Selling tips

[Wagtail]

Hello all. Can anyone please give me some advise? I'm helping my Mum sell her Ford Duetto. She has had some offers from dealers of between £12K-£14K. Does that sound OK or should she ask for more? Also does anyone have any tips for selling this vehicle? P.S Please see full spec below Full spec: 2000 W Reg.Ford Auto Sleeper Duetto LE. 26,000 Miles, 2.5 Diesel, 2 Berth, extras include awning, bike rack, elecrtric hook up cables and gas bottles. 12 months MOT

[Derek Uzzell]

I would expect you could get considerably more by selling the vehicle privately. MMM's Guide to Secondhand Prices (Feb 2006) printed the following 2.5 litre Duetto-related data taken from a sample of dealership forecourt prices: 1994 - £16995(max) 1995 - £14995(min) £16495(max) 1997 - £16995(min) £18450(max) 1999 - £21995(max) Can't say what the going rate is for a dealer straight buy-in, but I'd want more than £14K.

[Wagtail]

Thanks Derek. The dealers have been telling my Mum that because it's not a turbo they would only offer less. The Duetto is an LE but not a turbo. Would that make a dfference to the MMM's guide prices? :-D

[chalky]

Hi I think even if you put it on E bay you would get much more for it, either advertise it on a website or MMM, i certainly would not sell it to a dealer they will just rip you off. rEGARDS CHALKY.

[Brian Kirby]

[QUOTE]Wagtail - 2006-07-14 11:35 PM Hello all. Can anyone please give me some advise? I'm helping my Mum sell her Ford Duetto. She has had some offers from dealers of between £12K-£14K. Does that sound OK or should she ask for more? Also does anyone have any tips for selling this vehicle? P.S Please see full spec below Full spec: 2000 W Reg.Ford Auto Sleeper Duetto LE. 26,000 Miles, 2.5 Diesel, 2 Berth, extras include awning, bike rack, elecrtric hook up cables and gas bottles. 12 months MOT[/QUOTE]

You will be unlikely to get the best achievable price unless you sell privately.  The dealer needs some profit from the deal and must also offer a warranty.  He therefore takes a risk, which he prices in.  Whether that is a rip off depends on your point of view.  However, it is reality.  To get an indication of the sort of price being charged, enter the make, model and year of the motorhome into your web browser and you should get all sorts of responses back from the various dealers' stock lists.  Remember that these will be asking prices, and deals will be struck a bit lower.  That will allow you to arrive a some sort of average market price.  Then look back to the MMM guide, see how that compares, and set your price accordingly.  You could also try asking Auto-Sleepers of they keep any log of second hand prices.

To sell privately you'll need to advertise, incurring cost, so factor that in.

Then give some thought to the following:

1 You can't offer any kind of finance (I assume) or warranty, a dealer can.  How much might this be worth to a prospective buyer?  Do you need to drop your price a bit more to compensate?

2 What kind of payment can/will you accept?  By far the safest is good, old fashioned, cash.  However, many people don't like drawing and carrying around £15,000 or so in cash! 

If you decide to accept other forms of payment, do be aware that there are counterfeit banker's drafts and building society cheques in circulation, so the vehicle should not under any circumstances be released against any cheque until funds have cleared. 

If you have a friendly solicitor, ask how much he/she would charge to be the intermediary in the deal.  Once the price is agreed, the solicitor takes the cheque and takes posession of all the vehicle documents, keys etc.  Then, these are only released to the new owner once the funds have cleared into the solicitor's client account.  Once the vehicle is in the hands of the new owner, you get the funds from the solicitor.  Of course, you and the new owner both need to trust the solicitor!

Hope this helps

[Derek Uzzell]

Wagtail: Motorhome buyers nowadays expect a turbo-diesel under the bonnet and may well consider the normally-aspirated motor in your mother's Duetto to be a negative selling-point, so the dealers' comments are valid. (I'm surprised Auto-Sleepers were marketing non-turbo manual-gearbox Duetto's in 2000: normally an auto-box was hooked to this motor.) However, in practical terms, this 2.5 litre Ford power-unit (with more torque than Fiat's current 2.0JTD motor and not far behind it in bhp) will provide a Duetto-sized vehicle with perfectly adequate, if not exactly Ferrari-like, on-road performance. The fact that your mother's Duetto has covered 26K miles in 6 years (many motorhomes do far less) clearly proves that the absence of a turbocharger hasn't inhibited the vehicle's usage. Motorhome dealers have a price-guide 'bible', but the amount they will offer a seller will very much depend on the condition of the particular motor caravan and how easily they believe a profit can be made. But they certainly won't reveal their best offer over the phone and the seller needs to take a firm no-nonsense stance when negotiating the deal. As Brian Kirby suggests, if you do some creative research you should be able to get at least a ball-park feel for the market value of your mother's motorhome. Keep in mind that Auto-Sleepers is a very reputable UK brand-name and a clean condition, low mileage Duetto (turbo or non-turbo) is a desirable commodity, particularly for first-time buyers. If you get an offer way below your expectation then just go elsewhere.

[Dave Newell]

I have to say I'm amazed your mother's Duetto is non turbo, i've worked on many duettos among other 'vans and they've all been turbo diesel and I'd certainly expect a year 2000 'van to be turbo'd (is that the correct punctuation?) ! Are you absolutely sure it's naturally aspirated? I think you'll find the "LE" badging applies to the trim level rather than the engine options. D.

[twooks]

wasn't the LE badge attached to the end of range transits, before AS uprated their Duetto range, we looked at them briefly and thought all were turbo? B-)

[Clive]

Nice one Wagtail . Any takers yet? Or am I a suspicuous old sod?

[Mel B]

Clive .. you're not the only one that's suspicious ... and I'm no 'old sod' thank you!

[Wagtail]

Shame on both of you. I'm just trying to help my Mother sell her van. My Dad, recently deceased, did all the buying and selling. I thought it was a good idea to ask for some help on a few online forums. The advice given has been most helpful and we will endeavour to sell the vehicle using the advice given. Watch out for a full marketing blitz in the press and online classifieds soon. Wagtail

[Dave Newell]

So have you established that it is definitely non turbo yet? D.

[Derek Uzzell]

Out of curiosity I scanned through 'old model' manual-gearbox Duetto classified ads in a copy of MMM and, although several referred to the 2.5 diesel engine, I don't think I found any mention of a turbo. When it comes to providing cogent information motorcaravanners have a tendency towards the skimpy, so all of the Duettos advertised in MMM may have had turbo-motors: conversely (because a turbo is a good selling-point) it may be that Auto-Sleepers built a lot of Duettos with non-turbo engines.

[Mel E]

Mel B, By far the best way to price your mother's m'home is as follows: 1. Scan MMM classifieds from, say 6 monbthsw back for a similar model/year. 2. Phone the seller and ask what they got for it (you'll have to be pleasant and explain why you need to know). Most will tell you. Then advertise in MMM, leaving a margin for 'discount' negotiations.

[Mel B]

Mel E I think you've forgotten to take your pills again, it wasn't me that was selling my Mother's motorhome ... although does anyone want a Mother???!?!?! 1920s vintage in very good condition for age cheap to run, tax free furnishings a bit old fashioned but still in good nick (aren't they all!) usually passes MOT first time not a thirsty runner (except for tea) still plenty of life left in the old girl sometimes refuses to start but can be persuaded with gentle handling Any takers?