH, your opinions please.

[VeeReihenmotor6]

Sell as is.

Admitedly I haven't seen the car but have worked and restored many a car. A couple of grand on paint and scabby underneath are both optimistic statements on total cost. You'll make more money selling it as it is, even though the sale price is less.

[Lefty]

VeeReihenmotor6 said:

Sell as is.

Admitedly I haven't seen the car but have worked and restored many a car. A couple of grand on paint and scabby underneath are both optimistic statements on total cost. You'll make more money selling it as it is, even though the sale price is less.

Yep, my thoughts exactly 👍

[Richard-390a0]

I'd suggest you've answered your own question - "I’d rather pay less for the car and get the work done myself so I know it’s done right and can see the before and after."

[paul_c123]

It shouldn't take a few days to wire brush and coat in underseal, the undersides (unless its really bad or you're really thorough). I'd say worth doing if it takes say 3 hours.

Similarly, worth getting a PDR kit and taking out the dents, if its easy enough and obviously the paint is undamaged.

Rust, I'd not go near, just leave as is and go round it if/when you polish the car as prep for sale.

[magpie215]

Anything that looks like tidying up / cover up sets alarm bells ringing for me.

Fresh underseal would suggest rust problems hidden for the purpose of sale.

[Lefty]

Ok, good point.

What do you think of this?

I always shudder a bit when I see a car covered in undersell, it’s usually hiding a multitude of sins!

[paul_c123]

Does it actually need/want any welding underneath (appreciate the pics, but can't really tell from them). If so, then undersealing would be bad, as its an attempt to hide. But you can usually tell when a particularly rusty/holed area needs welding, even if its been painted, upon close inspection. If it doesn't need welding and is very light surface rusting, I'd say a bit of TLC and appropriate undercoat is a good idea. In my experience, buyers are quite lazy and want things done for them, so they're basically ready to turn the key and drive the car for a bit, instead of having a "project" which is half way through and doing loads of stuff before its actually ready for regular use. If you're selling it as an ongoing project, its going to be much less value than a car which can be used for the summer.

[ClaphamGT3]

Lefty said:

Ok, good point.

What do you think of this?

I always shudder a bit when I see a car covered in undersell, it’s usually hiding a multitude of sins!

There's nothing there that would worry me - looks an honest little car from what I can tell from those pics.

I would do a better job of washing the crap off the bottom of it thought - if only as a courtesy to potential buyers to make it easier to inspect. You say that you've washed and valeted it but that doesn't look very washed and valeted to me....

[Truckosaurus]

The only way it would be worth doing is if it is super low mileage and you could perhaps get an inflated price for being 'the best one in the UK' or similar.

You could probably get it looking halfway decent with just a good clean and maybe a visit from the local dent man.

Definitely not 'massively overspending' in the style of High Peak Autos off of Youtube.

[Lefty]

ClaphamGT3 said:

Lefty said:

Ok, good point.

What do you think of this?

I always shudder a bit when I see a car covered in undersell, it’s usually hiding a multitude of sins!

There's nothing there that would worry me - looks an honest little car from what I can tell from those pics.

I would do a better job of washing the crap off the bottom of it thought - if only as a courtesy to potential buyers to make it easier to inspect. You say that you've washed and valeted it but that doesn't look very washed and valeted to me....

Ahh no those pics were before the washing

[Lefty]

paul_c123 said:

Does it actually need/want any welding underneath (appreciate the pics, but can't really tell from them). If so, then undersealing would be bad, as its an attempt to hide. But you can usually tell when a particularly rusty/holed area needs welding, even if its been painted, upon close inspection. If it doesn't need welding and is very light surface rusting, I'd say a bit of TLC and appropriate undercoat is a good idea. In my experience, buyers are quite lazy and want things done for them, so they're basically ready to turn the key and drive the car for a bit, instead of having a "project" which is half way through and doing loads of stuff before its actually ready for regular use. If you're selling it as an ongoing project, its going to be much less value than a car which can be used for the summer.

Nah no welding required at all and has a full MOT.

It’s a question of how far to go with “tidying” I suppose

[VeeReihenmotor6]

Lefty said:

Ok, good point.

What do you think of this?

I always shudder a bit when I see a car covered in undersell, it’s usually hiding a multitude of sins!

Ah now I see some pictures - there is nothing wrong with that. Leave it be, no horrible black underseal cover ups. If you want to put something on it then some sort of clear wax after washing it down is useful and still allows people to see it for what it is - an honest car.

Once you start stripping off components, to say powdercoat or repaint it becomes a never ending spiral of cost and carrying out tasks that make no difference to the value of the car. Of course you could strip it back and go the concourse route of nut and bolting it but even then you'll be invested "in" far more than it is worth.

Rust on the body panels I'd leave alone. Most bodyshops offering you a blow over for a couple £grand will simply knock the rust back, fill it and send you on your way. 6 months later you'll have the red peril breaking through again and the bodyshop will hide behind their don't warranty rust line. To do it properly with welding etc costs a fortune and even if you went that route you'd be left with a car you'd probably not want to use such would the cost investment be into the vehicle.

[Davie]

Having bought a few cars of this era... I'd rather buy at the lower end of the pricing range and then make my own decisions be it either keep it as it, ie a usable / non precious retro car to enjoy or if I felt that way inclined, as a honest base to then start building something immaculate. I'd be extremely wary of buying a freshly painted car and would also be very very nervous of a recently undersealed car for the exact reasons above - has it just had a "cheap" tart up to try and pan off as immaculate? Some people may gloss over that and pay a premium, however I would suggest that the market for such a car will be people who know these and therefore will probably shy away from something tarted up for sale, more so if it's at a premium.