Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Classic Morgans (pre-CX) Thinking of selling my +8

Hi all , I’m thinking of selling my 1997 +8 now grandkids are arriving I need something with a few more seats, where’s the best place to sell ? Car and classic seems a good option but 5% isn’t cheap. Any ideas or advice would be greatly appreciated as I find selling cars a pain .

Hi Fus969,

Try BHM they sold my Plus Four for me with no fuss earlier this year. We agreed a valuation and away we went.

They charged £2500 this was taken from the sale price, this included :

* advertising
* cleaning
* a full MOT
* a service.

I did have to pay for a few extra things that the service threw up as they found that I needed to have the manifold welded and a brake cylinder on the rear.
However I feel that this was a good price and the car was sold in 2 weeks.

The balance of the sale price was in my account within a day and Sarah kept me abreast of every move. She was fantastic.

This fee may have gone up now but it would be worth giving Sarah a call as she is so helpful.

Rob..

I also think Brands Hatch are great. They sold my last car for me. They charge of course but they check the car and the purchaser so you are saved tyre kickers and fraudsters. Well worth it for the peace of mind.
They are also wonderful to deal with.
Full confidence in Sarah and her crew.
Nick

That’s worth knowing. Earlier this year I had a moment of weakness and thought about selling my car. I had a pretty good idea what a dealer would sell it for. I contacted one, not BHM, who advertised themselves as good buyers of all Morgans. I was stunned at how low their offer was. Yes, they have to factor in servicing, MoT, warranty and profit, but I was staggered by the margin. Have sold other specialist cars to the trade before and had always been happy at the margins they applied for the convenience of not having to sell privately, but this felt excessive. Needless to say I am still enjoying my car.

I sold my last Plus 8 on the MSCC site and got the fair asking price - you don't have to be a member (I'm not) and it's a cheap way of selling it with less likelihood of tyre kickers as you are with your target audience.

The first response to the advert put down a deposit and came down to see the car the following weekend to collect it having transferred the cash whilst I was doing the DVLA bit.
This was back in 2008 before I discovered TM - the chap that bought the car has only recently sold it on to upgrade to an early Aero.

I would use BHM to sell my Morgan without hesitation, and probably will do that when the time comes.

The distance doesn't matter. It's the trust and ethics which do matter for me.

I am another happy BHM customer, sold my 4/4 with no hassle.

We all know what Morgans are like…a dealer selling one has to provide a warranty of some sort, which could severely cut into his margin. Even one that is thought of as “well up together” can easily result in numerous returns from an inexperienced buyer who might be expecting saloon car comfort.

Not a Morgan but definitely a specialist car, I bought my Aston Martin V8 Vantage on the Facebook V8 Vantage Group, 18 months later I sold it there too.

Total cost of advertising and sales commission at both ends of the purchase/sale: £0.00

My point is it's well worth trying one of the Morgan Facebook groups first as it's completely free, so you really have nothing to lose. What a seller should find is that these days the marque specific Facebook groups are where savvy buyers go when looking for a private sale of a well cared for example of the specific model they're hunting for.

The sellers are typically enthusiasts who have a passion for their car and you can search their post history on Facebook to look at what they've been talking about, this can reveal if the car has given them any issues in the past, and what they may have done to improve the car too. The guy I bought my Aston from was only selling his V8 Vantage to get himself in a V12 Vantage, he was a true Aston Martin enthusiast having spent over £12,000 maintaining, improving and enhancing his V8V over the previous two years he'd owned it. The marque specific Facebook groups work for the seller too, I sold my Aston in under a week of advertising it on the exact same Facebook V8 Vantage Group, and for my asking price.

It's worth keeping in mind a car dealer typically looks to turn a 10 to 15% profit, which is fine as we all need to earn a crust, I'm not against good car dealers but they need to work hard to prove to me they're genuinely adding value, most can't. If you're a buyer it's worth asking yourself if the dealer is offering you genuine services and guarantees to the value that exceeds that of buying a similar car privately from a genuine enthusiast who's loved and looked after his car, if you're a seller ask yourself if the lower price you'll get compared to selling your car privately is worth what the dealer should be giving you, ie a quick, hassle free and painless sale.

Personally I don't work hard to pay someone else's mortgage and my experience is most car dealers will promise you the world right up to the point at which you part with your cash, after that if things go wrong the wriggling and squirming out of his responsibilities will start. This is why we needed to create laws to protect the consumer and hold car dealers to account with the full weight of the law, don't get me wrong there are good car dealers out there but I still prefer to buy and sell my hobby cars privately and share the dealer's margin with the enthusiast I'm having a deal with, either that or I'll buy at auction as I did recently with my Morgan which I snagged for roughly 10% less than I would have been forced to pay for the exact same car at a Morgan dealer.

In summary I would definitely start by advertising your Plus 8 on one of the Morgan Facebook groups, it's free so you really have nothing to lose

All perfectly understandable reasons for finding a platform for selling your vehicle, to maximise your return. The downside is where do people come to inspect the vehicle, if its your home then you may need to be aware of letting perfect strangers onto your property and so on.
A good friend of mine was burgled and had several cars stolen following having people view one of his cars for sale on his property, it could have been pure co-incidence. Then of course, there's dealing with receipt of cleared funds and determination of the point at which title to the vehicle transfers to the buyer (Romalpa clause), plus whether you supply any warranty as to fitness whether express or implied. Of course the extent to which insurance covers any test drives by people other than yourself etc. especially if you are handing them the keys to the car, by the way I'm not in any way trying to teach Granma's how to suck eggs here.

As long as you are cautious. well prepared as the money involved in these type of transactions are not usually insubstantial and comfortable with the vehicle viewing arrangements, it is an obvious path to follow.