Car Classified Sites, now full of dealers?!

vivekgk · 17th December 2022, 00:38

I recently sold my Ecosport on OLX to a private buyer and got a very good price. It was not that easy, with dealers joining up to give me low-ball offers every single day, trying to get me to lose my nerve and sell the car to one of them at the best of the low-ball offers. It was only through perseverance that I was able to hang on till I started getting real offers from genuine private buyers.

Afterwards, I went through a phase where I was confused between buying a new vehicle, or getting a low usage, fairly recent car for a supposed 30-40% discount compared to a new car. I had booked a ScorpioN and at one point, Mahindra was postponing deliveries of several variants, and I was sure that I wouldn't be getting the car for at least several more months, if not a year.

I once again took to online marketplaces, and found that they were still infested by dealers, who seemed to have all the cars actually worth considering and were selling them for about the same price as they were when new. For an example, a three-year-old XUV500 which was out of warranty, out of production for more thana year and had suspiciously badly worn tyres for only 24K kms on the odo was being listed at 18 lacs by a dealer! When I asked him what the last price would be, he offered 17.9 lacs with a straight face, and then 17.5 lacs after about 2-3 days of haggling. I should have steered clear of them right then, but I was enticed by another big SUV, this time a Tata Hexa AT with 50K and 5 years to its name. And the price? 13.6 lacs, but he was willing to go down as far as 13.3!

In the end, the decision was made for me, as the ScorpioN I had booked was billed earlier than I expected. Considering that I have 3 years of warranty, and a brand new, newly launched model that will be a rare sight for at least a year, I feel that the "premium" I have to pay for the new car is well worth it.

For the time being, it doesn't seem that online classifieds are worth looking for unless you're willing to pay cut-throat prices to dealers for even reasonably good cars, and almost the same price as new for a recent car. Blame it on the supposed chip shortage and the long waiting periods.

If you go to OLX and look through the listings, you'll find the same car listed in all major cities in your state, with the same pics and contact details. You'll also likely find the same car being listed for multiple prices by multiple sellers, who have all contacted the same owner and have same/similar pics.

Then there are the listings of almost-new cars at mouth-watering prices, which turn out to be ads for new cars, put by the showroom SAs to get leads. If you give them a call by accident, be prepared to be assaulted over phone, text and whatsapp for the next few months at least from the SAs, and their successors, and whoever they have shared your number with.

Here are some funny things that I had heard from dealers while selling and buying.

When you're selling an out of production BS4 diesel car, it is always in low demand, and no one really wants it, but when you're buying, BS4 is better since it is less complicated and cheaper to service, and actually even worth paying a premium for.

When you're selling a Ford, spare parts availability and service is a concern, but when you're buying one, service and parts are a non-issue, and the driving experience makes it all worthwhile anyway.

Also, when you're selling a car, the variant and the low mileage and excellent service history are left at the wayside when evaluating, and only the year is important. However, when you go to buy a car, all these factors drive up the price.

Sankar · 17th December 2022, 01:00

Everybody is trying to make some extra $$. In the recent interactions I had with five new car dealerships four of them were keen to know about exchange vehicle during the booking procedure and follow ups. During pre-covid times I don't remember new car dealers being so interested in the old car being exchanged.

saikishor · 17th December 2022, 09:48

I have been searching for a 2016 Chevy Cruze since the past one month. I am searching for cars all over India, as 2016 Cruze has sold very less and there are too few options in the used market.

I came across one particular ad from MH, with absolutely joke pricing. 9.35 lacs for a 35k run automatic whose parent company ran away from the Indian shores 5 years ago. I feel sad for the poor peanut who buys that car at that price.

Cresterk · 17th December 2022, 21:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by saikishor

I have been searching for a 2016 Chevy Cruze since the past one month. I am searching for cars all over India, as 2016 Cruze has sold very less and there are too few options in the used market.

I came across one particular ad from MH, with absolutely joke pricing. 9.35 lacs for a 35k run automatic whose parent company ran away from the Indian shores 5 years ago. I feel sad for the poor peanut who buys that car at that price.

jessie007 · 18th December 2022, 12:06

Why can't Team BHP Classifieds listing be limited to members with say minimum 250 forum posts. Dealers won't be posting much in the forum - their main interest would be classifieds only.

Cresterk · 18th December 2022, 14:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by jessie007

Why can't Team BHP Classifieds listing be limited to members with say minimum 250 forum posts. Dealers won't be posting much in the forum - their main interest would be classifieds only.

Agreed. However I am afraid of whether some dealer will start spamming just so they can post on the classifieds.

jessie007 · 18th December 2022, 14:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cresterk

Agreed. However I am afraid of whether some dealer will start spahmming just so they can post on the classifieds.

They can't do so easily, with the rules we have. Slang, one liners, posts that don't add anything to the forum are monitored by admins, or can also be reported by us.

MDED · 18th December 2022, 21:10

I was looking to sell my Jazz and as usual the first preference was to upload the ad on Olx which I did with strict riders likes low ballers and dealers stay away. Till date I have sold the following on Olx:
1. Samsung HTS
2. Passion Pro
3. Alto LXi
4. CB Unicorn
5. Wife’s and mine iPhone

I find Olx to be reliable, the only catch is the patience of the person listing the vehicle for sale. Cars 24, Olx Auto and Spinny evaluated my Jazz and the worst price was quoted by Olx auto and the best from Cars 24. However, since I am not in a hurry and have a set price in my mind, I didn’t sell to anyone. Though cars 24 keeps calling me offering slight price rise here and there. While my free ads listing got over on Olx, I used my other number to put my car ad on Olx again and I am waiting for the right buyer to reach out to me.

Patience is the virtue and the key!

PS: A serious buyer called me and this Saturday he may come to inspect the vehicle and the price offered by him is above my expectations! So, I think if this deal happens, then it will be a win-win deal for both of us

jomson13 · 20th December 2022, 10:24

I can totally resonate with the views being put forth in this thread.
As a prospective used car buyer, the current market scenario is extremely irritating and annoying.
I have been looking for used cars since almost the past year - an automatic for my sister and more fun to drive ones for myself and a friend (fellow bhpian akhileshmdp).

I remember two instances when I contacted the original seller via olx, went to see the car, test drove it and asked for time till the next day to get back with my offer. When I get back on the next day I am told that the car was sold to spinny / cars 24.

On one occasion, I came across a 3rd gen city, I think it was 2013 make, close to 60k on the odo. It drove really well and the owner was a genuine guy who lived in the same society. I drove the car at 2pm, the quoted price was 4.2 lakhs (which was what spinny had offered him) and I had time till 4pm to decide.

I let this one pass since I didn't want to take a decision without checking out the service history. At around 5pm, I saw the car being driven away by the spinny guy!

These new age start ups have made life pretty easy for the sellers, they get the money instantly without the hassles of dealing with multiple people but it has certainly created a lot of problems for buyers.

I have almost stopped looking at OLX and the other start ups now. I only browse the classifieds on team BHP and look for leads which may come up from within my friends circle.

yashg · 20th December 2022, 10:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by saikishor

I came across one particular ad from MH, with absolutely joke pricing. 9.35 lacs for a 35k run automatic whose parent company ran away from the Indian shores 5 years ago.

On the opposite spectrum, dealers on Spinny and Cars24 were offering me joke pricing for my Ford Aspire stating the company ran away from India. 7 yeah old petrol automatic and I was expecting between 3.5 and 3.75, and I was offered 1.43 by Spinny!

Most others offered around 2.5.

My car had new tyres good for another 25k KMs, brand new battery, full year's comprehensive insurance till Dec 2023 and a well cared for car driven only 35700 KMs serviced only at Ford ASS. Sure I won't expect a sky high price, but anyone with an iota of knowledge about cars would certainly appreciate it and offer a fair price. 1.43? Really?

Individuals are much more reasonable and come after doing market research. One gentleman who saw my ad on Team-BHP classifieds was ready to buy from Coimbatore (I am in Mumbai) without inspecting it. Simply going by my description and photos of the car and the fact that it was posted on Team-BHP.

Eventually my car was purchased in my expected range by an individual who already had a Ford Figo manual and wanted to upgrade to an automatic.

mohansrides · 20th December 2022, 20:32

This is a function of what was said here -

https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/super...ml#post5358196 (Used Superbikes & Big Motorcycles on sale in India)

TL;DR

Given the eye-watering prices and the waiting periods of new vehicles, it is very rare in the first place for owners to part with perfectly running and problem-free machines.

And if owners are indeed forced to sell due to circumstances, they have to deal with unseemly buyers who lowball them to the maximum. Individual buyers try to get well-kept vehicles at prices equal to or below what even dealers offer. This infuriates sellers.

On top of this is the complicated payment terms that most buyers come with. Most of the time, they have to arrange for a loan or pay through a family member or a friend or whatnot!!

Enter dealers. They solve two problems here. One the sale transaction is conducted smoothly and the money received immediately. Two, the dealer typically has enough holding power so that, in the seller's eyes, all of those "unscrupulous and greedy" individual buyers get punished (so to speak) by having to pay the premium required for a good vehicle, even if the actual first owner himself doesn't receive any financial benefit.

The latter is by far the dynamic at play, and one that most dealers profit from. Dealers invest their capital. So, they deserve to make returns. As to what those returns should be is not for anyone else to determine but the dealer himself.

P. S.

I am not a dealer and don't have any personal associations with any dealers. In fact, I got royally rogered by a dealer once. But, that story is for another time.

thirdmainroad · 25th December 2022, 05:33

Fact is loads and loads of people are selling their cars everyday. Like I quoted from a research paper a little earlier - the Used car market in india is estimated at 34 billion USD currently and expected to double by 26. That’s crazy numbers, but with over 1.5 billion of us, it’s expected.

Fact is that Spiny, OLX autos have a lot of money coming their way through funding. The used car market is very lucrative and profitable. We are going to see quite an exponential growth in seed funding for start ups in this sector.

Fact is they and dealers make life a little easier - by offering upfront cash, and make re registration easier.

Fact is they work on quite a big profit margin - with a minimum gain of 1 -1.5 lakhs, mostly 2 /3 lakhs for low and mid range cars.

And therefore, fact is that sellers are getting low offers but increasingly take the “convenient” way out - and buys get fooled by fake warranty claims and “reliability” offered by dealers and pay premium prices.

The issue really lies with us - buyers and sellers - who are getting fooled by convenience and guarantees.

Fact is it’s just as easy to sell to the right buyers directly and get things done smoothly - it just requires a very little effort more.

Take the power back. Take a pledge to never use a dealer when you buy / sell cars!!

17th December 2022, 00:38	#46
vivekgk Senior - BHPian Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Trivandrum Posts: 1,003 Thanked: 2,149 Times View My Garage	Re: Car Classified Sites, now full of dealers?! I recently sold my Ecosport on OLX to a private buyer and got a very good price. It was not that easy, with dealers joining up to give me low-ball offers every single day, trying to get me to lose my nerve and sell the car to one of them at the best of the low-ball offers. It was only through perseverance that I was able to hang on till I started getting real offers from genuine private buyers. Afterwards, I went through a phase where I was confused between buying a new vehicle, or getting a low usage, fairly recent car for a supposed 30-40% discount compared to a new car. I had booked a ScorpioN and at one point, Mahindra was postponing deliveries of several variants, and I was sure that I wouldn't be getting the car for at least several more months, if not a year. I once again took to online marketplaces, and found that they were still infested by dealers, who seemed to have all the cars actually worth considering and were selling them for about the same price as they were when new. For an example, a three-year-old XUV500 which was out of warranty, out of production for more thana year and had suspiciously badly worn tyres for only 24K kms on the odo was being listed at 18 lacs by a dealer! When I asked him what the last price would be, he offered 17.9 lacs with a straight face, and then 17.5 lacs after about 2-3 days of haggling. I should have steered clear of them right then, but I was enticed by another big SUV, this time a Tata Hexa AT with 50K and 5 years to its name. And the price? 13.6 lacs, but he was willing to go down as far as 13.3! In the end, the decision was made for me, as the ScorpioN I had booked was billed earlier than I expected. Considering that I have 3 years of warranty, and a brand new, newly launched model that will be a rare sight for at least a year, I feel that the "premium" I have to pay for the new car is well worth it. For the time being, it doesn't seem that online classifieds are worth looking for unless you're willing to pay cut-throat prices to dealers for even reasonably good cars, and almost the same price as new for a recent car. Blame it on the supposed chip shortage and the long waiting periods. If you go to OLX and look through the listings, you'll find the same car listed in all major cities in your state, with the same pics and contact details. You'll also likely find the same car being listed for multiple prices by multiple sellers, who have all contacted the same owner and have same/similar pics. Then there are the listings of almost-new cars at mouth-watering prices, which turn out to be ads for new cars, put by the showroom SAs to get leads. If you give them a call by accident, be prepared to be assaulted over phone, text and whatsapp for the next few months at least from the SAs, and their successors, and whoever they have shared your number with. Here are some funny things that I had heard from dealers while selling and buying. When you're selling an out of production BS4 diesel car, it is always in low demand, and no one really wants it, but when you're buying, BS4 is better since it is less complicated and cheaper to service, and actually even worth paying a premium for. When you're selling a Ford, spare parts availability and service is a concern, but when you're buying one, service and parts are a non-issue, and the driving experience makes it all worthwhile anyway. Also, when you're selling a car, the variant and the low mileage and excellent service history are left at the wayside when evaluating, and only the year is important. However, when you go to buy a car, all these factors drive up the price.
	(14) Thanks

17th December 2022, 01:00	#47
Sankar Senior - BHPian Join Date: May 2005 Location: Location Posts: 5,778 Thanked: 9,202 Times	Re: Car Classified Sites, now full of dealers?! Everybody is trying to make some extra $$. In the recent interactions I had with five new car dealerships four of them were keen to know about exchange vehicle during the booking procedure and follow ups. During pre-covid times I don't remember new car dealers being so interested in the old car being exchanged.
	() Thanks

17th December 2022, 09:48	#48
saikishor BHPian Join Date: Dec 2020 Location: TS07 Posts: 644 Thanked: 3,137 Times	Re: Car Classified Sites, now full of dealers?! I have been searching for a 2016 Chevy Cruze since the past one month. I am searching for cars all over India, as 2016 Cruze has sold very less and there are too few options in the used market. I came across one particular ad from MH, with absolutely joke pricing. 9.35 lacs for a 35k run automatic whose parent company *ran* away from the Indian shores 5 years ago. I feel sad for the poor peanut who buys that car at that price. Attached Thumbnails
	(2) Thanks

18th December 2022, 12:06	#50
jessie007 BHPian Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: New Delhi Posts: 797 Thanked: 1,581 Times View My Garage	Re: Car Classified Sites, now full of dealers?! Why can't Team BHP Classifieds listing be limited to members with say minimum 250 forum posts. Dealers won't be posting much in the forum - their main interest would be classifieds only.
	(1) Thanks

18th December 2022, 21:10	#53
MDED BHPian Join Date: Feb 2016 Location: KA/TN/BR Posts: 387 Thanked: 765 Times	Re: Car Classified Sites, now full of dealers?! I was looking to sell my Jazz and as usual the first preference was to upload the ad on Olx which I did with strict riders likes low ballers and dealers stay away. Till date I have sold the following on Olx: 1. Samsung HTS 2. Passion Pro 3. Alto LXi 4. CB Unicorn 5. Wife’s and mine iPhone I find Olx to be reliable, the only catch is the patience of the person listing the vehicle for sale. Cars 24, Olx Auto and Spinny evaluated my Jazz and the worst price was quoted by Olx auto and the best from Cars 24. However, since I am not in a hurry and have a set price in my mind, I didn’t sell to anyone. Though cars 24 keeps calling me offering slight price rise here and there. While my free ads listing got over on Olx, I used my other number to put my car ad on Olx again and I am waiting for the right buyer to reach out to me. Patience is the virtue and the key! PS: A serious buyer called me and this Saturday he may come to inspect the vehicle and the price offered by him is above my expectations! So, I think if this deal happens, then it will be a win-win deal for both of us
	() Thanks

20th December 2022, 10:24	#54
jomson13 BHPian Join Date: Mar 2016 Location: Pune Posts: 259 Thanked: 600 Times	Re: Car Classified Sites, now full of dealers?! I can totally resonate with the views being put forth in this thread. As a prospective used car buyer, the current market scenario is extremely irritating and annoying. I have been looking for used cars since almost the past year - an automatic for my sister and more fun to drive ones for myself and a friend (fellow bhpian akhileshmdp). I remember two instances when I contacted the original seller via olx, went to see the car, test drove it and asked for time till the next day to get back with my offer. When I get back on the next day I am told that the car was sold to spinny / cars 24. On one occasion, I came across a 3rd gen city, I think it was 2013 make, close to 60k on the odo. It drove really well and the owner was a genuine guy who lived in the same society. I drove the car at 2pm, the quoted price was 4.2 lakhs (which was what spinny had offered him) and I had time till 4pm to decide. I let this one pass since I didn't want to take a decision without checking out the service history. At around 5pm, I saw the car being driven away by the spinny guy! These new age start ups have made life pretty easy for the sellers, they get the money instantly without the hassles of dealing with multiple people but it has certainly created a lot of problems for buyers. I have almost stopped looking at OLX and the other start ups now. I only browse the classifieds on team BHP and look for leads which may come up from within my friends circle.
	(1) Thanks

20th December 2022, 20:32	#56
mohansrides BANNED Join Date: May 2013 Location: Mumbai Posts: 524 Thanked: 4,094 Times	Re: Car Classified Sites, now full of dealers?! This is a function of what was said here - https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/super...ml#post5358196 (Used Superbikes & Big Motorcycles on sale in India) TL;DR Given the eye-watering prices and the waiting periods of new vehicles, it is very rare in the first place for owners to part with perfectly running and problem-free machines. And if owners are indeed forced to sell due to circumstances, they have to deal with unseemly buyers who lowball them to the maximum. Individual buyers try to get well-kept vehicles at prices equal to or below what even dealers offer. This infuriates sellers. On top of this is the complicated payment terms that most buyers come with. Most of the time, they have to arrange for a loan or pay through a family member or a friend or whatnot!! Enter dealers. They solve two problems here. One the sale transaction is conducted smoothly and the money received immediately. Two, the dealer typically has enough holding power so that, in the seller's eyes, all of those "unscrupulous and greedy" individual buyers get punished (so to speak) by having to pay the premium required for a good vehicle, even if the actual first owner himself doesn't receive any financial benefit. The latter is by far the dynamic at play, and one that most dealers profit from. Dealers invest their capital. So, they deserve to make returns. As to what those returns should be is not for anyone else to determine but the dealer himself. P. S. I am not a dealer and don't have any personal associations with any dealers. In fact, I got royally rogered by a dealer once. But, that story is for another time.
	(1) Thanks

25th December 2022, 05:33	#57
thirdmainroad BHPian Join Date: May 2019 Location: Chennai Posts: 259 Thanked: 2,062 Times	Re: Car Classified Sites, now full of dealers?! Fact is loads and loads of people are selling their cars everyday. Like I quoted from a research paper a little earlier - the Used car market in india is estimated at 34 billion USD currently and expected to double by 26. That’s crazy numbers, but with over 1.5 billion of us, it’s expected. Fact is that Spiny, OLX autos have a lot of money coming their way through funding. The used car market is very lucrative and profitable. We are going to see quite an exponential growth in seed funding for start ups in this sector. Fact is they and dealers make life a little easier - by offering upfront cash, and make re registration easier. Fact is they work on quite a big profit margin - with a minimum gain of 1 -1.5 lakhs, mostly 2 /3 lakhs for low and mid range cars. And therefore, fact is that sellers are getting low offers but increasingly take the “convenient” way out - and buys get fooled by fake warranty claims and “reliability” offered by dealers and pay premium prices. The issue really lies with us - buyers and sellers - who are getting fooled by convenience and guarantees. Fact is it’s just as easy to sell to the right buyers directly and get things done smoothly - it just requires a very little effort more. Take the power back. Take a pledge to never use a dealer when you buy / sell cars!!
	(2) Thanks