Hints on buying 2nd hand Golf GTI

[guest12345]

just curious guys, how accurate is redbook??

This is what it says for a 2009 5d golf gti...
* Private Price Guide $32,800 - $36,100
* Trade In Price Guide $27,300 - $30,600
* Average Km 15,000 - 25,000
Price Guide $42,990* Price Guide

From those prices i can afford it, but once i go on carsales and ones close to those descriptions are like 40k+

This one is for the pirelli 3 doors...
* Private Price Guide $35,100 - $38,600
* Trade In Price Guide $29,400 - $32,900
* Average Km 30,000 - 50,000
Price Guide $47,490* Price Guide

The guy in sydney selling his have it on for $42,000... with 30000km on it...

So are people on carsales' prices way too high? or is redbook not really accurate?

As according to redbook, my mx-5 is worth more than a golf gti...

[Axis]

Redbook is always lower than the current market. It fluctuates but carsales is consistently a better indication of the market value for cars. Redbook is used by dealerships when calculating trade in prices.... its pretty common for you to get more money for your car as a private sale then from a dealer.

Basically I think that its a bit pointless to look at Redbook and compare it to carsales.... regardless of what Redbook says Carsales is a true indication of the market as it stands today. A car is worth what people are willing to pay for it - not what redbook says. People are buying GTIs at the prices on carsales and therefore that's what they are worth.

That said - you can normally bargain 1-2k of a private sales price in my experience. As previously mentioned, the Pirelli I bought was also advertised for $42k but I got it for $39k.

[guest12345]

Redbook is always lower than the current market. It fluctuates but carsales is consistently a better indication of the market value for cars. Redbook is used by dealerships when calculating trade in prices.... its pretty common for you to get more money for your car as a private sale then from a dealer.

Basically I think that its a bit pointless to look at Redbook and compare it to carsales.... regardless of what Redbook says Carsales is a true indication of the market as it stands today. A car is worth what people are willing to pay for it - not what redbook says. People are buying GTIs at the prices on carsales and therefore that's what they are worth.

That said - you can normally bargain 1-2k of a private sales price in my experience. As previously mentioned, the Pirelli I bought was also advertised for $42k but I got it for $39k.

I always thought Redbook was more accurate... as carsales is the actual market, but how many people actually pay the advertised price? and i'm quite sure most people add 2-3k on top of what they really think the car is worth, as it is just human nature to get the best possible price right?

I only mentioned redbook, because signing up to carsales to sell, it comes with a redbook certification, which is a "more accurate" estimate, which take into consideration your actual kms, instead of average (which would be the above).

I guess you can only buy at the price that the seller wants to sell... i just don't want to pay more than i worth really.

[Axis]

I guess the point I was trying to make is that redbook is somewhat of a static reference point. The prices there are calculated on age of the car and kms on the clock (I assume)...

Whereas carsales fluctuates as the market changes. If suddenly 10 people in Sydney decide to sell a MY08 GTI the price on redbook won't change, but carsales will show the true market.

Currently redbook's "2-3k lower than carsales" figure applies however if there was only 1 or 2 GTIs for sale per state the difference would be much higher I imagine...

Anyhow - to be safe, use both!

[Jeffie]

My financier used Glasses guide which was a lot closer to carsales' prices.

[lawrunz]

hey den,

I'm sort of in the same boat as you looking for a second hand GTI and only wanting to pay the intrinsic worth of the car.

Some of the sellers have really high prices compared to Redbook so I use Redbook as a starting negotiating point with the hopeful effect that they realise their advertised price is a bit too high.

One of the things I wish that was on Redbook was like an average depreciation guide for the car and individual options.

[Tim]

Redbook prices are not realistic. In some cases they are 10% lower than glasses guide which is the industry standard.
If you can get your hands on a car at or below redbook prices youre doing well in my opinion

[guest12345]

hey den,

I'm sort of in the same boat as you looking for a second hand GTI and only wanting to pay the intrinsic worth of the car.

Some of the sellers have really high prices compared to Redbook so I use Redbook as a starting negotiating point with the hopeful effect that they realise their advertised price is a bit too high.

One of the things I wish that was on Redbook was like an average depreciation guide for the car and individual options.

oh no i have competition!! haha just kidding.

Its good we can pass different information onto each other!! Plus i won't be buying soon, as i have to sell first.

Anyways, i'm selling my car on carsales as well, it comes with a redbook certificate... so people should actually know around how much their car is worth... eg. for my mx-5 from simply going on redbook, it has $27,500 - $30,600 with average KM 40,000 - 70,000, but with the redbook certificate which people outside carsales have to pay $20 and get free by putting your car on carsales... it states that my car is worth $32,900 because it only has 23000km which is in "very good" condition (2nd of the 5 options)...

From what i gathered i figured it is around $1000 per 10000km...

So on redbook take a 2009 Golf GTI DSG it has..
* Private Price Guide $32,800 - $36,100
* Average Km 15,000 - 25,000

So MY interpretation is the car is worth $32,800 - $36,100 (depending on the condition) if it has done 15000km and in excellent condition it should be around $36,100+, but if it is in poorer conditions minus $500-1000. And like i mentioned before, if it has 5000km on it add $1000 and if it has 35000km take $1000 off.

Also take into consideration the Redbook is ONLY the standard version, so have to add $$ for Sat nav and other options.... (still trying to work out how much to add on). So that is a rough guide from my research so far.


Anyways, which ones do you have your eyes on? year? KMs? 3/5 door? manual? DSG?

Would be good when you inspect cars you can pass some information to me, so i don't have to waste my time and vice versa.

[guest12345]

Redbook prices are not realistic. In some cases they are 10% lower than glasses guide which is the industry standard.
If you can get your hands on a car at or below redbook prices youre doing well in my opinion

Redbook is just a rough guide, which is FREE.

i'm sure once you pay like on the glasses guide which both are around $20, you would get the same information.

Edit... I was just looking through trading post, Glasses Guide gave a rough estimate the same as redbook... so basically you give them $$ the estimate would be more accurate.

[lawrunz]

oh no i have competition!! haha just kidding.

Its good we can pass different information onto each other!! Plus i won't be buying soon, as i have to sell first.

Anyways, which ones do you have your eyes on? year? KMs? 3/5 door? manual? DSG?

For sure! Haha but I'm willing to wait for these sellers to hopefully come to their senses. I don't know if my approach to negotiations is weird but I mean time is money so usually I ask them to give me a better quote on the price of the car first (given the redbook valuation) before I consider checking out the car and stuff. A lot of them aren't very keen on admitting to their super high prices (haha from our persceptive anyway)

I'm after a 5dr DSG. Would love sunroof and leather but hey, at the end of the day a GTI would undoubtedly leave me smiling.

[gerhard]

For sure! Haha but I'm willing to wait for these sellers to hopefully come to their senses. I don't know if my approach to negotiations is weird but I mean time is money so usually I ask them to give me a better quote on the price of the car first (given the redbook valuation) before I consider checking out the car and stuff. A lot of them aren't very keen on admitting to their super high prices (haha from our persceptive anyway)

I'm after a 5dr DSG. Would love sunroof and leather but hey, at the end of the day a GTI would undoubtedly leave me smiling.

Bluddy Hell !!

I'm waiting for these buyers to come to their senses.

You say time is money, and a seller should drop his pants for you, but if time is really money for you, you would just get on with it, sell your car in a few days at market value, and buy a GTI at market value.

You want a mugwump to pay a high price for your MX, but want to buy a GTI at what a dealer would buy it for, and are compounding your misery by thinking sellers give a toss about Redbook, Greenbook, Glasses, asses, etc.

JUST GET ON WITH IT

[shogun2]

May be of interest to some. Will certainly give you an indication of market price.

http://www.graysonline.com/Lot.aspx?id=4555396

[guest12345]

Bluddy Hell !!

I'm waiting for these buyers to come to their senses.

You say time is money, and a seller should drop his pants for you, but if time is really money for you, you would just get on with it, sell your car in a few days at market value, and buy a GTI at market value.

You want a mugwump to pay a high price for your MX, but want to buy a GTI at what a dealer would buy it for, and are compounding your misery by thinking sellers give a toss about Redbook, Greenbook, Glasses, asses, etc.

JUST GET ON WITH IT

umm wrong person mate

[guest12345]

This might be a stupid question... can options be added on afterwards??

Eg... Say i buy a gti without parking sensors and sat nav can those be added on at VW dealership??

I would think it would be quite hard to get sat nav, but what can be and can't be? all none can at all....

[kaceb]

yeah the satnavs come up on ebay now and then