Sorry, a bit clueless and never sold a car before

I was going to scrap it, but got advised that someone will buy it even tho it’s very high mileage and the bodywork is starting to get shabby.

I know quite a few on here run them, just wondering what people more in the know might expect for it and where you would sell it??.

Basic details are
2002(51) Mondeo Zetec Estate 2.0L 115bhp TDDi Diesel
Panther metalic black
Taxed till 30 June 2013
MOT’d till 31 Jan 2014
184,000 miles

Good points:
Full service history (Ford serviced till 80K, Local garage serviced every 12 months thereafter)
Engine/suspension in good condition, suspension has no noise.
All important stuff is still working properly (air con, heater, alarm, remote, electrics etc)

Bad points:
Bodywork is starting to look a bit tatty, rust starting to show around door sills.
Number of supermarket car park dents around the bodywork, one is noticeable.
A few minor issues or things don’t work ie AM/LW on radio, bulb out on dash, stain on passenger seat.

Had MOT in Jan and only required some welding to a suspension mount.

Cheers in advance for any advice.

Stick it on eBay 200 start with a honest description and see where it ends up. Alternatively stick in the classifieds for what you’d get as scrap as someone will happily run it.

For reference I got £420 on ebay for a 13yo Pug 406 HDi estate with 156k with only 5 months MOT (and no tax – IMHO you’re better off selling it without and chopping it in for a refund, or selling to the buyer if they want it – you’ll lose less than the tax is worth). Also probably in generally worse condition than yours – so you ought to expect to get a bit more than that.

Panther metalic black

well clearly that doubles the price you first thought of 😳

I recently got a focus estate from gumtree and I was also looking at mondeo estates. They were going for between 400 to 700 in a similar condition to yours. Someone will buy it, having the long mot will really help. You would get 200ish for scrap.

You may not want to mention the suspension mount repair if you can avoid it- structural corrosion’d be offputting for me, nothing else in there that would bother me at all tbh. Shabbiness is expected for a reasonably high mile car and nobody who’s likely to buy it will be bothered as long as you can’t see the road through the floor. How old is clutch/dmf/turbo?

The 115s tend to make a bit less money once you go up in price a little but in this market people are less choosy, they want something that seems like it’ll work for a year so the fresh MOT is a bigger deal.

£750-ish? I got IIRC £450 for a broken Focus 😉

Roger re the welding, I’ll fail to mention it, altho it’s on the MOT sheet. clutch/dmf/turbo must all be original (did have a new turbo pipe in Aug), I’ve never changed them and probably neither would the previous owner IMO. The clutch is a double edged sword really, demonstrates what an easy life the car/engine has had at 184k on what I believe to be the original clutch, but might put some off, can’t decide whether to mention or not. BTW I’ve had the car for 7 yrs, 1 prev owner, so I pretty much know it’s history.

Hadn’t thought of gumtree

Good service from the unholy trinity there!

I’ve got a 51 plate similar. Same transit engine but fewer miles and Ghia X spec. Have you had the DMF done? That’s the big fear.

I have, and although it took us to Spain and back last summer without a problem I always think it’s worth twice as much with a full tank.

what’s the DMF?, might the garage have ‘done it’ at some point as part of a service or something? Engine runs smooth and no visable smoke in mirrors. It took 3 blokes and boot full of kit to Lake Garda in Sept with out complaint.

Dual Mass Flywheel- common problem

dual mass flywheel- you’d know if it’d been done, you’d still be healing the wound in your wallet. (engine out, expensive part, usually combined with a new clutch plate and slave while you’re at it).

Never really sure if it’s as big a deal as everyone thinks, but it’s become kind of the bogeyman for car buyers. I’ve had 250000 miles worth of Ford diesels both on the originals though and no bother.

Dual mass flywheel. It’s normally done when the clutch is done. It’s off putting as its a £500 plus job.

I wasn’t aware it was a “common problem”.

Mine cost about £800 (all in with clutch & all) at an independent but they replaced it with a Transit single mass flywheel and I haven’t noticed the difference.

EDIT – Not so much common as ubiquitous.

The tddi isn’t as good as the tdci but at that age its not going to make a big difference, give it a valet and stick it up for a grand with a mind to take 750. I remember selling these new for 21k…how time flies!

That’ll be a no then. Original owner drove it up and down the motorway for 4 years, so I’m 99% certain he won’t have needed to do a DMF/clutch change, he certainly never mentioned it.
Might just stick it on ebay at £200(scrap/cost of MOT) start.

Scrap value. Its a diesel Ford. Anything over scrap value is a massive famble. Make sure you type a disclaimer letter for the new buyer to sign. Personally I’d run it until it broke as it owes you nothing.

Personally I’d run it until it broke as it owes you nothing.

Got a new car now for boat towing/launching duties this summer, the Mondeo is too old and low to the ground for any of that.
I understand you got a Subaru estate, Hora?

I didnt!- It had a gearbox issue..and knowing big-bill Subaru’s.. Im still in a tiny C1 which is great for 80% of the time but not biking/a 2yr old

You could always park it at ches hora 8)

My 1998 535i went into limp-mode in the summer, autobox problem.

Spent £50 having it checked and was advised that it’d need to ‘box opening up (prices start at £800 for a specialist).

I put it on ebay, lots of pics and an explanation of the problem – car still driveable as it setoff in 3 gear at 3k rpm and then drove fine.

I got £400 plus the remainder of the tax. Chap came 200 miles and gave me the cash, and then asked whether I thought I’d be an easy fix…

Recently sold my Mondeo for £970 on fleabay.
130 TDCi Zetec Estate ’04 some way past 200k and 7 months MoT (cashed the tax)
Been through a lot of bits in its life, if the wife didn’t rely on it for a daily 100 mile work trip it would have been kept, but after an oil cooler failure, there was possibility of head also being a touch perforated due to fluids still not being where they should. Could have probably squeezed another year or two, 20-40k. Sold as seen.

Edit: mine was on its 3rd clutch, but it ingested the 2nd because someone cut a corner and didn’t replace the bearing, so it collapsed and wiped out the plates.

Timber
Just out of interest, did you just list with a basic description and say ‘sold as seen’ or go into lots of detail about history, good stuff and bad stuff etc?. Not sure what the best course of action would be to get max price, absolute honesty about everything or standard ad with limited detail.

Hora, Yes sorry, I genuinely was under the impression that you had bought an old Subaru Forester for carting muddy bikes around.

Hora was ‘interested’ in a Civic Aerodeck last week. Next week it’ll be something else, the week after something else, & so on… 😉

I gave them all the service history in particular the major items that panic people on high mileage such as the clutch. Head perforation was just the speculation of myself and a mechanic friend on random oil/water mixes that were still occuring, so didn’t mention it as not tested/fact, could just have needed yet more flushing after oil cooler replacement. Invited people to view and test (none did).

Gary_C – Member
Hora was ‘interested’ in a Civic Aerodeck last week. Next week it’ll be something else, the week after something else, & so on…

Can’t blame him for seeking out an absolute bargain as a 2nd taxi car for just hauling muddy bikes around.

Gary_c I have a need for a car until sorted I will still be open/find one. Madness someone paid 970 and didnt even check the car? They probably thought its only 2004/not that long ago/old etc. I want a years motoring then I can hand back the C1 to Citroen.

Your mondy would be ideal for my situation but it sounds like you’d probably get more on ebay sadly.

So did it sell? As per months ago I was offering scrap value+cost of the MOT as it was a gamble for me