If you were serious about selling your car privately, would you gauge the price to be in line with Glass's part exchange values?
A friend has asked me to help him buy his first car privately, and with a max budget of £2500, everything on Autotrader which I have looked at is well in excess of the Glass's p/ex valuations.
Some private sellers are asking circa £2200, yet Glass's quote a p/ex value of only £1390 if in excellent condition.£1075 if poor.
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Dealer sale>Private sale>Trade in
Surely you'd expect the pricing to be in line with Glass's private sale values...
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Some private sellers will always be over-ambitious or out of touch - hardly surprising if you dip into the car market only once every five years or more. On the other hand, the PX value of an old car is likely to be what a dealer reckons he can get at auction (with perhaps a bit extra to sweeten the deal) since it's not likely to be shiny enough to put on the forecourt, so the true private price ought to be a bit above that.
I think we need to know a little more about what you and your friend are looking for.
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Before Christmas anyone would have beeb lucky to get Glasses p/x value for a car. However, the market has gone mad since Jan 1 and any seller should at least try getting over p/x guide value.
A popular car in good condition in a sensible colour will probably have dealers after it if priced at Glasses p/x price in the classifieds.
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Apparently there's a shortage of recent, small, fuel/tax efficient motors in good condition - so it skews the prices accordingly - Autotrader is probably a good indicator.
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Best indicator as a starting point for minimum value, as with everything... is the sold, auction, no reserve eBay prices.
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Agree Mapmaker - I use them too and most of then are well over Glass's px value at the moment!
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I am starting to give up on it. I saw a Focus today dearler wanted 2k for a 2000 X which is book price. Now all tyres were chineese and badly worn although legal, the alloys were badly chipped and unusualy the arches hard starting to rust. £1500 then I would have fogiven these issues but at £2k for a 9 year old galvanised car?
I have found that the best value seems to be in Puntos and Astra Gs. The only prioblem is these although very well priced also sell quickly.
I am going to a trade place tomorrow to have a look, the cars are less than perfect but the stuff is all ex dealer stock being sold at a minimum. W reg Focus 1.6 Ghia with 12 months MOT for £1300 for example. Yes it will have scratches etc but I would rather have a slightly scruffy body I can tidy up myself thhan pay £700 more retail.
If you have time on your hands then good luck you will find your car, if you have not much time then finding a good Focus may be hard as soon as the advert goes online it will have been sold.
I remember when I bought my dads Fiesta Ghia 18 months ago, people just kept turning up to view it. The seller was very surprised, but it was £400 less than book value. When we got it back home we soon realised it had issues but a £100 garage bill sorted most of them out.
At the end of the day a car is worth what a buyer will pay and for some reason the market is just crazy atm. Anybody that believes this credit crunch hype needs shooting. Said that 2 years ago I would have probably just got a brand new Kia on one of them silly finance deals which no longer exist and so would have many people in the £2k market which I suspect its why it is so lively.
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2 years ago I would have probably just got a brand new Kia on one of them silly finance deals which no longer exist and so would have many people in the £2k market which I suspect its why it is so lively.
Good point, Ratttle, if I may say so. I haven't seen it put that clearly before.
When you say "give up", though, I hope you don't really mean it. I vividly remember looking round at bangers (sorry, immaculate specimens). One was a Rover 3.5 shed, and when I asked the guy to start the engine he said "Sorry, gov, that's one thing I can't do for you".
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Its just the time and effort that is involved and what i am finding now it dosn;t seem to matter if its under book or at book value they all seem quite poor. What angers me is when I walk the street I see so many spottless Focuses without a scratch and probably got over 100k on them, my customer has a 99 one with 90k and its spotless yet some how the ones being sold are the rusting sheds (the reason the seller has moved on most likely).
For the OP ask your mate what he thinks of the Astra G, they are boring bland but but nice to drive, cheap parts, don't rust and much cheaper to buy than a Focus.
I think one of the worst cars you could buy now is the Polo MK3, horribly over priced for what was only ever an average car. I have sene dealers asking £1500 for R reg examples with 80k on the clock, the same amount will buy you a good 51 reg Astra.
Also if insurance is not an issue a bigger engine will be better value, yes it will use more fuel but you can get the cars a lot cheaper and they don't sell as quickly which means more choice and less stress.
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What angers me is when I walk the street I see so many spottless Focuses without a scratch and probably got over 100k on them, my customer has a 99 one with 90k and its spotless yet some how the ones being sold are the rusting sheds (the reason the seller has moved on most likely).
So you're the chap who shakes his fist...
I was worried this weekend. My 10 year 70k Focus Pocus (no rust but plenty of blemishes) is very much due a service and I needed to travel 300 miles on Saturday to deepest Kent and back. I don't often make this sort of journey but have done in the past very happily. Something didn't bode well this time but I didn't know what it was so I made sure I checked the usual bits and pieces and made off. And that's it...I forgot about my concerns completely. OK it doesn't feel like a BMW or similar but it felt as sure as it always had done and I never fretted about anything going wrong.
I'm always on the look out for my next car (because looking is half - if not more - the fun) but I'm in no hurry whatsoever to get rid of it. Before Xmas I thought I could only get 1k for it, but now that may be half as much again. I'm not one for giving cars names but I am growing more fond of mine by the day I'm considering "Tenacity".
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I feel very trapped now, I should have canceled my insurance and waited for the market to calim down, although I am missing the car. The problem is I have a suspended policy so if I cancel now I loose the £200 deposit.
If I buy now at top price what happens if it all comes down? I intend to keep the car a fair few years so it is not a major issue but I may have to sell the car due to currently unkown circumstances - e.g I may decide to move Canada.
I don't like to be bitter but I feel like I have completly hacked this car buying thing up. I should have bought a decent car in October mind you I have more money now as I have been saving and I have had a couple of good months. I am the sort of person who will buy a house for £250k and the county will go into the deepest depression the day after!
My mate often goes down to Dorset and back in his 10 year old 140k Focus ;).
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