Selling a used car in current market

[zzm9980]

Has anyone sold a used car recently, e.g., since the new loan restrictions went into effect? Is it still simple to just post it on sgcarmart and get lots of offers, or is there a more effective way?

[katbh]

SGcarmart you get offers, but only from dealers chancing it. Most will offer half of what you are asking. But I think that they know that people here are very wary of buying cars privately. We ended up, with both our car sales a year or so ago, selling to agents. The cars went for export.
I am currently selling my Kangoo van on sgcarmart and the only real offers have been from car dealers. Had a few 'tyre kicker' private people but they were very half hearted.

[zzm9980]

So how do I best price my car on SGCarMart? I'm used to the US where a car just has a market value. Here there is COE, ARF Rebates, etc to consider.

Is it like this:
(Today's COE value * percentage of remaining time on COE) + LTA's PARF rebate amount = Asking price?

So with my car, I have 57 months left on COE, or 47.5%.
(77k * 47.5%) + $12k PARF per LTA site = ~$48.5k

Am I doing this right, or am I way off? Car itself is in fine condition (no accidents or damage) with 75k km.

[katbh]

I just looked at what other similar cars were going for on sgcarmart. But your calculations look about right.
Also our current van is commercial COE and without finance so the equations you mentioned are not relevant. We are just looking for the best offer so we can off load it!

[Strong Eagle]

Your numbers seem about right... but with new loan restrictions, who is going to cough up $24K to finance a car?

The whole point of the loan restrictions is to drive down COE values... it kills the used car dealers... but you will have to lower your price... thereby lowering the effective COE rate you are using... which presumably will cause new car COE rates to fall when buyers look at the "deals" in the used car market.

[zzm9980]

Depressing... The model of my car is 'rare' (Fit RS1.5), so there are only 3-4 samples on SG Car Mart. Of those, two of the prices are unrealistically high, and one is right about what the figure I'm coming to. But one is not enough for a good sample...

[PNGMK]

Your numbers seem about right... but with new loan restrictions, who is going to cough up $24K to finance a car?

The whole point of the loan restrictions is to drive down COE values... it kills the used car dealers... but you will have to lower your price... thereby lowering the effective COE rate you are using... which presumably will cause new car COE rates to fall when buyers look at the "deals" in the used car market.

Anyone who has owned a property (private) in the recent 7 year run up has plenty of equity for deposits... even a poor foreigner like me. This restriction is not going to hit COE prices for awhile - the TOTAL debt issue (for loan refinancing and equity withdrawals) may though.

[bloodhound123]

Your numbers seem about right... but with new loan restrictions, who is going to cough up $24K to finance a car?

The whole point of the loan restrictions is to drive down COE values... it kills the used car dealers... but you will have to lower your price... thereby lowering the effective COE rate you are using... which presumably will cause new car COE rates to fall when buyers look at the "deals" in the used car market.

Just wondering. Isnt arbitrage trading of used cars a big market in SG? With the volatility in COE prices that should be a good market for dealers and private owners equally.

[Pal]

You should try consign your car to a dealer for sale.

If car is sold, you pay about 1-2 % of car price or about $2000 to dealer.

Only inconvenience is you need to drive your car to the dealer when someone is interested to view. You can decide not to sell if the price offered by the interested party does not meet your expectation.

In this way, the deal will be transparent and you can be rest assured you get the highest market price for your car.

[PNGMK]

Your numbers seem about right... but with new loan restrictions, who is going to cough up $24K to finance a car?

The whole point of the loan restrictions is to drive down COE values... it kills the used car dealers... but you will have to lower your price... thereby lowering the effective COE rate you are using... which presumably will cause new car COE rates to fall when buyers look at the "deals" in the used car market.

Just wondering. Isnt arbitrage trading of used cars a big market in SG? With the volatility in COE prices that should be a good market for dealers and private owners equally.

I knew a guy (in the early days of the COE) who brought in 20 cheap Ladas, registered them (i.e. paid the COE) and parked them in a lot next to my old work place (Techno Transfer) - he made a bundle when the COE's hit $90,000, he transferred the COE and just junked the cars. In those days you could transfer the COE to other vehicles... funny the LTA stopped it.

[zzm9980]

So I was able to sell my car, and it was actually rather easy. COE went up again, so based on previously formula my car was worth right around ~$50k. First dealer who showed up offered ~$45k after very brief negotiation. The car needs new tires (they're showing thread in back) and is manual, otherwise it could have been a bit more. This was right about what I owed, and since a payment is coming up and I'm leaving town for a few weeks I figured it made sense to take it. Too bad I just renewed HDB Season Parking the same day

Either way, quick and painless compared to the amount of times I had to go to the dealership and time I had to wait to actually buy the car in the first place.

SE, I guess there still is some kind of market for people willing to put $25k down on cars with less than 5 years on COE

[PNGMK]

So I was able to sell my car, and it was actually rather easy. COE went up again, so based on previously formula my car was worth right around ~$50k. First dealer who showed up offered ~$45k after very brief negotiation. The car needs new tires (they're showing thread in back) and is manual, otherwise it could have been a bit more. This was right about what I owed, and since a payment is coming up and I'm leaving town for a few weeks I figured it made sense to take it. Too bad I just renewed HDB Season Parking the same day

Either way, quick and painless compared to the amount of times I had to go to the dealership and time I had to wait to actually buy the car in the first place.

SE, I guess there still is some kind of market for people willing to put $25k down on cars with less than 5 years on COE

Well done. The dealer will make the $5k on resale.

[zzm9980]

So I was able to sell my car, and it was actually rather easy. COE went up again, so based on previously formula my car was worth right around ~$50k. First dealer who showed up offered ~$45k after very brief negotiation. The car needs new tires (they're showing thread in back) and is manual, otherwise it could have been a bit more. This was right about what I owed, and since a payment is coming up and I'm leaving town for a few weeks I figured it made sense to take it. Too bad I just renewed HDB Season Parking the same day

Either way, quick and painless compared to the amount of times I had to go to the dealership and time I had to wait to actually buy the car in the first place.

SE, I guess there still is some kind of market for people willing to put $25k down on cars with less than 5 years on COE

Well done. The dealer will make the $5k on resale.

Yeah, I'm fine with that. I figured they'd take at least 4-5% if I did consignment somewhere anyway. And that's assuming COE keeps going up. It's at $83k(!) for Cat A, which was just restricted by horse power. I can't imagine it'll keep going up. But then, Singapore doesn't really operate by laws of logic.