[jonesanto]

Positing this based on a recent experience.

For most of us, when it comes to selling our car, online platform is what comes to mind. Main reason being, this is where seller and the buyer get the most value for money proposition. Cons being, time frame. You can’t tell how much time it will take to sell the car. People who do not have the time, don’t like the hassle or space to keep two cars etc, will prefer exchanging or selling it through dealers.

For us, cars used for business, we just exchange it with the one replacing, we simply do not have the time. Personal cars, it depends on the situation, I have had cars purchased by known acquaintances. When it comes to selling directly through online, which is what this thread is all about, I could sell cars within 24 hours of posting the ad. The worst was, six months, my 2022 Fortuner. I almost decided not to sell it for a loss and take the ad out. So, it’s all about market situation, price, patience, location and the car you are selling?

Few things I’ve observed is, just because the car is sold in large number, reliable, have manufacturer support and have a good value at used car market, it does not mean car will sell like you’d expect. I’ve had Maruti’s and Totoya’s which took a lot of time to dispose, where in low selling and bad resale value cars like Elanta and Octavia sold off without a hitch.

Once decided to sell directly through online platform, how much time it has taken for you to sell the car?




Both Innova’s together, before handing over the old Innova to the new owner.

Share your experience.

[anjan_c2007]

The Tata Nano CX of 2010 owned by my Mrs was put up for sale in 2023 on olx. It had run just 3750 kms in these 13 years and we quoted 80 K. It is fully original and in an almost showroom condition.There were no serious buyers and hence we quoted Rs 70K after a few weeks. Again no serious buyers. Some were offering Rs 20 or 30 K. Then we came down to Rs 60K and got two serious buyers, one offering Rs 40K and the other Rs 45K. As my M800 was already 36 plus years old by then, I told my Mrs that this Nano should be too good for city commutes and those 40 or 45K bucks are no good. She readily agreed. Hence, I have given a break to the M800 that is fit, but rests more these days. The Tata Nano is more than ideal for city commutes, has a torquey RW direct Drive and the 624 cc engine is a workhorse. Its very, very frugal on fuel. Disadvantages are that it has no space for luggage if there are four passengers. And its AC is totally ineffective or "nikammah" if the tempreture exceeds 35-38 deg C.We have decided to keep the Nano for now.

[ajmat]

It all depends on different factors -the car, condition, my profile and price

Octavia vRS - Took a long time after the May 2012 petrol price hike and when diesel was the default choice. There was also the fear of Skoda service. Sold well below my expected price

Getz - sold within two weeks via Team BHP, fact that the potential buyer worked in the same company worked wonders

Swift - sold within a month on Team BHP. Priced it well and again direct owner to owner helped. Would have taken ages on other platforms with low ballers

Corolla - Low mileage- initially 3 months - but reduced to barely two weeks once I got fitness renewed - priced well, a bargain helped. Team BHP again

i10 Grand - Spinney offered a good price so 2 days

Jetta - 3 weeks - Team BHP again. Priced well

Polo 1.6 - priced it well and sold within a week. Team BHP again - niche car, niche market and my documented history

I avoided Carwale - mainly dealers. Olx - too much noise and conmen.

[GTO]

I had a beautifully modified Civic, maintained in top shape and it drove superbly. As with most enthusiasts, I thought mine is one of the best available examples in the used market & it will move fast.

Well, that expectation fell flat on its face. In the used car market, there was no demand for the Civic due to its low GC, poor low end torque, very low seating and competition from the Corolla Altis. There was 10X demand for the Toyota and almost zero for the Civic.

IIRC, it took well over 3 months for the car to move. I sold the heavy audio system separately to a BHPian, and the car went for barely Rs 2.25 lakhs. Cheap. The guy who bought it was so happy. He drove it to Kerala in the same month and it did the 1500 km drive with zero issues and zero preparations.

Had listed on Team-BHP & OLX. Sold through the latter:

[Axe77]

^^
At what age did you sell your Civic, GTO? I guess I lucked out on my Civic sale - I sold my Aug 2009 A/T Civic in April 2017 at about 66k kms. I had listed it on Cartrade and CarWale at that time and it got sold literally within 10 days. Was picked up by a Thane based dealer but I had such a great experience with them that I even recall writing a post about the experience of dealing with them here. I recall him sharing details of onward sale paper transfer as well pretty promptly once the car was sold by him - a rare commodity in the used car dealer business.

In fact this is the reason, all my other cars have always just been given to the dealership that I’m buying the new car from. I have not bothered to deal much with used car dealers or even individual buyers for almost any car sale because I just don’t like the hassle of chasing for paper transfer.

The Swift got traded in to the Honda dealership that sold me my Civic (it was in Andheri a little before Audi West dealership. The Nissan Sunny got handed over to BMW Navnit when I bought the 3GT and the Jeep Meridian got handed over to Mercedes. Our Honda City A/T also was handed over to Hyundai - they gave us a much better price for the city than what any dealer or even direct customer offered - so much so that it took them almost a year to offload the car onward. :(

I know it’s not the same as cars but the only bike I’ve had the max time selling was my Ducati Multistrada. Took a full 3 months to complete the sale (door to door). I tried first via WhatsApp riding groups and OLX but finally sold it via “park and sale” with a used bike dealer. Even there the buyer went AWOL on paper transfer to a point where I just went ahead and completed the transfer myself via an agent.

[100Kmphormore]

Does motorcycles count? I sold my Himalayan 411 after listing it for 6 months on Facebook Marketplace. OLX had too many dealers offering nonsensical prices. RE had newly introduced a scheme called Reown where the price offered to me was nearly 60k lesser than what I expected. The fact that it had run nearly 22000 km in 2 years/2024 rolled in was a hindrance to many, especially after the launch of the 450. Let it go for a marginally less price but with piece of mind over ownership transfer. I believe I got a good deal as the 450 with the recent tubeless spoke wheels is strongly selling than the 411.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by Axe77

^^
At what age did you sell your Civic, GTO? I guess I lucked out on my Civic sale - I sold my Aug 2009 A/T Civic in April 2017 at about 66k kms. I had listed it on Cartrade and CarWale at that time and it got sold literally within 10 days.

Sold the 2007 Civic in 2015. Listing it online and dealing with the numerous calls was a headache, even though someone from my team was handling it. Going forward, I will only sell cars to the organised players, startups or as a trade-in. Time is money.

[Wheeloholic]

I listed my 2010 Ford Figo Diesel Titanium model in OLX for 2L in 2023, the car was in top condition with recently changed suspension, clutch kit, etc. as I had no intention to sell this beauty. As we had other car in our garage, the Figo saw low running in highway which attracts injector issues, with heavy heart decided to let it go.

Honda dealer offered 1L, and after listing in OLX, I was surprised to note that there were not too many takers for this little beauty. Only 2 genuine buyers came and saw, one of them offered 1.5L and I refused, and other one offered 1.7L and we sealed the deal.

At the time of selling, it has run about 1.4L km.

[07CR]

I have sold a Ecosport S TDCI (pre owned), Kia Sonet 1.0 HTX iMT (pre owned) and Kia Seltos 1.5 GT Line Turbo (8 month old) in the last 1.5 years. Each went off in about a fortnight or so!

Also each of them was sold to a direct owner giving me decent value in return.

Ecosport bought at 9.65L, sold at 9L. Sonet bought at 11.05 L, sold at 9L. Seltos 23.35L sold at 18.9L.

[Hamala53]

I sold my Swift petrol three years back through Spinny. My car was 9 years old and had clocked only 38k and well maintained except for few body scratches which is inevitable in Bangalore traffic. They almost did not budge from their original quote and after inspection and persuation increased the price by 5k. The entire process was hassele free and they shared the new owner details after the RC change. From contacting to conclusion took only less than 2 weeks.
i still miss my Swift.

[shipnil]

Originally Posted by Wheeloholic

Only 2 genuine buyers came and saw, one of them offered 1.5L and I refused, and other one offered 1.7L and we sealed the deal.

How long did it take from listing till the car was sold? Days/months?

[Wheeloholic]

Originally Posted by shipnil

How long did it take from listing till the car was sold? Days/months?

It took almost a month and half. Usually, i ask the buyer to call my number and I don't entertain chatting. This helps to filter time passer.

[sreerknair]

I sold my 11 year old Manza with 1.1L KMs on ODO in 3 hours to Cars24. Went to their office, they did the evaluation and online auction and offered 1L. I rejected and said will sell for 1.25L which they agreed in few mins. Dropped the key and car and took Uber back home. I could have got 1.75L or 2L if sold individually, but the hassle free experience was worth more than 50K.

[Sensible_Speed]

Originally Posted by jonesanto

Few things I’ve observed is, just because the car is sold in large number, reliable, have manufacturer support and have a good value at used car market, it does not mean car will sell like you’d expect. I’ve had Maruti’s and Totoya’s which took a lot of time to dispose, where in low selling and bad resale value cars like Elantra and Octavia sold off without a hitch.

When the car is in demand, like most Marutis and Toyotas, they hold their values pretty well. This is especially true for Toyotas. Their resale values are very hard to digest if you're looking for a used example. The reason they take this long is that, at the high resale price, people could just spring for a new example of the cars being sold. A 9 lakh rupee Dzire selling for 8-8.5 lakhs after 2 years makes no sense from the buyer's perspective. So they skip over those and look at the heavy depreciated model. These cars are aspirational mostly and the opportunity to snag one at a killer price is too enticing to pass up. My friend found a used Superb for a steal and snapped it up immediately, because a new one was 40+ lakhs at the time.

[MiamiBlue]

I tried selling multiple vehicles at different times online. I listed my 1975 Bullet 350 on olx and fb marketplace, sold on the latter within 10 days. Listed my sister's 2021 creta on fb but sold outside via an agent. Tried selling my 2018 swift on cars24 but sold to my friend after I saw the silly price they quoted. Listed my 2018 Mahindra jeeto minivan but exchanged for a bajaj qute at the showroom. Everytime I posted on Facebook marketplace I got huge amount of enquiries and messages but almost half of them are low balling dealers rest are time passers. Selling offline to a dealer is the best option if you want to sell quick but they definitely undervalues the vehicle.