Where To Sell
Trading the car in part exchange for your newer one is the easiest and most hassle free option - click ‘here’ for advice on how to negotiate a trade-in. But if you prefer to sell it yourself, here are the options to consider:
- Local newspaper. Many cars are sold this way, but if you value your car at more than £3000, there may be better places to advertise it.
- Specialist magazines. Autotrader and Exchange and Mart are good places to advertise. They have national coverage (particularly helpful if you are selling a rarer model) and are bought by people who are looking to buy - so adverts are well targeted. You can also use these publications on the internet.
- Selling to a dealer is a quick way to sell a car. The downside is he needs to make a profit when he sells it on, so you are unlikely to make the best price this way.
- Auctions. Again, a very good way to move a car quickly, but you may be disappointed at the price you get. You can put a reserve price on, but the auction house will expect you to be realistic and not waste their time trying to get a price they don’t think they can achieve. You will also need to make allowance for paying the auction house a seller’s premium.
- Online auctions. If you word the advert well and show plenty of pictures, this can be an excellent way to sell. If you can set a realistic reserve, you should be able to sell it quite easily. The downside is there are a lot of time wasters who win the auction, then try to haggle the price when they come to pick it up. If you are new to online auctions, go to ebay and look at typical ads for your car to get an idea of what seems to work best.
