Selling my car. No patience

[dirtychinchilla]

At first glance there are a lot of Q2's on auto trader for 15/16k of the same year. But if you put filters to be automatic gearbox (seems to command a lot more), similar mileage and the specific 1.5TFSI engine, I'm getting 21.5 down to 18.5 from dealers within a 40 mile radius of OP.
OP's listing is 20k.

Thank you.

The problem is a BMW dealer doesn't really want your used Audi. Really the p/x is just a way of securing a sale rather than because they plan to make money on selling Q2s. Put yourself in their shoes, they need to get it cheap enough that they can turn a profit selling it to auction OR with enough markup to fund the overheads associated with running a dealership, offering warranty, prepping the car for sale etc etc.

Putting your car through HPIvaluations, assuming Excellent condition it comes out at:

Trade-in: £14.7 - 16.1k
Private: £16.75 - 17.5k
Forecourt: £17.4 - 19k

If we take the top numbers from all that what it implies is you could expect to get up to £16k trading it in or £17.5k selling privately. This is exactly in line with what I said earlier about a minimum £1.5k overhead for selling to a dealer.
Rival cars should be going for £19k from dealers (as we can see on AT).

Really you want to be getting at least £15k trade-in. But it depends a bit how much you are buying the 320i for and how good a deal that is. If its listed at top whack then there's possibly some wiggle room there. It really doesn't matter if they drop the price on the new car or they give you more on the p/x, all you need to worry about it minimising the cost to change. It can be an issue if you've approached the dealer with the most competitive price as they already know that so will resist dropping their price. But you go in armed with the CAP valuations to explain you know your trade-in is worth more than their offer. What you don't do, and I'm not suggesting you have, is say "oh I looked on AT and saw the same model up for sale for £19k" because then you lose credibility, they can easily bat that argument away, it's like saying to a restaurant "I ain't paying £20 for this steak pal it's a fiver in Lidl!". It's harder for them to argue against CAP.

I didn't try and sell it to BMW to be fair. I've been to Audi with it in the recent past.

I think the OP needs to compete with the £18.5K dealer price to achieve a private sale, somewhere in the £17.5K region might incentivise a buyer with a view to a haggle down to £16.75K or £17K?

If it goes that low I'll just keep it.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

@randomshenans want an expensive car to do up on your channel? Yours for only £21.5k (youtuber prices)

 

[dirtychinchilla]

So lets say a 30% markup between when you trade it in and what they stick it on the forecourt at. What sort of profit margin do you think that equates to?

Then lets spread that same percentage over 100 cars. How many of that 100 will throw a massive bill pre or post sale and have to be covered under warranty wiping out some/any profit?

I have very little time for the car retail industry as a sector but you can see why its the big players that can shift thousands of cars that are actually sustainable.

Yeah it sounds terrible. Someone should pay me instead of them as I'm not trying to cover my margins, just trying to move on!

 

[dirtychinchilla]

Its just the way it goes. Ive just traded in my 2019 E63S for £44k and they will pass it to their sister dealer that sells Mercedes and it will be on their forecourt for mid to high £50k at a guess

I know. I understand that they have margins etc, I just don't appreciate that the consumer gets shafted for doing their own thing.

For me, anything I know I'll keep forever I don't take amazing care of. But as soon as I own something that I know I will eventually want to sell, whether it's a car, a guitar, or computer parts, I keep it pristine if at all possible, keep the boxes, etc. and when it comes to selling, I take great care to take good quality photos, make good ads, and be conscientious. That's how I manage to sell stuff at a decent price. On eBay, I always wait for the 80% off listing fees etc, and I'm very thorough, and every I sell I post the next day, and more often than not the same day.

I feel the same about the car. I've done my best to make it as good as possible, treated it very well, cleaned the **** out of it, taken good photos, wrote a detailed description so that people can see that I'm honest and conscientious. And I really don't appreciate having to give up that value because someone has overheads to meet.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

unfortunately, any item, or in your case, your car is only worth what a buyer is willing to pay, not the seller's perceived value of the item
for 99.99% of car buyers, warranty (fwiw) and the ability to take out finance is worth more than some old joe bloggs saying that "i've taken good care of the car bruv, trust me" with nothing to back up on beside's their word

FWIW is worth is important here...doesn't cover any wearable parts so really, it doesn't cover that much!

Probably not the best time to be selling a car to be honest, might have better luck after January

You might be right there. I was thinking today that I might cancel the deposit on the new car to take the pressure off for getting this sold. At the very least, it may encourage them to drop the price. It's not the only car in England that I would go for.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

AUC covers the most important parts that go boom.

oh the irony

AUC?

 

[dirtychinchilla]

Approved Used Car

Ah OK. Yeah that's fair enough. Someone else in here did say you could get the Audi extended warranty for £350 a year or something thereabouts.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

The sort of warranty you can buy yourself, that independent dealers sometimes include for three months, are usually worthless. That's why I prefer to buy from a private seller and save the markup on a dealer. But the warranty when buying approved used from a main dealer is often worth it. So I would pay more at a main dealer for that reason.

Before cancelling you certainly could try the old "My car has been up for sale for the last few months with not much interest. The used market seems to have really taken a dive recently so I'm afraid I'll need to lower my offer on this car. I completely appreciate you may not be able to consider that". You'll almost certain;y get a "no". But there is no harm trying.

That's part of what I'm going to say to them. If I can shave a grand off the price of the other car, I can accept a grand lower on my car

 

[dirtychinchilla]

I'm taking the ad down. Financially, it doesn't stack up for me so I'm just going to keep the car. It would be a whole lot nicer if it had bloody climate control.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

I do think people are overestimating the wider audience here and would have thought the kind of people after a 5yr old Q2 would be unlikely to use a Chrome add in. Hell i didn't even know one existed and i'm sure if i told my wife she'd just look at me blankly like she does when i've suggested things like Camel Camel Camel.

I thought as much too. Everyone here is a bit too smart.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

Seeing as you already paid for the ad, why don't you just leave it up?

If I get the maximum I could consider possible for it, after reading everything on here, I would put myself in a financial position that I'm uncomfortable with to buy the new car. I decided it was better just to let it go.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

just leave it up at the current price then. whilst it's extremely unlikely you will get your asking price, it's not a zero chance

I might do. I've already put the money up for the ad.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

Bloody hell. It's like my mum wrote it.

Maybe that's why my car hasn't sold?!

They've also got the dread air conditioning.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

But its cheaper than yours and has 2 years warranty

might do

 

[dirtychinchilla]

I'm fine if I can get manufacturers extended warranties on a private sale, but obviously needs proper full main dealer service history, or all the detailed receipts from indy garage showing the service schedule has been thoroughly adhered to..

Honestly from about 40 cars I've seen, 100% all say "Full Service History", or "Full Main Dealer Service History" and all but 3 haven't.. usually missed services, or random garages with no receipts to show what was done, or just flat out patchy service history..
I also have a remarkable number citing options the car doesn't have.. I have walked from some sales because I know full well outside the token warranty the garage is offering, I'm on my own after that..

I've got all that stuff. Did everything, kept everything. I wanted to make sure it was good when I came to sell it.

 

[dirtychinchilla]

I must admit I've taken a fair chunk out of our Polo's value by self servicing it. It was my wife's decision after she found out what VW charge for an oil change and pollen filter. We don't plan on getting rid of it but if she gets her way and baby number 2 comes along and/or I change jobs and the company estate goes then who knows.

I will admit to changing the pollen filter myself. Not surprised you just did it though consider it takes a few seconds!