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So I learned to drive a bit later in life, and we have had the same car (the first we have owned) for 6 years. Realised that it's probably time to get a new one.
Hence, I have never sold a car before. I'm not really a "car guy", my wife is certainly not a "car woman" (Her only stipulation is that she doesn't want a white car) and feel a bit adrift as to the best course of action, embarrassingly.
It's a 64 plate Fiesta. The Ecoboost predictably went Ecoboom earlier this year, and the relevant parts were replaced (though not a full engine replacement). 80odd K on the clock. Had a new exhaust last year. Either the clutch or gearbox does something weird every now and then where it seizes in reverse requiring a restart but the garage can't seem to find anything wrong. Passed it's last MOT etc. Few scratches but otherwise a nice looking car.
Everyone is asking me if I'm gonna trade it in or sell private and I simply don't really know what to do?
Personally I feel it's a great first car for a couple, or a new driver. It's small, cheap, no tax, and LEZ compliant. Obviously it would be great to get as much as possible for it - would a private sale, removed from the "new car" process be the best way to go about selling it these days?
Is it like bike shops where selling a bike to them nets you less than if you sold it privately?
And if we do sell it privately, is it best to be as honest as possible on the advert with all the issues I have mentioned above?
I realise I sound a bit like an idiot here but this feels more stressful than selling our old flat for some reason! Haha.
Put an ad on here, ask people for feedback and brace yourself...
Realised that it's probably time to get a new one.
Is there a specific reason why you need a new one? If not, and the one you have suits your needs enough and is reliable enough, just run it until one of those things is no longer the case.
If you're not a 'car guy' (and I hear ya brother) then a car is just another domestic appliance, and you wouldn't replace your washing machine unless you actually needed to, so why replace your car?
And if we do sell it privately, is it best to be as honest as possible on the advert with all the issues I have mentioned above?
Yeah, I'd sell privately and list all the services (and at what mileages) it's had, and be honest about the issue you had and the work to fix.
Should reassure buyers and make it quite an attractive buy IMO.
Gumtree is a good place to list for free IME
If you're not a 'car guy' (and I hear ya brother) then a car is just another domestic appliance, and you wouldn't replace your washing machine unless you actually needed to, so why replace your car?
Few reasons really:
Want something with even just 10-20% more boot space. When we go away we often bring hillwaking / camping stuff, bike stuff, swimming stuff, all sorts in it. I do a fair bit of DIY etc as well and it's a bit of a faff Tetrising everything around. An extra passenger is a bit of a no-go in such cases (I have to cart my Mum around quite a lot too).
Also whilst it's had a bit of a new lease of life, I don't want a car with a wet belt anymore because it will just fail again in future and cost a lot more money...when the car itself is worth a lot less. Fixing that cost about a third as much as the car itself when we got it, and even that was cheap compared to getting done in the Ford dealer).
And just silly things like the shape of the vents, textured dash surfaces mean I have not found a phone mount for navigation that works well in years of trying different ones. And the Bluetooth is really annoying to use with my phone (probably things not to advertise!).
And also with it being a relatively low position, I've found myself increasingly blinded by headlights at night from all these tall crossovers - noticeably more frequent in recent years that hasn't been as much of an issue in a couple hires I've had!
selling privately with all issues mentioned = low ball offers. Make sure a receipt with all issues noted is signed for on collection.
We buy any car = the issues should be noted (but many people use it get to rid of a lemon), The issues would then be passed onto unsuspecting end customer (Renton). How well that end purchaser is looked after depends on whichever dealer buys it from auction.
Personally I'd run it till it blows up then scrap it. That saves dealing with low balling idiots on SM or your conscience of another Renton thread.
Few reasons really:
Want something with even just 10-20% more boot space. When we go away we often bring hillwaking / camping stuff, bike stuff, swimming stuff, all sorts in it. I do a fair bit of DIY etc as well and it's a bit of a faff Tetrising everything around. An extra passenger is a bit of a no-go in such cases (I have to cart my Mum around quite a lot too).
Fair enough. I can highly recommend a 'not a car guy' favourite - the good old Honda Jazz. The magic seats in the back are the business. The seat base folds up like a cinema seat leaving tonnes of room in the 'footwell'. When MrsIHN and I go away we have the dog in the boot and all our stuff goes in the back, and that includes two gravel bikes. It's mental how much stuff will go in. And if you fold the seats flat in the 'normal' way the boot space is cavernous.
Plus, it should hopefully run and run and run and run because, well, Honda. We've bought one with 20k on the clock, if we don't put another 100k on that I'll be disappointed.
I'd highly recommend Cinch for buying too - no hassle, two week/250mile no quibble returns, prices the same as anywhere else, they were great
selling privately with all issues mentioned = low ball offers. Make sure a receipt with all issues noted is signed for on collection.
Make sure a receipt with 'sold as seen and inspected' on is signed, that's all. It's a private sale, caveat emptor.
I think it depends how bothered you are to get the most for the car, compared to just a convenient way of getting rid of it.
We sold a car years ago on Autotrader & it was a bit of a nightmare. Just loads of stupid questions, ridiculously low offers and people who didn't turn up when they said they would to view it.
Sold another car on ebay, but it owed me nothing & I just wanted to get rid of it. Put it on for 99p starting price & sold it for £400. I think WBAC offered me £120.
Last two cars we go rid of, we just did part ex with the dealer we were getting the new car from. Both times we got more than we were expecting & it was a completely no effort way of doing it. We might have been able to get a bit more privately, but it was worth the convenience factor to just use the part ex option.
It's the old faff v's return game.
Least return, least faff - Give it to WBAC or Motorway and take what they offer
More return, more faff - Sell it private on AutoTrader or eBay, but be prepared for silly questions and wasting time
The middle ground may be using it as part exchange with a dealer for the new car.
Personally I feel it's a great first car for a couple, or a new driver. It's small, cheap, no tax, and LEZ compliant. Obviously it would be great to get as much as possible for it - would a private sale, removed from the "new car" process be the best way to go about selling it these days?
There are essentially 4 ways to get rid of an old car:
1. Sell it privately. Gumtree / Facebook Market Place / eBay Fixed Price (or Best offer) listings / Autotrader. This MIGHT get you slightly more money but you have to put some effort in. Good advert, good photos, dealing with time wasters, concerns around insurance for test drives etc.
2. Trade it in against the new one. You will not get as much money as above, but its zero hassle. Its part of the overall negotiation so they may offer you more than it seems the car is worth cause they overpriced your new car and if you weren't trading in you could have negotiated more off the ticket price. This is the zero hassle option. Depending on the sort of car they stock, then with its known defects, its likely they are going to dump it to 4 anyway.
3. "We buy any car" (and many similar offerings - I think there is even a comparison site). They will generate a price based on what you tell them, then try to negotiate down based on things they find when handover time comes. Having a WBAC "quote" may help your negotiations if using option 2. To win at WBAC type negotiation you need a good walk away position - for this reason I quite like the firms who send a driver to collect it rather than you drop it off or send a truck - their "walk away" position is weaker than yours!
4. Auction. I suppose ebay auctions fall in this camp, but you never know if the winner will actually turn up there. Its probably the least profitable route for you but you avoid all actual negotiations and whilst you could have made more money, "the market" selects a fair price.
I think in all cases the MOT will be important. If its < 6 months then if you think it would get through again, consider doing it again, especially if it would have minimal advisories.
It doesn't matter which option you choose - you'll swear you are never doing that again!
And just silly things like the shape of the vents, textured dash surfaces mean I have not found a phone mount for navigation that works well in years of trying different ones. And the Bluetooth is really annoying to use with my phone (probably things not to advertise!).
Apple Car play / Android Auto is a game changer. Make is a requirement for your new car. I wouldn't buy a car without it now.
Recently sold a focus. 90k, ran well. No issues.
The wbac type sites offered me about 1700. Put it up privately for 2800 (auto trader recommended) and got 2500 which I was happy with. The extra 800 was worth the time wasters. One person agrees and then didn't show up. Lots of questions. Loads of people offering me £50 because it was an eco boost and needed the belt doing soon. Told them to jog on. Similar vehicles with belt replaced were near to £4k on auto trader.
Previously sold a 12 year old Clio. It ran and that was about the limit of the selling features. Ebay for £99 and got £300. Had about 9months tax and MOT so someone just took a punt that they would get something out of it. They introduced the scrappage after I sold it so they may have made a profit when it eventually fell apart.
I'd always stick the details into a car buying place but the offers are awful so take a punt with private sellers and hope you don't get too many knobs.
I've had a couple of experiences with We Buy Any Car/Bike. I've always been happy with them. They've given me quotes I'm happy with and taken the car off my hands with no hassle.
I've sold one car privately. I think this can be tricky. It worked for me but I don't think I'll do it again unless I know someone personally. You may (or may not) get a bit more for it via a private sale. You also run the risk of all the scams, claims etc against that marginal gain. The arithmetic doesn't work for me.
If a dealer is keen to shift a car (typically new, packaged with finance etc) then you can use this to leverage a great part-ex value. If you're looking to trade used for used though I don't think you're likely to get a great part-ex deal. Easier to sell it first and go in with cash.
I sold mine on Facebook Marketplace – I had one idiot trying to negotiate the £1,900 asking price down because it had previously failed several MOTs (he offered £1,200 IIRC and WBAC had offered £1,000). I tried in vain to explain to the clown that it is how it works – the vehicle gets tested, if it fails it gets recorded on the system, then it gets retested after the issues have been fixed. Fortunately the next interested party was no fuss – we agreed on £1,700, he paid with zero fuss and he drove away happy.
I listed it on the Saturday afternoon and it was gone by 10am on the Sunday morning.
I've had a couple of experiences with We Buy Any Car/Bike. I've always been happy with them. They've given me quotes I'm happy with and taken the car off my hands with no hassle.
I've sold one car privately. I think this can be tricky. It worked for me but I don't think I'll do it again unless I know someone personally. You may (or may not) get a bit more for it via a private sale. You also run the risk of all the scams, claims etc against that marginal gain. The arithmetic doesn't work for me.
If a dealer is keen to shift a car (typically new, packaged with finance etc) then you can use this to leverage a great part-ex value. If you're looking to trade used for used though I don't think you're likely to get a great part-ex deal. Easier to sell it first and go in with cash.
Yes - coming from a position of "not very knowledgeable about this" I am probably a bit more susceptible to all the hassle that could come with a private sale. Something like WBAC is probably the way we might go in this instance.
Our next car will certainly be a used one I think, so your point about part-ex is a helpful one to think about!
Thanks for all responses so far. For some reason I thought we might get £1k for our car best case, but even WBAC / Motorway has quoted us closer to £2k. My mate who *is* a car guy said we could probably get £3-4k privately but as many are saying the faff may not be of interest for the extra cash. Guess the inflation works well for the seller on the other side of the coin!
Least return, least faff - Give it to WBAC or Motorway and take what they offer
Just to note that Motorway are way more of a faff than WBAC. Wasted a week (iirc thats how long the auction goes) before getting offered nowhere near the price they assured me I'd get. Sacked them off, went to WBAC and was sorted in no time (for a fair price).
If you've got a quote from we buy any car of wherever then see what a dealer will give you trade in. I bought a newer car (2 years old) this summer. One dealer offered me £150 the other £600, WBAC was about £300. The extra couple of hundred quid helped decide which dealer to buy from as 2 year old cars are essentially identical ex lease boxes and I didn't have to wash it to impress WBAC or private sellers. Also avoided the need for a bus, taxi or lift to pick up the new car. Just drove in in one car and out in the other with my bank account emptied between.
The old car was a 16½ year old Kia that I'd got for £400 four years earlier as that was the offer made to my FiL by the Honda dealer when he was buying a Jazz.
I Just loads of stupid questions, ridiculously low offers and people who didn't turn up
hello mate u can accept £1500 cash today??? Or swaps for 2009 Ford Fiesta sorn
Unfortunately Facebook marketplace, Gumtree, eBay etc ate all filled with backstreet semi-amateur traders trying to buy cheap, put hubcaps on, cover up defects and then sell for £500 more the next day. There basically don't seem to be real private sellers any more - maybe just driven away by the time wasters. The days of going around to someone's house, buying a car on appearance and service history, and then paying them seem to be over...at least in my big city. :
I didn't realise you don't need a licence or registration to be a motor dealer!
Apple Car play / Android Auto is a game changer. Make is a requirement for your new car. I wouldn't buy a car without it now.
Yeah - my car takes about 5 minutes to connect to bluetooth every time I get in, and for some reason will only play about a tenth of a shuffled playlist on repeat instead of the whole thing. Phone holders always just fall off because sucker cups don't work and the little handle on the vents blocks every holder except the cheapest one I could find which just falls off on any speedbump. Does my head in! A fancier infotainment thing is higher on the list than a lot of other stuff.
Strategy is bend over and keep lube handy. People who buy cheap cars off Autotrader are usually geezers who can spot a pushover a mile away. At least, they did with me 🙂
Apple Car play / Android Auto is a game changer. Make is a requirement for your new car. I wouldn't buy a car without it now.
Conversely, I don't use it on the car that has it, and I don't miss it on my other one. But BT audio does work properly on both.
Our next car will certainly be a used one I think, so your point about part-ex is a helpful one to think about!
I didn't have a car to sell but if you can't be arsed Cinch is hard to beat. I am sure there was a partex bit on that. About a week later the car you chose turns up and you drive it for a bit to make sure you're happy.
Put the word out to friends and family. As you say, it could be an ideal car for someone who is learning to drive.
I just 'sold' mine on Carwow but now a family member is buying it off me when they heard I was changing car, so I've cancelled the company who 'bought' it and were due to inspect, pull my pants down and collect on Thursday.
I think the one downfall with selling privately is that it's gone 'ecoboom' in the past. No amount of 'it's been fixed properly' would convince me to buy something like that, as 'fixed' massively depends on who did the work. Of course it's up to you if you disclose that info but I would have to.
I'd try part-ex first and let the dealer ask questions about it rather than disclose info. IME they have a quick shufty round and offer what book price they think they can get away with.
Either the clutch or gearbox does something weird every now and then where it seizes in reverse requiring a restart but the garage can't seem to find anything wrong.
Webuyanycar it... It's their problem then...
Sorry to be a pain, but honestly if it's blown up and had bits replaced, has gearbox/clutch issues etc... IT IS NOT an ideal first car for someone, it's a potential expensive nightmare waiting to happen!
Myself... I'd sell it privately, but I'd be incredibly honest about everything wrong with it too... I have sold dozens of cars privately in the past though, and honesty is ALWAYS the best policy here... But I think I'd struggle to sell your car to be honest! Not without massively under pricing it so it gets picked up by a mechanic who'll fix it themselves... In which case, I'd have been better off just sending it to WBAC and just keeping quiet about the gearbox/clutch issue...
Get valuations from WBAC et all, being very honest so you have the “if I can’t be bothered” price.
Wash and clean it, photograph it somewhere nice, list the car with a good description of condition and how you’ve looked after it, highlighting any proof of this.
list on EBay - £20 and maybe autotrader after a week.
Sit back and wait. I’ve sold all of my cars like this over the past 15y. I’ve never had to wait more than two weeks and have always got at least 20% more than the WBAC price.
Somehow missed the bit about the unknown fault in the OP.
So yes, WBAC is the best option in that case.
Somehow missed the bit about the unknown fault in the OP.
So yes, WBAC is the best option in that case.
Its dishonest though and ultimately leads to the two recent threads on here from people who have bought cars from traders that have major issues that required refunds/hassle.
Just to note that Motorway are way more of a faff than WBAC. Wasted a week (iirc thats how long the auction goes) before getting offered nowhere near the price they assured me I'd get. Sacked them off, went to WBAC and was sorted in no time (for a fair price).
Same here. Got valued at one price, which then got trimmed by the time it went to auction with them, then got was told it had 'sold' for £1,000 less than that price. Chancer then drove up from Newcastle (to remote Aberdeenshire), and after kicking the tyres, offered a further £1,000 less than the 'sale' price.
I wished him a safe trip back to Newcastle!
Sold it a day later on Autotrader with no hassles for pretty close to my asking price, and £3k over what I would have got on Motorway.
If you're looking for a replacement car, then the best thing (especially if there is a fault) is to trade it in for the next car. It's what I always have done, thought I do usually keep cars for a loooong time - which means their value is low, so just look at it as a bit of money off the next car. No point in being precious about a car - like "It'd be a nice car for a new driver" cos if there are problems with it they'll come back to you.
Trade-ins, like an old Fiesta, invariably go straight to auction, so the dealer doesn't care too much about faults, they'll just offload it and get on with their business.
Last two times we tried to trade-in against new cars the offers were significantly lower than WBAC. So as a minimum it's worth getting a valuation of WBAC or Motorway as a baseline before a trade-in discussion
But always bear in me and that the final WBAC price when you take it in will almost be certainly lower than the first estimate
We went with WBAC in both cases in the end because I'm too lazy to do a private sale. I could definitely have got more privately, maybe as much as 20% more for my van - which I probs should have sold on here in retrospect
Of course, trade-in will be lower, if the car still has a decent value. I don't think a Fiesta will be worth much though, so the difference between trade-in and WBAC will be paltry.
So there you go OP, there's your strategy: check your priorities, weigh up your options and bob's your uncle.
Thanks all for your help. Felt rather silly to ask about something that's so commonplace but you gotta start somewhere!
Private sale is out I think. I know I will screw it up and I suppose not desperate for the cash luckily!
BTW, something I always forget to do - if buying/trading-in with a dealer, check their online reviews - if anything, to see how (or if) they respond to bad ones...