Does nobody sell cars privately now?

[Gycraig]

Honestly motorway and wbac are killing it.

Buyers have made it such a horrible experience selling a car privately that no one wants to do it anymore.

Tyre kickers, scams, scammers with the oil trick, low ballers, repeated questions that are in the ad

Or take some pictures sell it on motorway for what is now often not much less than private.

Wifes parents are well off, we bought a mini off them for 6k that motorway offered 6k for, probably 8-9k car but they have 0 interest in selling a car privately in there spare time.

[993kimbo]

Filter out the scammers, tyre kickers, low ballers, knuckle draggers and mouth breathers by email, then a phone call or two and you’re in with a chance. All this texting stuff is nonesense.
I’ve never had any of that lot viewing my cars because they don’t get past the first hurdle. It’s not difficult.

[ChocolateFrog]

If it was the difference between a couple of hundred quid I think most people would gladly swerve a private sale.

Needs to be a grand + difference to even bother.

[brisel]

Bought & sold my last 4 cars via PH Classifieds, though the most recent was from an Autotrader search, not PH.

As above, many local friends use WBAC and Cazoo now.

[dunc_sx]

I still buy and sell privately, I much prefer speaking to the person that actually owned the car over dealers who probably don't know much. Typical values between 10 to 30k.

Dunc.

[Funk]

Neil1323bolts said:

Funk said:

I simply can't be doing with the hassle of a private sale, especially with some of the stories doing the rounds. Far easier to lose a few grand and not have deal with any ste.

A few grand ? To most people this is a lot of cash! Personally I’m prepared to put up with some time wasters to get the best possible price when selling. I’ve sold loads of cars privately, WBAC and motorway and alike have definitely changed the way people sell their cars , and they take a fair slice of cash doing so .

To put some context to things - I bought my previous car from a BMW dealer as an AUC for £20k. As nice as it was, I got bored and decided I wanted something more interesting. I was offered £15.5k trade-in against the Audi I was looking at and WBAC/Motorway were offereing about £16.5k. Private sale I could've probably gotten £17k for it. It was easier in terms of timing and hassle to trade it; yes I could've probably gotten another grand or two selling it privately but it would've meant I needed to get the money out of it before buying the new one (leaving me without a car in the short term) and I'd have needed the timing to work (ie. for it to sell for enough to make it worth it, and fairly quickly).

As it happens I spotted my old car for sale recently (it wasn't really anything special, just a run-of-the-mill 530i) through another dealer who have it up for £18k: https://www.petercoopergroup.co.uk/used/16473824-b...

I accepted that I'd a) pay a little more buying from a dealer and b) lose a little more selling to a dealer but in all honesty it was so much easier to be able to drive my car to the Audi dealer, drop the keys and V5 and leave with the new car. Maybe I'd have made an extra grand or maybe not, maybe it would have sold quickly for £17k (that looks unlikely if a dealer's had it on their forecourt or a month or two at £18k now).

Anyway, I didn't have to deal with dodgy buyers, people trying to put oil up the exhaust or in the coolant tank, the "wot ur best price bruv" crowd or fack about with timings etc.

Gycraig said:

Honestly motorway and wbac are killing it.

Buyers have made it such a horrible experience selling a car privately that no one wants to do it anymore.

Tyre kickers, scams, scammers with the oil trick, low ballers, repeated questions that are in the ad

Or take some pictures sell it on motorway for what is now often not much less than private.

Wifes parents are well off, we bought a mini off them for 6k that motorway offered 6k for, probably 8-9k car but they have 0 interest in selling a car privately in there spare time.

Yep, spot on. Also as someone else mentioned, once you get above £10-20k I think buyers probably tend to want to have a bit more security of buying from a business than a private seller.

Edited by Funk on Saturday 23 September 22:50

[Hugo Stiglitz]

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[Roman Moroni]

A couple of months ago i was looking to get a cheap (ie sub £2k) run around. It had to be small & ULEZ compliant. I was checking on here, AT and FBMp on a daily basis. I wasn't fussed if it was a Trader or Private seller. What I do know was pretty much as soon as something was advertised it was sold, so I decided to go a different route.

I ended up at a local car auction which, on a Monday evening, sells trade-ins from a large Dealership. I found & bought a 2006 Fiesta, 47k from new (warranted) with good history, 1 lady owner from new. Bodywork has led a life, interior smelt of dog but most importantly mechanically everything was sound. But it was small & ULEZ compliant

Bidding between dealers started at £800 and very quickly got to £1300, having bided my time I went £1350. No further interest by the trade, so the hammer dropped. With fees & VAT it came in at £1770. Since then I've replaced all the tyres (Toyos, supplied & fitted by Blackcircles @ £240), it sailed through its MOT this week. All in, it owes me £2050, which I'm more then happy with. When I come to sell it I will sell it privately as I know I'll get back most of my money.

On the flip side, when I wanted to sell my 595 Abarth earlier this year, I couldn't face selling it privately for all the reasons mentioned above. I sold it through Motorway (painless experience) for £250 less then I would have advetised it for.

TL;DR: Selling privately these days is very much price dependant

[Chubbyross]

Can someone please correct this thread title. It’s making my teeth itch.

[Davie]

It's getting worse. It used to be ok, people seemed... better. But lately, it's just become a bit of a misery between unrealistic expectations, time wasters, utter junk for sale at elevated prices. Granted there are still good people and good cars out there, but they're becoming rare.

I sold an old Volvo recently, well priced, nice car and pitched at the right market... or so I thought. After weeks of enduring inane questions, declining stupid offers, people telliñg x, y or z wasn't right and the usual "If it was a... I'd definitely buy it" types, it finally solid to a decent chap but it's definitely put me off doing it again.

I'm toying with selling my sheddy diesel estate, I figured somebody will be looking for a cheap, reliable workhorse for winter or tip runs... and it won't be dear but I think I'd rather just send it to Car Take Back or similar.

Less hassle.

[Jamescrs]

Recently traded in my BMW M240i, I got quotes from Motorway, Cazoo and Autotrader and the main dealer beat them.all on trade in.

I traded in at £13400.

The main dealer sold it within a week with a windscreen price of £17200. Maybe I could have got 1-2000 more selling privately but it just wasn't worth the hassle to me.

Had a nice hassle free experience.trading in and driving away in the New car.

[Hugo Stiglitz]

2k is alot of people's monthly salary after tax.

Say its 2 weeks wages to you.

You'll have worked 100hours to make up say 5hours work selling it privately.

When it comes to vehicles the general public really do throw away alot of money.

[Jamescrs]

Hugo Stiglitz said:

2k is alot of people's monthly salary after tax.

Say its 2 weeks wages to you.

You'll have worked 100hours to make up say 5hours work selling it privately.

When it comes to vehicles the general public really do throw away alot of money.

I take your point but I highly doubt I'd have got an extra 2k in selling privately, probably optimistic and 2k is not that significant against the purchase price of the new car.

Thankfully I'm in a position to pay for the convenience I experienced and to me it was worth it.

[Rob 131 Sport]

I’ve sold many cars privately over the years from a few hundred pounds to £15k (E Class sold in 2018) and the experience has always been positive.

However I’m currently selling my Audi A4 that is priced sensibly and I’ve yet to receive any enquiries.

[grumbledoak]

I tried Carwow this time and I won’t go back. The tyre kickers and “best pricers” can all FRO

[jonwm]

I bought a T6 transporter last year £30k from a guy in his drive, absolutely scared the life out of me for days after thinking what on earth have I done here.

It's been perfect in every way and not had a moment's bother so no need to worry

I'm thinking of selling said van and the thought of selling it privately massively puts me off, problem is the only way to get half decent money for a T6 is private.

They do have a certain following so that helps, not sure I'd spend that money again on a private sale tbf

[Griffith4ever]

993kimbo said:

Filter out the scammers, tyre kickers, low ballers, knuckle draggers and mouth breathers by email, then a phone call or two and you’re in with a chance. All this texting stuff is nonesense.
I’ve never had any of that lot viewing my cars because they don’t get past the first hurdle. It’s not difficult.

Indeed. I've sold cars for £30k, £35k, £23k and similar. Was a good 5 years back mind you. Also sold my Griff 3 years ago for £21k

Classified ad in Ebay (tried autotrader and just got enquiries from .... Traders). Email initial contact then phone calls means you talk to real people. Never really had tyre kickers turn up.

If it's priced right, and someone wants it. It will sell, and it can sometimes take time, like a couple fo months with the TVR.

[nickfrog]

Jamescrs said:

I take your point but I highly doubt I'd have got an extra 2k in selling privately, probably optimistic and 2k is not that significant against the purchase price of the new car.

Thankfully I'm in a position to pay for the convenience I experienced and to me it was worth it.

I sold the M2 privately last year. My ad was very aggressively worded to avoid time wasters. I got a sale within 4 days, to the first caller. I sold for £33k at full asking. The buyer probably saved £2k vs retail. I saved £3k vs selling to the trade. Still in touch with the buyer who is a really nice guy. I agree it can be a minefield but there are quite a few enthusiasts out there who seem to sell to each other.

[Aunty Pasty]

Jamescrs said:

I take your point but I highly doubt I'd have got an extra 2k in selling privately, probably optimistic and 2k is not that significant against the purchase price of the new car.

Thankfully I'm in a position to pay for the convenience I experienced and to me it was worth it.

I'm off a similar opinion to you. I'd rather sacrifice a potential 1-2k extra for the hassle free option and assurance with selling it to one of the trade options.

I sold my car recently to Cazoo for £14.5k. It appeared a couple of weeks later for £18k and slowly drifting down. Dealer trade-in offer was £12.5k. I also needed the money to pay for my incoming car and I only have 1 car so I didn't have the luxury of hanging onto 2 cars and just waiting for the right buyer to come along.

[Griffith4ever]

Aunty Pasty said:

I'm off a similar opinion to you. I'd rather sacrifice a potential 1-2k extra for the hassle free option and assurance with selling it to one of the trade options.

I sold my car recently to Cazoo for £14.5k. It appeared a couple of weeks later for £18k and slowly drifting down. Dealer trade-in offer was £12.5k. I also needed the money to pay for my incoming car and I only have 1 car so I didn't have the luxury of hanging onto 2 cars and just waiting for the right buyer to come along.

And there is the key to selling privately. Time. You need time. When you have time, you call the shots.

BTW - I've used FB marketplace to sell a motorbike recently. Took a while, an you get a LOT of "is this still available?" messages, and I had a handful of chancers asking for my address (yeah mate), but after a while (over a month) one guy turned up paid full asking price, and was delighted. Not sure I'd sell a high value car on there mind you.