i am thinking of selling my vintage speedster

Annaliese, if you really want to sell it, why don't you consider having Troy sell it for you for a small commission.  He knows the market well and it maybe worth paying a few bucks and not deal with all the baloney.  Just a thought 

What was your final OTD price?

Here's an article on new car depreciation. Although the selling price is what someone is willing to pay, this is a good start I think.

According to Edmunds, a new car loses 11% the minute it leaves the lot.

marty, i would absolutely be open to having troy sell it for me if we could reach an agreement about a commission.

I think with the car being so new, adding a third party for commission reasons would bring the final selling price higher than what someone is willing to pay.

It's damn near a new VS, it should sell itself. But expect to lose a few thousand.

it's a nice car. it's in immaculate condition. it has had more upgrades since i bought it. i did some thoughtful things with the interior. i believe i have successfully shaken all of the demons out of it. i am getting really, really busy with work and feel like the car is going to do a lot of sitting this summer which is sad. so maybe i want to sell this one and think about getting another one later.

"I think with the car being so new, adding a third party for commission reasons would bring the final selling price higher than what someone is willing to pay."

Troy knows these cars and can explain all the options and work that's been done to it. That's a huge plus especially if you are busy and can't deal with all the tire kickers and low ballers, more reason.  Plus selling a used car person to person (like CraigsList) is risky in any city - especially for a young lady and I suspect LA is worse than most.  With its bad Juju history, one would think VS would buy it back and resell it. Yeah, you won't get back what you have in it but right now is top price time for a selling. 

there's no more bad juju. the car has had some performance upgrades by now, even. car has been under kirk and roland's care exclusively but i did take it to raffi in hollywood a few months ago after upgrades were made and the engine was rebuilt just to have a third party look over and everything is fine. i quickly put 500 miles on the car after the upgrades were made in order to confront any looming demons. s'all good.

and yeah--- what wolfgang said-- should i decide to sell this car i ultimately don't REALLY want to deal with showing this car. i am busy, my schedule fluctuates wildly and i would rather not have a parade of strange men coming by my house or meeting me in parking lots (no offense strange men of the internet <3. etc etc. but if i have to i will. =)

you guys are always the best. thanks, btw.

If Troy is willing to get involved, that would be a good option.  He opens it up to the whole world by selling on Ebay and is savvy to all shipping/financial potential glitches.  I would bet you would net more even after paying him his commission than just pitching it on the local craigslist yourself. Troy's marketing of these cars is the best I have seen, better even than the pros.

Hello Annaliese.

I'm not sure if I can help or not, but I have your email and I'll send you a couple of questions.

Troy

thanks =)

"i would rather not have a parade of strange men coming by my house or meeting me in parking lots"

I guess that leaves Vince out of the picture...

Seriously, I hope you sell it at a very good price.  Good luck in this.

ANNALIESE, VINCE IS KNOCKING AT YOUR DOOR

Christian---as with real estate, businesses and most things, the seller pays the commission, not the buyer.  Set a competitive price, sell it and pay the commission out of the proceeds.

Analiese, I believe Troy is your best bet to market it plus he will go over the car himself, which he is has great ability to do.  I believe he would agree with me about structuring the arrangement like the above. He truly has skill at marketing Speedsters---amazing talent.

Good luck with the sale---it is a beautiful car and if priced correctly, should sell quickly for your asking price.  I am sorry this has been a tough experience for you and I'll miss your presence on the SOC.  Good luck to you, Analiese.

yes, I am aware of how this works.

But to compensate for the commission the owner will be paying the seller, they tend to bump the price of their car.

Which in this case, will make the car the same cost (if not more) than if purchased new from VS.

Just saying, Ana WILL be taking a loss unless she finds a foolish buyer to pay equal to (if not more) than what a new one would cost.

I'll try to help.  Yes, the buyer brings the money to the table.  But whose money is it? Answer: the seller's money for what he sold.  The commission is then paid by the seller to the broker.

So, the seller pays the commission out of the money he receives for the item he sold.

Tacking the commission onto the price is the seller trying to make the buyer pay over the "real" price to cover the cost of the commission. That might work for the seller but what usually happens is that the item becomes overpriced by the amount of the commission being tacked on which makes the item overpriced compared to comps and it will either will take longer to sell or may not sell at all at the inflated price.

As far as jacking up the price and hoping to catch a stupid buyer--sure it happens but stupid buyers are extremely rare. Stupid sellers are fairly common --Analiese strikes me as a savvy seller though.

Troy is a smart guy.  He prices his cars fairly and usually even a bit below what the market may bear and sells his cars himself.  Guess what---he sells a LOT of cars and sells 'em quickly.  It would be a different story for Troy if all his cars were priced 10% over the market. 

I sell businesses and work hard to start off with a good price--I refuse assignments where a seller insists on adding the commission (12%, yippee!) to the correct price. That's why I've averaged getting 98% of the asking price for almost 100 business sales over 13 years. 75% are at the full asking price.  Happy sellers, happy broker.

i am going to keep the car for now. it's summer in LA and i don't need the money. i am about to buy a bmw 335 on thursday and possibly have it dinan tuned so i feel like i am going to spend most of the summer driving that and completely neglect the speedster but i really do love the speedster. it's my favorite car that i have ever driven and i have driven tons of cars and been around great cars my whole life. it's also been the single most infuriating automobile purchase of my life but i guess that's just what love is like sometimes.

You're going to love that BMW.  I just bought a 328i hardtop convertible and it's a very cool car.

what color did you get, troy?

I have a 128i and was given a 335is Coupe as a loaner when my car was in for the 15k mile service.  Was glad to give it back because I knew I would wind up in jail.  Woo boy that thing was fast!

Mine is Space Grey Metallic with black interior.  Here are a couple of pictures and a video.

NICE!

Man that auto-roof feature is slicker than sh**.

the convertible is so nice. i actually looked at two pre-owned convertibles and when the dealer went to open the top on the second one something was wrong with the mechanism and it wouldn't open and that was enough to knock the convertible off of my short list. i realize that is irrational and that they probably rarely malfunction and that a warranty will cover it but after dealing with the speedster i can't handle anymore breaking parts so no convertible for me. the space grey metallic is really pretty.

i am thinking about taking mine to bavarian auto works and having it dinan tuned or having jb4 tuning added. or i will just leave it alone and see if this 4 series comes to be. i'm also loving the audi s5.