Do you sell privately?

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Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
4,548
Location
Nottingham
I'm in the process of buying a new (to me) car and will likely just part exchange my C7 A6 next week, but was wondering what most people do.

Main reasons for me are:
- Timings - I can drive in with one car out with another
- Ease - I don't have to spend time showing people round a car, letting them test drive it etc
- Risk - There is virtually no risk of any comeback as I am part exchanging with a main dealer

I did look at the likes of we buy any car etc but have agreed a price that pretty matches this on part exchange.

The downside is clearly the price. I am part exchanging my A6 for £9k and could probably get £10.5k private.

Interested to hear what other people's approach/thoughts are.
 
List it privately and honestly.

As long as people know exactly what they are getting when they come round, most will already be 95% of the way to wanting the car. Just make sure to keep it looking great (a quick clean before each viewing)

I sold all 3 of my cars on the first day I had people come to view them.
 
Never sold a car privately, mainly because I'm lazy, trading it in is so easy, but you pay the price. I keep a ballpark figure in my head though, dealers will lowball you like crazy if you let them.

When I traded in my Focus, the dealer offered me £400! Of course it was because "it needed a clutch and he'd have to refurb the alloys etc". Complete nonsense. I managed to get another £600 out of them which is what I wanted. I saw it listed a day later on the website with none of that "required" work done. It also had an extra grand added to what they paid me.

I also hate the thought of selling a car to someone and something major going wrong that I had no idea was coming.
 
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I guess one of the main reasons of selling privately, is you get more money.

If it's some cheapo car then you might as well flog it to a garage I guess :p
 
Most of my cars sell to first viewer. I just list openly and honestly (with more issues listed than most other adverts, they probably have the same issues just not listed) and people don't get any unexpected surprises.

Can count on one hand the number of people who came to view and didn't buy a car of mine. One it was an issue I'd missed, said i'd fix it but he'd found another car in the mean time.

Others were all over price, adverts all listed truthfully no unexpected issues and then they expected to knock a large £ off;
e.g. my S3 was up for £4k, someone phoned and offered 3k and then 3.3k which I said I'd never go as low as and would rather keep the car, but encouraged a viewing to appreciate the quality etc. He then came to see it and offered 3.3k as his final offer.

That said I had a lot of people asking 100's of q's and when they could come view etc then never heard from again.

Have sold a lot of cars over the years though, as I like to experience lots of different cars it turns out :D
 
Nah i part ex'ed my last car , i know i could have got a bit more (£300-£500) if i sold it privately , but it was less hassle just trading it in. Didnt fancy all those tyre kickers calling up
 
If you can get anything half decent for it I'd part-exchange myself - last couple of times I've sold a car privately its largely been time wasters and people who try everything to knock the price down silly low and taken a bit of time to shift them.
 
Sold my car recently privately, was offered £7.8k trade, sold it for £9k.

Been quite lucky, only every had 1 person walk away from buying a car from me in 20 years of driving.
 
I nearly always sell privately. As has been said, if you price it sensibly compared to other examples in your local area, properly detail it, get some good photographs of it (not crappy portrait phone pics), and list it honestly then it will sell quickly.
 
Sold over 10 cars privately and only one I've had issues with was due to the new owner absolutely ragging it (which I'd seen him do whilst out and about and the garage he took it to also noted he drove in like a bell... ) and blowing the turbo up and trying to claim a refund a month later.

Politely sent him on his way.
 
For me it all come down to money? If i wanted to get highest value for the car i will always sell privately. Its about being patient iv had a few time wasters in my time and setting a fair price so that people fell like they are getting a bargain when they haggle you down, but your still getting what you want for it. But if I am not bothered about it and i have found a car i like at a dealers ill trade it in.
 
Depends on the car for me

We almost always end up trading in our second/smaller as generally the px is within a few hundred of what I reckon I could get privately and you'll see it in the forecourt a wek later. My own cars are almost always sold privately as they tend to be of little to no interest to the place selling the new car so the private to px difference can be more like £1k-£1.5k.

Usually ends up in the previous car being sold days before or after picking the new one up of its priced correctly - but ultimately it wouldn't normally issues if it sat there a while
 
I sell privately and buy privately. Purchasing from a BS-ing dealer just annoys me too much and for selling, well I've always done it so none the wiser.
 
Sold every car I've owned privately to the first person to view apart from a Fiesta ST I sold to RevitupUK for more money than I could get in a private sale.

Honest listings to ensure no hidden surprises, as said above by someone else, they pretty much want it before they arrive. However, I'm not shy of spending a few quid making sure someone gets a good car after I've had my time with it.
 
To those of you have sold cars 10 - 20k+ privately. What do you use for the transfer of money? Bank transfer? They can't reverse a bank transfer can they? My main reason for using part ex or trade in would be my fear of being scammed privately.
 
I sold my last car privately, I lost money out of it. But it was perfect, I was moving abroad and my bosses son showed interest. My boss test drove it, and his son picked it up the day I left.

I did get lucky (well he did) there though.
 
Depends on the car TBH. I sold a sub £1000 bog standard 306 and had to deal with the real dross of the used car market;

a 'yoof' who turned up to view the car with his whole crew in three separate cars who then hung around while I wasted my time with him

a guy who was buying the car for his mother (also present) who said 'it's exactly what I'm after' but it obviously wasn't what he wanted to get so sucked through his teeth for ages before doing the "I'll let you know"

a smelly builder that mid test drive turned and looked me square in the eyes and just came out with the statement "I've already written off two cars this month"

Every rude boy wanna be car salesman (you know the ones, innit) who called me all hours of the day and night just to ask me "Whats your best price?"

Would I bother again? No chance. Which is why I basically gave away my Octavia by chucking it in the local auction. Part of that was because it had a minor electrical fault (enough to light the CEL), was using oil at an epic rate and was modified.

That said, if the car isn't going to attract the guests of this seasons Jeremy Kyle Show then it is an easy way to bank yourself a bit more money from the sale.

The mere fact that the likes of We Buy Any Car etc. are doing so well and the complete lack of private cars on Autotrader shows that people simply can't be doing with selling privately anymore. Which is a shame as it is still my preferred way to buy.
 
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