Observations on Selling my GT

[w. mitty]

I thought that perhaps the group might benefit from, or least find interesting, my experience with selling my GT.

I listed the car in three places; the local Auto Trader , in the Autoweek classifieds, and on this forum.

Contrary to what I had feared, I immediately began receiving phone calls from what appeared to be qualified buyers regarding the car. The calls came from all over the country. One gentleman wanted to come see the car that evening, but I could not accomodate him. I probably received twenty legitimate phone calls in the first week I had it listed. The car was sold within 48 hours of the listing, although it went to a dealer (who had a buyer lined up for the GT) in trade for a more expensive new exotic car (the sales tax savings, combined with the trade value given for my car allowed me to recover more than my asking price, and no, I didn't overpay for the exotic). It is my opinion that I could have sold the GT five different times at or near the price I was asking.

I have asked myself several times, why there was so much interest in my very lightly used GT when you can supposedly buy a "new" GT on ebay for what appears to be a very reasonable price? Based on my experience, I can only conclude that Ebay is not an accurate barometer of GT prices, either because of the nonsense that occurs in the bidding or (more likely) because a huge segment of GT buying demographic does not use Ebay.

The moral of the story is this: Don't believe everything you read on the internet or see on Ebay. At my asking price in the mid $160s, there was a huge private demand for the GT, regardless of what you may read elsewhere.

One amusing anecdote:during the early stages of me considering selling my car, I went to an exotic car dealer. They had a used, early production GT on the sales floor for a ridiculous price ($190s, as I recall). When I enquired about whether they would like to consider my GT as a partial trade for a 430, he came back and said that dealers are "afraid" of the GT right now, and that the best they could do was $145,000. I politely declined, bettering that price by almost twenty thousand dollars a few days later. I thought, but did not say, "the only thing you should be afraid of is the price you have posted on the GT you do have."

Obviously, having sold the GT, I have no agenda here. I did, however, want to infuse the GT price discussion with my real world experience. I hope that someone may find it of interest.

By the way, the GT is an incredible car. I will probably buy another one before they end production :thumbsup

 

[B O N Y]

I thought that perhaps the group might benefit from, or least find interesting, my experience with selling my GT.

I listed the car in three places; the local Auto Trader , in the Autoweek classifieds, and on this forum.

Contrary to what I had feared, I immediately began receiving phone calls from what appeared to be qualified buyers regarding the car. The calls came from all over the country. One gentlemen wanted to come see the car that evening, but I could not accomodate him. I probably received twenty legitimate phone calls in the first week I had it listed. The car was sold within 48 hours of the listing, although it went to a dealer (who had a buyer lined up for the GT) in trade for a more expensive new exotic car (the sales tax savings, combined with the trade value given for my car allowed me to recover more than my asking price, and no, I didn't overpay for the exotic). It is my opinion that I could have sold the GT five different times at or near the price I was asking.

I have asked myself several times, why there was there so much interest in my very lightly used GT when you can supposedly buy a "new" GT on ebay for what appears to be a very reasonable price? Based on my experience, I can only conclude that Ebay is not an accurate barometer of GT prices, either because of the nonsense that occurs in the bidding or (more likely) because a huge segment of GT buying demographic does not use Ebay

The moral of the story is this: Don't believe everything you read on the internet or see on Ebay. At my asking price in the mid $160s, there was a huge private demand for the GT, regardless of what you may read elsewhere.

One amusing anecdote:during the early stages of me considering selling my car, I went to an exotic car dealer. They had a used, early production GT on the sales floor for a ridiculous price ($190s, as I recall). When I enquired about whether they would like to consider my GT as a partial trade for a 430, he came back and said that dealers are "afraid" of the GT right now, and that the best they could do was $145,000. I politely declined, bettering that price by almost twenty thousand dollars a few days later. I thought, but did not say, "the only thing you should be afraid of is the price you have posted on the GT you do have."

Obviously, having sold the GT, I have no agenda here. I did, however, want to infuse the GT price discussion with my real world experience. I hope that someone may find it of interest.

By the way, the GT is an incredible car. I will probably buy another one before they end production :thumbsup

Congrats on your sale. I have been watching the prices, and have refrained from commenting. The FordGT pricing website is provoking to say the very least. I wound up with 2 GT's. The first one was based on an offer made on a popular car web site. I signed a contract, the dealer refused to honor it. Wound up in a legal battle, appeared to have a settlement, however in my gut, never expected to see the car. While this mini war was going on, I ordered another one. Well, lucky me, all of a sudden I had two cars coming within two weeks of each other. One car was white without the strip and the other black with side strips delete and no center strip. I wanted to sell the white car. Ran two series of ads in Autoweek with any real money surfacing. I was the first person to break $200k. Dropped my price to $185k, had a guy call up and say he would pay more for a black car and told him it was his lucky day, ... and mine. I am happy to have the white car, but it seems to be not the most popular color.

 

[DanQ]

w.mitty, which advertising source delivered your buyer? I'm thinking an off-line source? I agree that there must be people without computers or ebay buying cars.

I don't think a person who has access to ebay would pay what you got for your car. I've seen new cars with 0 bids for 161,000. Post july cars are having a hard time even getting bids up to their list price!

In autoweek there are few cars under 180K and any that are over that price have been in there week after week....

You did good. :thumbsup

 

[bitzman]

Mr. Mitty was yours one of the recall cars?

I read a phrase in an ad for a used GT that said "post-recall" model so was yours tarred by the stigma of being one of the ones that had to be recalled for replacement of the A-arms or to be fitted with the Speedi-Sleeve on the engine crank?
I wouldn't mind the forged aluminum replacement arms from Roush but don't like the sound of that Speedi-Sleeve...

 

[w. mitty]

The buyer, ironically, came through a wholesale dealer network. However, the most calls came from Autoweek. The Autoweek buyers appeared to be well qualified.

My car was a "post recall" car, so no stigma associated with it, deserved or not.

It seems to me in the modern era, there a three broad demographics of car buyers; those who only buy through dealers and negotiate at that level, those who buy privately through print advertisement, and those who use options one and two via the internet. The important point I'm trying to make is that the ebay buyer is by definition an internet user and thus (like the readers of this forum or Fordgtprices.com) bases price comparisons on what he or she sees online. Whether the online price of a car based on internet auctions is a true indicator of a car's overall fair market value is a debate that has yet to be resloved...

From my experience, there are plenty of buyers that do not use the internet.

 

[dbk]

From my experience, there are plenty of buyers that do not use the internet.

I would certainly agree. Additionally, many of those people are just willing to pay what they feel is reasonable and don't care to spend a great deal of time to say 5-10%.

Let us know how the Lambo works out :thumbsup

 

[50 BMG]

One amusing anecdote:during the early stages of me considering selling my car, I went to an exotic car dealer. They had a used, early production GT on the sales floor for a ridiculous price ($190s, as I recall). When I enquired about whether they would like to consider my GT as a partial trade for a 430, he came back and said that dealers are "afraid" of the GT right now, and that the best they could do was $145,000.

Hmm, sounds like a particular yellow car @ Scottsdale 101.

I don't think a person who has access to ebay would pay what you got for your car. I've seen new cars with 0 bids for 161,000. Post july cars are having a hard time even getting bids up to their list price!

+1, nice job. People can't even get MSRP (or bids...lol) on a 05 car on Ebay. Unfortuneately, that is mostly Fords retarded fault on choosing the worst place in the production sequence to do the 10K price increase.

Enjoy the new car!

 

[w. mitty]

I don't think a person who has access to ebay would pay what you got for your car. I've seen new cars with 0 bids for 161,000. Post july cars are having a hard time even getting bids up to their list price!

Agreed, but what percentage of the true GT buying public trusts ebay, or even knows how to use it? For instance, suppose you have a pool of a thousand qualifed GT buyers nationwide. What portion of that group, based on the unique demographics of the group, buys a car like a GT online? Is it possible that of the thousand hypothectical buyers, ten go online at ebay, making lowball bids, and thus present a very skewed perception of fair market value? And, how many supposed "completed auctions" for a low price actually close? I know of at least two cars that supposedly sold at a very attractive price, but were relisted several days later after the purported "buyers" washed out (maybe the winning bidder was the proverbial pimple-faced thirteen year old bidding from the terminal at the school library?)

As for me as a seller, a buyer did indeed call me and said "I can get a GT on ebay for x dollars, so why don't you sell me yours at that price?" I responded (with all due respect) "go bid on the ebay car at that price then, my price is not negotiable". He called me back three days later and wanted to see the car (at my price), but I told him the car was sold. Long silence on his end :frown

It's an interesting discussion and study of the impact ebay has on the old fashioned horse trading involved in buying and selling cars ...

 

[Vic]

Younger buyers with cash tend to be internet or software types, actors, and sons of business moguls. These types are more likely to feel comfortable with buying a car on the internet.

But that small demographic doesn't cover the many more numbers of buyers who are older, tend to be less internet/computer friendly, or who are are distrustful of eBay. (Not that I blame them!)

So there is a dichotomy of pricing taking place, between the younger folks and somewhat older folks, and they each have their own methods.

Myself, I'd have to fly out and see the car in person before I'd buy it off eBay. Or have a local friend check it out, and check out the seller, too. Essentially I think eBay can be a place to buy a car. Happens everyday, or so I'm told.

 

[DanQ]

I'd be really interested in knowing what the demographic of your thousand example is too. I think it is more than 10 or there wouldn't be so many dealers trying to sell on eBay. Is it 100 or 200? maybe. This thread is good for exploring the theories.

For me personally, I look at eBay as one source, but the only source where I can look at the data myself. Many of the auctions won't tell you much. Seller's reserves are so high that 95% don't even reach the reserve. Were non-selling prices bid up by shills or friends of the seller? I don't know. Toss that data out.

The no reserve auctions are good source. If the buyer has a starting price that is too high, it won't even get a bid. What price is too high? It changes, but obviously price is going down. This is where the post price increase cars aren't having much success. Some sell, some don't when the starting price is MSRP.

There are not too many auctions that are "no reserve" and have starting prices below list, but when they do occur, they are the best indicators of what people will pay. Sometimes location has a big effect on the results. Maybe someone near the seller could look at the car and was willing to pay more. Most of these auctions are still selling cars for slightly over MSRP. (as of 11/10/05)

In general, the sellers are Ford dealers. I tend to trust those auctions. I can use the Ford web site to look up their location and phone numbers. If the info agrees, chances are good I dealing with the original dealer. Cars that are being flipped by specialty dealers I tend to stay away from. They usually have more money in the car and want more out of it so they aren't in my price range any way. They all seem to be over MSRP, and are probably now hoping for the non-internet buyer to walk in.

In a round about way I guess I'm saying that I would have been a buyer that went through the dealer, but I haven't found any that would sell at MSRP, so I was forced to look at eBay. I have an aversion to spending over 150K, so I wanted a low option / light weight car. No dealer ordered an 05 that way.

With the price increase I'm pretty much out.. Now I need to order an 06 at 10K under list. I don't think that is EVER going to happen.

 

[dbk]

As for me as a seller, a buyer did indeed call me and said "I can get a GT on ebay for x dollars, so why don't you sell me yours at that price?" I responded (with all due respect) "go bid on the ebay car at that price then, my price is not negotiable". He called me back three days later and wanted to see the car (at my price), but I told him the car was sold. Long silence on his end :frown

Agreed again. I know alot of people that just won't get down on paying 150k for anything on the internet, let alone a car. An extra few percent for something tangible is worth it...

 

[saber]

It is funny because there was another thead on this board recently that had a totally different bend. I personally know about four instances of people signing contracts that were not honored when the car came in, two brokers who could not honor the price they quoted and one outright internet scam. I guess the moral is that prices are indeed coming down but don't expect miracles. Some of our members (not owners) feel that they can get the deal of the century. I hope they can, most of us bought the car to enjoy and not resell. For me, potentially saving 10k was not worth waiting six months for the car.

 

[FORDGT001]

I have never had trouble buying Cars Off of Ebay only when I sell one can it be a hassle. I am currently looking to buy a new GT from a dealer Off of Ebay and I think it will be an easy process at MSRP.

 

[Kirby Vieira]

observations

I sincerely believe much more luck is involved in selling than buying, and some people are simply more lucky than others when it comes to selling their cars. As for buying a GT, I am convinced that any patient person can buy a new '05 or '06 GT for list (or less) from a dealer on the internet. Most Ford dealers have an internet sales manager who is not very knowledgeable about selling a GT, and a reasonable percentage of these people will really believe it has become a msrp car once they are introduced to the information on the FordGTprices.com site. Most dealers will say no, but it only takes one to say yes, and the dealers that sold their last GT at msrp are primed to sell the next for something less than msrp.

 

[1418]

It would be interesting to see how those of us on this forum ,purchased our cars?

I for one was frustrated with the local dealers- I did something which under normal circumstances would never do- kinda bought through e-bay. I did check out the dealer, and had a friend take a look at the car. Then negotiated off-line.

I will say that the information on e-bay and ford gt prices site gave me some guidance-- for 4 months- thats how long it took me to purchase the car.

Manny

 

[saber]

It will be interesting to see what happens when Ford discloses the full details of its much anticipated, revised restructuring plan in Jan. They will be closing plants and laying off people to avoid a potential worsening of their financial position. I understand that the plan is almost finished internally and it is very aggressive and sweeping.

 

[FORDGT001]

I wouldn't plan on Ford closing the GT Plant, Its their Flagship Muscle Car. They will build the 4000 and then stop production.

 

[saber]

I am not planning on anything. However, the GT production is totally immaterial to Ford and they are in tough financial shape so I don't rule anything out. I hope they dont close any plants.