I have to sell my 156 - please could you lend some advice?

Hi guys,

Unfortunately I have to sell my wonderful 156 as I'm going back to Uni for the next 4 years, and I'd really appreciate some advice from you guys as I'm a bit worried about it.

Firstly, I don't know how much it's worth. It's a W-reg 2.0, SP3, with black leather embroided seats, climate control, carbon centre console, GTA intake upgrade, and has 48,000 or so miles on the clock. It has the odd minor scuff, typical for the cars age and nothing awful. How much do you think?

Next, and a fairly big problem perhaps, is that it isn't taxed or MOT'd. This isn't for any bad reason, just that I moved to London and left it with my parents and they didn't use it. Should I get these sorted first? It would mean (unless I transfered it to my dads name and therefore added another owner to the list) that I'd have to re-insure it, which is a bit of a ball ache. Again, what's your advice?

Third question, where would you go to sell it? One of those dealers that buys cars? Or private sale? Failing that, is there anyone here that'd like a nice car to play with?!

I'd really appreciate any advice you could lend.

Cheers, Tim

You won't need to insure it to get an MOT. Just get your dad to take it to the MOT centre & back on his insurance. (He should be 3rd party insured on any vehicle not owned by him & not lent to him under a hire purchase agreement etc......) Unless he has loads of points or anything.

You need to pre-book the appointment though, to comply with the law.

A car with an MOT is worth a whole lot more than one without.

As an example I bought my Selespeed without an MOT for £750, it sailed through- well needed new brakes but nothing else, now its worth around £1500- £2000.

Get it MOT'd first.

Never go to a dealer to sell a car they will give you virtually no money ... I remember when I was selling my GSXR, took it to a dealer they offered my £1250 stated that "no one really wanted them anymore ???", I got £4k for it private ... nuff said

Your usually only insured 3rd party on your own policy (driving other cars) if the car your driving is already insured by someone else.

Originally Posted by pistonhead72

You won't need to insure it to get an MOT. Just get your dad to take it to the MOT centre & back on his insurance. (He should be 3rd party insured on any vehicle not owned by him & not lent to him under a hire purchase agreement etc......)

You need to pre-book the appointment though, to comply with the law.

He won't be covered on that. The 3rd Party insurance is only applicable if someone else is actually insured on the vehicle.

Oh right well that presents a few problems. There's a garage literally two mintues from my house though so I could get my dad to tow me in it - would that be acceptable?

What about the value and where to sell it? Do you guys think it's not worth getting the tax sorted?

Thanks for your input so far

Just get him insured on the car for the day through his own insurance, not going to cost much!

To get tax you need insurance...
Value you it at What Car? Online - Used Car Valuations
Approx £1900 - £2100. expect to take an offer...

I would start to advitise it on the forums first (its free), pistonheads then i'd give local papers or autotrader a go (i think local rags and autotrader are expensive though), finally Ebay...

Originally Posted by Xenon

Just get him insured on the car for the day through his own insurance, not going to cost much!

I thought you normally had to be the registered owner of the car to insure it in your name? I'm not sure he'd be bothered by the cost of it, just how easy it is!

Have you looked at 1 day car insurance? I think it cost around £20 and for that you can get cover on basically any car. I have used it when picking up cars that I have won on ebay, when there is a chance that I may not actually buy the car if it wasn't as described.

Norwich Union sell it, try their website.

Just out of interest, whare is the car located?

That's a super idea! I'll defo do that, didn't know it existed. Thanks man.

Buckinghamshire, bout 15 miles outside Oxford.

I used these before:

Short Term Car and Van Insurance from dayinsure.com

£14 a day.

My insurance company (admiral)added the girlfriends 1.6 tigra to my policy for three weeks for 21 quid. Probably best to insure it for a week unless you are very confident it will pass!

Wouldn't bother to tax it. At the "cheaper" end of the market it's not unusual to buy a car untaxed BUT it must have an MOT to get a decent price. While you may be trustworthy - most people who flog cars without MOTs aren't doing it for logistical reasons, they are doing it because they know it will have trouble passing and people price that into any deal.

An MOT-less car is priced not far above a non-running one.

MOT it (using that day insurance idea), clean the b0ll0x off it so it is gleaming inside and out (polish the wheels, dress the tyres) top it up with fresh oil and you'll get the best price on a private sale with 12 months MOT. Start with offering it on this forum.

(And Autotrader IS expensive - but it also gets a lot of viewings so 2 weeks in that for 20 quid with a nice picture can be worth it's weight in gold)

I would start off advertising on here then Pistonheads as it is free. Autotrader is good and cheaper then ebay. Also with Autotrader you tend to get a better price.

Thank you for all your help guys, there's a lot of very useful information there. It'll probably be up on this forum soon so if you're interested let me know...and it will have an MOT

Originally Posted by qawsed

Your usually only insured 3rd party on your own policy (driving other cars) if the car your driving is already insured by someone else.

correct


and i would never buy a car without MOT, so get one on somehow

Hi people,

Just had it MOTd so I've whacked it in the classifieds here if you fancy a gander:

http://www.alfaowner.com/Forum/alfas...wishbones.html (Alfa 156 2.0TS Sport Pack 3 - New MOT, wishbones, batt, tyres)

Cheers!