I've been trying to sell my Alfa 156 Sportwagon for a few weeks now and am
really struggling. I've never struggled to sell cars in the past and I
wondered if anyone here has had problems trying to sell a second hand Alfa?

The car is a 156 Sportwagon 1.6 TS Lusso 2002 with a full service history
and a reasonable mileage. I put the car in the Autotrader and got 2 phone
calls from people who showed an interest but were having finance problems so
couldn't take it any further. In fact to date not a single person has even
been to look at the car, I expected one or two tyre kickers but so far no
one!

I initially priced the car at just above book value but week by week I've
dropped the price and am now offering it at just £4,495 and still nothing!
As I've already bought my new car I'm pretty desperate to sell quickly.
Anyone got any ideas why the car isn't getting any interest? Are Alfas bad
cars to move or am I advertising it in the wrong place? If anyone could
suggest somewhere where I might advertise it I'd really appreciate it.

I thought about Ebay but have seen Alfas go for silly money on there but if
don't sell soon I might have to give it a try or sell it at auction, but
again that will probably also get me very little.

Mike

<snipped>

Silly money indeed

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....em=260028901846

Admittely the guy only listed it for one day and the previous owner was late
with a service invalidating the remaining warranty, but even so. The 156
has shocking resale values, and, being honest, if I were looking for an
estate car I would not consider a 1.6, nor do I think your car would tick
too many boxes of your average estate car buyer.

You'd be better off on eBay than a local auction, let the auction run for a
week, time it so it finishes on a Saturday or Sunday evening and set a
reserve. Put a counter on the auction so it will give you an idea how many
people are taking the trouble to look at the car.

Good luck

Makollig

Makollig Jassvahted wrote:

Bloody *hell*


--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
Alfa 116 Giulietta 3.0l (Really) Sprint 1.7 75 TS 156 TS S2
Triumph Speed Triple: Black with extra black bits
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

Mikey <nospam@nospam.co.uk> wrote:


Still around £500 over the top if you want to generate any interest.


That's what they're worth, though.

The launch of the facelifted 156 and 159 have really hit values of
pre-facelift cars.

Yours is one of the least desirable in the range, too - no-one wants a
reasonably large estate with such a small engine.

--
Steve H 'You're not a real petrolhead unless you've owned an Alfa Romeo'
www.italiancar.co.uk - Honda VFR800 - Hongdou GY200 - Alfa 75 TSpark
Alfa 156 2.0 TSpark - B6 Passat 2.0TDI - COSOC KOTL
BoTAFOT #87 - BoTAFOF #18 - MRO # - UKRMSBC #7 - Apostle #2 - YTC #

catman <catman@cuorerust-sportivo.co.uk> wrote:


Not really.

Seller has a poor feedback rating (although, it's only one neg in 20
transactions).

He's not exactly singled himself out to be a caring owner, either,
having seemingly run his engine out of oil to such an extent that it was
shafted.... also doesn't appear to care about service intervals.

He's also made it clear that he's desperate to sell.


--
Steve H 'You're not a real petrolhead unless you've owned an Alfa Romeo'
www.italiancar.co.uk - Honda VFR800 - Hongdou GY200 - Alfa 75 TSpark
Alfa 156 2.0 TSpark - B6 Passat 2.0TDI - COSOC KOTL
BoTAFOT #87 - BoTAFOF #18 - MRO # - UKRMSBC #7 - Apostle #2 - YTC #

"Mikey" <nospam@nospam.co.uk> schreef in bericht
news:lqadnfF7NpH4JpLYRVnyhA@bt.com...

Never, NEVER drop your price week by week.
Take that from an old (?) and exprienced sales professional.
First try raising your price (!!) to 15-20% over the going price in/on the
medium you are advertizing.
That way people will think your car is something special and you won't be
competing against the big mass but against only a few.
There are always people out there that are looking for a GOOD car, not
specifically a "cheap" one.

Wait for 2-3 weeks.
Then take it out of the medium you are using, and put it back a week later
with different picture(s) and go as low as you feel is acceptable to you in
one big step!!

Good luck
--
Ciao from The Netherlands
alfistagj (aka Gert-Jan)
GT 2.0 JTS (2005)
Montreal 2.6V8 (1428700 - 1973/4)

On Tue, 19 Sep 2006 16:39:56 GMT, catman
<catman@cuorerust-sportivo.co.uk> wrote:


Missed service interval affecting warranty and a replacement engine in
such a new car? That car was never going to get top dollar even before
figuring in 'base spec'..'old model'..'Alfa'..etc

Just look at eBay..it's a graveyard for people who think 156s are
worth anything..

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email without 'Alfa' in subject are auto-deleted..sorry!)

"SteveH" <steve@italiancar.co.uk> schreef in bericht
news:1hlxb2t.1101ahuemd90rN%steve@italiancar.co.uk ...
And he bought a VW Passat just 1 week ago...hmmm.
Why list a car for only 1 day? That's stupid. Only a small part of potential
buyers see it and they don't have time to think about it, ask questions or
check financing. I wonder who gave this guy a new job with company car,
someone who looses 10.000 on a used car in a year can't be to bright. Or he
earns 100.000 a year and doesn't care.

"alfistagj" <alfistagjREMOVE@THISchello.nl> wrote in message
news:d84bd$4510225f$d52e19c8$10671@news.chello.nl. ..
I've
nothing!
in

Sound advice. If it's too cheap, people may be suspicious. OTOH you haven't
mentioned actual mileage or colour. If it's an unpopular colour it'll have
to be cheap to sell. Ditto if mileage is much above average.

As Steve said, the 1.6 is not a good choice. They sell them new in order to
have a low entry level price. The idea is that you think you can afford it
and the salesman then talks you up to a better model. You don't buy a 1.6
after test driving the whole range. Almost no-one wants them 2nd hand
because the 1.8 is better and the 2.0 better still, for not much more in
running costs.

The other things you're up against are the new car registration change in
September, meaning lots of trade-ins pushing prices down. They will take a
few weeks to clear but will permanently depress prices. Hence it will be
easier to sell in October, but at a lower price. In addition, there will be
156 owners trading in for 159s. I have no idea of the volumes involved, so
don't know how significant this is.

One thing that's crucial - make sure you present the car optimally to any
viewer. If it's clean & shiny they'll be hooked at first sight and will buy,
provided they don't find anything to put them off. And always ask a bit more
(~£200) than you'd be happy with. Negotiate hard if they make an offer but
make sure you give them at least £50 off!

HTH

Mark

On Thu, 21 Sep 2006 00:29:44 +0100, "MarkK" <mark@alslskdjfasdf.co.uk>
wrote:


I don't think Alfa are banking on this..last figures I saw were for
Alfa bringing in about 3500 159s this year. IIRC..Alfa were bringing
in 25000 156s at the peak round about 2001 (excluding Euro imports of
which there were many at that time).

Part of the problem appears to be that not many 156/Alfa owners buy
another Alfa - I strongly suspect that this is for all the traditional
Alfa reasons too.

The competition is now severe (on paper at least) IMHO - Lexus IS is
priced right in there with the Alfa 159 range and for about 3000UKP
more than a 159 2.4JTDM Lusso you can get a (very rapid looking) Audi
A4 3.0 TDI Quattro S-line with similar equipment. Hmmmm...

When I come to buy again, there's a significant chance my Alfa dealer
will not get a visit at all..

--
Z
Scotland
Alfa Romeo 156 2.4JTD Veloce Leather
'Oil' be seeing you..
(Email without 'Alfa' in subject are auto-deleted..sorry!)