Selling 2nd hand car to a garage?

D

dubweiser

Guest
Hi - I've a 2005 car and the value of it has obviously plummeted quite considerably in just over a year. I've tried to sell it privately through all the usual channels but no bites. This is not the first time I've tried to shift a good 2nd hand car using CBG etc. with no joy.

Does anyone know if it's possible or has anyone tried to sell a 2nd hand car (not trade in, just sell) a 2nd hand car to a garage, do they go for it, if so did you get robbed?

Alternatively has anyone ever traded in a car for a car of lesser value?
Cheers!
 
Your car, if it's in good condition, and competitively priced should sell.

The thing is that most folks selling privately gauge their price according to other similar cars they see online. These would include dealers stock.

Delears will give a discount for a straight cash sale, and will take trade in's, and offer warranties.

For those reasons a private seller will always have to price their car more competitively.

Allow maybe 5 -10%. Your car must be the BEST one of it's type available to make potential buyers make an enquiry.

Furthermore advertising in the wrong place is pointless. I've used www.carzone.ie and i find them ok. A good picture(s) is essential too.

A dealer will buy your car for cash, but it'll cost you.

HTH.
 
dubweiser said:
Hi - I've a 2005 car and the value of it has obviously plummeted quite considerably in just over a year. I've tried to sell it privately through all the usual channels but no bites. This is not the first time I've tried to shift a good 2nd hand car using CBG etc. with no joy.

Does anyone know if it's possible or has anyone tried to sell a 2nd hand car (not trade in, just sell) a 2nd hand car to a garage, do they go for it, if so did you get robbed?

Alternatively has anyone ever traded in a car for a car of lesser value?
Cheers!
Click to expand...
what is it?
 
trading your car in for a car of lesser value is worst type of deal you could think of, you will be well and truely ripped off thats the type of deal that car sales people hope for, believe me i knew a few car dealers and that was their most profitable outlet people who wanted or hoped for cash back on the deal
 
I'd suggest that you try the Buy & Sell and/or Autotrader. Also get a couple of A4 sheets printed up with details such as mileage, extras, if it has a service history, price and contact telephone number and stick them to each of the inside rear passenger windows. You never know! Perhaps your buyer will be someone strolling past it parked at the side of the road or sitting beside it stuck in traffic.

You need to be proactive in pursuing other channels in promoting it. Above all be realistic as to it's value.

I'd say the measure of LAST resort would be to approach a dealer/garage unless you REALLY, REALLY need to unload it quickly. You'll definitely take a bath on it.
 
RS2K said:
Your car, if it's in good condition, and competitively priced should sell.

The thing is that most folks selling privately gauge their price according to other similar cars they see online. These would include dealers stock.

Delears will give a discount for a straight cash sale, and will take trade in's, and offer warranties.

For those reasons a private seller will always have to price their car more competitively.

Allow maybe 5 -10%. Your car must be the BEST one of it's type available to make potential buyers make an enquiry.

Furthermore advertising in the wrong place is pointless. I've used www.carzone.ie and i find them ok. A good picture(s) is essential too.

A dealer will buy your car for cash, but it'll cost you.

HTH.
Click to expand...

This is good advice ! You are pricing the car too high. It wont cost you anything to get an offer from a trader but dont be offended when they offer you a low price.
 
Thanks for the advice... it's a Citroen C4 VTR, it's actually a really nice car. It's got about 17,000 kms on it. I used to drive to work but have since changed jobs and don't really need it any more.

I think I paid about €23,000 for it and priced it at €16,950 to sell, which is a pretty substantial drop over the course of just over a year. In fairness though at the time Citroen had all these €X off deals on most models which was clouding the real value and always hurts residuals.

I've seen dealers with this spec of car priced a lot higher! Part of the problem is a lot of people in this country don't seem to care or value a higher spec when buying a car. We're so used to buying the base models as that's what's imported most because of our government's stealh tax (i.e. VRT).

The C4 VTR has cruise control, speed limiter, air con, alloys etc. but people just see a car that's more expensive than other C4s on the market....

Sigh... :p
 
dubweiser said:
Thanks for the advice... it's a Citroen C4 VTR, it's actually a really nice car. It's got about 17,000 kms on it. I used to drive to work but have since changed jobs and don't really need it any more.

I think I paid about €23,000 for it and priced it at €16,950 to sell, which is a pretty substantial drop over the course of just over a year. In fairness though at the time Citroen had all these €X off deals on most models which was clouding the real value and always hurts residuals.

I've seen dealers with this spec of car priced a lot higher! Part of the problem is a lot of people in this country don't seem to care or value a higher spec when buying a car. We're so used to buying the base models as that's what's imported most because of our government's stealh tax (i.e. VRT).

The C4 VTR has cruise control, speed limiter, air con, alloys etc. but people just see a car that's more expensive than other C4s on the market....

Sigh... :p
Click to expand...

I looked very quickly and found this, through a dealer, for substantially less than you are asking for privately. You need to look at your price I think. French cars depreciate very rapidly.

http://www.carzone.ie/usedcars/index.cfm?fuseaction=car&carID=505488
 
If your car is a 1.4 the price is €22k on citroen website so you would probably buy it for €21k from a garage.For two years driving bigger cars tend to lose more money than smaller ones so take about €3k of per year.All cars devalue like this,the spec wont add any value but should help you sell quicker.Did you ask the garage you bought it from would they buy it back.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top