Hello
OK, I'm trying sell my Volvo S60 but I'm just not getting anything (apart from scam emails from Autotrader).
It's been advertised on eBay for a total of 38 days, first as a classified ad and the second time as a Buy It Now.
It's advertised here, on the Volvo owners forum and online through my local Friday-Ad.
I started £40 worth of Autotrader advertising last week but have got nowhere. This is the advert,
tinyurl.com/39y7loh
I have just dropped the price to £2600.
I'm sure that I'm priced right and I've sold cars before so I don't think I'm doing anything wrong.
Thank yous in advance!
Chris
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It's a bit of an obvious statement but if the price was right it would have sold.
This Jan I sold a Mondeo Ghia X Estate of the same age as your Volvo, similar spec/history but just over 100K. I asked £1500 and it went in an hour.
I think in the budget market (ie £2k ish) a petrol saloon will not be the best car to sell.
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I agree with you but I'm going with what others are being advertised for on Autotrader.
Is everyone in the same boat?
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you cant sell a car if no one wants it
personally i dont like the colour
pictures are first class
you dont seem to have many words ,when i do a trade advert i can run out of words rather than space,can you not have more words in a private ad?
if you can then maybe give reason for sale if a good one, tell them how happy you have been with the car and also mention things like how much tax it really has rather than vague taxed.
Dont bore them but paint a picture if you can of how happy they will be with your car rather than one off a traders pitch
Mention full hpi print out you have too to give an air of genuiness
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Thanks Bellboy, I'll edit the ad this afternoon.
PS I searched to find one in Maya Yellow and it was a £500 option when the car was new! ;-)
Last edited by: Chris White on Thu 22 Jul 10 at 13:23
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>> PS I searched to find one in Maya Yellow and it was a £500 option
>> when the car was new! ;-)
>>
That doesn't mean a thing if it is a colour no one wants.
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>> That doesn't mean a thing if it is a colour no one wants.
Yes, I know the colour is an acquired taste ;-)
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(1) Is it main dealer service history
(2) How many owners in total
(3) I'd put a new MOT on it if I was the seller
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to be blunt. Its a foul colour. I know it cost 500 quid extra new, but you will have to knlck 500 quid off the price to shift it.
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Thats a lot of car for the money!
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>> Thats a lot of car for the money!
I know! I'd take £2500 for it :-)
Last edited by: Chris White on Thu 22 Jul 10 at 14:27
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>> Because of my low annual mileage I'm making the change to a classic car.
That sounds somewhat hilarious :)
Why would someone change from a known workhorse to an unreliable (all classic cars are so) car? Or you have another normal car for daily use?
Don't know why it is not selling - price is about right for the car, mileage is not too high either.
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>> >> Because of my low annual mileage I'm making the change to a classic car.
>>
>> That sounds somewhat hilarious :)
>>
>> Why would someone change from a known workhorse to an unreliable (all classic cars are
>> so) car? Or you have another normal car for daily use?
Yep, that's why I didn't put it in originally, but it's true! I live 10 minutes from the town centre, I only do about 5000 miles a year, there's only me and my partner, I own a business so have a work van so the car doens't need to 100% reliable (although it would be nice if it was.....) and I always fancied something older.
Last edited by: Chris White on Thu 22 Jul 10 at 14:45
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Bit of information overload on that ad. Too much about the equipment.
Id leave in the Autochanger, C/Control, Leather, heated seats, cruise control and dual airbags and ditch the rest, its too wordy - most of that info is publically available and I expect if someone was looking for a car like this, they would know something about it - plus eqipment is listed on the ad anyway under interior/exterior so your duplicating.
Why say it hasnt had any problems - suggests you would have expected them as any decent car should be capable of a few hundred miles across the channel - my ageing Carina would prob get to Germany and back!
Colour is horrid and as such, it hammers the number of potential buyers alot, so it needs to either be a bargin or you can hope and pray someone will like it, but it sounds like nobody does, thus it needs to be that much cheaper than similar cars that someone can justify a colour they dont like.
Its a manual aswell - not good in a large car really.
Your price is very optimistic too - I found a handful of cars in a quick search that on paper look around about the same as yours ( under 100k, app 10 years old ) and they started at £1800.
I expect if it was up for £2000 you might get some interest but at that price its just a garden ornament.
Theres a 2002 auto S60 with 70k in a good colour up for £1800 - why on earth would your manual yuk yellow one which is older and higher miles be worth a look? Truth is, its not. Sorry chap.
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I think Maya gold is a great colour on the S60 too! But it is an acquired taste as pointed out.
Stu - the manual box does suit the 2.0T petrol engine in this car. I think you'd be right about an autobox regarding the larger S80 though.
There's no market left for this kind of car though is there, it needs to be either diesel or Focus/Astra sized or smaller. Once into banger money it will shift though I would imagine.
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>> Your price is very optimistic too - I found a handful of cars in a
>> quick search that on paper look around about the same as yours ( under 100k,
>> app 10 years old ) and they started at £1800.
>> I expect if it was up for £2000 you might get some interest but at
>> that price its just a garden ornament.
>>
>> Theres a 2002 auto S60 with 70k in a good colour up for £1800 -
>> why on earth would your manual yuk yellow one which is older and higher miles
>> be worth a look? Truth is, its not. Sorry chap.
>>
Where in the country are you looking? I don't think many people would be willing to travel more than 100 miles and in that radius mine's is the fourth cheapest.
Yes, you might find a cheaper one 300 or 400 miles away but most people aren't going to travel that distance.
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Unlike most people I like the colour but the car is far to expensive, £245 to tax ,expensive insurance for most people and not paticulary economical.Its cars like this are becoming dinasaurs in the secondhand market traders have problems selling such cars and they have to offer a gaurantee and pay taxes.and take P/X and still make a profit so they would have no more than a grand in a similar car.I would expect to see it up at £1895 and take as little as £1500.
I am after a Mercedes Clk around 1999 to 2002 the variance in price for cars of the same condition is remarkable the expensive ones do not sell they are on Ebay and Auto trader for months so if you want to sell the car you have to pitch it at a price people will pay at the moment that is not the case.Best of Luck at a resonable price I could even be tempted myself.
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Funnily enough I've just spent the last couple of weeks looking at £2k volvos.
1) There are loads available
2) Yours is manual
3) There are comparable examples substantially cheaper
4) Whilst you have a lot of extras, most of them are not something I would pay for on an old car where overall deal, reliability and price are more important.
I can't say I love the colour, but there's loads about in that colour and they look ok.
I'd say that your basic problems are manual gearbox and price. I don't think petrol/diesel makes a great difference.
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Well I quite like the colour (although SWMBO would shoot me if I turned up with a car that colour!), but I think the add is too wordy for this level in the market. Just stick to the basics, emphasise the positives (MOT, tyre wear, service history, etc.)
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Just a thought but would a 2 litre manual big heavy car not be quite suitable for towing a caravan? Maybe someone into towing for the first time or a retired person?
Do Caravan Club or the like do any online adverts?
Just a thought.
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>> super advert now
Thanks, I'll stop making changes and keep my fingers crossed for another week.
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>> >> super advert now
>>
>> Thanks, I'll stop making changes and keep my fingers crossed for another week.
>>
Just had a look for your advert from your original link and I get
"Taken a wrong turn?
Sorry, we can't find the page you're looking for.
Need to make a U-turn? Hit back on your browser.
Want to try a new route?"
It was working OK when you first posted..
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Should be OK now. The problem was most likely the amount of people now looking at the advert :-)
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As you have a literate advertisement the only thing wrong can be the price.
That said, "she." Lol. "it" will sell the car better. You're not selling a boat, it's a large lump of metal that's been painted a really ugly colour!
Pictures are quite good - though from choice I wouldn't have parked it on those lines which are quite busy and distract from the car. I don't suppose that it will make much difference though.
Glass's gives a trade-in value of
Part-exchange Price:
Excellent condition: £1745
Average condition: £1565
Below average condition: £1380
which means (given the colour isn't very fashionable...) you're probably asking nearly twice the trade-in value.
Lo and behold, £1,800 will get me a 2002 (02) 2.3 T5 S with 70k on the clock - from a trader within 60 miles of London, so it comes with some sort of guarantee (even if it might have to be enforced in the courts).
Just because all the others within 100 miles of you are well overpriced means that yours will sell (when clearly it isn't selling). It just means that anybody near you who wants to buy a
A ten year old car with 100k on the clock (and you're within 10% of that position) cannot be worth much more than a thousand pounds.
eBay item 320559182639 made £1,400, albeit with an airbag fault.
So, I suggest if you want to sell it you need to drop the price by possibly as much as £1,000. Otherwise I'm sure it's keeping your garden gnomes happy.
Last edited by: Mapmaker on Thu 22 Jul 10 at 17:37
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It looks and sounds like a really nice car. I'd just keep it - it's worth more to you.
I'm in the same boat with two of our cars - a 53 Vectra 2.0T and an 05 Galaxy 2.3 auto.
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Had a quick read of the advert... toooooooooo much information too soon.. comments on condition etc get lost.
I have done a search on Autotrader there are 36 cars nationally with exactly the same descripton and yours is priced 16th from the top price..
As you are a private seller.. (no warranty, no come back , no Trading Standards)... you are overpriced...
What more can I say? I would not give it a second look.
Last edited by: madf on Thu 22 Jul 10 at 18:27
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...you are overpriced...
A process of elimination leads me to the same conclusion.
The ad's OK, the product's pretty good, the landline and general tone suggest the vendor is sound enough.
So nearly everything about this offer for sale is fine, which only leaves one thing - the price.
There's an 02 - newer - Micra for sale in my street for £1,295, and you can get up to an 04 Focus for the asking price for this Volvo.
It's a nice car of its type and will sell, but as Mapmaker says, the price needs to come down by something approaching £1,000.
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>> It looks and sounds like a really nice car. I'd just keep it - it's
>> worth more to you.
>>
Well it looks like I'm going to have to :-(
I can't let it go for £1800. As you said it's worth more to me than that!
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Have you tried webuyanycar.com? See what they offer you. That will give you an idea what a punter would probably pay.
Think you'll struggle to shift it as it is a saloon and therefore not as practical as a hatch. Give it a good wash and get it looking mint then try a few dealers and see what they offer you too. That colour doesn't help it much either!
You could try it as an ebay auction and set the reserve to £1200 and starting price of £1100 or so and see if it goes if you really want to shift it.
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You say you can't let it go for £1800 next year it will be lucky to fetch £1000 plus you have the cost of keeping it another £250 tax etc.It is called the reality of motoring,I wish you luck.
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That's a "keeper" if ever there was one. Looks to be in very good order. Only covered 85k. Not worth a great deal but is actually a very decent and useful bit of kit. At your mileage that could give years of service. Sure the colour is a bit, um, colourful but you must have liked it in the first place I guess.......
Pity it's not an estate. You'd be fighting them off with a stick.
:-)
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>> That's a "keeper" if ever there was one.
Yep, looks like it. If I get nothing from Autotrader I'll have to. I can't believe that second hand cars are worth so little!
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Agree, colour and manual, if it were a nice colour auto it would sell.
MB's are the same you can't give manuals away.
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What ?? You agree it would be better if it was an estate GB ? My goodness I think the penny may have finally dropped ! Good man !
:-)
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Pure coincidence Hump still don't see the point in putting windows in carpetted vans, i tend to think vans are best in 4WD form as pick ups with separate load carrying areas.
..;)
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Oh dear, for a short while there I thought you might have had a little personal epiphany.... Never mind it will come to you eventually I trust......
:-)
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Nearly all Dinosaurs for sure and it was only 18 months ago that I was looking for an S80 T6. My how times have changed. All down to £££££ now or lack of them.
The future looks little better to be sure.
M
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Oh dear!
That looks like it's the same colour as the Corsa I'm trying to get rid of.
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My skin & blister had a Datsun 100A Cherry that colour back in the 80's, looked ok on that :D
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Nothing looked good on a Datsun 100A Cherry, a candidate for one of the ugliest cars ever. Perhaps a vivid colour distacted from the awful shape a little?
JH
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>>Nothing looked good on a Datsun 100A Cherry, a candidate for one of the ugliest cars ever<<
Granted squire, but it woz all my sis could afford at the time ... she now drives a gnu Fiesta :)
Be honest though 2slow, I bet you secretly desire one of these ~
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Datsun_Cherry_Coupe_1975.jpg
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Aargh!! The bread van "coupe". If I ever desire one of those, take me out and shoot me! :-)
JH
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>>Aargh!! The bread van "coupe"<<
How on Earth someone could have designed a car like that LET ALONE buy one, certainly beats me.
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the audi rs8 is the new bread van though
specially in warburtons white
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No-one paid the £500 option price anyway. S60s of that vintage were practically all bought as company cars and the paint was thrown in FOC.
If I had an old but reliable S60 I'd be keeping it too. Wait a minute - I have, and I am. But £2,600 is about what I'd think of asking for mine, which has a 52 plate and the D5 engine.
Curious how people respond to Maya Yellow. It was the poster colour for the S60 at launch, and suits it far better than the silver or (especially) black most buyers seem to choose. I didn't like it either in 2002, but it's had time to grow on me and it makes me smile when I see one now.
It took till the end of the S60's run for Volvo to come up with the right colour for it: Orinoco Blue. I'd seriously think about swapping mine for one of those if I came across a manual D5 or 2.4D with a non-black interior, but that seems like a long shot.
Where's DP? Wasn't his recently-offloaded S60 in MY too?
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some colours only suit certain cars
silver is best for this volvo
white on a large audi looks ludicrous
corsas look best in black
etc.......
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The colour (I'm OK with it) , advert wording and manual gearbox etc are but minor issues. It still comes down to price and I'd want to pay under £2k for this.
When first posted I thought the Chris had bought another car and just wanted this out the way so was puzzled by the over pricing. Now I understand he wants to use the funds from this to buy a *classic* I can sort of understand the reluctance to sell low because there will not be enough left to buy anything decent.
As others have pointed out just keep this Volvo... it's the perfect *classic* for someone with a works van who does just 5k in the car.
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I'd be amazed if webuyanycar will offer more than £900-£1000 - they seem to offer well below Glasses.
Stick it on eBay with a £1,600 start price and you might get 2k, or stick with it.
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>> Where's DP? Wasn't his recently-offloaded S60 in MY too?
Indeed it was. Mine was near identical to the OP's (year, colour, spec) but had nearly twice the mileage on it. Still clean and tidy though and with a good service history, everything working, and no obvious faults.
I advertised it initially at £2395 ono (which I knew was pushing my luck), and had no response at all. Dropped it to £2250 and still nothing. I needed it gone by that point, so dropped to £1995 ovno, and that did the trick. First guy to see it bought it after a bit of haggling for £1875. Probably had another 10 calls through the course of the week. I'd paid £2500 for it 18 months previously, and spent very little on it (2 services, tyres, couple of bulbs), so it was cheap motoring.
Maya Gold is a "marmite" colour - you love it or hate it. I absolutely love it. The guy who bought it did too, to the extent he had been specifically looking for one in that colour. One of the later calls was prepared to drive 200 odd miles from Manchester to see it (honestly). But SWMBO absolutely despised the colour, as did a lot of my friends. I can't help thinking the car would have been easier to sell in a less contentious colour - silver, blue, red etc. A bit like painting the inside of a house magnolia before you sell it. It's not particularly interesting, but seems to appeal to a wider audience.
some people have mentioned the fact it's manual as being a disadvantage, but it does carry one huge advantage. A little known fact is that the 2.0T engine with the manual 'box is the only petrol S60 to come in under 225g/km and therefore avoid the highest VED band. Stick an auto box on this engine, and it tips it over.
My gut feeling is the OP's car is overpriced at £2500, even with the low mileage. Lovely car as it is, it's still a big car with a petrol engine, and that puts people off. If it had a diesel engine, you'd have sold it by now at that price, or possibly a tad more.
All IMHO of course.
Cheers
DP
Last edited by: DP on Fri 23 Jul 10 at 10:42
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Afraid it all comes down to age and price. I would think a realistic asking price for your car would be £1600 at most, and this would likely be knocked down to £1500 by any buyer.
Being a saloon doesn't help, it seems that saloons aren't popular although I don't know why and people expect a ten year old car to be cheap to buy, even though yours is just under ten years old.
As others have said it is worth more to you so maybe you should hang on to it as it looks a nice car. I would buy it if I was in the market for a car but not at your asking price!
The value of second hand cars only a few years old bear no relation to the cost new.
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1. Horrible colour
2. Too expensive
3. Reason for selling is dubious
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>> Afraid it all comes down to age and price. I would think a realistic asking
>> price for your car would be £1600 at most, and this would likely be knocked
>> down to £1500 by any buyer.
Unless the market has changed drastically in <6 months, I reckon he should be able to get somewhere around £2k for it.
I sold the same car earlier this year, with 153,000 miles on it, same colour, same year, similar spec for £1875, and could have done several times over. £2,000 is a popular budget for a used car and psychologically I think advertising a car at £1995 makes a big difference.
They are one of those cars that drive so impressively, and feel so "expensive" that unless there is anything noticeably wrong with it, it will sell to the first person who comes to see it. Mine did.
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Was yours a manual and the same colour and six months is a long time in the motor trade.
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Yes. Change the mileage and it was the same car.
The only difference that I can spot is the wheel design.
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you guys want to listen to DP
as i said yesterday you cant sell a car nobody wants today, however tomorrow is another day like another year in autotrader terms so he needs to hold firm ie new blood reads the sales section and just ignore the tyre kickers who hanker after this volvo but want to pay peanuts
if you do a google of the venders area you will see its exactly the area a nice big leather laden car should sell well
hold on let the advert do its job
and i think its a good honest advert without any spew so he is basically saying ono but he wont take a kicking
for interest i reckon s/h cars at this level have increased by £500 this last year due to scrappage,probably not all big lumps like this i might add but more bread and butter stuff,but as ive already said this car is niche so you have to be prepared to sit and wait and hope the right man comes along
mugging cars away is how i started in this trade by buying up cars that took up space on peoples drives and i always gave them silly low bids to take them away,some i won some i didnt,i dont do it now though,my record is a car i had on stock for a year and a month,then i mugged it away....
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Hi guys
Thanks for all the posts. I'll stick with advertising at the price it is at the moment and keep fingers crossed.
I'll update you at the end of the Autotrader run.
Chris.
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Good luck Chris. If you get no joy, I would seriously consider going down towards £2k. Maybe advertise at £2250 and see how you go. I would hold out for £2k as minimum. I think the car is worth it, especially given the low mileage for the year. These can still drive like new at twice that mileage, and people know it.
One thing I would put in the ad is the fuel consumption. These have an unfounded reputation as gas guzzlers, based I presume on the bigger engined models which are mid 20's mpg machines. Mine rarely failed to give me 30 mpg, and sometimes as much as 35 mpg.
As I said before, you will sell it as soon as someone comes and drives it, but it's just a matter of setting the price at the right level to tempt them to pick up the phone. It is a ridiculous amount of car, kit, build quality, reliability and engineering for the money, but that's only apparent when you drive it.
Good luck and keep us posted.
Cheers
DP
Last edited by: DP on Fri 23 Jul 10 at 14:43
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You could argue, although it's not nearly old enough yet to be categorised as such, that if you keep it, it could well become a classic in its own right eventually.....At least, twenty years hence, you would know how well it had been looked after.
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Could be, Humph - arguably the first Volvo to look good from all angles. (Remember the advert featuring the returning astronaut asking "How long have we been away?" Although that was for the S80, which looks gawky and too big for its wheels by comparison with the S60.)
I'm doubtful that any cars of the electro-everything era will survive to be classics in the mould of the E-type or the DS, though. The bodywork may not rust away but nor will you be able to fix one with a hammer and a welding torch; they'll be dependent on replacement ECUs and airbag sensors that won't be available in one decade, never mind five.
My Volvo will do me another year or two, then someone else for three or four, by which time it should be ready to be respectfully dismantled and, as far as possible recycled. Let's not get it out of proportion - it is only a car.
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UPDATE - the car has sold tonight from the Autotrader advert for £2500, two guys from London drove down earlier this evening, paid in cash and drove away.
As DP said it would, sold to the first person who drove it.
Thank you to everyone who posted with advice and a HUGE thank you to bellboy for advert writing advice.
I'll keep you updated as to the classic car purchase.
:-D
Last edited by: Chris White on Sat 24 Jul 10 at 21:48
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Good man, well done. Just dont buy another yellow car eh? ;-)
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>> Good man, well done. Just dont buy another yellow car eh? ;-)
Yes, I know, I think that probably didn't help with the amount of time the car took to go.
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"sold tonight from the Autotrader advert for £2500"......Pleased for you. Well done!
Bet you're glad you didn't take too much notice of previous advice........"Afraid it all comes down to age and price. I would think a realistic asking price for your car would be £1600 at most, and this would likely be knocked down to £1500 by any buyer".
Last edited by: kb on Sat 24 Jul 10 at 21:56
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I'm well pleased, it all comes down to bellboys advice,
' as i said yesterday you cant sell a car nobody wants today, however tomorrow is another day like another year in autotrader terms so he needs to hold firm ie new blood reads the sales section and just ignore the tyre kickers who hanker after this volvo but want to pay peanuts '
I was sure I got the price right, I just couldn't understand why it was taking so long ;-)
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Glad the car sold for near the advertised price, I must grudgingly admit that Delboy, (sorry Bellboy) seems to know his trade.
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Yep, well done Chris, now enough of all that, let's get on to giving you some useful and useless advice on this classic malarky.....
What are you fancying then ? We'll get ready to either drool in abject jealousy or to suck our teeth in horror.......
:-))
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>> What are you fancying then ? We'll get ready to either drool in abject jealousy
>> or to suck our teeth in horror.......
Well, when I reveal what I have in mind it may well be much sucking of teeth in horror ;-)
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Nah not at all - almost any classic car is an irrational purchase on a practical level so you just get what ya want and enjoy finding what you want.
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>> Well ????
I fancy a Saab 900. One of the last 'proper' ones (built 1979-1994) before GM came in.
I had a dark blue 1991 LPT several years back, one of those cars you regret selling.
It's probably going to be high mileage but finding one with as few owners as possible and lots of history is the key.
And then there's the saggy headlining and rusty door bottoms...............
I'll keep you updated :-)
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Well done Chris - another fine example of the First and Only Law of Economics - "the right price is what some other poor sap will pay".
Fancying a Saab (well, a pre-GM one anyway) is nothing to be ashamed of - great cars and good luck finding one. Just think what it could have been - any of these have been called classics and appeared in classic car magazines.
Austin Allegro
Upright, swaying, black-box Ford Anglia /Popular
Hillman Minx
Vauxhall Wyvern or HA Viva
Talbot anything.....
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Isn't a Saab 900 merely an executive saloon which is inferior to the car the OP has just sold?
Don't understand classics, me.
Last edited by: ifithelps on Sun 25 Jul 10 at 06:29
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That does defy logic selling a perfectly good car and buying a load of trouble I suggest you frequent the Saab forums before you part with your new wealth.
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Getting married defies logic for any sane man. I woulnt get to hung up on logic.
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Well, I reckon he should be able to replace his car with another identical for about £1,800.
Why, oh why do you want an old SAAB.
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>>Why, oh why do you want an old SAAB.<<
I bought a Saab 900 about 8 years ago, an old 3 series is better IMO.
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Trying to sell my car - what's wrong? - Fenlander
