Does nobody sell cars privately now?
Discussion
Currently selling a car and I've had the following:
1. Showing up, saying they'll let me know. They never do
2. No shows. Say they are coming but never do
3. Stupid low ball offers
4. Asking if the car is still for sale, then never reply
It's at the point now where I don't even sort the car out e.g. wash it or do anything to it, unless the person turns up. So many no shows and I've wasted so much time. So many private buyers just are people who have no intension of buying.
If this wasn't my 2nd car then I'd just trade it in but because it is, I don't mind keeping hold of it. I'd rather sell it on and someone actually use it but I see why there's people who just leave cars to rot when people just mess you around.
1. Showing up, saying they'll let me know. They never do
2. No shows. Say they are coming but never do
3. Stupid low ball offers
4. Asking if the car is still for sale, then never reply
It's at the point now where I don't even sort the car out e.g. wash it or do anything to it, unless the person turns up. So many no shows and I've wasted so much time. So many private buyers just are people who have no intension of buying.
If this wasn't my 2nd car then I'd just trade it in but because it is, I don't mind keeping hold of it. I'd rather sell it on and someone actually use it but I see why there's people who just leave cars to rot when people just mess you around.
Ankh87 said:
Currently selling a car and I've had the following:
1. Showing up, saying they'll let me know. They never do
2. No shows. Say they are coming but never do
3. Stupid low ball offers
4. Asking if the car is still for sale, then never reply
It's at the point now where I don't even sort the car out e.g. wash it or do anything to it, unless the person turns up. So many no shows and I've wasted so much time. So many private buyers just are people who have no intension of buying.
If this wasn't my 2nd car then I'd just trade it in but because it is, I don't mind keeping hold of it. I'd rather sell it on and someone actually use it but I see why there's people who just leave cars to rot when people just mess you around.
2 and 3 are normal. I say in response to 2, let me know when you're setting off to check that I'm in as I have errands to run. Only the genuine buyers will ring as they don't want their time wasted either, driving over to view a car when nobody is there. Everyone else you won't hear from again.1. Showing up, saying they'll let me know. They never do
2. No shows. Say they are coming but never do
3. Stupid low ball offers
4. Asking if the car is still for sale, then never reply
It's at the point now where I don't even sort the car out e.g. wash it or do anything to it, unless the person turns up. So many no shows and I've wasted so much time. So many private buyers just are people who have no intension of buying.
If this wasn't my 2nd car then I'd just trade it in but because it is, I don't mind keeping hold of it. I'd rather sell it on and someone actually use it but I see why there's people who just leave cars to rot when people just mess you around.
Don't rule out 3, especially not in the early days as the offers received help you gauge its actual value on the market, not the value YOU think it's worth, which is typically 10% higher than what someone is willing to pay for it. You may well find after a month goes by and you haven't had any better offers, you should have taken theirs, rather than having to reduce it now anyway as you chase the market down.
4. is solved by writing in bold font at the top of the ad "IF THE ADVERT IS STILL LIVE THEN THE CAR IS STILL FOR SALE". You'll still get the odd few pinging the "is this item still for sale" button on FB, but you can safely ignore those as time-wasters and block them as they're just pressing the button to troll you.
Anyone saying "I'll have a think about it and let you know" is the polite way of telling you "it's not for me". If they make you an offer and then say that after you refuse, they are hoping you'll cave and knock further money off to get it gone. The latter group will often contact you again in a couple of weeks after you've reduced the price in icnreasing desperation to get it gone. A lot of the interest is from small car dealers looking for stock.
I just sold my S4 via Autotrader although it was a trader who bought it.
First few days had zero interest but I knew it was priced a bit toppy. Dropped it down and started to get a few enquiries and a couple of low ball offers.
Any other time I’ve sold a fast German car it’s always been to a dealer so thought this would be the case again which sort of suited me as it’s alway been hassle free.
It’s back on Autotrader for 3.5k more.
First few days had zero interest but I knew it was priced a bit toppy. Dropped it down and started to get a few enquiries and a couple of low ball offers.
Any other time I’ve sold a fast German car it’s always been to a dealer so thought this would be the case again which sort of suited me as it’s alway been hassle free.
It’s back on Autotrader for 3.5k more.
People say private sales are dead, but if you have something in the sub-£5k bracket you really don't have a choice. The likes of WBAC will give you maybe 50 percent of what it's worth in a private sale. No way am I throwing away £2k or more, so private sale it has to be. That or just keep it as an extra car rather than give it away.
I recently sold my Audi S5 Sportback privately. After receiving a number of low offers from the car buying sites I decided to chuck it on FB Marketplace, Pistonheads and Autotrader. I received just one enquiry who happened to buy the car. I think at that pricepoint (£13Kish) people are very relucatant to buy privately due to the lack of comeback should anything go wrong with it.
Ankh87 said:
Currently selling a car…
3. Stupid low ball offers
It is possible to turn these into something you can live with - just have to be clear as to how much you value your time and whether you’d like the money or the car right now. Obvs only if the potential buyer is in front of you, and it’s not just a random text. Anyone who makes an offer has to be prepared for that offer to be accepted, so there’s usually something to work with. I’ve sold three that way in the last few years.3. Stupid low ball offers
A low ball by text usually gets the response along the lines of turn up, test drive and then we’ll talk.
PomBstard said:
It is possible to turn these into something you can live with - just have to be clear as to how much you value your time and whether you’d like the money or the car right now. Obvs only if the potential buyer is in front of you, and it’s not just a random text. Anyone who makes an offer has to be prepared for that offer to be accepted, so there’s usually something to work with. I’ve sold three that way in the last few years.
A low ball by text usually gets the response along the lines of turn up, test drive and then we’ll talk.
I'll make this a bit more clear sorry. The low ball offers are basically 1/5 of the value of my car e.g. £1000 of a car that's valued at £5000. So it isn't something I'm going to accept. This is usually done via a text message after we've had a chat or texting for a few messages. I really don't understand how they come to offer other than they are looking to flip the car. A low ball by text usually gets the response along the lines of turn up, test drive and then we’ll talk.
Ankh87 said:
...
2. No shows. Say they are coming but never do
...
I've found not offering my address and postcode (i.e. waiting for them to ask) to be really helpful in weeding out the time wasters.2. No shows. Say they are coming but never do
...
Dave Dreamer will say "I'll come and see the car on Saturday" and I'll say "cool - see you then", and get on with my life.
Bob Buyer will say "I'll come and see the car on Saturday" and I'll say "cool - see you then", and get on with my life ... and then some point later he'll ask for my address and postcode.
It's not foolproof, but for something so simple, it does a lot of the heavy lifting for you.
Obviously 100% of people who don't ask for the address won't be coming to view ... but in my experience a solid 80-90% of the people who do ask, do show up.
As for the rest of the issues, I consider that to be the "work" that I'm doing to "earn" the extra money above a WBAC offer. Even on a painful car sale (stand out being a mark 4 golf PD130 that was an absolute clusterfudge from start to finish), it end up "earning" me more per hour of work than my actual employment does!
I sold my BMW M4 privately in 2022. It had outstanding finance on it and the buyer settled it and paid me the difference.
I was in Glasgow and he was in London, so he paid for an RAC inspection (£300 IIRC) the guy turned up and gave the car a thorough check over, test drive etc.
Result was it needed front discs and one track rod end, so he got a quote from a specialist for both and we split the cost by way of me knocking that off the asking price. He came up the next weekend with his wife, paid off the finance, paid me then left.
First time I've ever sold privately and looking at some of the replies on this thread I'm thinking I was very very lucky.
I'm thinking of selling my M5 privately in the next couple of months and I am absolutely dreading it, but trade offers I've had are about 6k below the cheapest equivalent cars currently advertised.
I'm thinking as long as I'm a few K below an equivalent main dealer car then it will hopefully sell.
I was in Glasgow and he was in London, so he paid for an RAC inspection (£300 IIRC) the guy turned up and gave the car a thorough check over, test drive etc.
Result was it needed front discs and one track rod end, so he got a quote from a specialist for both and we split the cost by way of me knocking that off the asking price. He came up the next weekend with his wife, paid off the finance, paid me then left.
First time I've ever sold privately and looking at some of the replies on this thread I'm thinking I was very very lucky.
I'm thinking of selling my M5 privately in the next couple of months and I am absolutely dreading it, but trade offers I've had are about 6k below the cheapest equivalent cars currently advertised.
I'm thinking as long as I'm a few K below an equivalent main dealer car then it will hopefully sell.
I sold my Subaru Legacy privately last week, via ebay. I had no interest for a while, then a chap contacted me in the afternoon, asked a few questions, turned up a few hours later, gave the car a good look over, we went for a test drive and agreed a price we're both happy with. Nice chap, pleasure to deal with. I've not had an issue selling privately, but that may be because I tend to be selling rarer cars that tend to attract enthusiasts.
On the other hand, when I've been looking for the Subaru's replacement private sellers have chapter and verse on the history of the car, are responsive to questions, helpful and honest. Too many dealers I've contracted have given one word answers. "Full Service History" turned out to be 5 stamps from Halfords with no details of work taken place. Cars taken for test drives with EML lights on and obvious knocks and clunks from the suspension etc. And these are £15k cars. On one car the air con clutch kicked in with such a violent clunk it shook the car, and made me and the salesman jump: "They all do that".
On the other hand, when I've been looking for the Subaru's replacement private sellers have chapter and verse on the history of the car, are responsive to questions, helpful and honest. Too many dealers I've contracted have given one word answers. "Full Service History" turned out to be 5 stamps from Halfords with no details of work taken place. Cars taken for test drives with EML lights on and obvious knocks and clunks from the suspension etc. And these are £15k cars. On one car the air con clutch kicked in with such a violent clunk it shook the car, and made me and the salesman jump: "They all do that".
I’m selling a £8,000 motorbike and a £65,000 car at the moment.
The bike’s advertised privately, but the car is on sale or return with a dealer. It’s expensive enough that it could attract dreamers, scammersor thieves casing the property, so I prefer to pay a fee to have it shown away from where I live.
The bike’s advertised privately, but the car is on sale or return with a dealer. It’s expensive enough that it could attract dreamers, scammersor thieves casing the property, so I prefer to pay a fee to have it shown away from where I live.
I recently sold my car on Marketplace (£8-10k bracket), took about 7 weeks in total, which maybe wasn’t too bad in the end. The messages you get do test you though.
One cracker went something like “I like the car and what’s been done to it. It’s above my budget really, and I’m in London, so I think too far away…”
Followed a couple of days later by “??????”
I can only think he wanted me to offer to drop the price and meet him on the M40 or something.
One cracker went something like “I like the car and what’s been done to it. It’s above my budget really, and I’m in London, so I think too far away…”
Followed a couple of days later by “??????”
I can only think he wanted me to offer to drop the price and meet him on the M40 or something.
AnhBanhBao said:
I recently sold my car on Marketplace (£8-10k bracket), took about 7 weeks in total, which maybe wasn’t too bad in the end. The messages you get do test you though.
One cracker went something like “I like the car and what’s been done to it. It’s above my budget really, and I’m in London, so I think too far away…”
Followed a couple of days later by “??????”
I can only think he wanted me to offer to drop the price and meet him on the M40 or something.
That's just the standard way of communicating from the FB plebs. They all expect to sit on their arses and have everyone else jump and say "how high?" for them when they want something. You clearly got someone with slightly more than the usual 2 IQ as normally the messages are just "2000 today" and nothing else.One cracker went something like “I like the car and what’s been done to it. It’s above my budget really, and I’m in London, so I think too far away…”
Followed a couple of days later by “??????”
I can only think he wanted me to offer to drop the price and meet him on the M40 or something.
bentley01 said:
Yes sold a V12 Vantage to the first person to see it for circa 80K. No problem at all didn’t even haggle over the price when I made it clear I would rather keep it than drop.
Bentley01 that is exemplary and outstanding on your part! If you don't mind my asking - how did you decide what figure to place on the glorious machine? and can you remember where you advertised it? (mine is also a V12, but 75k mileage - I'm guessing yours was lower mileage, given that price?)
I always used to love private sales and purchases, but not now.
Sold an old non-working car privately last year, guy was coming 50 miles with a trailer so we agreed a price on the phone from the photographs. When he arrived he started beating down the price based on his inspection. Made me annoyed but he appeared angry, and said I'd wasted his trip, so i reduced a bit, then he wanted more reduction.
Altogether not a pleasant experience.
Two or three years previously we sold my son's car to a nice couple who wanted it to teach their son to drive, and it all went smoothly, he paid the asking price and didn't want the £1 change. Wonderful.
Sold an old non-working car privately last year, guy was coming 50 miles with a trailer so we agreed a price on the phone from the photographs. When he arrived he started beating down the price based on his inspection. Made me annoyed but he appeared angry, and said I'd wasted his trip, so i reduced a bit, then he wanted more reduction.
Altogether not a pleasant experience.
Two or three years previously we sold my son's car to a nice couple who wanted it to teach their son to drive, and it all went smoothly, he paid the asking price and didn't want the £1 change. Wonderful.
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