Woudla VW Bora be difficult to sell ?

pontovic

Hi

I have a lovely VW Bora in good condition for its age. It's a 1999 comfortline (1.6l engine petrol manual) model which will have about 95000kms on the clock when I come around to selling it at the end of June. I'm moving away to London and there is not much point in having a car over there. I have 2 questions. As far as I know it has had one owner before me, and it was a company car I think, but I have no solid documentation saying wether it has had a full service history.

a) Are they difficult to sell over in this country ?
b) How much do you think it's worth ?

crosstownk

You shouldn't have much difficulty selling it.

I'd say it's worth somewhere between €4500-€5000

zuutroy

crosstownk wrote:

You shouldn't have much difficulty selling it.

I'd say it's worth somewhere between €4500-€5000

Thats a bit harsh!.....I'd say closer to 7,000.....but then again if you want a quick sale in this market that might be what you'll have to settle for

el tel

€7,000 is too much for a 6-7 year old car without a full provenance.
I'd say crosstownk is right, €5k tops. From what I've seen, even a 1.9TDI SE at the same age and miles would struggle to get this.

Tipsy Mac

With that milage on a petrol car and no documented service history it will be dificult to sell if you are looking for a high price for it, €5-6k at the very most I would say. If you've got a record/receipt of then it was last serviced or if you were to even get it serviced before sale it will sell easier.

zuutroy

Tipsy Mac wrote:

With that milage on a petrol car

The mileage is quite low....14000kms a year is well below avg

Eoin

Here's a CBG search for '99 Boras. These are probably dealer prices though, so above what a private sale might get.

Prices range from 7 - 10K. By the way, personally I would say how many miles the car has done, rather than kilometers. Most people still use miles for this, so their first impression (mine also, till I looked closer) was that you have done 90K miles, rather than 56K.

neacy69

i have been looking for a bora for myself recently... i was looking for a TDI to be exact but i did take a look at some petrols also. The 1.6 is apparently the more desirable of the petrol models as the 1.4 is underpowered.
Personally i dont think you'll have too many problems selling it but no service history and low-average mileage can be an alarm in some people minds (especially when you say it used to be a company car which tend to have miles)

CBG.ie i find tends to be overpriced so to get a market price for a car im interested in i usually look at a few different sources such as the one lined out for you below

Government VRT website: OPEN MARKET SELLING PRICE: €4892
CBG.ie (mainly dealers): approx €7000
Carzone.ie: €6100
Buyandsell.ie: €7000
autotrader: €6500

Your average price therefore is approx €6200...consider youve no warranty or service history if i was you i advertise about €5750 and sell for around €5500

crosstownk

The Car Sales Guide (industry standard) quotes a 1.6 Bora with 66,000 miles at €4700. I disagree with a previous poster and feel that it would be easier to sell a 1.4. (But I do agree that the 1.4 is grossly underpowered @75BHP). The Cars Sales Guide quotes a 1.4 with same mileage at €5100. Remember that a 1.6 brings higher running costs - these running costs may not bother someone who is buying from new but in the €4,000 - €5,000 end of the market people are far more concerned by running costs. The car is a comfortline so that will help the sale in a big way. If you can identify the original leasing company then ask them if they have a service history on file - they most likely will if the car was on contract hire. Do take eoin_s advice and quote your odometer in miles - that 90K will frighten some people.

pontovic

i said 95000kms but i meant miles. does that knock alot of the value of the car ?

alias no.9

A few things from your post, the oddometer as having 95,000kms, you ask if they're difficult to sell in this country and of course it's a 1.6 in a country where anything above the minimum sized engine is rare. I get the impression that this is an imported car which will have an impact on its value. More importantly, it's probably left hand drive since importing a vw from japan would be most unusual and importing any car from south africa / austrailia / nz / india etc... , and this will be the thing that could kill you when you try to sell, LHD are worth less here and the market is very small, meaning it could take a very long time to sell.

Anan1

pontovic wrote:

i said 95000kms but i meant miles. does that knock alot of the value of the car ?

Don't worry, you only said that to us.;)

crosstownk

If it miles I'd say it could reduce to the price to about €4000 or perhaps less......... Most potential buyers will have reservations about the magic 100000 mile number which is only around the corner.

bazz26

Unfortunately the Bora doesn't have the same resale value as the MKIV Golf. Basically the Bora is just a saloon version of the MKIV Golf with a different set of head lights. If it has 95k miles on the clock and a 1.6 you should be aiming for €4k - €4.5K. The fact that it is a 1.6 will make it that bit harder to sell in a 1.4 dominated market but on the plus side since it is a Comfortline this will appeal to buyers too as it has a few creature comforts.

If it is a LHD import then expect to ask a maximum of €3k for it but you may be stuck with it for a long time.

FX Meister

Surely people might prefer to buy a 1.6 as the 1.4 is very underpowered?

pontovic

Its not an import and its a right hand drive. Its black aswell

colm_mcm

A 1.6 Bora will be much harder to sell than a 1.4. that's the harsh truth, sure, the 1.6 is more powerful, but Irish people don't want to know. Also, anyone who reckons it's worth anywhere near €7,000 is seriously out.

Re: the car sales guide figure of €4,700. It shouldb be noted that although the book gives a figure of €4,700. this does not automatically make the car worth this. This guide figure is what a dealer could reasonably expect to sell this car for.

crosstownk

colm_mcm wrote:

Re: the car sales guide figure of €4,700. It shouldb be noted that although the book gives a figure of €4,700. this does not automatically make the car worth this. This guide figure is what a dealer could reasonably expect to sell this car for.

I agree, but any accessories the car has no longer have any bearing on the price given the age of the car. They may make it easier to sell and if you get a real interested punter then you may get a few bob more out of them - but this eager punter may never come along. No correct price can be put on a car without a visual inspection and test drive - so all we have to go on is the reasonable expectation that it's worth €4700 with 66k on the clock. Further devaluation must apply given it's excess mileage.

bazz26

FX Meister wrote:

Surely people might prefer to buy a 1.6 as the 1.4 is very underpowered?

I would normally agree but the fact is that you could go out and get a 1.6 Passat for in or around the same money. The Passat being a bigger more roomier car with the same 1.6 engine for around the same money these days, tax, insurance and running costs would be around the same too.

The old Focus 4dr is another example, it had an entry 1.6 engine back then, used examples are worth less than the 1.4 hatchback Focus even though the saloon was a Ghia spec back then. Demand is higher for the 1.4 because it is cheaper to tax, insure and fill at the pump.

The one thing that will make this Bora that bit easier to sell is the fact that it is a Comfortline model with things like electric windows and mirrors, velour trim, etc. These are a bonus on a 1999 VW Bora or Golf.

colm_mcm

bazz26 wrote:

The old Focus 4dr is another example, it had an entry 1.6 engine back then, used examples are worth less than the 1.4 hatchback Focus even though the saloon was a Ghia spec back then. Demand is higher for the 1.4 because it is cheaper to tax, insure and fill at the pump.
.

The old Focus saloon doesn't sell because it looks like this:

what a mess

Lex Luthor

crosstownk wrote:

The Car Sales Guide (industry standard)

Where can you get access to this information?

colm_mcm

Lex Luthor wrote:

Where can you get access to this information?

The car sales guide is intended for use by the motor trade only. one of the conditions of supply is that the information in it be kept secret.

It isn't some big plot by the motor trade to rip people off, it's just a small book made by a small company for the motor trade to make salesmens lives a little easier.

crosstownk

Colm_mcm is spot on with the Focus picture

Lmao!!!!!

crosstownk

Lex Luthor wrote:

Where can you get access to this information?

As colm_mcm states its a motor trade publication. I work in the motor trade but as the Car Sales Guide is issued every month any single figure given here for any given vehicle has a very short validity period. Essentially I don't mind giving out the odd figure but I won't hand figures out en mass.

colm_mcm

crosstownk wrote:

Essentially I don't mind giving out the odd figure but I won't hand figures out en mass.

you run the risk of being excluded from the circle, and denied subscriptions to the magic book forerermore

crosstownk

Is not scared!!!!

Always been a rebel!!!!

colm_mcm

what do ye do with all ye'r old ones. do you have a ceremonious end-of-month burning of books like we do?

maidhc

colm_mcm wrote:

what do ye do with all ye'r old ones. do you have a ceremonious end-of-month burning of books like we do?

Next thing you will be saying it is written by a secret arm of the Freemasons and if you read it backwards it will reveal the meaning of life!

Focus isnt that bad. They just got tired by the time they reached the boot, last job on a friday I suspect.

colm_mcm

maidhc wrote:

it is written by a secret arm of the Freemasons and if you read it backwards it will reveal the meaning of life!

You know too much...........



Yeah the Focus saloon wasn't a work of art by any means. At least the new one is quite handsome (in a suspiciously Volvo S40 kind of way....)

crosstownk

Nope colm_mcm - we lease cars so we actually need previous issues for reference and residual value calculations

colm_mcm

crosstownk wrote:

Nope colm_mcm - we lease cars so we actually need previous issues for reference and residual value calculations

jaysus! i wouldn't take the book too literally!