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26 May 2001, 01:09 (Ref:96699) | #1 | ||
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Best Way To Sell A Car
This is probably the most important question for every motorist, more important than how to choose or buy a car. Sooner or later, every motorist is confronted with the problem of either selling or trading in her or his car. That's when they are most susceptible to getting ripped off. There are a miriad of excuses why the car isn't worth much : it is only white-now if it had some colour I can work with it, or this model depereciates more than the station wagon, or there is very little demand for this car, or the market is flooded with this model or better models, and so it goes on. So which is the best way to sell or trade in a car? I don't know, so I am asking this forum for ideas which will help everyone who visits this forum. Which is the best way to advertise if one is not trading in a car? What are the pitfalls to avoid? Is there a used car salesman (he doesn't have to own up) among our members? Please help !!
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26 May 2001, 05:24 (Ref:96738) | #2 | |||
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Quote:
You will allmost always get more for your car if you sell it privately rather than trading it in. When you got to a dealer to trade in your vehicle they work on profit margins. If your trade is worth $10000 to sell, they will offer you somewhere around $5000-$8000 for it as a trade in. You cant go into a dealership with a tradin figure in your head and stick to it , because every dealer will be different. So have biggr margins in their cars than others. What you have too look at is the change over price. One dealer may offer you $10000 on a $40000 car, so you have to pay $30000. The next dealer could offer you $7000 on a $$35000 car, so all you pay is $28000. So change over is the all important figure. New car prices on the same vehicle can vary up to $5000 and more from dealer to dealer. I tcan be vey confusing. If you are going to sell your car privately and dont know what it is worth, have a lok at the trading post, car yards , weekend papers and on the net at some of the cites such as carsales.com.au. You can get a fair indication of what it is worht from there. Dont go to your local dealer and ask as this usually anoys them and they will usually lowball it or give you a very high figure just to get you excited and then you spend months trying to sell your overpriced car. To sell your car privately the trading post is probably the way to go.Plenty of people read it and it is also on the net. Good luck |
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I couldn't repair your brakes, so I made your horn louder I can please only one person per day. Today is not your day. Tomorrow isn't looking good, either |
26 May 2001, 08:27 (Ref:96794) | #3 | ||
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You mentioned the colour of the car, Valve Bounce. Frighteningly enough, it really can make a difference to the value of the car whether it's in a popular colour or not.
Beige has to be the worst, followed by bright yellow and for some reason navy blue. Red cars will always sell well. I agree with Panorama's analysis. Move the car privately, so that you can march into your chosen dealer's premises with a wad of cash - especially on a Friday afternoon when he's desperate to pay the staff. If he has to take in your car as a part-ex, not only is he going to have to take a cut of it, he's also got the added workload of trying to sell it on through the trade, or if it's really one he wants for his own used stock, he'll still have to pay the kid who does the valeting to get the car ready for the forecourt. (I've never been a salesman, but I have worked in dealerships!) Just occasionally, something comes along to buck the trend. I once saw a dealer virtually snatch the keys out of someone's hand in his eagerness to do a deal. The punter was keen on a new Rover 820i, and was offering a 1984 Saab 900 16S in part-ex. What the customer didn't know was that Rover were about to change the shape for the next model-year and the dealer was desperate to shift his old stock any way he could and that the dealer had a favourite customer who had set his heart on that rarest of cars, a Saab 900 16S ! The Saab had been quoted at various prices by all the other dealers in town, all befitting a 7-year old turbo car (the trade really don't like 'em), and the customer had low expectations of what his cherished, immaculate car might achieve. Forty minutes later, punter walked out of the door with the keys to a lovely new Rover at a price he couldn't believe, and my salesman friend was already on the phone to his other client offering an immaculate, rare and warranted Saab at more than twice what he'd just allowed on trade-in. |
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26 May 2001, 08:35 (Ref:96795) | #4 | ||
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Oh - one other thing. Finance.
If you're borrowing money to pay for the new car, read the small print very, very carefully. Some dealers do have excellent finance packages available because they want your business. Others offer their cars at low, low prices because they make a significant chunk back by selling the loan to you. I'm not letting out any secrets to tell you that this last week I have seen documented evidence of a dealer loading a car loan with an interest rate of 23%. It would have been cheaper for the poor punter to buy the car using his credit card! |
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26 May 2001, 12:47 (Ref:96853) | #5 | ||
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Colour - Hyundai Excel (Accent to the rest of the world). Dark green was worth $1000 more for some reason...maybe the paint held the car together better. Now considering how much it was worth even after one year (less than 50%) that is a big difference.
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26 May 2001, 13:46 (Ref:96897) | #6 | ||
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Re: Best Way To Sell A Car
I have believed for a long time that one is nearly always better off to sell one's old cars privately. Find a good corner and get permission to park the car there with a sign on it; Try local newspapers with classified ads; Put the word out where you work and play, there are a million ways to advertise cheaply.
The only time I ever traded was when a dealer practically wouldn't let go of me after he saw me drive my seven months old, very low mileage Pontiac 6000 station wagon into his Pontiac/Jeep dealership. We had just bought a place on a hill in the country at the top of a quarter mile drive, and I wanted a 4WD vehicle for the New England Winters. I had taken the wagon as my "company car" when I worked for a major parts supplier in Detroit, and then bought it at a more than fair price from the leasing company when I quit my job. The dealer kept raising his tradein offer until he was about 10% over Blue Book Retail, and he showed me his invoice for the new Cherokee. After checking independantly, I found he was selling it for $150 over his real cost and had no alternative but to accept. He told me after the closing that a twenty year customer of his had come in and wanted, for delivery yesterday, exactly the vehicle I had - including the color - and that there was not another in inventory - new or used - anywhere in the northeast at that moment. |
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28 May 2001, 01:20 (Ref:97562) | #7 | ||
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You got him at a weak moment!
I hate dealers, I always feel I need my money more than they do. I'd go the 'park on a corner' route. My dad used to own a corner, had a dealer's licence and sold lots of cars with a sign on the windscreen... |
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