"Priced to sell"

lizzyd66

I want to sell my car reasonably quickly , can afford to take a bit of a hit on the value as am buying my uncles old car in the UK which he is selling me for the same price as he would have to a dealer.

My car has an an open market value price on the VRT website (not sure how accurate that is) of €6,773. It has 40,000 miles and is a 2003 model, automatic . The very cheapest same make and model (but with more miles and not automatic) is on Carzone at €6,995. There are 30 other cars of that year and model for sale on car zone (only one other automatic) and they vary in price from €7K to €10k.

So my question is .....

if I price it lower than the lowest price one on carzone will it sell or would it just make a buyer suspicious that there may be something wrong with it (there isn't !)? And given that I'm prepared to sell it for a very good price should I put it on a few hundred over that price (which is pretty low) or should I pitch it at a few hundred below the lowest price already on car zone????

As you can see I'm pretty clueless on all this and would appreciate some advice.

carchaeologist

Id probably be a bit suspicious of a car that was cheaper than all the rest, youd have to be i think?

lizzyd66

That's what I thought but then from what I've read elsewhere, second hand cars are moving very slow. I have to pay my uncle this week as he is buying a new car on Friday and can cover the cost in the short term without selling my own but would ideally like to sell mine this side of Easter. I have the receipt from when I serviced it last year also NCT until May next year. It has had two minor accidents (no other car involved) but fully repaired at an approved garage by Hibernian and I have the paper work for that too.

St0n3d

I'd put it to carzone for the price you want. Stat the cars condition as Immaculate or whatever on site.

Usually people will refer to comments when a car is lower priced than its rival. Magically a bell goes off they might get a deal here...

So lower the price compare to the others, but give yourself a few hundred cover that IF on the day the person wants to try a bargain , then you wont mind dropping a hundred or two..

Once you tell people the car is in great nick (You have full papers showing its history on repair, service etc) and your only selling because of a recent change or no longer needed then you should be getting a fair few calls over the rest of them in the same cat...

Ps: Yeah second hand cars have slowed quite a bit, more and more people are interested in indulging for a 08 . Seems more people are getting in debt also

zod

if u price it right they will come. doesn't have to be much lower .. just the same as the lowest. advertise everywhere, cbg, carzone, autotrader, include as many pics as you can and use the phrase ono "or nearest offer" in all ads

what kinda car is it ?

JohnCleary

'Any Inspection Welcome' goes down better than "immac condition, like new, etc etc", imho

colm_mcm

out of interest, what's the car? automatic mightn't help things depending on the model.

carchaeologist

how minor were the accidents?I suppose just be straight up and honest with prospective buyers and you should be ok.

lizzyd66

Good advice guys. I will be totally honest with any buyers. And "any inspection welcome" is great advice.

mike65

If you are putting it on a photosite like carzone, take good quality pix and don't spare the horses on numbers, I have no idea why peeps put cars up and then display one or two crappy dimly lit shots which tell you nothing good and lots bad.

Mike.

colm_mcm

mike65 wrote: »

If you are putting it on a photosite like carzone, take good quality pix and don't spare the horses on numbers, I have no idea why peeps put cars up and then display one or two crappy dimly lit shots which tell you nothing good and lots bad.

Mike.

agreed, I had 20 pics of the FTO on my ad, and got a lot of calls because of that.

carchaeologist

lizzyd66 wrote: »

am buying my uncles old car in the UKquote]
Dont forget about the import VRT if you bring the car to ireland...

lizzyd66

I'm going to buy my uncles car for £3k (it is a 2002 Toyota Avensis auto 1.8 GS with 57k miles on the clock). He has owned it since it was 1 year old and looks after it like a baby. The VRT according to the website is €1,600 so that works out around €5,600 . According to the VRT website that is around €1k less than the open market price but going on the prices on carzone is quite a bit less. There are very few automatics of that model around so hard to compare. But I feel it is a good deal.

Guy:Incognito

lizzyd66 wrote: »

I'm going to buy my uncles car for £3k (it is a 2002 Toyota Avensis auto 1.8 GS with 57k miles on the clock). He has owned it since it was 1 year old and looks after it like a baby. The VRT according to the website is €1,600 so that works out around €5,600 . According to the VRT website that is around €1k less than the open market price but going on the prices on carzone is quite a bit less. There are very few automatics of that model around so hard to compare. But I feel it is a good deal.

Knowing the source of a 2nd hand car is worth it alone. At least you can guarentee it's been well looked after.

Auto FTW!

cantdecide

I'm fairly sure Colm_MCM is about to tell you that an auto Avensis isn't going to be worth as much as a manual but if sounds like a bargain, especially when the currency is with us as consumers at the moment. If oyu plan on keeping it for the forseeable future, it sounds great.

What is your current car? Value?

'GRFS' is also a good add on for a cheaper car.

carchaeologist

Stekelly wrote: »

Knowing the source of a 2nd hand car is worth it alone. At least you can guarentee it's been well looked after.quote]
Agreed!!:D

lizzyd66

cantdecide wrote: »

'GRFS' is also a good add on for a cheaper car.

Just had to google that! I think I will do as you guys say - take lots of photos and put on a few hundred cheaper than a close match model. I'll see then what interest there is . I'm going to be really honest with any potential purchaser (I'm going to get my paperwork all ready - the fuel gauge sensor isn't working and have a quote for that being fixed, have receipts for the new tyres , last service etc plus the cartell report from when I bought it last year). If I have no interest after a few days , I'll drop the price on line.

In the mean time I'll visit a few local car dealers and see will they give me a price. At least then I'll know the rock bottom price!!!

Regarding the make and model it is a Ford Fusion 2003.

colm_mcm

I saw an ad with "New car forces sale" on it!

An automatic old model Avensis is worth about the same as a 1.6 manual given that they're higher spec and less common.

AdrianC

A friend sold a hyundai coupe a few weeks ago on carzone, he put it up for 500 less than the lowest priced car of the same year and sold it in three days, got about 10 calls about it.

carchaeologist

It will all be down to the condition of the car really, if its good it will sell, if not it will be harder to get rid of.

lizzyd66

One last question (I hope!). I filled in the car details on the Windsor motors trade in price section on their website and they came back with €7,500. Is there any correlation between the trade in price offered and what I'd get on the open market. I'm figuring it would include an element of a sweetener to encourage you to do business with them. Thanks

Lex Luthor

wash it, wax it, clean those alloys if you have them and shine the tyres, take loads of pics in a nice location and this will definitley give you the edge when people are looking.

I am much more inclined to look at an ad with at least 10 decent pics on it than an ad with just one taken in someones drive with grass growing up between the concrete

Then price it a few hundred below the best example on carzone similar to yours and hope the phone rings. It just takes 1 person to buy your car

javaboy

cantdecide wrote: »

I'm fairly sure Colm_MCM is about to tell you that an auto Avensis isn't going to be worth as much as a manual but if sounds like a bargain, especially when the currency is with us as consumers at the moment. If oyu plan on keeping it for the forseeable future, it sounds great.

What is your current car? Value?

'GRFS' is also a good add on for a cheaper car.

It could be just me but I always find "genuine reason for selling" and "for quick sale" to be very dodgy. Also "owner leaving country". But then I am the suspicious type! :cool:

lizzyd66

Thanks a million to everyone for your help. I'm not trying to advertise here but for those who have already posted on the thread - if you had a chance here is my page on carzone - any feedback on how to improve it would be gratefully received.

http://www.carzone.ie/used-cars/Ford/Fusion/1.4-16v/957551/

Thanks again everyone.

colm_mcm

small thing, but change your advert from "Ford Fusion 1.4 16v 2 Durashift 5dr" to "Ford Fusion 2 1.4 16v Durashift"

And mention the air conditioning, leather wheel, electric windows, alloys etc in the ad title, As much as you can fit!. the Fusion 1 model is very basic and doesn't have the extras yours has.

the_syco

3 owners in 4 years is a bit dodge. By your nickname, "lizzyd66", I'm guessing you're a woman. If the other owners were women, it'd be something worth mentioning.

Aside from that, it looks like a good deal. Be prepared to drop the price by €500 due to the crash's (by the way, what happened? pillar coming into the driveway?).

lizzyd66

The "accidents" were very minor but the gateway one was costly to repair - I dinted the driver side rear door and scratched the wheel arch. It was repaired to as new standard by Windsor garages in Bray - have all the paper work and unless I told someone (which I will) they would never know it had been repaired. I have protected no claims or probably would have left it! Then really recently , I reversed into my neighbours car and dinted his plus cracked the rear bumper of mine - again if not selling would have left my bumper but because selling, am going to pay the €125 excess and get it repaired. I bought it from someone last year who had it for 2 years and she got it from the wife of the main dealership in Waterford (I think it might be the Toyota one as that is the name on the plates). I'm the third owner -so three lady owners but given what I've just written , maybe that isn't such a selling point!

Guy:Incognito

the_syco wrote: »

If the other owners were women, it'd be something worth mentioning.
.

wHY? so they know the clutch is due to be changed?:)

colm_mcm

Stekelly wrote: »

wHY? so they know the clutch is due to be changed?:)

the car has an automated clutch!

Guy:Incognito

colm_mcm wrote: »

the car has an automated clutch!

Dammit, really should read more detail before making jokes.

colm_mcm

...although I believe you can wear the clutch in them by leaving it in "D" on a hill and treating it like a regular torque convertor box -holding your position without using the brake.