Why do so many people OVER value their car?

[P6LTD351]

It may seem like a silly question, but how can anyone ask $8500 for say an EF Falcon Gli? Now I know some will say, well it depends on what mods have been done. But if anyone who has dealt with trying to trade their vehicle in - mods mean squat unless you're selling to an enthusiast. Many get a shock when the dealer quotes them $2500 - $3000 (max) trade in for their "beautiful" ef, eb, ed etc etc. You know, it has mags, been resprayed etc etc. The dealer, AND the general market doesn't care. Why am I saying this? Make sure you want to keep your car for a long time if you're gonna spend thousands on a relatively old car. I've learnt the hard way. I am amazed to see what some people think their car is worth. The number offender? People who advertise in Unique Cars. An absolute joke. Nearly every car is WAY overpriced.

What do you guys think?

[94EDxr6]

true but dealers don't buy them at market prices otherwise, where is the profit...

[Phil91EB]

I think its hard to put a price on time and effot and I think thats what some people try to do "The car is worth this much $$ but it's worth this much to me $$$$ so thats what I want for it"

[P6LTD351]

You're right there. I know you can get more by selling it privately, but even then some people value their car way too highly. Remember, with every new model, previous models go down in value until they plateau out.

[cArSiK]

Their asking price and the price they will accept are two totally different things... If they start low , they are going to end lower....makes sense to me. However if you Overprice it by too much , you run the risk of people not even bothering calling..

James

[P6LTD351]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think its hard to put a price on time and effot and I think thats what some people try to do "The car is worth this much $$ but it's worth this much to me $$$$ so thats what I want for it"


I agree. In this case, an enthusiast would be the preferred buyer

[P6LTD351]

Exactly James

[TIKFD6]

A car is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it.

94EDxr6, your Side repeaters are backwards.
:P

[DanXR6T]

Basic rule of business, aim high and work down.

Dan.

[Duffman]

Well I have an au2 forte auto 130,000km and reckon my car is worth around 7-8k... with all mods and stuff been put on about 9-10k.

[EDXR6T]

yer wut u want for it and wut pll are willing to spend are totally diffrent things
plus lets remember thay are second hand:P

thats y im going to keep my EDghia for ever and do every mod that comes to my mind
why buy a new car that everyone else has??

[LTD boy]

a car is also worth what it will cost to replace eg. old & r#*ted EA might be worth 500 to sell but to replace and roadworthy, register a similar car could cost a couple of grand (probably less), I guess somtime its just not worth selling a car

[snypereb]

Its very hard to put a price on time and effort that you put in your car and eveything you put into it 9 times out of 10 you aint going to get back. Mum got 5 grand for EL trade in she said she wanted 5 he said 3 so she started walking away and he came back running saying ok 5 lol dodgy dealers!!!

[-jjM-]

iv stuffed around wit mine enought to keep it till it blows, if anything ill prob just end up stripping it, prob get more buk for it on the way that im heading, wont make much of a buk but least ill make something

but then depending on how i go, i would put it up for the price i want, if i dont get it, ill hold it up there till i get it, i dont really care weather ppl say its too much for just an eb spac but the stuff around and work thats goin into it, is worth what ill sell it for

thats me anywayz

[XRQTR]

Ok this is all wrong, its not that some people over value their cars but that most people ' under value ' their cars, they do this in the hope that they will sell it quick, or because they don't know any better and try to get what the dealer said it was worth.

Panic sellers are the worst of the lot, and 9 times out of 10 they are the dealers who need to get rid of runout stock so they sell em for next to no profit. This in turn makes the private seller with a car thats maybe a few months older have to drop their price in the thought that they will not sell otherwise.

Prime example is my BA XR8 that I traded recently, it was a MK2 with only 9500 ks, luxury pack and it looked pretty hot if I go off public reaction. Now I initially put the car up for what I noticed other private sellers pricing was, I did think it was a little high but figured the car was insured for $43,500 so $47k would be about right. It used to be that whatever the car was actually worth the insured value, market value, would be about 10% less so this all seemed about right. Well how wrong could you be, a mate of mine that works at a Ford dealership told me of an XR8 that was $37.5k on the lot that they couldnt sell.

You see what happens is that its a buyers market, and most people will haggle till the cows come home in the knowledge that times are tough for alot of people and if they argue long enough the seller will probably give in to their demands. The trick is that if your desperate, take it to a wholesaler and haggle with them, if you're not though don't just put a lower price than the next guy, because what happens is that anyone following you will do the same and this will severely depreciate and undervalue all vehicles of the same make and model.

Its like all the morons that go to auctions hoping to buy a bargain, they are effectively bidding against themselves, instead of sitting back and waiting for the final call they are usually the first to place a bid and its usually close to what they want so anything more is cream. If you are going to place the first bid, which is the best thing to do by the way, keep it as low as they will accept for an opening bid. Once you have started the process hang back and see where it goes, don't start bidding until the final call.

If people understood about buying and selling i wouldnt get so frustrated when i see written off cars going for almost market value or the flipside when someone can't sell a perfectly good car for well below insurance value. Unfortunately though not enough people realise that they are in control of an auction and not the auctioneer, keep in mind that even after the hammer drops even if you are not succesful you as the final bidder have the right to negotiate further.

Now you can see why I hate having to think :

[svo347]

Originally Posted by TIKFD6

94EDxr6, your Side repeaters are backwards.
:P

Hey so they are..
when i sell my falcon, ill be starting abit high as the buyer can always drive me lower

[divine_afg]

yeh i agree with some points made........ i advertised to sell my car once yet i didnt get much good response some time wasters which i told to just ИИИИ off anyways..
the price i was asking for i thought was reasonable too considering the amazing pulling power my cars got yet at one stage i felt its too much and dropped it... still for sale but having second thoughts about it....... see how i go after few more mods to come soon........... i guess it does come down to individual and enthusiast who appreciate what they are buying.....

[buickman]

Originally Posted by XRQTR

Ok this is all wrong, its not that some people over value their cars but that most people ' under value ' their cars, they do this in the hope that they will sell it quick, or because they don't know any better and try to get what the dealer said it was worth.

Panic sellers are the worst of the lot, and 9 times out of 10 they are the dealers who need to get rid of runout stock so they sell em for next to no profit. This in turn makes the private seller with a car thats maybe a few months older have to drop their price in the thought that they will not sell otherwise.

Prime example is my BA XR8 that I traded recently, it was a MK2 with only 9500 ks, luxury pack and it looked pretty hot if I go off public reaction. Now I initially put the car up for what I noticed other private sellers pricing was, I did think it was a little high but figured the car was insured for $43,500 so $47k would be about right. It used to be that whatever the car was actually worth the insured value, market value, would be about 10% less so this all seemed about right. Well how wrong could you be, a mate of mine that works at a Ford dealership told me of an XR8 that was $37.5k on the lot that they couldnt sell.

You see what happens is that its a buyers market, and most people will haggle till the cows come home in the knowledge that times are tough for alot of people and if they argue long enough the seller will probably give in to their demands. The trick is that if your desperate, take it to a wholesaler and haggle with them, if you're not though don't just put a lower price than the next guy, because what happens is that anyone following you will do the same and this will severely depreciate and undervalue all vehicles of the same make and model.

Its like all the morons that go to auctions hoping to buy a bargain, they are effectively bidding against themselves, instead of sitting back and waiting for the final call they are usually the first to place a bid and its usually close to what they want so anything more is cream. If you are going to place the first bid, which is the best thing to do by the way, keep it as low as they will accept for an opening bid. Once you have started the process hang back and see where it goes, don't start bidding until the final call.

If people understood about buying and selling i wouldnt get so frustrated when i see written off cars going for almost market value or the flipside when someone can't sell a perfectly good car for well below insurance value. Unfortunately though not enough people realise that they are in control of an auction and not the auctioneer, keep in mind that even after the hammer drops even if you are not succesful you as the final bidder have the right to negotiate further.

Now you can see why I hate having to think :

Your right on that when the BA's were 1st released in 2002 I tested a XR8 & was neg a price on my 21/2yo 30,000K's AU Ghia. The insult of my car + $34,000 put me into shock & have been shy of Ford salesmen since. I ended up keeping the AU & bought my wife a new Mazda SP20 with money left over. So I gather if its not leased your bette rof keeping the car until it becomes unviable.

On the damaged auction scene the 92 to 94 Fairlanes no one seems to bid on maybe the expensive elect gremlins a friend brought a V8 one smashed hard in the rear & sides for a conversion into a Zephyr for $1,200. But I watched a totally destroyed wrx go for over $12grand stuff if I could work out any parts of value bar most of the interior

[Dodge]

a dealer has to pay for staff, rent on property, and cover the car for mechanical problems, so hes got to make $ on every sale to cover that lemon that turns up. As for the price the best way is to go to a auction yard to see what dealers are paying and if u can get the same car for a few K more ur doing OK, just wait until u go to sell it , different stroy

[XRQTR]

Originally Posted by buickman

But I watched a totally destroyed wrx go for over $12grand stuff if I could work out any parts of value bar most of the interior

Their are 2 possible explanations for this, the first and most likely is that the buyer was a wrecker in which case he would have doubled his money from all the parts that you might not even realise are resellable. However the other reason, although this is becoming a little rarer, is that the cars chassis number or VIN will be used in a rebirth in which case the car to be rebirthed cost nothing as it is stolen and the donor car is their only real cost.

In the latter fortunately though this is why they have the VIV system for re-reg of repairable write off vehicles where all reciepts must be produced in order to get approval to re-register the vehicle. Having said that though their are ways of getting around this new VIV system, anyone who has gone through it should know what I'm talking about.

[lukey]

Value it higher, and when people enquire about the price you can drop it down. If your lucky someone might not realise and pay a higher price.

[snypereb]

Maybe we could go around burning all the stock EBs make them rare and worth more that way lol