So I want to sell my trusty old vRS but I'm not sure if anyone's doing much in the way of buying second hand cars at the moment? I'm guessing probably not given that it probably wouldn't be classified as "essential"...

 

Anyone else in the same position? 

 

 

Most of the dealers have shut down as well.

?

If people have cars advertised for sale are they still getting calls from 'Autotrader' offering to advertise it, or others and those that want you to drive to meet them and are offering about half what you want to buy it unseen?

No matter where in the country you might be they have the same accent!

Edited 27 March, 20206 yr by Roottootemblowinootsoot

Darn it! There's the amount I can claim back on insurance and tax slowly disappearing ☹️

The best thing to do now is to use your time at home to detail the car to within an inch of its life. Go above and beyond in an effort to make your car stand out from all of the others. Then take a video of the car and loads and loads of photos.

 

Advertise as normal and offer to take a deposit, a fully refundable one so that if the the prospective buyer doesn't believe the car is accurately described there is no onus on them to buy, and no loss to you. Store the car as well as you can so that when things get back to normal you can arrange for the handover.

 

In terms of pricing, one of two things will happen....

 

1) A shortage of factory new builds will push the price of used cars up as supply becomes restricted.

2) People put car buying right to the bottom of their priority list and demand dries up, dropping prices through the floor.

I've got a car I was advertising but took it down as I think its pretty irresponsible to have people coming round to look at cars given the situation at the moment. Luckily its 10 years old and is only worth £2-2.5K so at least its not losing much depreciation wise, but I would like the space back on my drive more than anything

 

The most annoying thing for me is that I've put 12 months MOT on it for the next owner and now that MOT is vanishing and who knows when we will be back to normal.

Edited 29 March, 20206 yr by SuperbTWM

55 minutes ago, silver1011 said:

The best thing to do now is to use your time at home to detail the car to within an inch of its life. Go above and beyond in an effort to make your car stand out from all of the others. Then take a video of the car and loads and loads of photos.

 

Advertise as normal and offer to take a deposit, a fully refundable one so that if the the prospective buyer doesn't believe the car is accurately described there is no onus on them to buy, and no loss to you. Store the car as well as you can so that when things get back to normal you can arrange for the handover.

 

In terms of pricing, one of two things will happen....

 

1) A shortage of factory new builds will push the price of used cars up as supply becomes restricted.

2) People put car buying right to the bottom of their priority list and demand dries up, dropping prices through the floor.

 

As regards prep and storage excellent advice IMHO.

 

I suggest adding:

i) check your tyre pressures and keep them at the correct pressures - helps reduce the risk of cracking from standing

ii) move the car periodically to change the contact point for the tyres - cracking again - or if you can jack it up off the wheels

iii) cover the tyres with something to keep the sun off them whilst they are standing

iv) keep the battery trickle charged or if you can't do that top it up once a week.

v) as mentioned else where, consider filling up the fuel tank

vi) just because it's standing, don't ignore the routine maintenance checks in fluids, leaks etc.

vii) chock the wheels and leave the car in gear with the handbrake off.  I strongly suggest you add a clear note to that effect somewhere obvious in the car to alleviate the "roo" risk on trying to start it in gear!

 

I'd suggest a slight modification to the deposit agreement along the lines of "I agree to fully refund the deposit I received should the vehicle on inspection not match up to the detailed description I have provided and at the price the vehicle has been offered and agreed."  My wording is for three reasons, 1) in case someone sends you a deposit via PayPal or similar and you have to pay the fees for the transfer,  2) to hopefully avoid the "buyers remorse" when your buyer is faced with coughing up the full amount and 3) to avoid the "well now I'm here to buy it how about I bid you in the bum for it instead of paying the agreed price".

 

Looking forward "say" 3 months to a possible lifting of restrictions I'd say the scenario could be:

 

- there will be pressure and/or panic to get back to work, both from employers and employees

- large numbers of vehicles will be either non-functional and in need of workshop attention because their owners have not paid any attention to them during the layup.

- many drivers will turn to trade to get themselves mobile again, which will result in a glut of low-price tradeins and falling scrap values and access.

- as mentioned, once the standing stock of new vehicles has been used up there will be a significant lag in availability of new vehicles as the factories have been shut down and will take some months to recover production levels (if some of them ever do).

 

Result will be clean-looking driveaway used cars will be at a premium for people desperate to get back to work.

 

I would add to the advice by recommending you get your "for sale" car MoT-ed well in advance of the date when it looks like the prison gates are due to be opened again.  This would mean a) your vehicle would be ready to roll (and can be advertised as such) and b) you won't be joining the fight for MoT slots once the floodgates open.

 

44 minutes ago, SuperbTWM said:

The most annoying thing for me is that I've put 12 months MOT on it for the next owner and now that MOT is vanishing and who knows when we will be back to normal.

 

If your MoT is due well into the future it can only be a benefit to your selling (see above); if due in the next 6 months the Govt  has extended current MoTs for cars (and maybe others but i haven't checked) for 6 months (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-52036333).

 

 

Edited 29 March, 20206 yr by StickyMicky
more info

On 27/03/2020 at 15:59, Roottootemblowinootsoot said:

?

If people have cars advertised for sale are they still getting calls from 'Autotrader' offering to advertise it, or others and those that want you to drive to meet them and are offering about half what you want to buy it unseen?

No matter where in the country you might be they have the same accent!

 

It's a boom time for those guys. I'm sure they're doing great business.

On 27/03/2020 at 15:59, Roottootemblowinootsoot said:

those that want you to drive to meet them and are offering about half what you want to buy it unseen?

 

 

You have just described perfectly what selling a car on Facebook marketplace is like