Declaring *every* bad thing about a car when selling?

flat-6

flat-6

flat-6

Soldato
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I'm thinking about selling my E28. It looks nice, about as good as a standard E28 gets other than a restored £8k example. It's pretty fast too. Since buying it for £450, I have spent many hundreds on it, had bits resprayed, new clutch, put M Sport leather interior in etc.

It has some troubles though. It has a mystery suspension clunk I can't track down when it gets hot. I have to drive like 20 miles for it to start appearing though. I've changed the ARB droplinks and polybushed the ARB mount to no resolve. I think its a worn out damper now. So basically it needs new suspension, which is ~ £400. The colder it gets outside the longer this takes to happen.

It also has some minor cooling system niggles. When it gets really hot and I turn it off after a long journey it would spit out some coolant from the expansion tank over pressure pipe. Again now the weather has cooled it doesn't do this. I also think the viscous fan (it had a new one in the last few years) is broke. Again not a problem unless sitting in traffic.

I spent a load of money on a new clutch, new master/slave cylinder. From the SH I had seen it had been plagued with problems in this area. It was very hard to get into 1st before I had all this done (almost undriveable). Now fixed and shifts fine but the clutch is *really* heavy and the gearbox action is just not smooth. This makes it hard work to drive.

So basically it needs a load of money spending on it to make it good long-term, but I think most 20 year old E28s have issues. I think its worth about £1000 at best.

How much of this do I have to declare in an ad morally?

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ive always taken the view that its best to hint at what might be wrong

ie dont go lieing, but then go listing every niggly complaint in the add either.

A nice balance between too much info and lieing needs to be found. On another note, i really wouldnt be selling now. Nobody's buying jack at the moment.. Expect a hard time selling it.
 
I usually list everything that is likely to be noticed there and then, or within a test drive. Also, anything major that isn't simply wear and tear that may become apparent later on. This gets rid of the dreaded TYRE KICKER and those who turn up expecting showroom condition.

Plus if you make it clear that you are being honest, you are more likely to have the buyer pleasantly surprised. Which means sticking the price a little higher than you want to get and accepting their offers makes them feel like they've gone away with a bargain.
 
Janesy B said:
you'd think that but some 'classics' are only going one way - up.

Even onld bangers like this http://pistonheads.com/sales/695260.htm sell for stupidly high money. I was looking at MGB's and 2k will just about buy you a rotter.
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This makes me think about keeping it. Its in good condition so might just about go up in value. Rising oil prices makes me think otherwise. Best I've ever got is 28mpg @ 70mph.
 
flat-6 said:
This makes me think about keeping it. Its in good condition so might just about go up in value. Rising oil prices makes me think otherwise. Best I've ever got is 28mpg @ 70mph.
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For every classic car appreciating in value there are 25 that arn't. Unless its a special edition or someting really special in its day i doubt its worth keeping.
 
flat-6 said:
This makes me think about keeping it. Its in good condition so might just about go up in value. Rising oil prices makes me think otherwise. Best I've ever got is 28mpg @ 70mph.
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My dads cortina 1600E with twin webber carbs does about 20mpg at the most and he brought it for £4000 earlier this year and he's been offered £6000 for it not long ago, mint ones go for £12,000, yes twelve thousand for a 40 year old family car with a 1.6 Engine. The credit crunch doesn't seem to be hitting some people :mad:
 
flat-6 said:
Nearly all old Fords are silly money now. Crazy cos they are basically crap.
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hahaha, says he with the shonker of a BMW!! :p

MrLOL said:
On another note, i really wouldnt be selling now. Nobody's buying jack at the moment.. Expect a hard time selling it.
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Really? I sold a pug 205 with no tax or MOT at the weekend for £375!! :D This is exactly the sort of car this is selling now - it'll be well under a grand and if someone needs wheels that's the sort of car people are buying. People with loads to ***** on exotic stuff are few and far between at the moment, but if you do still have a few pennies to rub together there are some serious bargains out there.
 
A grand sounds high. I went and looked at an immaculate auto 528 for 850 quid a few days ago. FSH, zero issues & under 80,000 miles, with all the expensive bits freshly done and absolutely spot on. Lovely cars.

I always declare everything that's wrong, down to a T. Then the buyer knows exactly what they're getting into, what to expect when they turn up and don't go away disappointed. Less grief for me too as I don't have to get picked up on or explain things.
 
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You can't really ask other people for moral guidance. You have to decide yourself. If you're happy leaving stuff out of the ad without any guilt, then fair enough. Personally, I'd rather just be as honest as possible. Saves any ill-feeling later on, and leaves my conscience clean.

At the end of the day, if you declare everything that's wrong with the car, you'll get what it's worth - you can't really complain about that. If you're getting more money than it's worth and you've failed to mention some problems, in my opinion you're a conman.
 
Tell them about the suspension issues for sure...

The other issues I would probably also say as if I was a serious buyer I don't think they would worry me.
 
The clutch is just a minor inconvenience that you could leave for them to find on a test drive, if you're really fussed about covering things up, although if someone buys blind on ebay or whatever I can imagine them not being too chuffed - if you just said "clutch is a little stiff, but its new" I can't imagine it would put people off much.
The suspension and cooling issues though, are of a nature where they'd be serious and would be ripping someone off royally if you didn't let them know.
 
I sold the ZX on ebay. I didn't mention the slight sunroof leak and the slight windscreen leak in real driving rain or that the CD player was a bit particular about what it would play.

At the end of the day it went for £400 iwth 6 months MOT and an easy pass at the next test. It was in excellent condition mechanically and metallicly. You can't ask much more at that price point!
 
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