Advice - returning to stock vs not before sale

[djcamgti]

Hi All,
I’m after some advice please about whether to return my mk5 gti to stock, or closer to, before selling it privately and/or trading in.

It’s the usual storey of new baby arrival means I need a more practical car. I was hoping to keep the gti forever but due to COVID contract changes, my partner has had her company car taken away and I work from home so don’t need a car to commute. (Bloody COVID). So genuine reason for sale in summary as I need to sell to free up some cash as a deposit.

I’m considering what would give me the greatest amount, selling as-is or buying 2nd hand standard parts to put on and selling the upgrades separately, and then selling privately or trading in. Also any thoughts on overall value welcome.

Current spec,
2005 silver gti 3 door manual with 160k miles with full service history
Thousands spent mechanically (new suspension, inlet & injector clean by Rtec, cam chain, cam belt, window motor, abs module - all the common stuff and more)
Bodywork is clean but usual rust appearing on arches, sills and boot lid.
New VWR shocks and springs, S3 top mounts & superpro consol bushes.
Revo stage 1 map. (Can be moved by disconnecting the battery)

Mods I’m considering removing/selling:
R32 rear lights and bumper
R32 style miltek exhaust cat back
Ram air oversized induction kit

Trade-in as standard is £1700
Above parts 200 + + 350 + 100 =£650
Private sale £2500.

Thoughts?
P.s am thinking a golf estate so not drifting too far away from the faith.
Cheers.

[Clarkj93]

I would sell as is, not like its slammed with sh*t stickers all over it by the sounds! A 2nd hand car dealer wouldn't even think of doing any work other than clean it and flog it. Plus you could always try and sell as is, and if it doesn't work out then put it back to standard anyway. I'm no expert on prices but 2500 sounds very cheap! I almost sold mine this year but changed my mind.

Spec was:
100k, full service history, audi tt wishbones, cambelt due within a year, mix matched side skirts as one was painted and one was still black, then just some age related wear and tear. I put it up for 5150 and had 2 calls before autotrader sent me a notification that its now live, genuinely within about 30 seconds. I could have sold it by the end of that day for 4500 if I wanted a quick deal from the offers I was getting but no doubt I could have get very nesr the full asking price if I wanted.

Guess it depends what kind of condition it is. If you post some snaps up, some more clued on people will give you a good estimation on what it's worth. It may be a high miler but it's been looked after very well and a cared for gti can go far beyond 160k so in no way at the end of its life.

[imprezzaworks]

Try and flog it privately. As above its not like its been yoofed.

[djcamgti]

Thanks. Photos added.
I’ve been quoted £600 by independent to £1500 by vw to repair/sort the rust and respray the car apart from the roof, so I was factoring in that if the bodywork was perfect it might be closer to £4K. I thinks it’s worth more than £2.5k but I’m trying to be realistic in that most wouldn’t look past the rust and see the thousands they wouldn’t have to spend on cam chains, new suspension etc. Prices do seem to be going up though so maybe a few hundred more might be achievable.

[Clarkj93]

Looks like a good example! I've just done some d.i.y surface rust repairs on my sills, not too hard if you don't mind doing the work, finish came better than I thought, quite scary doing it the first time though!. But 600 for all the bits mentioned sounds quite fair. If it were me I would just put it up bit higher than you feel comfortable with and see if you get any bites, if nothing in a week, drop it by couple hundred and then see and repeat if necessary.

[imprezzaworks]

Looks a nice example tbf.

[pudding]

Standard always attracts more buyers but putting a car back to standard is laborious, especially if you have buy said parts again. 

As above, if it's being traded in, it's purely used as a 'deposit' and the dealer will just push it out the door to an auction, or WBAC, without even touching it, in which case your money and efforts standardising it would be wasted.

Question is, can you afford to lose money on a trade-in vs waiting for the best price from a private sale?  Depends how quickly you want to move it on I guess.  Sometimes a quick trade in for a simple life is preferable to dealing with time wasters.

I remember years ago using that to my advantage.  I chopped in an absolute rotter of a MK2 Golf against a brand new car.  They had already assessed it and agreed on a value, but the day before securing the deal, I accidentally put a massive dent in the passenger wing.  So I parked it on their forecourt with the dented wing against a wall so they couldn't see it    Probably got more than 3 times it's value from that deal and never had any comeback from the dent 

P.S.  Disconnecting the battery puts the Revo tune in a worse state than even stock, so it's better to put it in 'Stock mode' with the SPS switch, if you have it.

[djcamgti]

Some photos from today including the bad bits for those who want to advise or private sale price.

[djcamgti]

Standard always attracts more buyers but putting a car back to standard is laborious, especially if you have buy said parts again. 

As above, if it's being traded in, it's purely used as a 'deposit' and the dealer will just push it out the door to an auction, or WBAC, without even touching it, in which case your money and efforts standardising it would be wasted.

Question is, can you afford to lose money on a trade-in vs waiting for the best price from a private sale?  Depends how quickly you want to move it on I guess.  Sometimes a quick trade in for a simple life is preferable to dealing with time wasters.

I remember years ago using that to my advantage.  I chopped in an absolute rotter of a MK2 Golf against a brand new car.  They had already assessed it and agreed on a value, but the day before securing the deal, I accidentally put a massive dent in the passenger wing.  So I parked it on their forecourt with the dented wing against a wall so they couldn't see it    Probably got more than 3 times it's value from that deal and never had any comeback from the dent 

P.S.  Disconnecting the battery puts the Revo tune in a worse state than even stock, so it's better to put it in 'Stock mode' with the SPS switch, if you have it.

Ok thanks for the advice. I’ll have a think about price point and may advertise privately with the car as it is to start with since I’m not in a rush to sell. The price of golf R estates only seems to be going up at the moment so need as much as I can get and it’s worth for the gti. But I don’t have time for time wasters so may start on the forum I think. Cheers.

[djcamgti]

Right, I’ve decided my initial assessment was way off. Yes you can buy a gti for £2.5 but all the ones I can see have very patchy history and or look terrible. I think the one for sale right now which is the closest match is this one which is spot on price wise to what you mentioned you could of sold yours for clarkj93.

https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202108256619032

Absolutely gut wrenching to put it up for sale but family comes first so needs must.

For sale on here to start with as I’d rather an enthusiast owned but may try else where later on. Cheers.

[imprezzaworks]

Prices are on the up I see.

[Jb55]

That one on auto trader is crazy money that’ll never sell for that.

[LC5F]

Back in May I posted this thread questioning the value put on a normal Golf Gti in Sterling:
https://www.mk5golfgti.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,131675.0.html

It looks to be well maintained and good nick - but they were originally looking for £8.5k, but currently just a diver under £7k... Unsure if they were expecting it still to be still hanging around 4 months later.

[imprezzaworks]

I was looking at selling mine but there are only a few cars I'd swap too and they have shot up in price

[JoshB]

I paid £6k for mine a couple of months ago. 55 plate, one owner, 72k and full dealer service history.

The rust on yours does sort of have that instant put off vibe, I know what your on about. But mods wise, the only thing that really puts me off is the exhaust. Your can pick up a 2nd hand exhaust and rear bumper for pretty cheap.

But then with the service history I think it’s comfortably worth £3k with today’s prices...