I am trying to sell my elderly mother’s 12 year old Nissan and frankly haven’t a clue which are the most effective ways to sell cars these days.

The last, and only time, I sold a car the internet wasn’t invented.

Thanks for your help and suggestions in advance.

Stick it on ebay. 99p start, honest description, good photos, ignore the emails to end it early.

To get the best value – ebay and the best, most exhaustive, most honest description you can muster. With lots of photos. Its the bad news that sells old cars on ebay.

Quickests and easiest way is probably Gumtree – i’ve seen cars sell in minutes there. But be prepared to repost the ad regularly as a bit like the classifieds here you fall off the front page pretty quickly.

Ebay (as an auction) is probably the most convenient though – you only have to deal in person with whoever wins the auction, rather than gumtree / classifieds where you might get several tyre kickers before you make a sale

Read up on the advice (from somewhere like Which or Parkers.co.uk) about the practicalites of the actual sale itself – make sure you know what you are doing with the registration documents, read advice about how you recieve and handle payments etc, just to make sure you’re not getting speeding tickets and parking fines turning up months down the line

I’ve never used Ebay – can you set a reserve price?

Thanks for info so far.

You can, but really, don’t bother. If you do a good description and end it at the right time it will sell at the upper end of what it is worth. If something goes horribly wrong you can always refuse to sell with minimal comeback. A bit mean on the high bidder but it happens.

webuyanycar

seriously the easiest most hassle free way

so you get a less than market value, but better than the hassle of tyre kickers and 100000000 inane question on eBay

webuyanycar

You’d get more scrapping it and wouldn’t have to deal with a bunch of crooks who quote you 3x the scrap rate over the phone, then try and knock you down to £50 when they turn up with things like ‘well we thought it was show room condition, so as you’ve actually driven it for 12 years, we’ll have to adjust our quote by 99%’….

I’ve never used Ebay – can you set a reserve price?

Yes – but far better in my opinion is to set the starting price as the very, very least you are prepare to sell for (a penny more than feeling robbed). Reserves put buyers off – they are looking for a bargain and hoping to get something for less than its ‘worth’. Then they’ll get excited and spend to much. A reserve suggests a bargain can’t be had.

So if you think the car is worth say £500, you’re not being robbed if it sold for £350, so list it at that and you’ll get at least that and probably plenty more

put a thread on singeltrack asking how to……

oh

Reserves put buyers off – they are looking for a bargain and hoping to get something for less than its ‘worth’. Then they’ll get excited and spend to much. A reserve suggests a bargain can’t be had.

+1

Just hold your nerve till the last 36 hours, when it will get bid up to more than it is worth…..

what is it and where are you? (i’m looking)

Autotrader.

Too many time-wasters on Ebay

Auto trader too.

ebay is a waste of time

deleted this because getting a mate to post a couple of bids on ebay is illegal and I wouldn’t want to be accused of suggesting something illegal.

singletracked – Member
Auto trader too.

ebay is a waste of time

That’s sort of like an anagram of my post.

you can also get a mate to stick a couple of bids on

Probably get the best price by sticking it on the classifieds here at an overinflated price and shutting down any discussion or objection by alerting the mods and claiming that the price is less than you paid for it.

I’ve sold a car on ebay and would doubt that there are more timewasters there than on any other classifed media – the 14 year old VW I sold went for over £900 to a guy who travelled for 4 hours to collect it when the most I would have got locally would have been around £700 (was offered £400 on trade in). He turned up with a big wedge of cash and we were both happy.

Would do it again – only tip I’d offer is not to put your mobile number in the ad – was inundated with daft offers by text to end the auction earlier despite making it clear in the ad that I’d ignore them.

As above, good photos (including of any defects) and a totally honest description are the key.

Oh and make it abundantly clear in the listing that people are bidding to buy not to come around and kick the tyres. Threaten to report them to ebay if they don’t heed this.

Looking into this myself at the mo as I have an 8 year old car* to sell…

Ebay folks: did you let potential bidders view/test drive while the auction was running?

Think I’m going to give it a week on free sites (Gumtree etc) then it’ll be Ebay if it doesn’t sell.

If you don’t have a clue what it’s worth, whack in on Ebay – but bear in mind fees will come to about 10% selling price. It shouldn’t be hard to get an idea of market value from a search on AutoTrader (where ad price does not equal selling price) or Ebay (where it does).

AutoTrader does a much cheaper rate if your car is worth less than £1000 (about the value of mine) so that’s also worth a look.

*Ford Mondeo Ghia diesel hatch, 175K with FSH. Nudge nudge 😉 😉

Pistonheads, Gumtree for free adverts.

Ebay if you’re happy to pay.

Autotrader is just too expensive and has a horrible website.

Ebay fee’s are different for motors…the 10% quoted above is rubbish.

Ebay – if someone wants to come look at the car let them. Test drive if they’re insured etc. but I bet 95% + of cars on Ebay are sold unseen.

Best way to get a rough sale price is Ebay completed listings (the sold ones which don’t have reserve prices).

Autotrader is just too expensive..

I’d be interested to know how Ebay fees compare to Autotrader.

… and has a horrible website.

But the iPad app is excellent.

eBay Motor Fees

the 10% quoted above is rubbish

Not for a cheapo car it isn’t. Tenner to list, plus £75 final value fees = £85. Unless I’m reading the ebay fees page incorrectly, and I’d be delighted to be corrected if it makes the ebay option cheaper less expensive!

Doubt a 12 year old Micra is worth much more £850, so….

Probably get the best price by sticking it on the classifieds here at an overinflated price and shutting down any discussion or objection by alerting the mods and claiming that the price is less than you paid for it.

What happened????????

OP I’m after a good quality old/cheapish car. Where are you based??

Where are you getting £75 final value fee’s from?

If an auction they’re £20 under £2000, so you’d be looking at £30 tops…but just ask the buyer to agree to saying they didn’t got through with the sale so that the final value fee isn’t paid.

No final selling fees on a classified advert.

Whether eBay’s any good will be coloured by the experience of people. I’ve had good and bad, had sales that went through really smoothly, also been messed about by idiots. I suspect that the idiot factor is more relevant to cars that might appeal to idiots, hopefully a 12 year old Nissan (assuming it’s not a “hot” version with stupid bodykits and alloys sprayed dark grey) is more likely to be of interest to sensible people wanting a bargain than kids with Nurburgring fantasies….

Stick it on ebay. 99p start, honest description, good photos, ignore the emails to end it early.

+ 1 Ive sold three cars just like this and always exceeded what I thought I’d get.

one went for £7920 and Id been offered £6k trade in. My Missus was going mad thinking we’d get bugger all…..but I held my nerve and it was great!

Gumtree, I only buy bangers (10+ years old) in fact just bought one yesterday and as we agreed a deal the guy had a call asking about it.

Ebay folks: did you let potential bidders view/test drive while the auction was running?

Yes….but only ever had one person do that. If you put a genuine descriptions and lots of pics, people tend to be happy with that.

Ebay folks: did you let potential bidders view/test drive while the auction was running?

I offered it. On the first car I sold one came round to test drive. On the second car nobody drove it. Even the guy who ‘won’ it didn’t drive it when he came round to pay. Just paid up in cash and said he’d collect it later, which he did.

As for fees, £10 to list, another £20 if it sells. You’ll easily get a better price to more than cover the costs. It’s been hassle free for me. You know exactly what day it will sell and the idiots only have your email so are easily ignored.

Just be honest and list every scrape and ding. That way whoever wins it will be happy and will pay up. Avoid words like ‘immaculate’ or ‘good condition for age’ as they imply different things to different people. Just use facts.

but I bet 95% + of cars on Ebay are sold unseen.

That just sounds mental to me. Do people actually buy cars without looking at them?

I only really look at the classified ads on eBay when looking for cars.

I recently sold my 13yo car on ebay. As mentioned above, fee is a fixed £20 under a certain value (as mine was). Set the starting price at £100 as that’s what I reckoned I’d get for scrap. Got £420 for it, which was a lot more than I’d have dared advertise it at if I’d sold in the local paper or on autotrader – the car was far from in mint condition and I listed it as such. No issues with timewasters – I just ignored the people who wanted to end early (one offered £200!)

I believe most will see the car for the first time when they arrive to pay for it.

what is it and where are you? (i’m looking)

OP I’m after a good quality old/cheapish car. Where are you
based??

It’s a 51 plate Nissan Micra 1.0S – 23,500 miles and one owner (my Mum) with a service history and has been kept in a garage. Few cosmetic external dents, but inside is very clean. 1 year MOT and 6 months tax. Colour is metallic greeny/blue.

I’m based in Bristol.

As for fees, £10 to list, another £20 if it sells

So about the same as “overpriced” Autotrader then? Hmm.

not autotrader, they ran my ad three times and I only appeared to get enquiries that strangely came to nothing a couple of days before the ad renewal date, still could just be coincidence?

What seem’s to now be working for me is, not try and sell it, but rather drive it around (no sign advertising it for sale) and then get asked by people “is it for sale?” or “would you consider swapping it for this + cash?”.

I didn’t try ebay but tried everywhere else, I think if I do come to sell it (which I no longer have any plans to do) then I’ll chuck it on ebay and let it run an go for what it goes.

One more point about ebay. If you have never used it before you will have zero feedback. I wouldn’t buy a car from someone with zero feedback.

Philby – Member

It’s a 51 plate Nissan Micra 1.0S – 23,500 miles and one owner (my Mum) with a service history and has been kept in a garage. Few cosmetic external dents, but inside is very clean. 1 year MOT and 6 months tax. Colour is metallic greeny/blue.

I’m based in Bristol.

Bloody typical, my step mother was looking to replace her x reg Micra with masses of dents & a fubared G/Box last month, with a slightly newer Micra (she lives in Bristol as well) didn’t find one she wanted so bought a Corsa 😕

So about the same as “overpriced” Autotrader then? Hmm.

Assuming you pay the final sale fee…which you’d be daft to. Just file an “agreed to not go through with the sale” request with Ebay. Buyer should be happy to oblige if they’ve collected the car and are happy with it.

OP – I’d list it on free site site first and then on ebay with the mileage and SH details in the auction title to attract interest.

Auto trader too.

ebay is a waste of time

Nope. I’ve sold any number of cars on eBay over the last 5 or six years. Never had any bother.

Hardly anyone uses the trader for private sales these days. Plus it’s way too expensive, even compared to FleaBay.

FleaBay all the way for me.