Today I took a deposit on my isf and it will be collected tomorrow. I thought I would share my experience of selling the car for those who may be in a similar position .
1. Where did I list the car and how much interest did it get?
I lists the car on autotrader and pistonheads only. I didn't bother with eBay. I prefer pistonheads as it allows sellers to write a detailed well constructed advert thereby giving the seller the ability to differentiate from the competition. Autotrader is pants and limits the characters and the just clumps up what you have written in to a block of illegible text. In the 3 weeks the car was listed I got four times as many enquiries via pistonheads than autotrader. What autotrader did display was the level of interest in the market for this car. The advert got just under 2000 views in 3 weeks!!
2. Why I hate selling privately.
I forgot how much people mess you around. I could have sold the car in 3 days for the price I am selling it for 3 weeks later but two chaps seriously wasted my time. Both offered my what I was after for the car and one sent in excess of 70 emails to me and I did a lot of running around re warranty etc. The weekend he was due to turn up he just made up excuses and stopped contact! The second chap decided to wait until 2 days before coming to see the car before assuming I would service and MOT the car over a month early at our agreed price.... No! If I had know this I would have sold the car almost 2 weeks prior. I was constantly asked questions where people were trying to pick holes in the car to reduce the price. Needless to say this didn't happen behind a point I had set in my head. I had a lot of 'I know your car is a lot better condition that car X but would you take £y as that's what I can get X for?' ... No. Survive to say it was a pain in the a@@
3. Modifications.
As always, the right midificarions are desirable. Everyone was glad the exhaust was fitted. Everyone wanted the intake. I asked most if I could remove it to make up some money and all said no. I should have removed and sold it prior to listing be car. Lesson learned. Interesting though.
4. Am I happy with what I got?
Kind of. It was 1k less than I was hoping for but the car is due a service and MOT next month so that's a factor as to why. Ultimately it's a good price but I think the buyer is getting a fantastic example and I don't think they realise just how good yet.
Overall it was a pain but I made 4K more than a trade in I was offered so I guess it's worth the agro. I loved the car, everything about it but it just is but needed now we have a practical run around with my wife learning to drive. So on to sports cars!
I won't leave the forum and will still look to arrange a few meets next year and help owners where I can. Sorry if this is waffle but it's too late now as you have read it all!
Stu