How to establish a selling price for a car

[Kevinmc]

I've got a May 03 diesel Zafira Elegance which has 200K Km on the clock. It's UK registered but is LHD, full European spec with all the modifications to make it UK legal too. So it's got full UK Thatcham security etc. Plus factory fitted tow bar. So an ideal buy for the ex-pat community.

 

It was bought new as part of fullfilling the dream, but the dream's no longer a reality.

 

How do I establish a price for selling in France? Is their an equivalent to Glass's guide ?

 

With the current exchange rates, selling in France is a much better proposition than feeding my french bank account from the UK. 

 

This is not a sales pitch. I want to establish the value of the car, so that I can decide whether selling is the right solution. 

[Bob T]

I think that there would be no clear guide in France for selling the car as it is UK registered and so someone like me could not drive it as I am a resident of this fine country.

At the end of the day you will only get what someone is willing to pay for it.

You might try asking at a local garage to see what they think it is worth.

[Kevinmc]

It's got a full European Certificate of conformity. Basically, it's a European model with all the extras ( 5 items, I seem to remember) to also get me the UK cedrtificate of conformity.

 

Surely the French motor traders must have a price guide structure. With a French guide price, I can make a decision. I certainly don't want to start discussing trades prices with a French dealer - I'd lose miserably against any dealer !! 

 

I'm happy to register it in France (or Spain, or Italy, or wherever) if that makes a difference. 

[Cat]

Try googling argus voiture, there are lots of site that list guide book prices. 

 

[Iceni]

Like BobT I live here so would not buy a UK registered car, unless at a real giveaway price - I can't be bothered to suffer the bureaucracy of Wales and France to re-reg it. Also I tend to suspect that there may be a reason why the seller has not already done it.

Others may have different views - many ex-pats drive cars on UK plates for years, which IIRC Connexion said was ok - but who believed it ?

John

[Sunday Driver]

If your car is UK registered with all the modifications to make it UK legal, then you'll need to modify it back to French legal and register it in order to give you the best chance of selling over here.  You may think it's an ideal buy for expats but, as BobT says, we come under the same rules as the French.

Quickest way is to look at the French used car websites and get a view of the average asking prices. For example, a quick check of www.automarche.fr shows 105 similar Zafira models - but most of them have only half the mileage that your's has.

Alternatively, you could always pop in for a chat with your local dealer and ask him to look it up in his Argus guide.......[;-)]

 

 

 

[Kevinmc]

Cheers Sunday driver, I was sure you'd have some ideas. I'll take it over to France and register it there. It's a doddle to make the changes

[Chancer]

Kevin you can access the Argus prices online complete with mileage corrections, I think it is argus.fr but cannot remember for certain.

The menu structure is almost identical to the UK autotrader one (for the car valuation section) so should be familiar to you even if your french is not good.

I agrre with you re registering it first, you have already seen that the immigrant/expat poulation cant be arsed unless it is a bargain (and they know pretty much how easy it will be to register) so I doubt that a comparitively ignorant French buyer would offer to pay what it was worth unless French registered.

Good luck.

[Iceni]

I know how easy it can be to re-reg in France. I don't know how easy it would be to re-reg a UK car when I do not have a UK address.

John

 

[Kevinmc]

Cheers John,

I'll register in France then. I bought the vehicle from new in Holland - it's badged Opel. Vauxhall badging was a €350 option - not something I felt an overwhelming desire to have.

[tracteurtom]

Its going to cost you to register it in France (Carte de Grise and headlamps) and you're assuming somebody in France will want to buy it. Why not stick it in one of the buying property abroad mags that the Brits dreamers drool over, you may get a bite.  But be realistic 200k km (or is that miles ?) is alot for a Citroen (yuke!) with dubious history - whys it in the UK on UK plates ????

[Kevinmc]

Headlamps not a problem, I've got the originals.

And it's an opel, not a citreon. It's barely broken in at 200,000 Km. Full service history too, nothing dubious there.

Bought for the eventual move to France, which isn't going to happen as the same family unit now.

[tracteurtom]

woops must read more carefully  -   Citroen my a*** !  Sorry.

Still your prospective customers are not only Frenchies, are they not ?  seem to remember seeing on the magazine shelves in Smiths in the UK, there's Moving to France, Moving to Spain , Moving to whereever we can make up a magazine that someone will buy etc etc.  Whats the prix of an ad ?

However, the car maybe LHD, but for what country was it built ?  Thats the key, as there are small differences for Germany, Italy etc etc.

and another thing to spoil your day, you wont be able to register the car in France without a French address.

[Chancer]

E-Bay

Sorted!

[cooperlola]

I'm amazed what people will buy though.  I had a very old RHD Landy which came over here with my trailer.  I never re-registered it (and before you all pounce on me, I have never driven it either since its arrival) and it has sat in my driveway, not having moved for nearly two years as we never had the money to tax/insure it etc. 

Last week a local lad knocked on the door and made me an offer for it.  I explained to him that I had officially exported it from the UK and had the conformity documents but that that was all.  He made me an offer (OK it wasn't much - but not bad either).  I accepted the price on the basis that if he had any problems registering it, then they were his, not mine.  Half an hour later, he turned up with a flatbed truck and I said goodbye to a useless bit of metal that had been cluttering up my drive for ages and hello to a few euros.

There is rarely anything you cannot sell, if the right buyer comes along!

[tracteurtom]

Series Landys can fetch good money ??

Now then OP, would you be interested in swapping (with cash adjustment of course) the Opel for a Renault Kangoo 1.4 RN (petrol) yr 2000 RHD, on french plates at the moment, but of UK origin ?  Email me if you are as we could each do ourselves a favour  !!!

[cooperlola]

[quote user="pcwhizz"]Series Landys can fetch good money ??

[/quote]Too true![:D]  I've always reckoned that they're the one vehicle which never depreciates below a certain level.  Even if they don't go and the steering wheel is on the wrong side....

[Kevinmc]

I've got the european certificate of conformity, so as long as it's in the EU, it doesn't matter.

I spec'd it without the sunroof. Can't see the point of a leaky hole in the roof when it's got air con.