Guys.... I've decided to sell

[Phil 117]

Right, so I've not posted in a long while. My GTD is now at just under 15,000 miles, which have been mixed. We've had a few bits of warranty work, taken it to France twice, been hit by a french driver so had some fun with it.

Anyway, some of you may remember, I got a job with AT&T and needed a car so I bought this. 3 Weeks ago, I've been given a Passat (almost the same engine) 177 DSG Executive Style with a few nice option extras on it. I have been trying to offload my car to my other half, but she is adamant she wants a new S1 so I'm going to have to sell the car.

I had the discussion with work if I could just have a cash for car, but the allowance wasn't high enough, and after trying a Passat, if I'm honest, I think I prefer it. Slightly slower being heavier, but just feels nicer strangely. It doesn't help having 3 other white MK7 GTD's on the same road as me!!

I now just have the joys of trying to sell a 8 month old GTD with finance on it, as well as quite high mileage, and £3k's worth of extras. Looking on Autotrader/Pistonheads, they are selling at around £26-27k with up to 5k miles, with similar extras. Wonder if I could get around £24-25k if I sell it myself. (Not sure if I'm allowed to say this), but obviously if anyone was interested, please give me a shout.


Again on that note, not sure if we can sell stuff on here, but some of you may remember I got a very good deal on some winter tyres through my local Volkswagen at Christmas. I got a full set of 17" VW Singapore alloys and winter tyres. I need to rehome these, so will put them on ebay some time in the week, but thought I'd ask you guys first as they are practically smaller GTD alloys. To the untrained eye, you wouldn't notice the alloys are different.

[Jimble]

You can sell stuff on here mate, we have a classified section:

http://www.golfgtiforum.co.uk/index.php?board=68.0

Good luck with the sale of the car though, i think £25k is a bit ambitious unfortunately with there being so many out there already and as you say, it's never easy selling with outstanding finance, might be worth ringing round a few dealers and see what they'll offer you?

[dubber36]

You have also told the internet that it has been bent. 

[monkeyhanger]

That's the trouble with trying to offload a car while it is still expensive - if you're after anything like dealership money your would-be buyers will go straight to the dealership and get finance if they need it because it feels safer than a private sale. You could buy a new one with £3k of options through a broker for £26k. Realistically you need to find the "webuyanycar.com" price and the used forecourt price and aim for the middle of the 2 at best. Set your price realistically in the first place because every month that goes by that you haven't sold it, it has depreciated by £250.

[Mark V GTD]

Hawk it around dealers Phil - any other way will be very frustrating or expensive (or both)...

[Maka344]

Call a few local dealers, they will more than likely buy it at a decent ish price.

[Flintymutt]

I've always sold my car to dealerships and have ALWAYS got a very good price for them too.  I lost just £4K on my 18 month old R32 with 25,000 on the clock, £15K on my 335i with 24,000 and £9K on a 30 month old XC90.  Yes that sounds a lot over the years but I've always had a cash for car at work which has more than covered all costs.

Selling to a dealer also gives you surety on the transaction rather than risk any tyrekickers.

[Chief1337]

Let's look at the facts here:-

1) You are the second owner I believe?
2) Car was previously used as a dealers demo car? If I remember correctly from your previous posted.
3) The car is less than a year old and has covered 15k miles.
4) It's been involved in an accident, but has been repaired to a good standard.
5) The car is in good condition and well looked after.
6) I'm assuming it's had it's first service and a new set of tyres?
7) The car is a decent spec in terms of options extras and a desirable colour.
The bodywork is in good condition?
9) You have outstanding finance which is highly likely more than the car is worth? Remember the interest gets added on at the beginning, so paying back early means you are paying for the full term of interest still.
10) There have been mixed issues with the car, repaired under warranty.

Based on the above, I honestly think you'll struggle to get over £20-22k for this. Based on current 'used' prices for lower mileage and ones that haven't been involved in an accident (which always puts people off). You are still fairly close to 'new' prices, particularly if someone can secure a decent fleet discount. People would also prefer the newer plate.

Most would rather pay a little extra for one that hasn't been damaged (repaired) and hasn't been used as a demo car.

You mentioned that you better half is looking to buy an S1, have you thought about trading the GTD in for it?

You mentioned also that you got offered an allowance instead? Surely if you took that + claimed mileage back you'd at least be breaking even?

From memory you used to be a car dealer yourself (again from another post), you are probably better placed to answer you own question than any of us are! :-)

[monkeyhanger]

I'd disagree with some of point 9 above. If you end your finance early, VW finance work out the interest to give you back, you only pay interest on the car to the date of termination, they will keep 2 months interest as a penalty. Your monthly interest at the start of the term will be around twice as much as the interest towards the end of the term, within your monthly payment. Keep your car a year and you'll pay about 40% of the total term's interest. I've never gone full term on VW finance (this GTD is the first time i've not gone with VW finance) as i've always been getting itchy feet, it's easy to get a settlement figure. If say, you're paying £400 a month for a well specced GTI/GTD without a huge deposit down, there'll be maybe £300 a month capital being paid off on average over the term, and on average £100 a month interest. In months 1 and 2 though, there might be £140 a month interest and £260 capital, dropping to £70 a month interest and £330 capital in month 35.

I'd agree though that maybe part-exing against the S1 might be your best bet to get shot with minimum losses, unless they have issue with the part-ex being worth 75-85% of the car you're buying.

[Phil 117]

In regards to point 9. I do get a rebate of all interest charges not incurred thus far.


You are correct on all accounts Chief. To be honest, I agree with all bar 9 as above. From appraising cars in the past, the damage would be hard to see. I've ran my fingers down all lines and can't find it.

I have tried some friends at VW's. One has offered £21k. Another has said they would offer £23k, possibly £23,500 as a P/X, but run three demo's so don't need the stock.

A local independent has offered £22k.

We are just going to the lease the S1, but will try P/X with that. I got a buddy to send over an up to date spreadsheet with all the Volkswagen dealers sales managers email. Think I'll just send a group email with the details and see if anyone wants a punt on it.