As noted in a previous thread ages ago, the arrival of baby 3 means I need to chop the current Parkinmobile in for something that the whole family can fit in.

I’ve found what looks like a decent motor for us, and the trader offered me 450 part-exchange for our 07 plate Octavia estate (petrol 1.6, L&K trim with 105k miles).  I’ve previously had a ballpark offer of 900 from another trader (sight unseen), and the Autotrader valuation tool reckons around 900 trade price or 1700 private sale.

So on the face of it, the part-ex offer of 450 is quite low.  In fairness the car has a few scuffs, but it’s otherwise in decent nick: full service history, four fairly new tires, and everything generally in good working order.

This leads me to think that I might do better selling it privately.  Even if I “only” got 1000 for it I’d still be better off.

However, I’ve never sold a car privately before, so I don’t really know how much of a pain in the backside it may be.  I’m reckoning on spending a little bit of time/money tarting it up a bit (e.g. valet, possibly oil change, etc), and obviously I’d need to coordinate viewings and possibly test drives.  I would probably buy the new car before selling the old one, so I’d need to sort out insurance accordingly.

Is there anything else I need to know or think about before going the private sale route?  And more importantly, any views on whether it’s worth it or not?  Should I just take the low part-ex offer, and spend the time I would have spent selling the old car riding my bike instead?

Is the time and effort worth the money to you?

I wouldn’t do anything to ‘tart up’ a low value car beyond making sure it’s clean and has good photos.

If it’s priced sensibly I don’t think it will take long to sell, but you do have to be patient with potential buyers who would rather ask weird questions than just come and look at it.

I sold my ancient c-max on Gumtree recently, in less than 24 hours. I used Autotrader as a price guide. Got more than I was expecting too, price wise.

Just get in on gumtree or the bay. What’s the worst that can happen? Price it at £1200 and accept a grand. Laughing.

Ebay’s nearest offer system is good; hooks people into negotiations, gives you the chance to make counteroffers.

I’ve always sold privately as I want the maximum possible deposit for next car although the most recent one (Mini Cooper) was a bit painful.. I’ve always spent a bit of money sorting them out (couple hundred quid at my mate’s bodyshop tarting up alloys and body panels etc.) but this is on cars worth between £4-7K. As above for what you’ve describe I wouldn’t be spending much at all.

WBAC offered £2,300 for the Mini and I think I got £4,400 in the end so whilst it was a pain in the arse it was a good chunk of extra cash towards my wife’s new motor.

£1700 is bangernomics territory these days.

It is a ‘desirable’ (from a cheap family car point of view) vehicle.

Whack it on Gumtree at £1500, be brutal about condition and sold as seen, cash only.

I bet you sell it within three days.

(I sold 150k+ Touran with major issues, I was open about clutch on last legs, turbo going and suspension bushes knackerd, poor bodywork with dents. A lady turned up that night with he father a mechanic, drove it round block, put £1100 in my hand and left.)

Thanks everyone.  Sounds like a fairly resounding vote for selling it privately, then…

You will get a dozen dodgy texts and offers from a Slovak who’s shipping agent will collect the car…. But worth it as in they middle will be a buyer.

My dad was offered only £500 trade in for what was a ridiculously pristine and low mileage 2004 Volvo S60 last year. We gambled the £500 selling it on ebay and we sold it for £1700.

That would be my route based on our experience, of only 1 sale admittedly.

Whereabouts are you based mate? I’d maybe be interested in giving you a grand for it..

From my recent experience, if you’re selling privately then I hope you’ve a high tolerence for tyre-kicking timewasters

Well my ongoing experiences have been a bit of a pain  but am persevering at the moment .

My 14 year old T5   there is a thread on here asking advise .

Dealer offered 2 grand  so put it on evilbay and sold it for £2856  but then was messed about by the winning bidder  so it ended up as a non paying job and after waiting the 5 days is now back as a relisted sale . so fingers crossed this time will be successful

yes there are lots of idiots who cant read an add  and ask stupid questions

Pretty much my experience Trout. I’ve ‘sold’ my Golf GTi nearly 2 weeks ago and have been listening to a succession of half-arsed ‘dog ate my homework’ style BS excuses why he can’t make it to pick it up ever since. I just sold it to someone else last night instead.

Sold Mrs Binners Polo GTi last year and had two likely lads – a right pair of s allies – turn up an hour late. Always a winner when I’m busy, got stuff to do, and i’m having to wait in for them.

I watched them look over the car and go through a clearly well rehearsed routine, then offer me a daft price well below what they’d agree to pay for it. I told them, literally, to **** off back to whichever shithole they’d just driven over from

Sold my dad’s old Fabia with nearly 200k miles on it lots of scratches and dents, non working windows and no MOT for £350. At the price you’re looking at I’d eBay or Gumtree it.

Sell privately, there are loads of Eastern Europeans in the UK that would lap that up. It will probably find its way to Romania in a couple of weeks where it will be broken into little pieces.

I just sold my MX-5 for spares/repair for £500.

Needed £1000s of welding, but a breaker bought it. No hassles at all.

I always sell privately. What I do is to get the buyer to sign the ‘sold as seen no warranty’ document downloaded from AA, to insure no messing about post sale.

Is the time and effort worth the money to you?

I said this on the recent topic about fighting a parking ticket but I really don’t get people having that mentally about things like this. In this case you could potentially be chucking a grand away just for the sake of washing a car, taking a couple pictures and advertising it somewhere.

Seems crazy to me but obviously there are people out there who value their time this highly or have that sort of money to chuck away!

Yeah – I’d sell it privately.

I was offered £180 by webuyanycar for my old Ibiza – 03 plate 1.9TDi Sport with 274k miles on the clock.

Stuck it on ebay for 99p starting bid & it went for £400. Bloke turned up, paid cash & was happy as larry with the car – he kept texting me updates for about a month saying how pleased he was & it was the best second hand car he’d ever bought.

Alternatively, the trader has offered you £450 px, could you get him to raise that to £1k, or at least improve on his offer??

The other thing to watch out for (doesn’t apply to eBay) is somebody agreeing to buy it for £n then turning up and picking holes in it and finally offering much less. They hope you will just get worn out and agree, just to get it off your drive. Whether you cave in or just dig your heels in is up to you of course. The warning signs are a little too much enthusiasm to accept your price in the early stages of negotiation.

The strangest case I had was a friend who advertised a car for £100 ono. Two pikeys turned up and paid the dosh and took it away, having signed a “sold as seen” thing. Next day they were back and wanted their money back. She agreed, just to avoid hassle. On lifting the bonnet she noticed a number of parts had been switched. That was a long time ago, mind and it was an Allegro.

It’s exactly what many private buyers would be looking for with fsh being key. Should be a relatively easy sell I’d think. I’ve sold a few privately and generally it’s been pretty straight forward but the last one was my late father’s 2yr old Ka and Arnold Clark offered me slightly more than I’d asked for privately. I’d not got a value from them initially but accepted it when I did!

I’d second the you’ll sell it in 3 days comments if on gumtree/eBay…

Oh, and the only preparation I did before selling ours was to give £30 to the local car wash place and have them clean it thoroughly inside and out. It was due a service but I figured that getting it done wouldn’t add the cost of the service to the value of the car.

Thanks for the warnings.  I am mentally prepared to have a few crazies asking weird questions and so forth.  I guess there are potential risks with scallies and ne’er-do-wells trying to rip you off.  I’m paranoid enough that I was already thinking along these lines, but from the responses here it sounds as though it’s probably not too much of a worry so long as you apply basic common sense!

For the people who have expressed an interest (this wasn’t a stealth ad, honest guv…): I’m based in North Manchester.  It would probably be a few weeks before we’d be in a position to sell, but if you’d like to get pictures as and when I have them please PM me and I’ll sort it out 🙂

I think trying to twist the dealer’s arm for a better PX deal is possibly worth exploring, but I can’t imagine talking him up to 1k!

Oh — and good shout Fantombiker about the AA “sold as seen” document, I’ll look into that.

Those of you selling “as-seen” are you candid/honest about all the faults you know the car has?

Last one i sold privately, the guy took ages to get here – kept cancelling agreed days. Asked if I could pick him up from the train station initially, and was surprised when I said no (its a 100 mile round trip).

Once he got here he made a lower offer (despite being really honest on the ad), and then gave me the wrong amount of cash, plus the ‘oh that’s all I have’ comedy routine.

Once he eventually left with the car, I got a speeding ticket through the post a week or so later – I had taken pics of the cash, his insurance, the car documents etc, so was able to prove I had sold it 45 minutes before the ticket, but it wasn’t easy. I then get multiple calls from someone else (who I assume the buyer sold it on to) as he was also being chased for the speeding ticket.

(and yes I thought I had removed all contact details from the invoices, receipts etc – must have missed one with my mobile no on it).

More recently I just traded the wife’s car in – much less hassle despite probably losing a few quid.

I ebayed my old focus and got more for it in undrivable condition than I’d ever been offered as a runner. I was going to do the same with my mondeo but resolved that by writing it off instead and getting a payout that was twice what it was worth. But that’s probably not the best advice

Your main issue is whether you are overlapping the new and old cars, not too much of an issue if your insurer will cover both for a short period which they often do, but if they refuse, you will want to switch your insurance to the new motor which leaves the old one uninsured.  Of course, if you only have a few weeks left to renewal you can just take out a new policy on the new car.

Regarding the description of condition. I’ve always been brutally honest and included photos of anything dodgy. The last car that I sold privately had an intermittent slipping clutch due to a known week spot with the pressure plate. I included this in the ad and priced accordingly. Would have felt a right arse not doing so.

However if I’m PXing a car then I wouldn’t be quite so honest. TBF they tend not to even drive them. I have found that PX prices vary wildly, invariably the money’s got to come from somewhere so the one’s that gave a higher PX were generally the one’s who had the cars for sale at a higher price.

Most dealer’s aren’t interested in your car at all. They would rather not have it, as they will probably just send it straight to auction.

You will most likely get more money on Ebay but be warned, I had a stream of absolute nutters and time wasters when I sold an old car for “spares or repairs” on there. I was completely honest about the condition but they seemed to want a perfect vehicle for £1000.

Hey Tom, I’m based in Mcr too and it would probably be a couple of weeks before I’d be in a position to buy (waiting for some cash to come through). Can’t guarantee that I’d buy it mind, but I’d like to have a look at it as the missus’ car needs replacing asap. Any chance I could pop over one evening next week? Cheers

Sold my old Focus on eBay, 160k miles, 11 years, Cat D write off & 9 months MoT. Went for £360 but the buyer pulled out the next day saying she bought it for her son without knowing he doesn’t have a driving licence. She wouldn’t pay but wouldn’t withdraw her bid, so I had to wait a week and go through the eBay loop before I could relist it. Second time I got £450 and the buyer was happy as Larry, no messing at all.

Don’t bother with the internet at all, Park it up safely in a decent area with a price on it 1200 quid, an Estate car always moves quickly. That’s how I sold my last car I don’t think I will ever bother with any online advertising, then you only get local interest and most people driving past have jobs.

Sold my 2008 Mondeo estate on ebay to a bloke who flew out from Germany, despite it being petrol and rhd, so don’t discount foreign buyers- I spent a week ignoring his imploring emails before realising he was serious- apparently secondhand cars are a bargain in this country.

Can depend a lot on where you live too. If you’re properly rural like me, there might not be as many buyers, but correspondingly much fewer time wasters too.

I also find that in more far flung parts of the country, Faceache Marketplace has a much stronger hold on the small ads level than eBay, plus people are often using their long term accounts, so less likely to be dodgy and easier to check.

Last one i sold privately, the guy took ages to get here – kept cancelling agreed days. Asked if I could pick him up from the train station initially, and was surprised when I said no (its a 100 mile round trip).

You showed amazing patience!  I think I would have discounted this guy Immediately.  Bet you wish you had too.

You showed amazing patience! I think I would have discounted this guy Immediately. Bet you wish you had too.

Yeah – hindsight is great isn’t it. Problem was he had paid a £250 deposit, so I sort of took him as serious…

Last one i sold privately, the guy took ages to get here – kept cancelling agreed days. Asked if I could pick him up from the train station initially, and was surprised when I said no (its a 100 mile round trip).

Once he got here he made a lower offer (despite being really honest on the ad), and then gave me the wrong amount of cash, plus the ‘oh that’s all I have’ comedy routine.

I had one of these. He gave me the lower offer at the train station, but folded pretty quick when I asked if he’d bought a return or a single and wished him a pleasant journey.

Hey Tom, I’m based in Mcr too and it would probably be a couple of weeks before I’d be in a position to buy…

Not totally sure if this is a genuine or not

Update on my ebay motor selling experience .

I guess the first non showing and paying bidder did me a favor as when I relisted the van a week later it just sold yesterday for £290 more than the first auction and a very pleasant bloke came and collected it with a big wedge of beer tokens

so for me yes it was worth the hassle and £1130 more than the trade in offer