Why wont it sell - Question for Members

[R36 Dreamer]

Hi all,

A strange question for a forum, but what the hell.

I put my 08 R36 Wagon for sale here and carsales. Car is posted @ $51k, which means it is the 2nd cheapest wagon on the market.

kms are reasonable, description accurate, plenty of good quality photos etc.

Other than sms and email scams I haven't had any calls on the car.

I suppose the question is whether this kind of car is always going to be hard to shift, or whether I am over the top on price, or what?

Whilst I can trade the car in when the new one arrives in a month or so and cover the payout, I would prefer to sell privately and make a couple of bucks in return for the work I have put into looking after it.

Any thoughts would be welcomed.

[johnw]

Maybe the new Passat with the 3.6L is coming soon and won't be too much more? Don't know, but if I had $51k sitting around I would have bought it (even if it's in NSW)

[Corey_R]

You need to have patience...

I had the same thing with my Polo GTI. When I put it on carsales, the cheapest 08 GTI was $22990. So I put mine up for $21990. Mine was clearly the best of the lot and so over the next few weeks, there was a price shift on most of listings and I ended up still being the cheapest at $19600. It then still didn't sell... until someone from vwgolf . net . au browsed our for sale section and called me up and bought it whilst I had it listed for a "members only christmas price of $18960".

So just have patience. It's not about the volume of calls you get... it only takes 1 person to make the sale

[shakespeare]

You need to have patience...

I had the same thing with my Polo GTI. When I put it on carsales, the cheapest 08 GTI was $22990. So I put mine up for $21990. Mine was clearly the best of the lot and so over the next few weeks, there was a price shift on most of listings and I ended up still being the cheapest at $19600. It then still didn't sell... until someone from vwgolf . net . au browsed our for sale section and called me up and bought it whilst I had it listed for a "members only christmas price of $18960".

So just have patience. It's not about the volume of calls you get... it only takes 1 person to make the sale

+1 to what Corey said

It took me 7 weeks to sell my Mazda 6 MPS and whilst it wasn't the cheapest, it also wasn't the most expensive. What sort of pics have you included in the advert (quality etc)? does the write up/commentary sound appealing? If you saw the advert, would you buy it (if you were looking in the price range/type of car etc)?

Other than that, good luck with the sale mate

[Leagle]

R36 Dreamer, I agree with other comments about the "being patient" thing.

For what its worth, I would be speculate that there are a few reasons as to why it may be a little harder to shift your R36 compared to say a Toyota Corolla.

1. Believe it or not, there are not a lot of folk (relatively speaking) willing to spend $50K on a car. I find that people are either struggling to buy an econo box or - if they have a bit of cash - are happy to pay a lot more (and see point 2 below).

2. Most people with $50K to spend want a "new" car (you yourself bought new and are buying new are you not?) That is why I tend to hold onto my cars until they reach the magic $25-$35K mark where there seems to be much greater demand for used cars. You see, $50K still buys you a very decent new car (though I cannot argue your R36 would still be the better car).

3. A lot of people are probably wondering why you are selling a car that is still relatively new. You obviously have the cash to flash - so people don't necessarily think they are going to get a bargain

Having said all of the above, I agree that it only takes one genuine buyer. The R36 is a great car so I think once you get someone genuine inspecting, it will sell soon.

One final thought: if you are claiming depreciation on your car, consider this: even if you don't get top dollar for your car, you will still be able to claim a better tax deduction presumably. So don't hold off for top dollar. Rather aim to sell your car to a loving home!

[R36 Dreamer]

R36 Dreamer, I agree with other comments about the "being patient" thing.

For what its worth, I would be speculate that there are a few reasons as to why it may be a little harder to shift your R36 compared to say a Toyota Corolla.

1. Believe it or not, there are not a lot of folk (relatively speaking) willing to spend $50K on a car. I find that people are either struggling to buy an econo box or - if they have a bit of cash - are happy to pay a lot more (and see point 2 below).

2. Most people with $50K to spend want a "new" car (you yourself bought new and are buying new are you not?) That is why I tend to hold onto my cars until they reach the magic $25-$35K mark where there seems to be much greater demand for used cars. You see, $50K still buys you a very decent new car (though I cannot argue your R36 would still be the better car).

3. A lot of people are probably wondering why you are selling a car that is still relatively new. You obviously have the cash to flash - so people don't necessarily think they are going to get a bargain

Having said all of the above, I agree that it only takes one genuine buyer. The R36 is a great car so I think once you get someone genuine inspecting, it will sell soon.

One final thought: if you are claiming depreciation on your car, consider this: even if you don't get top dollar for your car, you will still be able to claim a better tax deduction presumably. So don't hold off for top dollar. Rather aim to sell your car to a loving home!

Agree with all the above, tax benefits are limited as the car is fully maintained novated lease, so whilst I get to keep any profit tax free, conversly any loss is out of my own pocket - that why I try to buy cars which I think will have a decent retained value.

Accept the point on the car still be relatively expensive.

The stats from Carsales say around 50 views per day of the large ad, but still little action from prospective buyers.

I suppose I will need to be patient, it would be a pain to sell the car prior to the new one being ready for delivery anyway - and thats not until mid April.

[Lance B]

Yeah, be patient. Remember, there won't be any new R36's ever again and the new version will probably only be an "R", not R36, so, there will be a lot of people looking to buy the last of the R36's even the second hand ones. Your price sounds reasonable especially with the extras you have.

[noone]

It is a difficult market to sell...

I know the GFC was a while ago, but the car market is still affected.

New cars were discounted, meaning the value of used cars slipped. This allong with people being tight meant that the number of used cars went up as purchases went down.

The way to sell it quick is for it to be cheap. a thousand here or there does not make a huge difference, but being flexible or listing another few $$$ down and saying it has to sell can help.

Photos and a good writeup are crucial...

Also, I dont like car sales. Their search methods frustrated me, so I use carpoint. I think its a better site, for $30 or whatever, maybe list on there...

[noone]

Just looked at your listing...

Whilst the photos are fine, they dont sell it for me...

There are a lot of amateur photographers out there and on here who might be able to help, even a little colour balancing can make the colour jump out...

[mebius9]

People who spends $50k on a car are not poor
in fact they are probably pretty well off
well off people don't really buy second hand car...

[idaho]

I would think it will be hard to shift. People who know what an R36 is will also know that the warranty will expire soon, the extended warranty costs $ and also the 60k service will be big $ with DSG and it might need tyres (more $). It is priced more than Redbook prices and people don't want to pay for options because dealers always say options are worth very little at trade-in and I guess in a car like that people would want RNS.

[Golf Loon]

Just Take $1000 off every week until it sells.

[Nico76]

I bought an R36 wagon 2 weeks ago for $51300 from a BMW dealer (MY09 white MFD, sunroof, 50,000k's - country car as full service history by VW Shepparton, 1 yr warranty remaining).

What I can say is that I never really considered buying privately, for the main reaon I think most people avoid private purchase at the higher price point. When a car is financed, private sales incur a higher interest rate.

Also, the car I purchased was simply the most reasonably priced at the time, whether dealer or private.

I'm currently doing the carsales thing with my old car (MY07 30R Spec B 6MTwagon) & agree with what others have said. The most important thing is patience, particularly if you're not in a huge rush to sell. Eventually a buyer will come along & your car will be exactly what they're after. What I wouldn't do is "Just Take $1000 off every week until it sells". You'll just end up selling it to the same person, for less money...

Good luck!

[Pana]

I was thinking of putting my car up for Private sale, but after reading this thread will take the hit and just trade it in - have not got the time or patience to sit there dealing with non serious tyre kickers or wankers who just want to take it for a thrash for a few thousand dollars (and by that I don't mean I've got 5 money trees in the back yard - but the weekends I would spend cleaning it etc to sell it I could just work and make up that money that I would loose trading it in)

Anyway - gotta get my car back from VW first....

[sa-r32]

If you can spare the time to make the effort it can be a significant difference selling privately.

I sold a car about 6 months ago for 53k, the best trade in value I was offered was 45k. I'm not saying every car will have an 8k difference, but for me 8k is a good reward for some effort. Yeah it took time and I had to drop the price, but 8k in my pocket is better than 8k in the dealers pocket.

Another issue selling privately is timing, the time to sell and the time between selling and getting a new ride. Alternative transport arrangements can be a hassle.