How much have you lost on a used old car in a short period?

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Just wondering what people on PH have lost on buying and selling cars worth 3-7k?

My example is to scratch an itch bought a high mileage 99 Alfa gtv V6 in september 2019 for £4000 and sold it in february this year for £3000 as I wanted to sell it quickly. So a loss of £1000 in about 6 months. Burns a little but I enjoyed it.

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M22s said:

I try my best not to think about it (but of course I do). Unless something significant changed about the car I would have still expected to get about £4K. But the used market can be so variable.

Your Alfa is on my ‘to scratch’ list too though!

It’s a fun car (not that I’m trying to persuade you or anything )

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can't remember said:

Funnily enough mine was also an Alfa. 156 Sportswagon flew through it's first MOT then went terminal in year two. It ended up at the scrapper leaving me about £3k out of pocket. On reflection it was possibly my worst ever purchase but the decline was unbelievably rapid, especially as it was only bought as a tip runner and lead an easy life.

What made you scrap it?

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JakeT said:

I do lots of miles. My old 328ci had ruined it's rear axle mountings. I thought I'd buy a diesel as a sensible decision.

330d Sport, black, leather, xenon lights, bluetooth. 6 Speed manual, with sensible miles. Paid £2800.

Fitted a pair of thermostats, DSC pressure sensor, and wiper blades. Drove it 2,000 miles in a month.

Sold it for £1800 because I wanted something else.


Circa £1,200 for a months use of a 330d. What a moron.

I hadn't considered the maintenance/minor fix costs. I am sure I will end up doing something like this again.