If Selling My Car, What's The Online Best Price Guide?

y2k on 03/08/2020 - 13:15
Last edited 03/08/2020 - 13:15

If you were selling your / relative's car (say a BMW 530i 2008 wagon or Lexus CT200H), where would you look to get an idea of what's a fair price? I am looking to trade in to a dealer and am aware that means I won't get top dollar - but also am not sure what the current market is like for second hand cars in the Sydney Metro area given the unstable economic outlook.

Assume cars are registered, very well kept other than a bit of minor scratching.

I've punched details into Sellmycar.com.au and autotrader.com.au give wildly different estimates for range.

I've looked at Facebook Market and Gumtree,
which show higher prices though I'm not sure if owners put down a higher price with an expectation to be bargained down, or if they put the lowest price they can to lure buyers. There's also not many equivalent cars to the above.

Automotive

Comments

  • GG57 on 03/08/2020 - 13:28
    +8

    Try redbook.com.au

    • y2k on 03/08/2020 - 13:37
      -3

      That's only for new cars, right? I can't see anywhere to enter second hand car deets. I select my car and it shows the original sticker price
      EDIT: it does show second hand prices, just not very prominently compared to the sticker price.

      • GG57 on 03/08/2020 - 13:45
        +1

        Nope, have a look at 'research' and enter the details. Then select your specific model.

        • y2k on 03/08/2020 - 13:54

          You're right - I just plumb missed the second hand numbers as they're a lot less prominent cf the sticker price.

  • Caped Baldy on 03/08/2020 - 13:32
    +3

    How many k's?

    Carsales is an okay indicator but knock off a couple thousand. https://www.carsales.com.au/cars/bmw/5-series/530i-badge/

    • knasty on 03/08/2020 - 13:34

      Yep that's what I'd do.

    • y2k on 03/08/2020 - 13:37

      44000 on the 2012 CT200H, 12000 on the 2008 BMW 530i

      • wiipantz on 03/08/2020 - 13:52

        Those are almost alarmingly low k's…

        • y2k on 03/08/2020 - 13:53
          +1

          Haha, yes, parents don't drive much and most of my work involves a train commute

          • GG57 on 03/08/2020 - 14:03
            +2

            @y2k: Wow.
            Assuming bought from new, imagine 'investing' the purchase price for a BMW 530i and only doing 1,000km/year.

            I'm not sure that qualifies to be on OzB.

            • y2k on 03/08/2020 - 15:50
              +1

              @GG57: Holy crap, what a typo. That's 120 000 on the Beemer. Typo!

    • y2k on 03/08/2020 - 13:40

      interesting that carsguide.com.au gives an estimate of about 20K-22.5K, whereas carsales is almost half that.

      • wiipantz on 03/08/2020 - 13:54
        +1

        carsales is what the market would roughly accept to pay for the car, carsguide is just that a guide really, also that can be a dated guide or not factor in certain external conditions… pandemic stuff for example.

  • spackbace on 03/08/2020 - 13:57
    +2

    12yo Euro car and 8yo luxury car and you expect to use current sale prices for trade-in prices…?!

    Yeah good luck with that.

  • Drakesy on 03/08/2020 - 14:33
    +2

    +1 for Redbook.

    Good time to be selling a second hand car as well.
    Gumtree/Marketplace prices have jumped ~10-20% in recent months over covid.

    Although the rapidly dwindling new car sales would have something to do with this, with lower trade in volumes strangling supply.

    • tanksinatra on 03/08/2020 - 15:55

      Gumtree/Marketplace prices have jumped ~10-20% in recent months over covid.

      Agree. Used car prices are up significantly.
      Of all the price guides, I trust Redbook the most. Carsales actually display some of their valuations.

  • Brick Tamland on 03/08/2020 - 15:05
    +1

    Redbook is a good guide. It was quite accurate with a recent trade in.

  • geekcohen on 04/08/2020 - 07:40

    Have a look at https://carinsights.com.au/

  • Euphemistic on 04/08/2020 - 07:50

    Just look at all of them. You’ll get a guide as to what price is being asked. There is no definitive guide because 2nd hand is a supply and demand market.

  • Mark1159 on 04/08/2020 - 08:26

    Drive it to a few dealers.
    Ask “what Is your buy today price?”
    They will be low

    But it will give you a realistic floor price.

  • OzHunterNSW on 04/08/2020 - 10:05

    Look in Red Book

  • Zachary on 04/08/2020 - 13:56

    phone ur insurance.

    • spackbace on 04/08/2020 - 16:20

      And then light a match?

      • Zachary on 06/08/2020 - 14:12

        to smoke? no….you phone them to find out how much they're gonna cover your car if it becomes totaled, then use that as your sell figure as that is how much the insurance company is willing to cover.

        I once bought a car, phone my insurance and they would only be willing to cover a quarter of the price I paid for it, I said that's bullshit! And tried to get them to cover the full amount I paid for, they wouldn't budge and said that was the market value of the car.

        Next time when I go out to buy a car, I will phone insurance to see how much they're gonna cover me and then use that as a price point to haggle down the car prices to normal market price and then will be happy for full insurance!

        • spackbace on 06/08/2020 - 14:36

          Sure, compare market insurance value against trade price (as op isn't wanting private sale prices) and see how that works for you!

          If you're a fan of disappointment then go right ahead 😂

          I am looking to trade in to a dealer and am aware that means I won't get top dollar

          • Zachary on 07/08/2020 - 18:50

            @spackbace: If they're not willing to accept the market price of the vehicle, then go to another place that will….

            Top dollar would be you trying to rip the dealer off somehow….

            • spackbace on 07/08/2020 - 18:53

              @Zachary: Market price isn't trade-in price. Would be an interesting world if a business could operate where they buy the product for the same price they'd sell it for

              • Zachary on 11/08/2020 - 16:24

                @spackbace: Well he did ask:

                where would you look to get an idea of what's a fair price?

                And I told him to ring up his insurance to find what the car's market value is….since thats how much they are willing to insure if it were to go full comprehensive, which means thats what you would get back if it gets written off as totaled….and that should be about the price you should expect when selling that car….of course you could try a higher or lower price depending on how greedy for money you are(or maybe u just simply value the car's worth a bit more than the market price?) or desperate you are to get rid of it.

                Would be an interesting world if a business could operate where they buy the product for the same price they'd sell it for

                You wouldnt happen to know how much the cost price for a car is, would you…? For a dealer to buy it or make it from the factory to put up on sell at the dealerships?

                • spackbace on 11/08/2020 - 16:30

                  @Zachary:

                  And I told him to ring up his insurance to find what the car's market value is….since thats how much they are willing to insure if it were to go full comprehensive, which means thats what you would get back if it gets written off as totaled….and that should be about the price you should expect when selling that car….of course you could try a higher or lower price depending on how greedy for money you are(or maybe u just simply value the car's worth a bit more than the market price?) or desperate you are to get rid of it.

                  Again, you'd have to be 12yo to think that a dealership would trade a car for it's insured market value. Or just have zero real-world experience. Not sure which one applies in this instance.

                  You wouldnt happen to know how much the cost price for a car is, would you…

                  For a used car, which this one is, absolutely…

                  • Zachary on 12/08/2020 - 23:04

                    @spackbace: I'm guessing you have experience bartering a car for market value trade in?

                    For a used car, which this one is, absolutely…

                    So then how is this car worth to you if you were to buy it? And what about for brand new one, that isn't necessarily this particular car make and model?

  • magic8ballgag on 04/08/2020 - 17:58
    +1

    GumtreeCars now has a free car valuation function, combined that with other suggestions above and you'll have a decent idea of pricing.

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