Selling difficulties!!!!

Hello Troops,
I was thinking i had done something wrong in my recent advert but maybe it is the wrong end of the year for selling?
I recently advertised my RS 200 Clio on this site and did expect to have a few enquiries but i have been very wrong! My advert is very detailed tho i admit i only have around 6 images showing at the moment due to me not getting any time to take fresh images. I noticed all other adverts have had replies and i know i definately have not upset anyone on the site! Is my price too high,i don’t think so when i look at others. I’m not on the site all the time but i have had the same difficulty whilst advertising my classic Scoob. It is on this site and has been advertised on 5-6 other sites . All i have had is 5 enquiries offering no cash just bloody part exchanges from a motorhome to a Harley davidson Bobber!!!!!
I’m finding it could just be the wrong time of the year as i an finding the same issue at work. I have been employed by a large car dealership for 20 years,selling for 14 of them and in recent years ,trying to buy good stock amongst all the tonnes of other jobs. I have found this year,every performance car i bought in the first 6 months for work always sold from Mustangs,GTI Clubsports,RS Meganes,S3’s,Golf R’s etc. In the second half of the year the faster cars will not budge. I am starting to think i will have these two cars until 2025 which is not ideal as i will have to look after them over the winter even though they will be sorned from November then M O T and service both early next year. It is becoming painful as i am walking past my new car every day in my showroom and can’t fund it until these two have been sold! Can anyone shed some light or give their thoughts?
Thanks
Speeds.

Nothing is selling unless it’s cheaper than everything else at the moment. Proper hard work.

Yep I thought I'd be getting my arm yanked off for what I listed mine at but the market is weird prices are all over the place. My eBay advert had 2000 views in 7 days and I only had a handful of messages.

Think you'll have to list it at a price that's too hard to ignore if you want a reasonably fast easy sale.

The market is hostile, very very hostile. Daniels bang on, it needs to be special and some how cheaper/differing to the market to sell.

Madness to think how the market has shifted the last 4 years.

Selling anything atm is hard work mate.

Thanks Guys,
I buy and sell cars for a bloody living and thought i had made and error with my advert or done something stupid! My clio is low mileage,never been painted,owned by an old guy for 9 years before me etc etc.
It’s just tough going just now.
We will soldier on.
👍🏻🏎

Not the best time of year for it either, may have an easier time in the spring?

That’s what i have started to think but i wanted to be wrong!

Looks a nice car, you seem a nice bloke but:

Your ads b****cks. I cannot believe you sell cars and you have that as an advert.

Wall of txt. All the info a buyer needs should be in the top 5 (or less lines), the story can come later. I wasn't even sure what you were selling half the time.

You already know the pictures are poor too.

Copy this sir.

Touring_Rob said:

Looks a nice car, you seem a nice bloke but:

Your ads b****cks. I cannot believe you sell cars and you have that as an advert.

Wall of txt. All the info a buyer needs should be in the top 5 (or less lines), the story can come later. I wasn't even sure what you were selling half the time.

You already know the pictures are poor too.

Click to expand...

Stop messing about Robert, just tell us how you really feel m9 xx

Edit; that link is a f**king outrageous comparison, albeit real, out-f**king-rageous.

Your advert is surreal. Story time? Or trying to sell a car?

Touring_Rob said:

Looks a nice car, you seem a nice bloke but:

Your ads b****cks. I cannot believe you sell cars and you have that as an advert.

Wall of txt. All the info a buyer needs should be in the top 5 (or less lines), the story can come later. I wasn't even sure what you were selling half the time.

You already know the pictures are poor too.

Click to expand...

You mean you don’t like the arms crossed, scorned look photo?

You need a better advert mate. I've not looked at prices for ages, is it competitive?. Has it got recaros?

As someone proactively looking for a 172 or 182 at the moment, and knows the Golf R32 market fairly well, my feedback is:

- You’re in Scotland, no one is travelling up there for a hot hatch when there’s so many in England and Wales so your customer pool is reduced

- Prices are all over the place this year so people are only buying if it’s a good car at a good price, else they’re waiting out to see where prices go

- Your advert doesn’t stand out: the detail in the story is good to show your enthusiasm but the formatting is difficult to read. Most of all though the pictures are terrible, for me a good advert has 15-20 photos, lots of close ups, inside and out, underside, engine bay etc.

Hope this helps.

I would say yours is a bit overpriced.
It's not the best colour out there for it, plus besides the cambelt, it doesn't have any of the common issues fixed, like flexis/manifold, gearbox refurb, radiator subframe. Not to mention no Recaros, which is a big selling point for this.

If it was me having this budget, I could buy a LY 200 that is on AT , with Recaros, remaped, a few mods, and flexis done. It has 30k miles more but it looks better, and would still need the most common issues done at some point, exactly like yours.

Plus, your advert is hard to read tbh.
Make it clear at the beginning what is the exact spec, stuff done to it with bullet points, bad bits and that is it. Don't make a story out of it.

Everything sells at the right price.

Just sold my 182, (too cheap IMO but you need to ask yourself how long you want to hold onto something for)

Fortunately, I didn't even have to write an advert. The car needs to be either exceptional or aggressively priced.

Interest rates aren't kind, Winter is coming (er... I mean Christmas), there's a budget next month where god alone knows what's going to happen, fuel bill hikes have been in the news, all in all it's a tricky time for discretionary spending.

Also I think you're in a small market for a car like a 182 or 200 now, you have to find someone who specifically wants what they offer instead of the newer generation of much more powerful, comfortable and versatile hot hatches.

Patience, a good advert and the right price and it'll sell, just might take a while.

Thanks for replies except for one obvious one …… Maybe not many members on here from Scotland as you say.
My advert is completely different from how i would type a dealership advert but i will delete it and go through the usual advertising sites. I have really enjoyed this forum for a few years but don’t want to deal with people who reply in a certain manner. Most are very helpful but you get the odd keyboard gangster in life who knows it all. Anyway,here is my new car ,pretty special,11,500 miles,can’t wait.😀

Ps,how do i delete the ad? I’m not great with any tech ,especially on my phone.
Thanks.

Speeds said:

Ps,how do i delete the ad? I’m not great with any tech ,especially on my phone.
Thanks.

Click to expand...

That’s something I can do. PM me if you want it deleted.

But tbh, you asked for comments, and members have replied honestly in the spirit of helping you sell it.

So no need to go all aggrieved and call others keyboard gangsters.

By the by, I sold my Alfa in 72 hours. So there are buyers out there.

Car Trader asking for help to sell his car on Cliosport? Seen it all now 😂😂😂

Cliosport will form its own party and run for government soon 😂😂

Cub. said:

That’s something I can do. PM me if you want it deleted.

But tbh, you asked for comments, and members have replied honestly in the spirit of helping you sell it.

So no need to go all aggrieved and call others keyboard gangsters.

By the by, I sold my Alfa in 72 hours. So there are buyers out there.

Click to expand...

Hello Cub,
Can you simply delete the ad?
Ps,i’m not a trader,i just work for a dealership. Anyway,no issues. Thanks.

Speeds said:

Thanks for replies except for one obvious one …… Maybe not many members on here from Scotland as you say.
My advert is completely different from how i would type a dealership advert but i will delete it and go through the usual advertising sites. I have really enjoyed this forum for a few years but don’t want to deal with people who reply in a certain manner. Most are very helpful but you get the odd keyboard gangster in life who knows it all. Anyway,here is my new car ,pretty special,11,500 miles,can’t wait.😀

Click to expand...

Congrats, i've just bought a 300 Trophy as a daily. Lovely car, enjoy.

Speeds said:

Thanks for replies except for one obvious one …… Maybe not many members on here from Scotland as you say.
My advert is completely different from how i would type a dealership advert but i will delete it and go through the usual advertising sites. I have really enjoyed this forum for a few years but don’t want to deal with people who reply in a certain manner. Most are very helpful but you get the odd keyboard gangster in life who knows it all. Anyway,here is my new car ,pretty special,11,500 miles,can’t wait.😀

Click to expand...

Be able to use those pics in your ad when you sell it 😉

New car looks lovely, you should post a thread up with its details once you have it in your custody.

Selling a car with a proper description, bulleted options, mods, service history at a realistic price is the only way nowadays. Supported with fantastic pictures and loads of them. Especially k. A market where there is loads of competition. I sold my 182 within a couple of hours. Granted that was a while ago now and I’m told it was too cheap. But it was all about description, provenance and images.

Hope that helps…PS not sure I’ve seen much In the way of keyboard warriors

Speeds said:

Thanks for replies except for one obvious one …… Maybe not many members on here from Scotland as you say.
My advert is completely different from how i would type a dealership advert but i will delete it and go through the usual advertising sites. I have really enjoyed this forum for a few years but don’t want to deal with people who reply in a certain manner. Most are very helpful but you get the odd keyboard gangster in life who knows it all. Anyway,here is my new car ,pretty special,11,500 miles,can’t wait.😀

Click to expand...

I think you took my Scotland comment in the wrong way.

I love Scotland it’s just most people are a 16hr round trip to get up there so they’re not going to do that for a car.

Speeds said:

Thanks for replies except for one obvious one …… Maybe not many members on here from Scotland as you say.
My advert is completely different from how i would type a dealership advert but i will delete it and go through the usual advertising sites. I have really enjoyed this forum for a few years but don’t want to deal with people who reply in a certain manner. Most are very helpful but you get the odd keyboard gangster in life who knows it all. Anyway,here is my new car ,pretty special,11,500 miles,can’t wait.😀

Click to expand...

I've found @Touring_Rob to be incredibly helpful. Though we've never met, I've seen enough of his posts to form that opinion. I wouldn't judge him based solely on how he types a reply – we've all rushed through responses when we're short on time but still want to help.

I recall a time when another member was struggling to sell his car. Rob, myself, and a few others offered some candid, though well-meaning, advice. After weeks of difficulty, the car was sold the very next day.

Wishing you the best of luck with your sale and hope you enjoy your new car!

TomROW said:

I think you took my Scotland comment in the wrong way.

I love Scotland it’s just most people are a 16hr round trip to get up there so they’re not going to do that for a car.

Click to expand...

I disagree - people will travel for the right car.

The only way you're going to get them there is to write a proper advert, keep it clean concise and factual, not a load of drivel.
Back that up with a good price and quality, well lit photos and it will sell. I flew from Essex to Edinburgh to view a 996 Turbo once, great pics and Ad, car was a shitter... I got the first flight back, but the Ad got me there.

frayz said:

I disagree - people will travel for the right car.

The only way you're going to get them there is to write a proper advert, keep it clean concise and factual, not a load of drivel.
Back that up with a good price and quality, well lit photos and it will sell. I flew from Essex to Edinburgh to view a 996 Turbo once, great pics and Ad, car was a shitter... I got the first flight back, but the Ad got me there.

Click to expand...

100% agree for the right car, but when it’s something with 100’s of examples closer to home they won’t.

TomROW said:

100% agree for the right car, but when it’s something with 100’s of examples closer to home they won’t.

Click to expand...

Agreed, but this is why the Ad and price need to get people there.

I've sold a couple of cars in the last few months. and both times the guys travelled on train/coach for several hours to collect the cars.

One a 2009 E92 325d manual. It was priced pretty averagely I think (lots of cheaper ones, and quite a few more expensive, most had been up for sale for months), but had lots of major works carried out, so just needed a car guy to see it, that understood what they were buying and the value in all the maintenance carried out over the last few years. It was up for sale for around 4 weeks, with very little interest, then one guy messaged me, came to view the car the next day and agreed to buy it there and then.

The other was my dad's Z4 3.0i, it hadn't been driven much over the last few years, probably covered 2k miles in 3 years, and had been sitting on his driveway since October last year, when he bought an AM Vantage to replace it. He was going to scrap it at one point, as the wheels needed replacing, one of the springs had snapped, and there was a massive puddle of water in the passenger footwell, that had busted the motors in the seat and made it impossible to remove without cutting it out. I cleaned it up, sorted the few minor bits, put some tidy-looking 19's on it I had sitting in the garage, got a fresh mot, and listed it up for what I thought was an optimistic £3250. I had 30+ messages on eBay and Facebook within half a day of advertising it and took a deposit after about 3 hours. Again there were cheaper cars available that had been on the market for a while.

Sometimes it's just luck of the draw and good timing. But you need a decent ad with good pictures and details, and ideally, something that makes it stand out from the rest. For me the pictures and the price are what draw people in initially, then you need to sell it with the description. I've found that with eBay and Facebook shorter adverts with more pictures and a walkaround video work best. Remove anything unnecessary from the ad, and there isn't any need to mention minor marks, stone chips etc, anything negative just puts people off, and these things should be visible from the pictures and video anyway, so your not hiding anything.

Forum ads are a little different, as most people that view the advert are not interested in buying the car unless it's stupidly cheap, there will be a few people who have joined the forum looking for a car, but these days they'll be looking on Facebook and eBay first typically.

To be fair most RS Clio's I've sold people have travelled from England or Wales to collect, when they are the right spec

I thought you Scottish lads knew how to give/take a bit of stick?

Not in the car trade but buy and sell cars for a living?

I literally started off by saying you sounded a good guy. I'll stand by my comments but appologise for being too blunt/upsetting you.

Good luck with the sale.

My buyer came from France, I must be a pro.

New car looks sexy.

If only it was a JRG Vauxhall Zafira you were trying to flog 😉

Touring_Rob said:

I thought you Scottish lads knew how to give/take a bit of stick?

Not in the car trade but buy and sell cars for a living?

I literally started off by saying you sounded a good guy. I'll stand by my comments but appologise for being too blunt/upsetting you.

Good luck with the sale.

Click to expand...

Next you'll be saying his daughter has gained weight

Horrible c**t 😂

Speeds said:

Thanks for replies except for one obvious one …… Maybe not many members on here from Scotland as you say.
My advert is completely different from how i would type a dealership advert but i will delete it and go through the usual advertising sites. I have really enjoyed this forum for a few years but don’t want to deal with people who reply in a certain manner. Most are very helpful but you get the odd keyboard gangster in life who knows it all. Anyway,here is my new car ,pretty special,11,500 miles,can’t wait.😀

Click to expand...

You ok hun? x