[able]

In the past, I've not sold my cars, I've traded them in for part exchange.

I'm hoping other forum members can help me figure out the best way of selling my car - a 2005 Mondeo.

What do you think the best way to sell a car is (to get the best price)?

How long before the move should I sell my car?

We're planning to hire a car for the time between selling and moving but it's quite pricey, so we'd like to do this for the minimum time.

[Nathan]

We sold our cars to the dealership where we bought them. We we're paid better than we'd estimated we would get from private sales. That allowed us to sell them when we wanted so our rental car costs were small and we didn't have to invest time we didn't have on selling.

[james the mechanic]

James guide to used car sales…
Personally I would advise you to first pay £3.50 to Glass’s Guide for a valuation you can do this online @ www.glass.co.uk
Then take the car around local dealers and ask them what they would give you for the car, expect them to bid about£1000 less than Glass’s retail price. Regardless of their bid give them your phone number and ask them how long their offer is valid. If a dealer is not interested, ask them if them know of another dealer who might be.
In the event that you can’t sell it to a dealer or feel that by doing so you would be murdering it away don’t panic. My next port of call would be to advertise it in Autotrader , you can do this online also @ www.autotrader.co.uk.
Prior to advertising you need to make the car attractive as possible invest some money in a professional full valet and get a brand new MoT done, you may think both of these are a waste of money but take the word of someone who has sold thousands of car, its worth every penny. This is even more true in the case of a ,05 Mondeo as anyone looking for one, will have a choice of literally hundreds so it is important that yours stands out from the crowd.
Half the battle will be getting the phone to ring and thus getting a punter round to buy the car. This is why a well composed advert is paramount to your success; a good advert will SELL the car. You must highlight its positive while glossing over its negatives without actually misdescribing the car. If the vehicle has just had a new cambelt for example state the fact in the advert, if the car is top spec state the model, but if it’s a basic model with no extras, don’t. Try looking at other adverts to get an idea of what you should say. (Alternatively if you PM me the details I’ll write one for you) Low mileage, one owner Mondeos are rare, so if yours is either state so in the advert.
Take a good clear picture of the car for the advert and think about what’s in the background, as many people make assumption about the car and its owner based on this.
When you get a potential buyer round to view the car, be as friendly as possible having asked their Christian name on the phone, now use it, you need them to like you, offer them tea and don’t stand over them while they view the car. Talk to them about where they have come from, the weather, their children, the car they arrived in, in fact anything but the car you’re selling. Only talk about this in order to answer their questions, if you’re a nice person, your car must be nice, don’t feel you need to sell the car to them, they want a Mondeo that’s why they have come to see it, the question is more, do they want to buy it from you?
Don’t tell any prospective purchaser that you are emigrating; it will not do you any favours at all. If all else fails and you fail to sell the car which you won’t, you can always take one of the dealers up on their offer.
My final bit of advice is do not hold the car for anyone, it’s not sold until you have a deposit.
Best of luck if I can help just ask:nice1
James

[able]

James, thank you for taking the time to give such a detailed description of the process. There's one part I didn't understand though. Why shouldn't I say tell people that I'm emigrating? Wouldn't emigration at least indicate to the buyer that I've got a genuine reason for selling?

[pinkpiggy]

James, thank you for taking the time to give such a detailed description of the process. There's one part I didn't understand though. Why shouldn't I say tell people that I'm emigrating? Wouldn't emigration at least indicate to the buyer that I've got a genuine reason for selling?

I think what James is trying to say is - if you tell them you're emigrating they might think you're desperate and will offer you ridiculous money for your car.

We sold our car to a company called www.wewantyourcar.com or something like that. If you do a search on the forum we did a long post about it. Basically they're an online company and you fill in a form describing your car and they give you an online valuation. They follow this up with a phone call and if you're happy with the price they arrange for someone to visit, check over the car and will make a payment direct into your bank account while they are there.

If you want any more details send me a PM.

[sizzlingbadger]

There's always ebay as well or would a family member be interested in it ?

We were lucky in that on of our family members bought the car off us and drove us to the airport :D

[jubjub]

We were lucky in that on of our family members bought the car off us and drove us to the airport :D

we sold one car in the local paper, and the other one my cousin took, so i delivered it to her on the way to the airport:clap !

Its worth starting the process a bit early in case it takes a while to sell, we had to leave one car with my hubbys parents to sell, not ideal. Do you have anyone who would lend you a car for a couple of weeks, or a local cheap car hire co that could help you out?

Cant add much to what james said... the other option is an auction which we tried also (didnt work though for our car)