Need some advice on selling a Polo

Raz · 26 Jan 2021 at 22:10

hi all,

As title, I need some advice on getting rid of a Polo. It's a 2007 Automatic, ok condition but due to a few issues a few years ago we've used it less and less, and practically not at all over lockdown. MOT came up recently and we were quoted ~£500 to replace the alternator and a few other bits, with total fixes - potential advisories - coming up at around £1200 (although looking around at other garages it's closer to £700-800, probably a lot cheaper if a mechanic or some who knows what they're doing gets the parts second hand).

We'd rather just get rid of it tbh, and had a few garages tell us to stick it online for ~£600 (now SORN'ed, no MOT) but I'm not sure where lol.

So...as I don't know much (well, anything) about selling cars I'm after some thoughts on -

- does £700 sound about right as a starting point? The car seems to be valued £1500-1700 if everything was well, and I don't want to pitch it too high given all the issues but also don't want to be too low (since the price might be haggled down anyway so want to make sure there's 'buffer')

- Is Facebook worth using? Not sure how the test drive would work given social distancing, and more importantly the lack of MOT etc (!) but the good thing is that there's a new battery and it still turns on

Would appreciate any pointers or advice, I know this is probably basic stuff but hey, everyone's a novice until, well, they're not

thanks

daz · 27 Jan 2021 at 10:40

Stick it on ebay, describe the car and all of the faults accurately. The market will decide the price.

sovietspybob · 27 Jan 2021 at 10:57

eBay for me as well, just stick it up with lots of good pictures and a detailed honest description.

Start it at nothing and see where the bidding gets too, i'd not bother with facebook myself as the type of person who looks for cars on there in my experience isn't worth wasting your time over. You'll get people either wanting it for £100 or wanting a "SWOP M8" for a broken jetski and a PS3

Hades · 27 Jan 2021 at 11:54

I sold a non running Golf GTi on ebay a few years ago. It was a bit of a pain in the arse with all the "wots yer best price mate" and "I'll do you a favour and take it off yer hands for £100". But in the end I sold it for a lot more than WeBuyAnyCrap offered me.

iamdjdz · 27 Jan 2021 at 16:19

Will it run with an alternator? They're normally around 100 quid and not that hard to replace. Might get more for it?

dlockers · 27 Jan 2021 at 16:44

If you earn less than the time it takes to get it repaired, then get it repaired. If your time is more valuable, get rid of it and move on. By this I mean, investing the time in giving it a thorough clean, shopping around for the "fixes" and getting it MOT'ed.

If getting rid of it is ticking some kind of OCD/scratch a mental itch about "being free from it", try and process it more quantitatively.

gc123 · 27 Jan 2021 at 18:17

interesting to see how you go ...i have a 2004 accord diesel estate been parked up, but started and moved regularly. been out of mot for over 12months. best offer so far a couple of hundred from messers may end up either biting the bullet and mot it or breaking it seems too good being exec grrr

Raz · 27 Jan 2021 at 20:35

Thanks for the replies.

daz said:
Stick it on ebay, describe the car and all of the faults accurately. The market will decide the price.

sovietspybob said:
eBay for me as well, just stick it up with lots of good pictures and a detailed honest description.

Start it at nothing and see where the bidding gets too, i'd not bother with facebook myself as the type of person who looks for cars on there in my experience isn't worth wasting your time over. You'll get people either wanting it for £100 or wanting a "SWOP M8" for a broken jetski and a PS3

Hades said:
I sold a non running Golf GTi on ebay a few years ago. It was a bit of a pain in the arse with all the "wots yer best price mate" and "I'll do you a favour and take it off yer hands for £100". But in the end I sold it for a lot more than WeBuyAnyCrap offered me.

Seems Ebay is the way to go. I'll give it a good wash and get some pictures taken. I think my concern would be payment - BT the best option?

iamdjdz said:
Will it run with an alternator? They're normally around 100 quid and not that hard to replace. Might get more for it?

It runs but not properly, the battery does charge as well so it's still got a bit of life (not the battery).

dLockers said:
If you earn less than the time it takes to get it repaired, then get it repaired. If your time is more valuable, get rid of it and move on. By this I mean, investing the time in giving it a thorough clean, shopping around for the "fixes" and getting it MOT'ed.

If getting rid of it is ticking some kind of OCD/scratch a mental itch about "being free from it", try and process it more quantitatively.

Well it was there for my wife, but she doesn't drive anymore - no reason really as she works from home, and we don't have the time, knowledge and probably the patience to do it ourselves. No point in getting it fixed if it's still not going to be driven.

gc123 said:
interesting to see how you go ...i have a 2004 accord diesel estate been parked up, but started and moved regularly. been out of mot for over 12months. best offer so far a couple of hundred from messers may end up either biting the bullet and mot it or breaking it seems too good being exec grrr

It's a headache lol. Will let you know how it goes...

Lethal` · 27 Jan 2021 at 21:17

Are private sales actually permitted right now under lockdown?

Raz · 28 Jan 2021 at 11:05

Lethal` said:
Are private sales actually permitted right now under lockdown?

Good question.

I saw an article about a guy getting a fine as he traveled 100 miles to pick up a car from a private sale, and he was caught by the police (was stopped for another reason...) and fined because it wasn't deemed an essential reason for leaving the house - but I imagine it can't be an issue if it's local and it's picked up by a tow-truck or something? I'll look into it....

phil675 · 28 Jan 2021 at 12:32

If it's not going to cost a great deal to get it MOT'd, then it's worth doing as it's a more attractive proposition if you can say it has 12 months MOT.

Haggisman · 28 Jan 2021 at 18:06

Raz said:
Good question.

I saw an article about a guy getting a fine as he traveled 100 miles to pick up a car from a private sale, and he was caught by the police (was stopped for another reason...) and fined because it wasn't deemed an essential reason for leaving the house - but I imagine it can't be an issue if it's local and it's picked up by a tow-truck or something? I'll look into it....

I would imagine this would depend on how essential the car is.

If its a weekend toy then you'd probably get a telling off.

If your car has been stolen/written off/broken down beyond repair, and you need one to get to work, then surely that would be classed as essential?

koolpc · 28 Jan 2021 at 18:14

Is it a mint colour? Any holes in it? Its in mint condition?

gc123 · 28 Jan 2021 at 19:09

koolpc said:
Is it a mint colour? Any holes in it? Its in mint condition?

i see what you did

Puzzled · 29 Jan 2021 at 11:25

Lethal` said:
Are private sales actually permitted right now under lockdown?

Not sure, I want to sell mine but not enough to risk test drives etc Will wait until things calm down.