I appreciate you state you will trade in, but check Motorway, sold my last car there, 4K more than WBACs offer and 2.5k more than the trade in offer.
All round excellent service .

 

October '72, I remember it well 🤭

Recommendations? Try a C-Max, you've never lived 🤘🏻

I'll be interested to hear what you eventually get offered as a trade in.

The garage I bought the '💩-box' from (an independent Ford specialist) fancied a go, even though they'd clearly have been paying me for the 'trade-in'. It was also offered to the Ford dealership it came from as a stand alone purchase.

They were both over £2,000 short of the price WBAC offered (the highest of the three I searched). When that price was disclosed to them they were astonished and gave up "take it, we can't get anywhere near that" 😮

 

Sell it on Pistonheads privately. You'll get ££££s more than trading it in or using one of those sites.

Mind you, if you like hot hatches and there aren't any good replacements, why sell it at all?

 

Mind you, if you like hot hatches and there aren't any good replacements, why sell it at all?

That was my thought @TimST3 , there aren't really any comparable cars and the low mileage of the OP's vehicle would make it a keeper for me. I realise other people have their own ideas.

Martin.

 

And I thought my mileage was low these days!

Very few hot hatches left to swap for: BMW 135i, Golf GTI and R, Polo GTI, Audi S3 and RS 3, MINI Cooper S and JCW - all auto only now.

Manuals: You might persuade a Toyota dealer to sell you a GR Yaris, could possibly find a Focus ST in stock somewhere, or the final edition Civic Type R if you have over £52k.

Can't really see the point, tbh. You can't have any great desire for anything if you're asking others for suggestions.

 

You are absolutely correct and have hit the nail on the head. There is nothing out there now. Over the years I've spent hours and hours poring over car magazines working out my next purchase. I do very low mileage these days and the thought of dropping nearly 50k on a second car is just mad. I might keep it but it is unlikely. Test driving a Minin Cooper S tomorrow. I'm even considering going Series 2 Landrover, Beetle or Morris Minor... God help me

 

I'm even considering going Series 2 Landrover, Beetle or Morris Minor... God help me

I'm perhaps getting the impression of a sense of ennui here. I get that - I once swapped an Audi A3 for a LR Freelander 2 "for a change", bitterly regretted it as soon as I drove it home, and sold it after 4 months. Fortunately I only lost about £2k, as they were in big demand at the time, but lesson learned!

 

My advice would be to get a nice low mileage Mk8.5 ST-3

 

ill be selling the wifes mk8.5 soon but ill not be trying any of the usual routes because of all the retro fits ive done to get it up to full spec they would still only give a basic value so private is the way for me and the car will stand out a mile above the others on the market

 

I sold mine few weeks ago, was due third service, pair of front tyres & warranty expiring all in October.
Race red, winter pack & spare wheel 11k miles.
Sold on Carwow £17k could have possibly got more private, but didn’t get chipped on collection & cash in bank within mins.
It was BH weekend & I didn’t want to deal with time wasters or scammers.

Do not believe these sites initial valuations, once you do the advert the price is never the initial shown.

I had couple of tiny stone chips & detailed them all in photos & one wheel had small mark from wife catching curb, car thoroughly inspected & nothing noted.

 

I sold mine few weeks ago, was due third service, pair of front tyres & warranty expiring all in October.
Race red, winter pack & spare wheel 11k miles.
Sold on Carwow £17k could have possibly got more private, but didn’t get chipped on collection & cash in bank within mins.
It was BH weekend & I didn’t want to deal with time wasters or scammers.

Do not believe these sites initial valuations, once you do the advert the price is never the initial shown.

I had couple of tiny stone chips & detailed them all in photos & one wheel had small mark from wife catching curb, car thoroughly inspected & nothing noted.

Only used these sites the once and I read closely the blurb with every quote, especially the 'assumption' smallprint they make with the quote.

Consequently I took a pragmatic common sense approach to the process rather than my usual innate cynicism to all things commercial. I wasn't going to accept being knocked down from the valuation but I did accept that small print wasn’t so much for me, but the chancers who are trying to pass on absolute heaps of 💩.

I KNEW mine was a belter, I knew they'd see that, hence why if any attempt to suck teeth and kick the tyres happened they weren't having the car for anything less.

But they must get some absolute crocks, and it's for THOSE cars the smallprint 'assumptions' exist.

On an episode of 'Mike Brewer Born Dealer' there was a Focus ST Line he picked up from auction. On the face of it reasonably new, low mileage, good condition, one lady owner from new.

But once the doors were open it was clear that one lady owner was the mum of a baby that had vomited all over the interior and she hadn't cleaned up 🤮😷

It's for those eventualities they have to have the getout clause of the quote being based on assumptions of condition... ultimately they're quoting blind.

Our cars, as we're invested enough to care a lot more about them as enthusiasts, should be the cream of the crop, as such we shouldn't be getting knocked down from the headline quote.

That was my mindset going into the process and was how it panned out.

An extra consideration worth doing, when booking your slot to take the car in, check the weather forecast for that time/date first. Having cleaned and prepped mine to within an inch of it's life, I chose a day with bright sunshine to give it the best chance.

The guy's reaction as he rounded the corner to inspect my car, and I quote, "****ing hell that's a good one" 👌🏼

Long story short, WE shouldn't be being beat down on price, ours should be the best of the best. But even so we can do things ourselves to show that superiority off 👍

 

I have had mine for 5 years and will never sell it.

 

I'd have said that earlier this year.

Never say never 😉

 

Not surprised by the low dealership offer at all.

Dealerships are still looking to reap a big cut from trade-ins, they haven't moved with the times... or more likely can't move with the times.

The mass volumes your WBAC, Cinch, Mortorway etc. operate with mean they can take a really small margin on each car and still make good money overall.

Dealerships can't compete, they don't trade enough cars. All they can do is offer stupid valuations in the hope a stupid person will take it... and there are still plenty of them about.

 

WBAC just go straight to auction.
Motorway & CarWow dealers pay a premium to access.
The problem with private sales is we over value our cars, they have a value, we often disagree.
Hence you take the hit on the chin rather than banking the memories & cash £££
Try any valuation platform & after July values start to tumble, the trade don’t want to hold cars in stock entering the Autumn/Winter months.
Feb they improve but rarely reach the July figures seen.
Meanwhile your cars a year older & needs servicing, upkeep & depreciation is still running at £250 a month.
Be realistic & move on with the cash & try something new.

 

Mine is 2 years old next week, struggled to get above 5k miles this week, often does not get used for weeks or sometimes months, but there is just nothing out there that fires the soul for the same wonga and age. Had more STs, RSs, Ms, TTSs, Coopers, than I can begin to remember, plus a couple of exotics thrown in and the only one I’d have back over the Mk8, and it’s my 4th, is an E46 M3, bought at a year old and sold at 8 years with 15k on it, that to this day keeps me awake at night for why I sold it. Thats 12 years of sleepless nights …….
For my personal needs, these little cheaply made Ford metal cans deliver a drive that puts a smile on your face that few others can.
Its a sad automotive world we currently live in. Feel like, I’ve come to the end of the line of choices.
So, yep its a difficult place your in @Rockhopper and not an easy option to get out of it.