Bad time of year to sell? or is the used hot hatch market dead?

@ divine wind - It's obviously not selling due to a mixture of being a bad time of year and the short MOT which i will amend.
There is no way I'm taking 3.2k trade in when the traders will then sell it for 5k when I've seen shed loads sell private for 4.5k with far more miles on than mine.
It's insured for 5 more months and it's up to the new buyer to tax it so they are none issues.
 
Dav4 said:
@ divine wind - It's obviously not selling due to a mixture of being a bad time of year and the short MOT which i will amend.
There is no way I'm taking 3.2k trade in when the traders will then sell it for 5k when I've seen shed loads sell private for 4.5k with far more miles on than mine.
It's insured for 5 more months and it's up to the new buyer to tax it so they are none issues.
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You've seen loads advertised, not the sold price. a £1.5-1.8k difference trade to forecourt feels perfectly normal to me. They need to somehow cover the cost of running the business plus leave margin for haggling / costs to them as well as try to make a % profit. A £300 markup isn't going to give them that.

Hot hatches don't sell particularly quickly once they get a bit older in my experience (but not old enough to be £1k asking). If it's described properly, has the MOT stuck on and you are patient you will get a reasonable price for it.

The reasonable price won't be close to what any similar car can be bought for from a dealer - it will be in the middle of the trade / retail prices
 
After finding the listing on the bay the other thing that may put people off is the location of the car i.e Liverpool as mad as it sounds.
 
Definitely put the MOT on it.

Although you will have more luck in Jan/Feb than you will now (still needs an MOT though).

And yes, £1.5k+ is typical dealer gross margin on a car like that.
 
I'd MOT it.

I'll be putting mine up for sale after Christmas, really bad time of year to sell as people would be saving for Christmas, that's my thoughts anyway.
 
Liquidfox said:
I'd MOT it.

I'll be putting mine up for sale after Christmas, really bad time of year to sell as people would be saving for Christmas, that's my thoughts anyway.
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Have you noticed quite a dip in value's of the ST lately? they held there value really well for a couple of years but over the last 6 months they have finally dropped below the 5k mark for decent 2006/7 models.
There is also an influx of really chavved out 5+ owners and obviously ragged to death models advertised at stupidly low prices that buyers seem to be falling over themselves for selling on ebay at the minute just to save a few hundred pounds.
with nov/dec being possibly the worst 2 months to sell a car ill give up now and just MOT it in January when its actually due. I have now put on my advert that i will MOT it if anyone decides they want the car and leaves a deposit so if it does'nt go in the next week ill just wait.
 
tummelv said:
If you're leaving the advert up just put the damn MOT on it!
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if it really is the absolute worst time to try and shift a car though what is the point in me doing it 2 and a half months before its due when it still probably wont sell due to it being christmas in just over 5 weeks! As i have said in other posts over the last month i have seen ST's sell with 3 and 4 months MOT on so it has to be the timing of it more than anything.
If i MOT it now and it doesnt sell then by the time Jan comes around and the market starts picking up i will have lost 2 months MOT and my original expiry date for nothing.
By offering buyers the option of me MOTing it if they come and leave a deposit then that is surely just as good? And if i get no more interest in the next week i can just put it on hold till mid Jan and start again.
 
Mot it for sure or be prepared to be massively knocked down. You'd be mad to buy a performance car with such a short mot.

Market won't pick up until Marchish so you'll be waiting a while probably unless you find a nutter. They're out there...
 
I was supposed to get my new car about 5 weeks ago. Still not got it but due to get it next week so a bit miffed to read (although I guess it's obvious) that selling a car at this time of year is tough.

Looks like I could be saddled with two cars!
 
I'm part of a Mazda MPS group on facebook, folks have been moaning on there for 4/5 months that it's near impossible to sell their cars on without dropping to ridiculously low prices.

I only mention it as there is a lot of similarity between the 3 MPS and ST.
 
The book has been hit pretty hard over the last two months. The market doesnt seem that strong at the moment unfortunately (unless you're buying of course!).
 
Just a bad time of year, this is buying season not selling.

Especially if it's a drop top! I once got about 4k of a new mx-5 buying at this time of year. Because they just couldn't sell anything :D
 
Dav4 said:
By offering buyers the option of me MOTing it if they come and leave a deposit then that is surely just as good?
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That's not as good no. Its a bit cheeky. "I'll make sure my car is roadworthy for a year but only if you leave a deposit to buy it"

That would certainly put me off! The car needs to be mot'd while people are looking for it unfortunately, or they will just move on to the next advert. I guess you are very reluctant to mot it early, so perhaps re-think and re-advertise it in two months, maybe the market will be better for you too :)
 
I'd avoid anything that has anything resembling the phrase "Short MOT but will pass with flying colours" like a **** covered stick.

If it'll pass then why doesn't the seller just chuck £30 at it and be done with it.
 
Dav4 said:
if it really is the absolute worst time to try and shift a car though what is the point in me doing it 2 and a half months before its due when it still probably wont sell due to it being christmas in just over 5 weeks! As i have said in other posts over the last month i have seen ST's sell with 3 and 4 months MOT on so it has to be the timing of it more than anything.
If i MOT it now and it doesnt sell then by the time Jan comes around and the market starts picking up i will have lost 2 months MOT and my original expiry date for nothing.
By offering buyers the option of me MOTing it if they come and leave a deposit then that is surely just as good? And if i get no more interest in the next week i can just put it on hold till mid Jan and start again.
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I'd just leave the advert up as is, if it sells before the MOT is due then fair enough. If not just MOT it at the normal time and relist.
 
Clav said:
I'd just leave the advert up as is, if it sells before the MOT is due then fair enough. If not just MOT it at the normal time and relist.
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Problem is, as a buyer if you scout what's available and keep an eye on that, you'd write this one off as having short MOT and doubtful you'd bother to click back on the advert to see if it's been MOT'd yet.

Edit: My S3 sold yesterday also :)
 
I'd put a car with a two month MOT at the bottom of my list unless the car was very rare. I'd always be wondering why the owner didn't just get it MOT'd. Yes it knocks two months off the anniversary date but the seller doesn't need to worry about that as they won't have the car next year. There is more value to the buyer by having a fresh MOT than a soon to expire one.

Even if the seller says they will add an MOT for the seller I'd then assume that if I ask for an MOT they will moan about reducing the price.

I wouldn't rule the car out completely. But I'd be looking at other cars before it.
 
Putting a car in with two month mot or waiting till January is of no difference to you. You still have to get it done and is of no consequence to you as the car will no longer be yours.
 
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