Hello guys, I need your experience as to whether I should sell my cherished car by walking into a dealer or advertise for a private sale?

I'm in the UK, I've seen very few manual cabs with PCCB with short shift and most of the fussy extras like crested seats I was looking for when I bought! But given the extras, I was thinking they may make a private sale easier than otherwise.

Benefit a dealer has is people can buy off them and get finance at the same time, I can't free this!

Your thoughts and past experiences on the process would be appreciated

 

Don't know about UK, but in my more recent experience, trading will leave you heavily shortchanged. I totally get the avoidance of the hassle factor, but in my experience, dealers try to buy VERY low and try to sell VERY high on used cars.

However, it's all relative to the market, so just try negotiating and see where it gets you. In the now somewhat distant past, I've also traded and have done pretty well.

 

Pretty much applies to any car situation...Porsche or not.

You are going to get less....much less....for the car by trading than selling outright. Dealer is going to cover their costs, profit margin, and tax margin. And by Dealer...I mean YOU will with how much less they give you

Good luck
DC

 

Do you save sales tax on a trade-in in the UK? In Georgia, when you trade-in a car for another car you only pay sales tax on the difference in the value between the two, which can be a substantial amount depending on the difference and the sales tax rate. So when you factor in that savings along with avoiding the tire kicker hassles, it is usually worth it for me to trade rather than private sale.

 

No tax saving in the uk but they like to make £5-7k profit which is in US $7.5k to $10.5k.

We also get the usual tyre kickers, dreamers and test pilots according to other owners who have sold that I've spoken to.

If I don't get a good trade offer, I will be looking for good photography tips!

 

Private sale without a doubt.

 

If it is a private sale, pay a pro photographer a couple hundred $$ to take some shots for you.

 

If you do not mind taking emails and phone calls, list it privately first.

Being such a rare spec car it might sell quickly!

By trading it in to a dealer you leave 10k on the table but alas less work for you....

I would list it privately.

 

Private is money wise better, I once sold a 996c4s to a guy who kept calling and stopping by for this and that, warranty service basically. Sidwin, on the other hand was the ideal buyer, no hassles, no haggling.
Trading in is a "cleaner kill", so to speak.

 

Chris, any tips when doing the final transaction of a private sale in regards to securing a genuine check? I've traded in my last Porsche to get my Turbo, mainly because I didn't want to get taken by a bogus check. Read too many bad stories. What's the best way to do a private transaction, once you have a buyer, that is full proof?

Jay

 

Have the money wired and once it's in your bank account, release the car.

 

Great question, gotta talk to the buyer, keep your spidey senses alert, anything weird back out.
I have the buyer wire the money directly to my secondary ck account, when my pvt banker gives me the green light I transfer the money to my primary account and complete the deal.
I'd highly suggest anybody on the turbo forum utilize private banking services, they can often set up a one time use checking account to receive wires, because crooks have ways to reverse the payment...

 

This is what I love about this forum, so many people that between us even when I think I'm covering all the bases, someone mentions something new! Reversing credited bank payments does concern me, in the past I would ring the bank, record the phone call and ask if the funds are "cleared funds". Cash payments, I would ask the buyer to deposit into my account, but my previous cars were always worth a lot less.

I like the idea of transferring funds in, ensuring they're cleared and then moving to another of my accounts.

Did everyone test drive their car before buying? I didn't when I bought mine, I was happy for the seller to drive it and he drove it in a range of ways on different roads for 30 mins. In the UK, a lot of people test drive a car when buying a private car, but they are rarely insured if they crash it and it's their fault as their insurance covers them to repair the other persons car under what's called 3rd party insurance.

 

Like I said most banks will accommodate you with a receiving acct. My former biz associate once sold a boat and the guy did reverse the wire, Citibank too. Took him months to get his money back.

 

For a wire transfer, once the seller's--the recipient's--bank has accepted the payment order, the transaction cannot be reversed. However, if the bank from which the payment originates sends a cancellation notice to the recipient's bank before the recipient's bank has accepted the payment order, the transaction can be cancelled.

After the recipient's bank has accepted the payment order, the originating bank cannot access the seller's bank account to reverse the transaction.

I sent a 964 Turbo to Europe recently, and the monetary transaction was completed without issue by wire transfer. I've accepted payment by wire transfer and by bank check on other 911s as well. A seller should be sure to use his or her own bill of sale which identifies specifically the conditions to which the buyer and the seller have agreed (don't use the buyer's bill of sale), and should not release the car or any of its supporting documents (e.g., the vehicle title) until he or she has been paid in full for the car.