I want to believe ...

[MovieDude]

It is time to come full circle after twenty years since I first drove a GTI I now want to sell my current car, a Holden Commodore VE SS, and buy a MkV GTI.
Obviously I want top dollar for my car but I am so over the selling process. Would I lose out that much by trading my car in over selling it privately? Perhaps I should consider selling it directly to a Holden dealer. I'm not too sold on the idea of using an auction service but maybe someone can give me some advice.

[GoLfMan]

trade in prices are nearly offensive how much they offer you. I got triple what they asked in private sale.

just wait and sell it on the private market, how old is the SS?

[MovieDude]

trade in prices are nearly offensive how much they offer you. I got triple what they asked in private sale.

just wait and sell it on the private market, how old is the SS?

You mean you got triple in a private sale over a trade in?

The SS is 1.5 years old.

[Golf Houso]

I'd stay away from the auction services, the day I purchased my car from Pickles in October last year I saw a nice 06 Falcon GTP, which was supercharged and had a whole lot of other goodies, with 88,000km and it went for, get this 27k It was pretty disappointing seeing the owners face as he regrettably accepted the final bid.

[MovieDude]

I agree it's a buyers' market out there. The seller could have put a reserve on it.

I'm going to see what Holden will offer and then pop down to a VW dealer sometime next week.

[dubbed]

It can't hurt to see what both Holden and VW would give you as a trade in. Then look at Car Point & Car Sales to see what sort of prices people are asking and deduct x amount.

[MovieDude]

RedBook rate it $29,400 - $32,500, CarPoint seem to average around $39,000 and CarSales around $35,000 although the latter two are offer prices and not sold prices. RedBook does seem very low and other enthusiasts and people in the trade I've spoken to agree.

[KWICKS]

I've found a car to worth privately about 20-25% less than its insured for. What is it insured for and does this make sense to you?

[Golf Houso]

RedBook rate it $29,400 - $32,500, CarPoint seem to average around $39,000 and CarSales around $35,000 although the latter two are offer prices and not sold prices. RedBook does seem very low and other enthusiasts and people in the trade I've spoken to agree.

That's about the auction going rate, so I'd say thats pretty low. Its a misleading price anyway since you have to pay auction fees, transfer and often rego. Its sometimes alot better to buy private, shame the price is pegged that way and they're using that system.

[MovieDude]

Well it's insured for 'market value' - I know that's not helpful.

[noone]

personally, Carpoint is a good place to look and sell.

As you can search by postcode and proximity from postcode, it makes shopping easy (and thus finding buyers easy).

Also a good place to get a feel of the 'going rate' which won't be that great as the market is low (but then again the car you want should also be low).

Can I convince you to have a look at the Polo GTI? Plenty of car if you don't need the back doors... and quite a few $ cheaper.

[MovieDude]

I have looked at the Polo GTI but found it lacking in build quality compared to the Golf. It is a smaller car all round and having driven Golf GTIs I am very keen on getting back into one. Thanks for the suggestion.

[noone]

Yeah, no doubt in a different class in a number of ways.

I've got the Polo GTI (thus why I suggested it), for $25k I've got 150Kw, lowered, still under warranty, less than 12,000kms on the clock, lowered and a few other nice bits done.

Each to their own.

Maybe rock upto one of the group meets, then you'll have people upselling you to the R32 or back to the VR6 or older Mk Versions...

[Miss VR6]

Watch out for the car sales calculator, it isn't very finely tuned... If you have any extras or anything that sets you apart from others of the same year it doesn't take that in to account... I say private if you can be bothered...