Urgent advice - Auction off my 214Si or trade-in?

Look up the trade price for the car and that's what you might get at auction - OTOH, the 214 has a reputation for blowing head gaskets, and it's likely that someone looking at it in an auction will suspect it could bodged back together and bid accordingly. If you want the right money for the car, sell it privately through the ad-mag or similar. If you want rid quick (as in part-ex / auction quick), you'll not get much cash for it.

Parkers reckon on £315 as a part exchange or £800 as a private sale, if the cars good (which yours probably is, being as you've bunged Michelin tyres on and seem to be on top of servicing). That seems a bit high to me, but I'd reckon you could easily get rid of it for £5-600 if you sold it yourself.

I'll try floggin it on AutoTrader & their website:

""

1995 Rover 214Si - 72,000 miles, MOT Aug '05, Tax Jan '05. Four new Michelin's, New alternator, regularly serviced, red, good condition. Exhaust, brakes & cam belt changed within last year. PAS, RSL, Alarm. 2 previous owners. £650 ono. ""

Thanks,

--Nick.

Just do a nationwide search, and make sure your price is one of the cheapest ones on there. At the end of the day, anything above £250 is a bonus, so stick it on for something like £495, and take £450 for a quick sale. You could get more, but you might wait and wait for the phone to ring and wish you'd just part-ex'd it.

Peter

-- "Diamonds are what I really need - think I'll rob a store, escape the law, and live in Italy. Lately, my luck has been so bad, you know the roulette wheel, it's a crooked deal, I'm losing all I had."

Or like me, you could put your car in the mid week admag by accident for 3 weeks on the trot, then finally get it in the Saturday one, and have someone give you asking price as long as you can get it to them that day? Very pleased, I was. £150 :D.

And in the meantime put For Sale notices in the windows. I sold my last car within two hours this way!

Agreed, I sold a metro in 3 hours by doing that. I put it near a train station during rush hour (by accident I admit) and sold it straight away. Lots of people will be walking past it thinking... 150quid, I could be driving home not walking in the bloody cold!

Thanks for all the tips! I've put a couple of FOR SALE signs in it. I live in a quiet village in a cul-de-sac so it's not much good here. I think I may have to park it in a high-traffic area tomorrow.

--Nick.

Thanks to everyone who helped!

I just sold the car for the full asking price of £495 due to someone finding it on the AutoTrader website today.

--Nick.

In news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Nick decided to enlighten our sheltered souls with a rant as follows

That'll be 10% to each of us then.

Will payment in sweeties be okay?

--Nick.

Nice one. Hope you like the car that replaced it.

Peter

-- "Diamonds are what I really need - think I'll rob a store, escape the law, and live in Italy. Lately, my luck has been so bad, you know the roulette wheel, it's a crooked deal, I'm losing all I had."