Best way to sell my car

danlightbulb

danlightbulb

danlightbulb

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Joined
14 Jul 2005
Posts
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Location
Birmingham
New car arriving Monday.

Need to sell my old one.

Autotrader was going to be my go to option, its around a £20 fixed fee for 2 weeks advert or a bit more for 3 weeks. I was hoping that AT would suggest a guide price, but it won't because of the car age. This is disappointing.

Its a 2005 BMW 325i (straight six 2.5l N52 petrol engine), SE trim, tourer.

Mileage 122000.

FSH with recent repair work on a number of items which includes new aux belt, electric coolant pump, valve and oil housing gaskets, gearbox filter and fluid change, all new ignition coils, new battery, 4 new tyres.

Some present faults which are:
* Rear wiper doesn't work.
* Passenger front door lock won't unlock with central locking, but does lock with central locking and can be locked/unlocked manually.
* Radio display screen dead pixels
* Minor dings, paint chips etc that you'd expect on 19 year old car. No body dents or rust etc.


I don't know if £3k is too optimistic, or I start there and expect to be pegged back.

Obviously Im expecting the timewasters etc.

I would like to sell it reasonably quickly.


Anyone got any views, particularly of a realistic valuation?
 
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For something like that i'd be seeing what the likes of Motorway offer and then assessing how much more you think you'd get privately and whether you value the potential increase vs level of hassle involved.

This is the sort of car i'd expect people to be buying on Gumtree and Facebook marketplace as much as AutoTrader but I wouldn't envy you dealing with the sort of people who would likely be enquiring about it from those sort of platforms :p

There's a point where the £500 extra isn't worth the constant "best price bruv?", "£750 cash and i take it today", "i'll offer £500 because the lock will cost £6000 to fix"
 
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Kenai said:
There's a point where the £500 extra isn't worth the constant "best price bruv?", "£750 cash and i take it today", "i'll offer £500 because the lock will cost £6000 to fix"
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Absolutely this... I have to spend some time translating some of the messages I get that are supposedly in English
 
Kenai said:
For something like that i'd be seeing what the likes of Motorway offer
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Motorway won't offer a price, car too old. WBAC is £1185.

Here's some AT listings of similar cars:

* 2005, 117k, px to clear, dealer, £1650.
* 2007, 136k, dealer, £4000.
* 2005, 133k, dealer, £3295.
* 2005, 129k, private, £3850.


jpaul said:
How much MOT and what tyre brand ? they'd add value.
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Its up in November but I could always put a new MOT on, it should pass.

Tyres are Hancook.
 
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danlightbulb said:
Here's some AT listings of similar cars:

* 2005, 117k, px to clear, dealer, £1650.
* 2007, 136k, dealer, £4000.
* 2005, 133k, dealer, £3295.
* 2005, 129k, private, £3850.
Click to expand...

Assuming i've found the right ones...

* 2005, 117k, px to clear, dealer, £1650. - been for sale since mid August, originally up at £2,490
* 2007, 136k, dealer, £4000. - been for sale about 3 weeks, originally up at £4,495
* 2005, 133k, dealer, £3295. - been for sale since late June, originally up at £3,990
* 2005, 129k, private, £3850. - been for sale about 2 weeks, originally up at £3,800, then raised to £3,950 after 2 days, then dropped to £3,850 again

You'll probably need to be prepared to sit on it a while, even at £3,000.

I know the saloons don't necessarily command the same sort of money but...

2007, 137k, dealer, for sale since November 2023
2005, 115k, private, for sale since August 2023

(Not sure if they've been running ads continuously but they don't appear to be flying off the proverbial shelves)
 
If you are confident on the MOT, I'd do that - I've had a cat replaced a couple of years ago and if a buyer can be comforted that emission etc are Ok that would add value for me.
 
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