What’s the opinion on the state of the 2nd hand market as a seller these days? Selling privately seems to have become harder every time I’ve sold and wondering if it’s even worth trying this time, been offered a fairly reasonable price (based on various valuations) to trade in by the dealer this weekend when I get the new car, but can’t decide whether to take it or if I risk trying to get more from private sale.

I tried looking at other similar cars for sale privately and can literally only find a couple of similar age and mileage in the whole country for private sale, everything seems dealer otherwise. It’s BMW 3 series estate, 7 years old c.£6k value, if that makes a difference.

depends on how much you value a easier transaction, I guess only you can work that one out. Personally, if offered close to what you would want , then it is probably worth the lack of potential hassle. If you can afford to wait a bit longer to find a better deal then do that, although it is getting towards the time of year where private buyers are going to be looking towards buying other stuff ( no, I’m not going to mention the c word)

A friend has been trying to sell his daughters car for her ( decent condition and mileage Clio). He has had virtually no interest so it is off to one of the car buying sites

Depends how much you value your time. If the trade-in price isn’t a million miles away, then you get to sort it all out in an hour rather spend a few weekends fending off timewasters, ridiculously low offers, not to mention no-shows. And that’s if you get any replies at all.

Luckily my last decision was made for me by the fact that my car was starting to implode and had virtually no value. It only just made it to the dealership.

I hate buying and selling cars.

it is getting towards the time of year where private buyers are going to be looking towards buying other stuff ( no, I’m not going to mention the c word)

Hadn’t thought about that, may be the deciding factor….

Have you got a quote from the likes of We Buy Any Car? If the figure they give you is close to the trade in figure you have been offered then I’d personally give a private sale a go for a couple of weeks and if that didn’t pan out then punt it to We Buy Any Car.

Have you got a quote from the likes of We Buy Any Car? If the figure they give you is close to the trade in figure you have been offered then I’d personally give a private sale a go for a couple of weeks and if that didn’t pan out then punt it to We Buy Any Car.

Yup, had considered that approach but they are offering £500 less than trade in price.

Yup, had considered that approach but they are offering £500 less than trade in price.

And they’ll knock you down when they see the car

If it’s in good condition i sell privately, otherwise trade-in (they can fix problems cheaper than me before selling on).

Most of my cars aren’t really worth much when i sell them though…

Been trying to sell my 2013 Vauxhall Astra 1.4 Turbo privately for a few weeks now, but I haven’t had a single enquiry and picking up my new car next week.

The best offer I have had is from wewant[/u]anycar which is £900 more than the trade in price I was offered, but they don’t have as many branches around the uk. Motorway.co.uk offer a good comparison for all of the car buying sites.

Anything valued at over £1500 (ie bangernomics) and you’ll struggle to shift it privately is the general consensus from a few of my friends who have tried selling privately recently. Basically most people now buy cars in credit so having the cash in hand is rare.

I blame the car supermarkets with their £20 a week for a millennia for a 5 year old Corsa.

but they are offering £500 less than trade in price.

Have you asked the dealer how much much discount you’d get for no trade in?
It probably depends whether they think your car is sellable – sometimes they really don’t want the trade in car as it will be a pain to get rid of (is it BMW dealer?) and they are happy to avoid taking it.

And they’ll knock you down when they see the car

+1

Just for balance, I found last month that there just weren’t many cars for sale privately that I would be interested in buying and of those that were, the prices that folk were asking were approaching the trade equivalents.
I don’t think “book” price counts for much at the moment.
To be attractive as a private sale, I’d suggest the pricing needs to be about £1k less than cheapest comparable at any dealer within say a 50 miles radius.

Like everyone, ‘it depends’.

I sold a 4 year old F11 5 series Touring (great spec, good colour etc) privately for good money, but it still took a while for the right buyer to come along.

Plenty of nutsacks out there, as to be expected.

If it’s a reasonable amount & you are happy, I would gladly sell to a dealer, to save me from the agro.