S3 easy sale?

[imported_glen_jai]

Does anyone have any opinions on how easy an S3 is to sell?
Is there a good time to sell (like during the summer)?
Does having a re-map for instance make them harder to sell on?



Thanks.

 

[madvw]

unfortunately an s3 is an enthusiasts car, and an expensive one too.

the best advice is to hang in there, and dont lose heart.

fortunately, as an enthusiasts car, most people will not be in the slightest bothered that it has been remapped, unless they are close to the wire with insurance.

un-fortunately, as an entusiasts car, those looking to purchase such a car will be looking for a perfect example in showroom condition, with as many options as possible.

top advice is just be honest with the price and description, and do the best you can to make sure its spotless during inspections. Dont let people take the pi$$ with the price.

selling during spring/summer should be easier too.

 

[Buster]

I bought an S3 3 weeks ago and found that a lot of the good ones were selling before I found them, i.e. within a few days and that is just before xmas which is the worst time for selling. I wouldn't have thought that your car should be sitting around long if she is in tip top condition

I would not touch a car that has been remapped, just personal preference

 

[simch]

BTW, dont take off your map and pretend it has not been done. Any buyer who takes it for a remap after he has bought it will be told it was previously remapped and even when and by whom! (It can all be found in the flash memory if you knwo how to look!)
You will then be open to misrepresentation allegations, so be careful!
I agree, be honest, open and genuine and it should sell. There are lots of s3s out there at present, auotader and petrolheads have a fair few. I would say no particular good time of year, and the anouncement of a new one will add more to choose from. One guy selling his said "ideal for the snow" WTF!!

I think be realistic on price too. I saw a 2000 pre face lift with mediocre spec and 77000miles on ebay with a starting bid of £12000 the other day! Dreamer!! And some 2003 ones are about for ridiculous money (£18k+).

MInd you the audi A3 has had a hit on price in the last 6 months, I looked at a 1.8T quattro 2001 facelift with 21k on the clock for £7500, first bid no reserve on ebay in november!! It was genunine, 2 owners FSH, mint (cloth not leather) but got no bids!!!!!

Seemed cheap to me!
So I suppose it depends on the year and price you want. There are a fair few buyers with 8- 10k looking, but not so many with £11-12k! Even if the car is worth it.

But I have t say I think most sellers want far to much fr them. Look at the competition availabe now, 250hp hatches are becoming de rigeure, focus ST's will be available soon for £14k!! Different car and market for sure, but performance will be similar if not better and will attract buyers who maybe considered the S3.

Be realistic on price, honest with buyers and you should get rid of it with minimum fuss. But there are many on the trader that have been there for 3-4 months!! Many of them "MTM tuned" as well!! So agree the stock ones will sell easier!

 

[mattyboy199]

how can the performance be any better with the focus, astra, golf or megane.

Non are AWD so the compitition is in a straight line really \7 build quality isnt gonna touch it maybe with the gollf for being newer.

 

[MattS5]

[ QUOTE ]
BTW, dont take off your map and pretend it has not been done. Any buyer who takes it for a remap after he has bought it will be told it was previously remapped and even when and by whom! (It can all be found in the flash memory if you knwo how to look!)


[/ QUOTE ]

Interesting coment........but surely if the code has been removed, (and I know Revo can do this and replace the existing map cost around £100), then if the purchaser went to Revo to have it re mapped, then they'd have t pay for the licence all over again. (Once its off, its a case of a new licence again)
If you are selling a car without the map, then its not got it, so nothing is being mis sold,
if however you just switch it off and sell it, then it is being mis-sold.

What about a seller who may have changed the stereo in the past ? If it goes back to stock when sold , obviously the purchaser would not have been aware of the past modifcation, would that have been mis-sold as well ??

Agreed the most important thing about selling a car with any mod whatsoever is the actual condition of the car, lots of people seem to rate a car in very good condition, when to me it would seem to be average. Door dents, mucky carpets, a scratch or 2 on the bumper make all the difference. Its so easy to spot a car thats been cleaned for sale as opposed to kept clean for its entire ownership.

I kept my old Impreza (again modified with ECU remap and lots of other stuff) in mint condition. I sold it on a forum to someone who travelled 180 miles to view it after i sent him 20 or 30 photos. It was genuinely well looked after, in rfact he was that impressed with it he didn't even want to test drive it before heading home with it. (I made sure he did drive it though and he knew it was a gem). He'd spent 4 months looking for the right, well cared for car, so it speaks volumes to the way a car is mantained, regardless of any modification.

 

[madvw]

[ QUOTE ]
I kept my old Impreza (again modified with ECU remap and lots of other stuff) in mint condition. I sold it on a forum to someone who travelled 180 miles to view it after i sent him 20 or 30 photos. It was genuinely well looked after, in rfact he was that impressed with it he didn't even want to test drive it before heading home with it. (I made sure he did drive it though and he knew it was a gem). He'd spent 4 months looking for the right, well cared for car, so it speaks volumes to the way a car is mantained, regardless of any modification.

[/ QUOTE ]

I can relate to that one. When I sold my MK2 golf, the person drove from 200 miles away, and bought it without a test drive... Again, the car was faultless, and heavily maintained, with no cost ever spared, it showed in the condition, the documentation, and certainly in the receipts.

Personally, I would have test driven it, but it certainly displays what trust a clean, honest car can give.... especially given the number of MK2 GTi's there were about at the time...

Unfortunately, the flipside to that one was I travelled 200 miles to see a corrado VR6, on the basis of it being described a "Mint". After the 4 and a half hour drive halfway accross the country, I found it to be underpowered, cutting out, rear end accident repaired and had a boot full of oil. Man was I pi$$ed off.

 

[imported_glen_jai]

Thanks for all the comments people.
In the meanwhile, if anyone is interested in an 2001 S3, with Jabba remap then let me know.
Other modifications include Eibach lowering, Adjustable rear tie bars (to correct the rear camber), Supersprint exhaust system. Bose + Cruise control, centre arm rest.
Very good condition, always garaged. 42k miles.

£13,000

Cheers

 

[simch]

I mean you can get into trouble if you take the map off (say revo) and then the seller asks if it have ever been mapped and you pretend it hasn't been! I mean, why would you spend £500 on a remap, then take it off to sell it, (and have nothing yourself to show for it, like you would if you removed a nice stereo!?) .
People usually take off the maps to pretend it was never remapped at all, and hence hoodwink the buyer into thinking its a dead stock car! A car with 30k of 270hp going though the box is potentially a different proposition to one with 30k of 210hp (and less torque going through it). My attitude as a buyer is that any car is a potential god car as well as a potential bad one. But the "caveat emptor" of contract law, (buyer beware) means you have to actively lie to a buyer to get into trouble!

I think what puts people off remapped stuff is from purely a wear and tear issue. Most remaps are safe nowadays and will not on their own cause engine damage. But that is ignoring the fact that most people with a remapped car are interested in more spirited driving maybe!

My point is only dont try to conceal it in the first place (why bin £500 of code) and if asked a direct question, obviously dont lie about it, cos then if you get found out you can get grief! Surely its a bonus to some buyer who may go spend cash on one anyway!.......oh that's it, cos as soemone else said here, some people wouldn't touch one that had been remapped etc?!
Check out the MTM tuned ones on ebay and autotrader and see how long then have been there!
I myself bought a bone stock golf and budgetted for all the turbo and remap etc to be added on. I wanted to do it to my spec. When I sell it,it will be sold as is, I am sure some people will be put off, (like I was when buying and I saw some modded ones) but then it is just a case of waiting for the right buyer.

Good luck with your sale, (although you may have set your sights a little to high bearing in mind whats about for nearer 10k at present!!) Oh, and i would buy one with a jabba map, because in my opinion, they are and have been for some time, the best about !!

 

[simch]

[ QUOTE ]
how can the performance be any better with the focus, astra, golf or megane.

Non are AWD so the compitition is in a straight line really \7 build quality isnt gonna touch it maybe with the gollf for being newer.

[/ QUOTE ]

I mean that the 225bhp s3 was a far league apart in 2001! But now brand new, with three year warranty similar hp cars, some with better performance are available for what some guys want for4 year old 50k miles s3! There is more competition for 230hp hatches nowadays, lots more (cheaper) options if you want a hatch with sub 6.5 0-60 and 150mph! So it will bring the S3 prices down!

I know of three guys with Focus Sts, one from a mk5GTI, reckons the focus is better overall, and certainly when you include price as a factor, one guy got rid of his S3 for one, (a1999 s3) and says the focus would anaihalate it everywhere, even i the wet!(and he is serious about that too!) The other guy just px'd an R32 for one, and reckons the focus is a beast by comparson!!

So I think a modern fwd chassis is maybe a better overall performer than a 4wd cahssis of 5 year old technology. (unless it snows maybe!)By all accounts the Mk5 R32 trounces the Mk4, (I have not driven a mk5 to tell, but can vouch that my tweaked 18T golf will murder a stock r32 in th handling department,(and performace too!) They just aren't that good as stock.

Anyway, having said all that I am still keeping my eyes peeled for a nice s3! Was tempted at a focus st3, but want to wait for a year to let any gremlins come out. Then they will be available for about 12k I reckon!
So an S3 is on the cards.but only because I have a few plans for it..!?!? /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[madvw]

[ QUOTE ]

Good luck with your sale, (although you may have set your sights a little to high bearing in mind whats about for nearer 10k at present!!)

[/ QUOTE ]

yup, but also bear in mind whats available for closer to 19k from the dealers too....

 

[cybrey]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for all the comments people.
In the meanwhile, if anyone is interested in an 2001 S3, with Jabba remap then let me know.
Other modifications include Eibach lowering, Adjustable rear tie bars (to correct the rear camber), Supersprint exhaust system. Bose + Cruise control, centre arm rest.
Very good condition, always garaged. 42k miles.

£13,000

Cheers

[/ QUOTE ]
I again personally wouldn't touch a car with a remap ... just fyi I'm fairly sure Jabba will revert your car back to normal for free after you had one of their remaps.

 

[imported_monkeytrousers]

I agree remaps narrow the market you are selling to. I also agree with simch's comments about removing them to sell - when I sell I will sell it remapped and be honest.

 

[RacingTeatray]

It took me nearly two months to sell my unmodified late S3. The car was low-mileage and immaculate (the eventual buyer had it fully inspected and the inspection found no faults at all) and I wasn't asking silly money. The phone just didn't ring and yet I had it advertised all over the place.

 

[imported_glen_jai]

[ QUOTE ]
It took me nearly two months to sell my unmodified late S3. The car was low-mileage and immaculate (the eventual buyer had it fully inspected and the inspection found no faults at all) and I wasn't asking silly money. The phone just didn't ring and yet I had it advertised all over the place.

[/ QUOTE ]

That doesn't sound good. Perhaps I'll just keep it.
I'm not even sure what I want if I sold the S3.

 

[crispyapplepie]

just reading a few of the replies you have here and if it helps at all i agree with simch i have just bought my 1st A3 t sport but was looking to buy a S3 and i was looking to spend around the 10k figure.

But like everyone else i wanted as much as i could get for the money.

Good luck and i hope you get your asking price.