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How to make money off cars at the moment - my 2002 318i Exclusive SOLD!

posted Sep 19, 2009 8:40 PM by Quentin Ballard Tremeer   [ updated Oct 4, 2009 11:28 AM ]

I am about to make my first couple of thousand Rand off a car. After an unsuccessful try at selling my 318i with AAAutobay I found a dealer down the road that does an AA test and gives a guarantee on the car.

Autobay is not great as they have a few flaws:

They don’t do trade ins
They only market themselves on their own website.
Inspectacar down the road took quite a bit of commission but has managed to get a good price for the vehicle and return me as much as Autobay said they were going to but did not………… weeks later. I did not even have ONE phone call from the advert on Autobay even after dropping my price as low as I could. Inspectacar had people driving from 300km away to look at my vehicle. This was because of correct pricing and advertising……… and helping with a trade in. You need good sales support to sell your vehicle quickly. Don’t be afraid of paying somebody money to do this. The alternative is to try and sell the vehicle yourself. This will:

Take longer…… you could have by then bought and sold the next vehicle.
Be more risky for you as the money may not clear in your account…….. my dad was taken for R10k like this…………. or you may be hijacked on the test drive.
Ok, you can use EFT to cover you on point 1 but point 2 is a bit more tricky.

I may try this route next time…….. just as a practical comparison……..but my gutt feel tells me to rather find a dealer that still offers trade in and some guarantee but wants less commission. I however feel I have found a wining formula with the guys on the corner though.
 

My next step is to buy the next car on auction for a good price. The theory is as follows:

Stick to ones that have maintenance plan.
Phone the nearest dealer and ask to confirm if the car is still on maintenance plan and if it has been in any accidents.
Don’t by from Burchmores, they are not much cheaper than going to any of your local second hand guys. If you do a proper search on Autotrader you will be able to pick a better deal anyway (just be prepared to drive to the next town for the good deal…. R400 in petrol is well worth the R10k you WILL save).
Generally when buying from dealers…… when you are offering cash…… you can be cheeky and offer between R10 and 30k less than the advertised price depending on the price of the car.
Make sure when buying on auction that you have done your research on Autotrader and phoned your local dealer to get a good idea of the trade and retail prices of the cars you are interested in buying……….. act like you already own it and are wanting to trade it in to them on one of their cars on the floor…………
So here goes. Wish me luck. In the next two to three weeks I will be the proud owner of a repossessed Merc, BMW or Audi bought on auction for a discounted price.
 

 
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BMW 318i Exclusive
 
318i BMW Exclusive
 

Tags:  BMW 318i Exclusive, 318i BMW Exclusive, BMW Car, BMW Model, Selling BMW, Trading BMW's, BMW Auction