A few weeks ago I was seriously looking for a Cupra 20VT or 2.0R Impreza hatch, but I have just been given a wild card.
A friend of mine, and his family, have relocated abroad for work, and I have discovered his Legacy Tourer ( 2004 -2005MY-Spec B manual) is possibly up for sale. I wish to remain friends with him and would dearly love a car like this, and I imagine his options are to sell it to a dealer, thru the auctions, or dispose of privately. What realistically should I offer? The cheapest I have seen is £12,995 on Autotrader from a dealer, and my budget is less than this!
I was hoping to pick one up at auction in a few years time, but the opportunity is now!
Can anyone please provide me with a Glass's valuation, and what he could expect to realise if it were to be sold back into the trade. I would rather make no offer at all than an insulting offer!
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go to the vauxhall site and look under owners - trade in - there is a free glasses guide trade in valuation.
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Don't buy from or sell to friend.
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Don't buy from or sell to friend.
I wouldn't necessarily say that, if you trust the friend in question and he trusts you. But I'd be especially careful to treat him fairly - and make sure he knows it.
So, check what the Glass's valuation for his car is as a private sale and, if its within your budget, I'd take the direct line and say "This valuation says it's worth X. If you're happy with that price I'd like to buy". Don't haggle, either he's happy and he sells or he's not and he goes elsewhere. The important thing is that he doesn't have any ocacasion to feel taken advantage of.
That said, I know if one of my friends were in the same position, he'd expect top money, would wait until the day before he flew out in case they got a better offer and would still feel hard done by. He's just one of these people who looks twice at both sides of a pound coin before he spends it. So if you have any inkling your mate would be the same, let him go elsewhere.
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Tell him you are interested but your maximum budget is £x. Tell him to go ahead and sell the car elsewhere for more than that but if he can't get his price, then you are willing to pay that on his last day in the country!
That way, worse case scenarion, he knows he is going to get at least £x for it.
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A great car, I've just bought a saloon Spec B. If the price is right and it has full SSH go for it. If is under 3 years from registration it'll still have some manufacturer's warranty left. Just to be sure on what they're fetching check out autotrader and subaru's website (look under approved used cars).
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>> Don't buy from or sell to friend. I wouldn't necessarily say that, if you trust the friend in question and he trusts you. >>
It's not a matter of trust, simply of avoiding potential embarassment. Supposing a major and totally unforeseen fault develops a month after you buy it. If he's a friend, he feels a moral pressure to pay or contribute to the cost. You on the other hand feel shy of mentioning it , for that reason.
It's easier to do business with total strangers you don't trust and who don't trust you.
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Ive just taken a cheque off a neighbour for a car ive let him have at a damm good price and hes just more or less looked at me as if im ripping him off for not taxing it in the price...
Did neighbour come to me? yes
would i normally sell to neighbour?.no
would i do a deal with a friend i wanted to keep today tomorrow next year etc absolutely and totally not ,they 'always come back to haunt ' if only in jest that turns wearsome after its been trotted out at the pub year in year out
nonononononononononononononononononononono dont do it
how that?
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The belief usually seems to be that they (should) gain at your expense.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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I got my car from some relations of my wife one of whom I have known since she was a child. They had bought and used it for a while, thought it thirsty and troublesome, acquired a company car and left it sitting for a year, then MoTd it to sell. I paid what they asked which was buttons, tidied the car up slightly mechanically and it has been very good.
Some years ago I found them a car, a BMW 518. To me a Hamburg taxi, to them a nice classy runabout they kept for years until it had been so vandalised (in Oxford) that they got rid of it.
No one feels exploited. They know that if they had asked me to I would have helped them to tidy it up mechanically without asking for money. Point was, they didn't know it was necessary and so I didn't either, until I had the car.
One post mentioned a very 'careful with money' friend who would be best avoided. Obviously if there is any question of bad faith or radically different moral attitudes the question must arise as to whether the person is really a friend, or just a drinking acquaintance. There's sometimes a real difference although not always.
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It's a Legacy, they don't go wrong, so problem won't arise!
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Mark 99. Thank you, I have now looked at the Vauxhall site and got a part-ex Glasses valuation. However, as I said in my original post, my friends have moved abroad (2 months ago) and the car is still in the UK.
I have bought and sold cars privately from friends and contacts for 20+ years, and have absolutely NO problem with so doing. These are friends, who would not knowingly sell me a duffer with imminent problems. If a problem arises, as it occasionally has done, and expensive too, I accept it with good grace and it has never spoilt a friendship.
In view of all the helpful comments, I have a price in mind which I shall offer....if my friend can obtain a better price by putting it thru the auctions, or a main dealer buying it from him, then so be it! He may well consider that the business of selling & arranging viewings whilst abroad is too much of a hassle, yet a main dealer might just have a potential purchaser waiting in the wings.
Whats for you won't pass you by.
Watch this space!
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If you decide not to go for it, can you post the price here - I'm sort of in the market for that model.
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>>What's for you won't pass you by.>>
How dare you...:-)
But the point will be proved one way or the other.....:-))
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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Nsar
My friend returns with his family shortly, and I will post specific details of the vehicle, and his asking price - always assuming that it is beyond my budget!
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