Selling cars again

[Rooter]

Thinking of selling my Volvo privately. Need some opinions on:

It has a few dents and dings, torn drivers seat and a few minor things like that. Do i advertise it cheaper or get them fixed and ask for top dollar? Decent ones similar age and mileage are going for about 12-13k it seems. But what is the best way? Advertise it at 11 listing the niggles or pay 1k to fix it up and ask full price?

I'm thinking, try and flog it now as is, if that doesn't work then fix it and retry..

 

[Deleted Member 1156]

Purely on the assumption that you will get back whatever you spend on repairs then I would do it up. I think you are likely to get more interest if it's in decent nick thus putting you in a stronger bargaining position. However, if you spend a grand to increase it's value by £500 then clearly it's a no-brainer.

 

[Lord Tyrion]

I seem to remember your Volvo is an XC90, fellow Volvo driver so it stuck. If you think the value is around £12-13k then clearly it is well used but still with plenty of life left. People don't expect perfection at that point but ripped seats and dents will hurt you more than the odd scratch and swirl mark. It sets the tone. I would definitely get the seat fixed and get a quote from a dent specialist to sort out any bumps. As D4S states, it is a judgement call at that stage.

Even if you advertise the car at a lower price when people see the rips and dents they will try to drop you further, it is the psychology of it. Sell it in good condition, allowing for its age, and you will sell that car easily. Ideally you could find a farmer to sell it to. They wont care about rips, dents etc. and they love a car like that.

 

[Rooter]

i think you guys might be right, who would pay over ten grand for something with dents and a ripped seat? right, off i go to find a body shop and seat repair person!

 

[drdel]

Stick it in an auction and move on with no worries.

 

[harpo_72]

If you get it fixed it might be worth just keeping it, not sure what your reasons are for selling. But honestly speaking if the book value for a tatty one is significantly lower than a mediocre one then yes repair.
If your trading in seriously I wouldn't bother and just negotiate hard on price and trade in value. The garage would off load it to a small dealer who has some people or knowledge in tidying stuff up like this.

 

[Rooter]

If you get it fixed it might be worth just keeping it, not sure what your reasons are for selling. But honestly speaking if the book value for a tatty one is significantly lower than a mediocre one then yes repair.
If your trading in seriously I wouldn't bother and just negotiate hard on price and trade in value. The garage would off load it to a small dealer who has some people or knowledge in tidying stuff up like this.

trading down, i do about 20 miles a week now. No longer drive for work, so going to get a cheap run about for when we need it and use the cash thats sat on the driveway for some work on the house we want doing. Seems pointless having 10-12k sat out there.

Waiting on some quotes to fix it up, think the advice has been spot on, based on the value, it needs to be clean!