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Motors Best way to sell used car?

Discussion in 'General' started by wyx087, 4 Aug 2022.

  1. wyx087

    wyx087 Multimodder

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    I've got a Skoda Octavia 63 reg 2.0l diesel 6-speed DSG automatic Elegance trim with xenon, heated seat and adaptive cruise. In later this month month, I'll be looking to move this on after over 5 years mostly trouble-free ownership.
    Note I live on the edge of London ULEZ and this car needs to pay to drive into the zone.

    What's the best way to shift this car in today's seller's market?


    Sell privately? I see similar spec with slightly lower mileage but no xenon, heated seat or ACC asking a staggering £8260 by a dealer. I can handle a few punters, don't want any time wasters or have patience for this to take many weeks. What's the best advertising medium?

    Website like webuyanycar/motorway? Both are giving estimate of around £5000. Quite a fall from dealer asking price. But should be very quick and easy as long as their valuation holds when they look at the vehicle. I suppose with WBAC I an easily drive away if I don't like their final offer when I drop off the car.

    Trade-in price offered was over £1000 less than buying websites, so I've declined that option.

    I'm thinking I can try selling privately first for a few weeks. Try to undercut the dealer price (by how much?). Then if no buyers found, move on to whoever is offering best price from websites.
     
  2. Spraduke

    Spraduke Lurker

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    Autotrader would seem the easiest way - especially as its in the not too expensive bracket. WBAC is easily undervalued vs market rate otherwise they have no margin. Always some risk involved in selling privately so just make sure your up on the latest scams and protect yourself - most of the risk is with the buyer ultimately. Difficult to avoid timewasters so be prepared for no shows and stupid low ball offers.
     
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  3. Mister_Tad

    Mister_Tad Will work for nuts Super Moderator

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    I recently used car wow and got some competitive offers, well over what the webuyanycar-alikes were offering.
     
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  4. ElThomsono

    ElThomsono Multimodder

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    Autotrader is a huge platform, but if you're selling privately I'd also list it on Gumtree and possibly even eBay too, but I'm not sure how fees work for the latter.
     
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  5. Cookie Monster

    Cookie Monster Multimodder

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    Be careful with places like WBAC, the price the site offers might not be what you actually get.

    My mate took an old, knackered Passat there to just get rid off. For arguments sake he was offered £200 on the site, after inspection minus £10 for a missing parcel shelf (Passat's dont have one), £10 for each missing hub cap, few other things, he ended up with something like £150.
     
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  6. wyx087

    wyx087 Multimodder

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    I just did a valuation on Autotrader and got £5810 selling privately by putting up an advert. Not as high as I hoped..... for sake of less hassle and no risk, might as well have gone with buying websites. So I'll check out carwow and also try Autotrader quick sale method. Thanks.

    With those that come and collect your car, what happens if I'm not happy with "updated" price on the collection? Would I be liable to pay for the call-out cost?

    But as the saying goes, if you don't ask, you don't get. I'll probably put up advert for the car at around £7000 mark on Autotrader and see if there's any interest. I'm collecting my new car beginning September and don't need the cash from selling this one to buy the new one, so got plenty of time to sort it out. Worth waiting until 18th Aug to renew the MOT and advertise it with full year and a month of MOT?

    These days, is it worth driving around local dealers and see if they'll buy the car? many years ago I sold a Fiat Panda this way. But I guess online selling websites will beat it on price and convenience.
     
  7. IanW

    IanW Grumpy Old Git

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    According to Motorway's adverts, they're an online version of this, basically a reverse Carwow. No idea if you'd get more, but maybe worth a shot?
     
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  8. mrlongbeard

    mrlongbeard Multimodder

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    If selling privately then yes, 12 months MOT would help
     
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  9. Arboreal

    Arboreal Keeper of the Electric Currants

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    You don't need to wait to MOT it, you can have it tested up to 30 days before the due date and retain the renewal date :thumb:
     
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  10. wyx087

    wyx087 Multimodder

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    MOT due date is 22nd September :) it's 28 days prior isn't it? I can't count, and it's 1 calendar month -1 day. So earliest for me is 23 August.

    Motorway gave highest auto quotes, except for Autotrader which I have to sell privately.
     
    Last edited: 4 Aug 2022
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  11. wyx087

    wyx087 Multimodder

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    Carwow just phoned after I put my details in for valuation. It has now been advertised to dealers for £5250.

    If sold sooner, I guess we'll have to manage with a 60miles range EV for a month :worried:
     
  12. Mister_Tad

    Mister_Tad Will work for nuts Super Moderator

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    Did you set a buy-it-now or are you waiting for offers?

    Over the course of a few days I had increasingly higher offers, eventually around 10% up on the first, and all for more than the phone person suggested setting a buy-it-now at.
    It was a different sort of car admittedly, but I'm led to believe the process is largely the same regardless.
     
  13. wyx087

    wyx087 Multimodder

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    I declined the "buy it now" option and I would have to accept offers for a sale agreement.

    I still need the car until end of next week. Then we can manage with 60 miles EV for 3 weeks before picking up the new long range car

    When did your dealing with carwow happen? May be it was when car prices were shooting up? I get the feeling second hand car prices have stablised at a high price so ever increasing offers probably won't happen.
     
  14. Mister_Tad

    Mister_Tad Will work for nuts Super Moderator

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    Just a couple weeks ago, there were a handful of dealers one-upping each other a bit at a time.
     
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  15. IanW

    IanW Grumpy Old Git

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    What long-range EV did you go for?
    I'm looking to swap my 50kWh Zoe (PCP) for a 64kWh MG4 (depends on numbers) in a month or two's time.
     
  16. wyx087

    wyx087 Multimodder

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    How did you know it's an EV?

    It's Tesla Model Y, picking up 3rd September.
     
  17. IanW

    IanW Grumpy Old Git

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    Nice. (People don't usually use the phrase "long range" when talking about an ICE vehicle)
     
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  18. wyx087

    wyx087 Multimodder

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    Okay, fair enough.

    It simply hasn’t occurred to me long range isn’t a thing outside EV’s. My wife has one car, I drive one car, so it made logical sense to have one local runabout and one long range for trips. At home, I had always referred the Skoda as our long range car and Leaf as our local car.
     
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  19. sandys

    sandys Multimodder

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    One day long range will actually be long range in an EV too :D even really inefficient ice cars do hundreds of miles, my Volvo is referred too as long range, it'll only do 40 miles on EV .....it does have 70 litres of petrol as backup :D
     
  20. wyx087

    wyx087 Multimodder

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    Well, I looked at our driving patterns and noticed we've never driven more than 2-3 hours in one go, so 200 miles guaranteed in any weather is more than adequate. Combine that with guaranteed access to Tesla's rapid charging network and charger being integration into vehicle sat-nav. It shouldn't be a problem driving it anywhere.

    So I think long range is subjective, with good enough charging network, all one really need is the range between rest stops.

    Although from environmental point of view, these EV's with larger and larger battery are very wasteful. Carrying extra battery around every day. Ideally just need large enough battery for daily use and a range extender (fossil fuel ICE or hydrogen fuel cell) for longer trips. I personally think ICE power wheels is a rather stupid idea, it has such a narrow RPM range and power band. They are good for occasional use as power generator though. Unfortunately this concept never gotten beyond the small and odd BMW i3 REx.
     
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