Selling a car in Switzerland
Discussion
[quote=RossMac]I've listed the Chimaera on autoscout24 and not even a single hit so far. Aside from sticking a "FOR SALE" sign in the window, any other suggestions?
I think some or all of the following factors might be behind no calls:
- advert in English and you say only English can be spoken. Lots of Swiss speak English but that might be putting off some. Can you get a German-speaking friend to help translate or field calls?
- wrong time of year for selling a summer sports car - you might have better luck in the spring
- right-hand drive
- TVR pretty specialist so pool of potential buyers in Switzerland fairly low
- company doesn't exist anymore so even previously limited factory support gone
- price too high. With current exchange rate of 1.3 you could in theory buy a perfect Chimera from a former TVR dealer in the UK, import and register it and still have change from CHF 20'000 (of course, that is in theory - a Swiss friend did just that and found that he had to spend loads when he got the car here before they left him register it for use in Switzerland).
Swiss car market can be odd. Some cars I've sold no problem but others were a pain. I had a 3.2 Carrera that I was selling via a specialist and that took about 9 months. Also had a 997 2S that was (I thought) in perfect spec, low miles and perfect condition. I advertised at similar prices to others on Autoscout but didn't get a single call. After many months I started to drop the price and only once it was well under the others advertised did I finally get any interest.
Good luck and enjoy it whilst you still have it (and the weather holds)
I think some or all of the following factors might be behind no calls:
- advert in English and you say only English can be spoken. Lots of Swiss speak English but that might be putting off some. Can you get a German-speaking friend to help translate or field calls?
- wrong time of year for selling a summer sports car - you might have better luck in the spring
- right-hand drive
- TVR pretty specialist so pool of potential buyers in Switzerland fairly low
- company doesn't exist anymore so even previously limited factory support gone
- price too high. With current exchange rate of 1.3 you could in theory buy a perfect Chimera from a former TVR dealer in the UK, import and register it and still have change from CHF 20'000 (of course, that is in theory - a Swiss friend did just that and found that he had to spend loads when he got the car here before they left him register it for use in Switzerland).
Swiss car market can be odd. Some cars I've sold no problem but others were a pain. I had a 3.2 Carrera that I was selling via a specialist and that took about 9 months. Also had a 997 2S that was (I thought) in perfect spec, low miles and perfect condition. I advertised at similar prices to others on Autoscout but didn't get a single call. After many months I started to drop the price and only once it was well under the others advertised did I finally get any interest.
Good luck and enjoy it whilst you still have it (and the weather holds)
I tried to find your car on autoscout24.ch but couldn't even find a TVR section. Where is it listed? I wonder what the statistics are in terms of private versus trade sales in this country as it appears to be heavily skewed in the direction of the trade. Saying that, I sold a C-MAX out here in January and it went to the first caller. Must have been priced too cheap!
MogulBoy said:
I tried to find your car on autoscout24.ch but couldn't even find a TVR section. Where is it listed? I wonder what the statistics are in terms of private versus trade sales in this country as it appears to be heavily skewed in the direction of the trade. Saying that, I sold a C-MAX out here in January and it went to the first caller. Must have been priced too cheap!
You can search here http://www.autoscout24.ch/AS24Web/Search.aspx?lng=...Ad is http://www.autoscout24.ch/AS24Web/Detail.aspx?show...
I sold the Range Rover a month ago. Ad went live at 10am, first guy (garage) arrived midday, with the second 1230. Garage guy offered list price and then bidding war between the two! Sold to the second private buyer as the garage guy claimed he arrived first and the first offer should be accepted. Also must of priced it too low. Sold it for 90% of the puchase price two years ago.
As for the TVR - 193 hits but no calls. Hopefully not just PHers!
I see TVR only pops up on the detailed search page. On the homepage the list of marques is truncated! Very helpful!!
Two (other) things that bugs me about the autoscout24.ch website is that you cannot just search for private sellers and you cannot tell how long a car has been advertised for.
One good thing about it is that you can register a search and it sends you an email when a new car pops up that meets your criteria. This can help you track cars that are being re-advertised and are subject to asking price drops etc.
P.S. your ad looks fine to me. Good luck with the sale.
Two (other) things that bugs me about the autoscout24.ch website is that you cannot just search for private sellers and you cannot tell how long a car has been advertised for.
One good thing about it is that you can register a search and it sends you an email when a new car pops up that meets your criteria. This can help you track cars that are being re-advertised and are subject to asking price drops etc.
P.S. your ad looks fine to me. Good luck with the sale.
Have you tried contacting Swiss TVR Car Club, User Brem on here is the Vice-Chairman?
By the way are you the person that drives around Aegeri lake as we see a TVR like yours quite often?
By the way are you the person that drives around Aegeri lake as we see a TVR like yours quite often?
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