Do people buy cars privately anymore?

[LemonTart]

Do people buy cars privately anymore?

I have always considered private sales preferable, you get to see the car cleaned but not beautified and you can see if the owner is an enthusiast plus you have the bonus they don’t have a slick sales patter.

But am I out of step? I have one for sale at the moment so far the responders have been;
1 knowledgeable person who sounded genuine wanted to leave a deposit then went all quiet on me (was he just after my bank details).
1 decent trader who is clearly very knowledgeable
A number of other traders emailing me with brokerage options or what look like 2 line ramsom demands - accept this and I will pick it up tomorrow...

Am I just out of step with what people do now?

Cheers
Ed

[LemonTart]

Yes good on you.

I bought my Spyder several years ago now, I also say Hi to the seller every now and then and it was deal we were both happy with, no dealer mark up.

I mean how much does hoovering stripes in the carpet really add? maybe I need to have a go.

[LemonTart]

Trevor555 said:

Many people are still not prepared to travel looking at cars.

Next month I'm sure it'll all come alive and private buyers will be out and about again.

Yes good point.

I thought the sun, a bank holiday weekend and a bit of vaccine confidence might bring people out.

[LemonTart]

Andyoz said:

I always do but have noticed Porsche etc seems to scare some people off buying privately.

I don't understand as a good PPI can really settle most of the unknowns. These are generally solid cars.

What's the car?

Hi Andy

It’s a 987.2 Boxster Spyder, immaculate just serviced and MOTed.

[LemonTart]

Thanks for all the responses, really helpful.

I sounds like I just need to be more patient than I am naturally inclined to be.

Yes it’s a small pool of potential buyers and those that do want one will probably want the three things I wanted, Manual gbox, Carbon buckets and the Spyder alloys I also don’t like cars needing a service or short MOT so I have done those so I suppose it’s as desirable as it is.

It’s been up since last Friday so the weekend before and over this weekend and when I renew the advert people will be free to travel more and I think I will take the email link off.

Thanks for the comments guys.

Cheers
Ed

[LemonTart]

esuuv said:

As with anything for sale - it's all about price.

People are going to pay a lot less than from a dealer in order to take any risk from a private sale.

If it's the one on AT I'd also think people paying that kind of money for a 11 year old car, that will know about rev ranges etc etc will want original - not a fan of the aftermarket stereo - even though I'm sure it works much better.

Thanks I am sure I can sell it at a low price very quickly, had a few offers lower than I would prefer already. I think I have priced it about right with compared to others. The top priced one at £4700 more than mine doesn’t have the Spyder wheels but the Carrera S wheels but in fairness it does have some other nice bits mine doesn’t have.

The car came with the cubby hole rather than PCM, I guess i could revert back to that to be fully original but the unit is ok and at least you can link your phone to it so I have left it as is. It was quite expensive and the bill is in the file but it’s not a quiet car to listen to music in...

I guess I will have to be patient and have an offer from a knowledgeable trader to fall back on, or just keep it.

Thanks for your views.

[LemonTart]

jimmy p said:

I am the previous owner of the car, and have owned another 987 spyder since. Both took a bit of selling tbh, they are a niche car within a niche but I managed to sell both privately eventually after discounting my original asking prices.
The aftermarket stereo did seem to put some people off which I thought odd as surely this is preferable to a cubby hole, and if not, could either be returned to a cubby hole or a cheap second hand porsche unit (non pcm2) could be installed for the oem look if required.

Hope you get a sale soon!!

Edited by jimmy p on Monday 5th April 17:58

Hi Jimmyp, hope all is good with you.

Yes I bought it from you all those years ago, picking it up 1st Jan.

Good to see you are still around on the Porsche threads, maybe bump into you at Chatsworth if it’s being run this year.

Cheers
Ed

[LemonTart]

Must say a big thank you to all that have replied, I never expected so many helpful responses.

Cheers all
Ed

[LemonTart]

jimmy p said:

Ed, I like the updated photos on the advert, much improved and shows the car off. Hope it does the trick!
Managed to sell my car privately although to a trader but at a price I was happy with and there was zero tyre kicking!!

Thanks Jimmyp,

I took the advice on this thread and did some photos not in full on sunshine and also put a few of the car with the roof on and the cat audio too.

I have renewed the ad for a couple of weeks so let’s see what happens.

Cheers
Ed

[LemonTart]

Just for interest.

Ashgood have a lovely 997.2 GT3 RS for sale, it seems to be the same one as on Collecting Cars a week or two ago, hammer price there was £144.5k plus fees it was on Ashgood’s site for £170k on Wednesday night and £175k now.

Gives you a measure of mark up on what looked to be an immaculate car.

[LemonTart]

Well I am pleased to confirm people do, ace chap got in touch last week, clearly very knowledgeable and paid a deposit Friday and came up from Surrey to pick it up today.