Selling an old car in Canberra - is it a hassle?

Not exactly correct, Dungers.

You don’t need a Certificate of Inspection to sell a car (or buy a car, for that matter).
You may need one to transfer the registration (depending on the age of the car, etc). Transfer of the registration is the responsibility of the purchaser, not the vendor (for private sales).

It’s worth noting that transfer of registration and the sale of the vehicle are entirely separate issues.

Info here:

http://www.rego.act.gov.au/registration/acquiring-or-disposing-of-a-vehicle/selling-an-act-registered-vehicle

Acton said :

Over the years I have sold a few cars privately and recently advertised and sold a 2001 Corolla for a relative.
One ad was placed in AllClassified and received only suspicious messages written in poor English.
The second ad was placed in carsales.com.au and received two responses, but both serious and one was from the eventual buyer.
http://www.carsales.com.au/sell-your-car/

The first thing to do is check out other 2001 Lancers on the site so that you can work out the market price for your vehicle. Asking price for a private sale on a 2001 Mitsubishi Lancer in the ACT is around $2000. Ask a lower price if you have higher than average kilometres or want a quick sale, or ask more if your car has lower than average kilometres.
To place your ad, follow the prompts on the site, load on some photos of your car looking its best and pay the fee.
Buyers will contact you to inspect the car and take it for a test drive.
Expect to compromise on the price and accept a fair offer (say 10% off your asking price).
Buyers usually ask what is the lowest price you will accept. Turn it around by asking them what price they would be happy to pay for the vehicle.
I would only accept cash or a bank cheque, but you might be ok with a direct deposit.
Never, never, never deal with people who say they work on an oil rig, want to buy a car for their father, have an agent to collect it and make an offer higher than what you are asking. Scammers.
To complete the sale you just fill out the back of the blue car registration papers, send your bit to the government advising of disposal and price and give the buyer the signed copy so that they can register the car in their name.
You don’t need a roadworthy certificate to sell a car in the ACT. Your car doesn’t sell with a warranty if sold privately, so any mechanical problems after sale are not yours.
It is no hassle to sell privately in the ACT. You’ll be fine.

“You don’t need a roadworthy certificate to sell a car in the ACT.”
Wrong!
If the vehicle (car) is more than 6 years old a valid Certificate of Inspection must be presented at the time of registration transfer.
This costs about $60 at an authorised inspection station + any repairs that are required to make the vehicle compliant. This can be hundreds of dollars (cracked windscreen for example).
If the car has interstate rego it has to goo over the pits at the RTA. More time and expense.

We were in a similar situation with a car the same age. Despite it being a large car with everything that opened and shut, selling it just wasn’t viable – after paying rego and other expenses to make it saleable, we would have lost money. The perfect solution for us was to give it away (for a token sum). Because the new owners live interstate, they paid interstate prices and got rego, insurance, new tyres and a full service for less than half what it would have cost us in Canberra. Perfect solution all round.

I don’t think I could in good conscience sell a car that I knew had deficits – like possibly not passing a roadworthy. So do your sums, test the market, but perhaps consider other options.

Guess it depends on your point of view, my car was born in the 70’s and I drive it every day. 2000 era cars seem like a space capsules, something i’m not interested in.

Solidarity said :

2001 is considered old?

Man…

Its always been the case that once a car approaches 15 odd years of age, its old. My first car as a student was a 1977 corolla. It was 15 yrs old and lasted only just til I finished uni. Also the cheap new cars means you can get a 5 yr old small car for not much money these days.

2001 is considered old?

Man…

Always try & have 3-6 months rego on it at time of sale. If it takes a while to sell it, that’s your market feedback right there. I’ve always left a bit of value on the table for the buyer… You create a bit of goodwill that way & you get to feel good knowing you’ve given someone a good deal and that your miles ahead of the scammers, lowballers & time wasters out there…you’ll soon meet plenty of these people if you go to sell & don’t have your roadworthy….let us all know how you got on…

John Moulis said :

Don’t go anywhere near Gumtree. Allclassifieds is much better. It’s where I bought my car.

I had a 2002 Prado advertised on all Classifieds, Car Sales & Gumtree (free) received 2 query’s from all Classifieds none from Car sales & 8 from Gumtree.

About 12 months later I put my 2001 Subaru Liberty Wagon for sale & the same thing 1 response from Car Sales, a couple from All Classifieds & 6 from Gumtree which ironically was free whereas Carsales was abt $65 & All Classifieds maybe $25. The person that bought the Subaru had seen it on All Classified and Gumtree.

or insure it, take it to a deserted place with a tin of flammable liquid and transport home, then…

Over the years I have sold a few cars privately and recently advertised and sold a 2001 Corolla for a relative.
One ad was placed in AllClassified and received only suspicious messages written in poor English.
The second ad was placed in carsales.com.au and received two responses, but both serious and one was from the eventual buyer.
http://www.carsales.com.au/sell-your-car/

The first thing to do is check out other 2001 Lancers on the site so that you can work out the market price for your vehicle. Asking price for a private sale on a 2001 Mitsubishi Lancer in the ACT is around $2000. Ask a lower price if you have higher than average kilometres or want a quick sale, or ask more if your car has lower than average kilometres.
To place your ad, follow the prompts on the site, load on some photos of your car looking its best and pay the fee.
Buyers will contact you to inspect the car and take it for a test drive.
Expect to compromise on the price and accept a fair offer (say 10% off your asking price).
Buyers usually ask what is the lowest price you will accept. Turn it around by asking them what price they would be happy to pay for the vehicle.
I would only accept cash or a bank cheque, but you might be ok with a direct deposit.
Never, never, never deal with people who say they work on an oil rig, want to buy a car for their father, have an agent to collect it and make an offer higher than what you are asking. Scammers.
To complete the sale you just fill out the back of the blue car registration papers, send your bit to the government advising of disposal and price and give the buyer the signed copy so that they can register the car in their name.
You don’t need a roadworthy certificate to sell a car in the ACT. Your car doesn’t sell with a warranty if sold privately, so any mechanical problems after sale are not yours.
It is no hassle to sell privately in the ACT. You’ll be fine.

Put it on facebook, pleny of cars for sale groups in Canberra.

A car of that age is not worth much more than the rego and tyres unless it is something special. Depening upon mileage,rego, tyres, etc, you should be able to get around $1,000-$1,500 for it.

Get a roadworthy for it, it will make it easier to sell.

3 months rego + ebay = easy solution.

Is the place to sell used cars still near the showground? I sold my car through them. It sat there for about two weekends before it found a buyer. I took it home with me through the week. The car was 21 years old, but in VERY good condition, and polished up it looked immaculate too. The seats were clean and sound, the dashboard in good condition, etc. The car had about 200,000kms on the clock, but the reconditioned engine only had 15,000kms on it. It had eleven months rego on it. I think I offered it for sale for about $1,600. (11 months rego remember.) The people who ran the weekend used car place actually told me that after they took someone out for a test drive in it, they thought it was worth more because of its condition. The first offer was $500, but that was a ‘joke’ with 11 months rego. I found a buyer the second weekend. I think I might have reduced it $100 or $200 for a quick cash sale. It also helped that it was a nice shade of red. The blue competition lost out. The son wanted RED.

John Moulis said :

Don’t go anywhere near Gumtree. Allclassifieds is much better. It’s where I bought my car.

I agree that AllClassifieds are much better than Gumtree but the sub-continent scammers are active there as well.
I simply don’t respond to the obviously phony texts I get.

Don’t go anywhere near Gumtree. Allclassifieds is much better. It’s where I bought my car.

If you’re not sure what it’s worth, just let the market decide. Sell it at Allbids. We sold a car through them last year and got more then we would have tried to sell it for. I am just about to sell another one of our cars there too.

Affirmative Action Man said :

I have found Gumtree the most effective site for selling cars plus it is free.

If you do this, lots of scammers will come out of the woodwork who apparently live on an oil rig and don’t have internet (so how did they see your ad???) and will offer to send a mate around to collect your car and could you give him the cash that I’ll transfer into your account (send me your details, please) to pay for the car and his mate’s inconvenience (via a stolen credit card number). Just ignore them and ONLY deal with cash up front real buyers.

It’s 14 years old so the real value is about $500 cash if it has some rego left.
Some young people will buy these as it is cheaper than catching buses.
They won’t bother to get an over 6 year old Certificate of Inspection to transfer the rego (that will cost at least $60 plus “make good” costs).
All you have to do is sign the rego certificate and send in the form to say you have disposed of the vehicle. The name/address they have given you won’t necessarily be correct but that’s not your problem.
They will then “drive the car until it drops” while being unregistered and uninsured and then they will abandon them. They are not concerned about the consequences of liability etc. and community responsibility. Another fail by the education system.
If ACTION is wondering why their passenger numbers are dropping off, this is one of the reasons.
It is just too easy and too cheap to get a car in Canberra. Even a new car can be obtained for about $10,000 these days.
It is impossible to get around Canberra without private transport.

First rule is the car won’t be worth anything near the Red book valuation so if red book says $2000 maybe you will get $1200 for it.

You don’t need a roadworthy to sell it but you can ask for more if you have a roadworthy.

If the car has some rego ie at least 3 months worth that is a major bonus.

I have found Gumtree the most effective site for selling cars plus it is free.

Put your car on for say $1700 then drop the price each week until you get a taker.