Selling up

[davidjay]

I'm seriously thinking of throwing in the towel and getting rid of my 9-5 . I know it's treasonable, but what's the best place to get a decent price without being messed around too much? I'm not buying another car for a while (not doing many miles at present so my wife's aging but reliable Astra will suffice us both) therefore part-ex isn't relevant. 

[Steve440]

Ebay will give you the biggest audience but unless yours is very special with low mileage not likely to get a good price. Also there fees are quite high.

Autotrader and the like is also good platforms but could be on there for weeks.

Dont use one of these ''we buy any car'' agencies unless you are very desperate. They will offer you the least they can and when they turn up they will reduce that further for non disclosed faults. You would get more from it on a 3 day sale on Ebay.

The cheapest is the sign in the windows, if you do this type it up in large letters with the price and your contact info. Leave it on a main road as much as possible and be realistic about the price.

[Max Headroom]

From my own experience I have found eBay to be full of so-called time-wasters and people looking for ridiculously cheap bargains when it comes to vehicles, and as a result wasted money on fees.

I have had far more luck selling on Gumtree than anywhere else ...and with no fees. Gumtree may not have the sophistication of eBay, but it's free (or at least it used to be!). However due to its simplicity you need to remember to remove the ad when its sold 

But why not throw in the towel with the Vauxhall Ashtray and keep the 9-5? 

Good luck with your sale however you choose to do it.

[Audax]

What spec/mileage is your car? One way to do it would be put an advert on in the for sale sections of here, saabscene, uksaabs and any of the other saab forums and also put an advert on pistonheads.

Don't overprice the car or think yours is special as it isn't! (unless it's very low mileage and/or a very high spec model with fsh and all the bills and even then it isn't special, just more desirable). Also don't refuse to sell it for a difference of £50-£100 of what the buyer wants to pay vs. what you want to sell it for (unless you've got lots of people lined up to look at it). I've seen many a car sit with someone for months as they want £300 more than it's worth and won't negotiate sensibly and ended up having to take several hundred less than the original asking price a year later. Depending on how old it is and how cheap it is you may have some luck with a local free ads type paper, if it's newer and lower mileage then you could just drive it around local car dealers and see what they'd give for it also give your local saab specialists a call, most of them buy and sell cars and would make a bid for yours which should be hassle free.

[Norfolk Jim]

Gumtree is brill Trenchfoot.

We sold an old M reg BMW 316i with 203,000 miles on it for £475 back in May. We'd had it for a couple of months while my son sorted out another car and it was reasonable run about with nice wheels. We paid £500 for it.

Put it on Gumtree with couple of photos and were totally honest about it and sold it 2 days later - we were slow removing the add and had around 40 calls about it and still get the odd one or two now. Its quite surprising how quick things sell - normally they go within about 48 hrs of add appearing.

I suppose it does depend on how old or should we say new the car is as to what you get for it but worth the free advert which you can bump up the list for a very small fee.

[phoenix]

Car and Classic is quite good too; although not a classic as such, people interested in more specialist marques tend to browse there.

[Max Headroom]

I think there are better buys on Gumtree than eBay too - About a week before flying out to Bahrain I was on the hunt for a genuine wind stopper for my convertible - lots on eBay for around the £200 mark some not even genuine.
As a long shot I looked on Gumtree and found one, unused, for £65. The guy selling had not considered posting it (was in Scotland so no way could I collect). But he agreed, and I got it for a total of around £80 and it really is like new. So I like Gumtree. And as you experienced Jim, when selling, the phone-calls kept on coming.

[Kev_Mc]

In my experience this is not a great time to be selling your Saab. I've had mine for sale for over 2 months. It's now 55% of what I paid for it last October. Mine has a full history (just serviced), almost new tyres, 6 months tax, MOT and warranty, yet I've had not one person interested. Even scammers are giving mine a wide berth!

May well try Gumtree - mine's already on here and Pistonheads...

[collywobble]

If you 'google' Gumtree you will find it has been owned by Ebay for a few years now!

[Max Headroom]

If you 'google' Gumtree you will find it has been owned by Ebay for a few years now!

LOL - Nope never knew that! Kinda works better than eBay tho 

[davidjay]

But why not throw in the towel with the Vauxhall Ashtray and keep the 9-5? 

22.5 mpg around town and seeing my friendly local Saab garage more often than is healthy.

Thanks for all the advice - much appreciated. I love driving this car but times change and what was fine three years ago just isn't practical anymore.