Selling privately
Discussion
So know I now why people are reluctant to bother with the hassle of selling an Aston privately.
Had mine up on PH for a week or two. Guy comes round.. Goes through the papers and gives me a 200 deposit and we agree on the full asking price. He Says he is in a hurry for car next weekend and and me to settle finance, put my private plate on retention and get brake pads done. Guy seems very legitimate even a company director of a finance business. I keep my end of the bargain and settle finance etc next thing he emails one day before payment due saying he doesn't want it as changed his mind on price we agreed!
So know I am out of pocket.. Will have to refinance in short term and not a happy bunny.. No wonder people just part ex!
Just in case any one else is selling their Aston please avoid this waste of space who is proud that he shares his initials with the manufacturer and will brag on about his BMW having a number plate that would look good on an Aston... Dreamer!
Had mine up on PH for a week or two. Guy comes round.. Goes through the papers and gives me a 200 deposit and we agree on the full asking price. He Says he is in a hurry for car next weekend and and me to settle finance, put my private plate on retention and get brake pads done. Guy seems very legitimate even a company director of a finance business. I keep my end of the bargain and settle finance etc next thing he emails one day before payment due saying he doesn't want it as changed his mind on price we agreed!
So know I am out of pocket.. Will have to refinance in short term and not a happy bunny.. No wonder people just part ex!
Just in case any one else is selling their Aston please avoid this waste of space who is proud that he shares his initials with the manufacturer and will brag on about his BMW having a number plate that would look good on an Aston... Dreamer!
Yeah I will spend his 200 quid getting my solicitor to claim damages for breach on contract. He wrote an email confirming price etc and what i needed to do. I fulfilled my obligations. Not only am I out of pocket but I have placed a non refundable deposit on another car which unless mine is sold I won't be in a position to complete so will seek to recover that along with other costs in small claims court. Bit strong but then he will think twice before trying it again on the next person.
The more I think about the more I believe he was trying to get a couple of grand off. He knew I had gone to alot of effort to get everything done within the week, but then tells me although he agreed 51500 he will now only pay roughly 49. I suppose he was thonking in desperation i would take the low offer. I have already turned down 49 from a dealer so barking up the wrong tree there!
Not the most exciting topic on here I know but thanks for the opportunity to rant.
Not the most exciting topic on here I know but thanks for the opportunity to rant.
lesson learnt I guess 
Ive only sold 1 car private in the last 15 years ...luckily to someone on here and it all went smoothly, and was the lower end of the market (£8K)
did try to sell on her/Autotrader a few years back, a car worth £40K ...after 4 waste of time enquirers in 3 weeks gave up and put it on sale or return ...3 days later it sold, and the money was in the bank...and it cost £1200 for the priviledge
if you get a good dealer to do SoR (with a strong contract of course) then it can save a load of hassle, and win-win situation, as the buyer gets all the usual facilities, but lower than normal price, you save the hassle, and get higher than a trade in price
Ive only sold 1 car private in the last 15 years ...luckily to someone on here and it all went smoothly, and was the lower end of the market (£8K)
did try to sell on her/Autotrader a few years back, a car worth £40K ...after 4 waste of time enquirers in 3 weeks gave up and put it on sale or return ...3 days later it sold, and the money was in the bank...and it cost £1200 for the priviledge
if you get a good dealer to do SoR (with a strong contract of course) then it can save a load of hassle, and win-win situation, as the buyer gets all the usual facilities, but lower than normal price, you save the hassle, and get higher than a trade in price
Mako V12V said:
Perhaps try sale or return at an independent top end car dealership?
Very risky (imo) there have been instances of even long established dealerships going bust, and you never see the car again.I left a year old Triumph motorbike with a main (long established) Triumph dealer three years ago on SOR..they sold it the very next day, the agreement was they kept £400 for their "Commission"....They never told me it had been sold, when I found out two weeks later it took me ANOTHER two weeks and umpteen phonecalls before I got my money off them..(in the form of a cheque)..
They went bust two months later owing thousands.......
Never again!
you can get ripped off selling privately too ...thousands are sold each year on SoR by dealers on here...some prestige dealers I know are +50% SoR cars out front
bottom line as always, if you want safe and hassle free sale, you take it to a dealer and trade in, or sell to the trade and take the few grand less
bottom line as always, if you want safe and hassle free sale, you take it to a dealer and trade in, or sell to the trade and take the few grand less
Have had quite a few time wasters this time selling my SLK32. Guy nags me to drop the price but I insist on the price so he agrees and asks me to put it through the MOT early. I do and it passes but he fails to turn up to pay for the car and take it away (he doesn't call and doesn't answer his phone).
A week or so later he calls as if nothing has happened and spins me a yarn and I tell him to take a hike. Then a few hours later another guy calls and comes to look at the car with his little friend he likes the car and proceeds to offer me well under the asking price and again I stick to the price I have in mind and he slowly comes up to it but at £200 apart the taking stops and he makes a phone call and walks away but I can still hear him and he is talking to someone saying if you want it you will have to pay £xxxx so I ask who is buying the car and they look a bit sheepish and say it is being bought into the 'Family'. Strangely enough his father drove the same make, model and colour of car as the first guy as he mentioned during the test drive (a fairly rare car as well)
So off they trot with a promise to call within the hour which of course doesn't happen and two days later he calls and says lets have a deal and I say fine you know what I want and he insists that I must sell it to him for less. Anyway I cut the phone call short and he calls back and I let the answer phone take it and he leaves some verbal abuse and a threat to sort me.
So now I have another guy who wants to buy it but wants a Silver one not a Blue one (why is he even looking at mine then) and says he will take it if I drop to the price he wants to pay. So we agree a price somewhere between and he then says I will call within 24 hours - wtf. Of course he hasn't called and he will not be getting the car.
Basically the world is full of these cheap t
ts who always want a deal with their daft cash offers (what else are you going to pay with - Goats) and they always want you to tax it and MOT it and pay for a years fuel and take it back if they don't like it and warranty it if there is a fault (private sale by the way). I have concluded that it is more trouble than it is worth.
Anyway in contrast I sold my C32 a few months earlier and that took 1 day to get a viewing and was gone within 3 days no problem at all.
God help me if I ever sell the DB9 - guess I will have to keep it, oh well.
A week or so later he calls as if nothing has happened and spins me a yarn and I tell him to take a hike. Then a few hours later another guy calls and comes to look at the car with his little friend he likes the car and proceeds to offer me well under the asking price and again I stick to the price I have in mind and he slowly comes up to it but at £200 apart the taking stops and he makes a phone call and walks away but I can still hear him and he is talking to someone saying if you want it you will have to pay £xxxx so I ask who is buying the car and they look a bit sheepish and say it is being bought into the 'Family'. Strangely enough his father drove the same make, model and colour of car as the first guy as he mentioned during the test drive (a fairly rare car as well)
So off they trot with a promise to call within the hour which of course doesn't happen and two days later he calls and says lets have a deal and I say fine you know what I want and he insists that I must sell it to him for less. Anyway I cut the phone call short and he calls back and I let the answer phone take it and he leaves some verbal abuse and a threat to sort me.
So now I have another guy who wants to buy it but wants a Silver one not a Blue one (why is he even looking at mine then) and says he will take it if I drop to the price he wants to pay. So we agree a price somewhere between and he then says I will call within 24 hours - wtf. Of course he hasn't called and he will not be getting the car.
Basically the world is full of these cheap t
ts who always want a deal with their daft cash offers (what else are you going to pay with - Goats) and they always want you to tax it and MOT it and pay for a years fuel and take it back if they don't like it and warranty it if there is a fault (private sale by the way). I have concluded that it is more trouble than it is worth.Anyway in contrast I sold my C32 a few months earlier and that took 1 day to get a viewing and was gone within 3 days no problem at all.
God help me if I ever sell the DB9 - guess I will have to keep it, oh well.
I both sell and buy my cars privately. No issues with selling - except the odd time waster. When I sold my mint SLK55 AMG I had a couple show up saying it needed a full respray and that they knew they didn't like the colour before they arrived. I value my time, so if I think someone is a timewaster they won't be with me for long.
My only mistake has been buying privately - on Ebay. I bought an old shape XKR unseen and without any form of PPI for £9,000 (£2,000 below book) but it cost £14,000 in repairs over the next 18 months
Then there was another car I bought from Ebay that turned out to be stolen - nightmare at the time but I ended up keeping the car which was a considerable relief. Had in fact been stolen before the accountant I bought it from acquired it, just took another change of owner for the police to realise...
My only mistake has been buying privately - on Ebay. I bought an old shape XKR unseen and without any form of PPI for £9,000 (£2,000 below book) but it cost £14,000 in repairs over the next 18 months
Then there was another car I bought from Ebay that turned out to be stolen - nightmare at the time but I ended up keeping the car which was a considerable relief. Had in fact been stolen before the accountant I bought it from acquired it, just took another change of owner for the police to realise...i think the message here is take it in the nuts to the tune of a couple of grand and trade it in with the dealer on your next purchase.must admit i've never sold privately but always managed to do a deal i was happy with on my trade up.if the dealer you are talking to gives you the feeling that they are taking the piss or don't want your custom then there are plenty of others up and down the country who will be glad of your business
Was dreading selling my Elise privately, but wasn't getting good enough trade-in offers against an Aston - I knew what the car was worth and it was still showroom condition. Guy came over from France on the train with the full asking price in cash in a man-bag; we went to my bank where he paid it in to my account - he then drove off in it without checking the car, paperwork or anything! Car was immaculate, but still - very odd. I even got the road tax back because (obviously) it's worthless in France...
If Carlsberg did private sales...
If Carlsberg did private sales...
Well you are right silverfox........if he does have a pot to piss in, you can sue him for the difference you eventually sell it for and any other costs involved. He is in breach of a legally binding contract ......agreed verbally and confirmed by e-mail.
On the subject of selling cars privately, I have probably sold 20+ cars in this way and have never had a problem shifting the metal.Sometimes they sell in a few days, sometimes it takes several weeks. I also have purchased 90% of my cars from private sellers and have never had a major problem......this includes my present DB9
I think one big mistake you did make silverfox is you didn’t get a big enough deposit of him.....if he had given you £500 in cash the deal probably would have gone ahead.
good luck.....hope you sue the knob in the small claims court
On the subject of selling cars privately, I have probably sold 20+ cars in this way and have never had a problem shifting the metal.Sometimes they sell in a few days, sometimes it takes several weeks. I also have purchased 90% of my cars from private sellers and have never had a major problem......this includes my present DB9
I think one big mistake you did make silverfox is you didn’t get a big enough deposit of him.....if he had given you £500 in cash the deal probably would have gone ahead.
good luck.....hope you sue the knob in the small claims court
michael gould said:
I think one big mistake you did make silverfox is you didn’t get a big enough deposit of him.....if he had given you £500 in cash the deal probably would have gone ahead.
- ding* Ideally you want 5-10% of the asking price as a deposit. if the buyer is serious then that shouldn't be a problem. If the deposit is just £200 tell him that the £200 will hold it for 7 days against a final purchase of £X and is non-refundable and then don't spend a penny until he coughs up with the full balance.
Sold my DB7 on here. Had a few viewed it, two actually flew in from Germany. Had low ball offers and traders chancing their arm, just politely declined them.
Sold it for a bit less than I'd asked for - it's only reasonable to expect to negotiate so add a bit of wriggle room to your price.
We resolved all the risk issues perfectly amicably and the car was sold with no problems. I'm still in touch with the buyer (who'll read this) who sent me a few pics of the old car just the other day.
Both perfectly happy I believe.
Sold it for a bit less than I'd asked for - it's only reasonable to expect to negotiate so add a bit of wriggle room to your price.
We resolved all the risk issues perfectly amicably and the car was sold with no problems. I'm still in touch with the buyer (who'll read this) who sent me a few pics of the old car just the other day.
Both perfectly happy I believe.
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