How do you put a price on your Cali

[California_Clarky]

Due to a change in circumstances I think will be having to sell my beloved Cali but how do you go about getting a realistic ball part price? is there price guide like there is for cars

TIA

 

[Mr T]

Due to a change in circumstances I think will be having to sell my beloved Cali but how do you go about getting a realistic ball part price? is there price guide like there is for cars

TIA

Just look at the for sale ads, there are loads. Be careful about a “what’s it worth” post as they often will get deleted.
There is not a guide as such. You could go down the WBAC route and add a few grand, or just look at what is for sale at what price, like I said, there are plenty on the market currently, which isn’t a good thing for sellers.

 

[California_Clarky]

Just look at the for sale ads, there are loads. Be careful about a “what’s it worth” post as they often will get deleted.
There is not a guide as such. You could go down the WBAC route and add a few grand, or just look at what is for sale at what price, like I said, there are plenty on the market currently, which isn’t a good thing for sellers.

Thats exactly why I didn't want to ask what it was worth a guide on how to best work it out. thanks for the prompt reply
I did look at WBAC but my registration doesn't come up

 

[Barry Chuckle]

Due to a change in circumstances I think will be having to sell my beloved Cali but how do you go about getting a realistic ball part price? is there price guide like there is for cars

TIA

So sorry to hear you're having to give up your beloved Cali, When I wanted to sell mine I started by calling around a few VW dealers to see what they'd give me trade. I found it more realistic than WBAC and the like. Remember that most dealers will probably look to make around £5k profit so that should give you a ballpark figure.

 

[pchmlk]

I used Carwow to sell my last car. Really impressed!

 

[California_Clarky]

I used Carwow to sell my last car. Really impressed!

Really how far off the mark was the price

 

[pchmlk]

Really how far off the mark was the price

It was 3k more than WBAC.

 

[California_Clarky]

It was 3k more than WBAC.

Does it cost anything to do that and are you committed to selling if the price is too low

 

[pchmlk]

Does it cost anything to do that and are you committed to selling if the price is too low

you set your own reserve after they’ve given you a rough valuation. If the highest bid is below your reserve you have the option to accept. Mine went for about £500 over their valuation and was a very smooth transaction.

 

[California_Clarky]

you set your own reserve after they’ve given you a rough valuation. If the highest bid is below your reserve you have the option to accept. Mine went for about £500 over their valuation and was a very smooth transaction.

are you committed to sell if it goes over the reserve you set?

 

[Ch1pbutty]

Sell it privately. You will get a better price and deal with nice people.

 

[GreenMissile]

Carwow for me was not great when I sold my BMW M135i. The offers I got from the dealers were in all honesty a complete joke. I ended it up selling it to Arnold Clark for a really good price, the car was absolutely mint with BMW full service history and AC were actually really good to deal with which I was pleasantly surprised with. I guess you have to look at multiple options to be fair.

 

[sidepod]

Have you not read the thread that’s running at the moment on selling?
It’s basically a buyers market at the moment so get whatever you can for it!!

 

[California_Ocean]

Have you not read the thread that’s running at the moment on selling?
It’s basically a buyers market at the moment so get whatever you can for it!!

Sold mine on Friday last week. I sold it privately. Advertised on major car sales site and priced it based on comparison with other similar specification vans, similar milage and age. If you want to sell fast, price it at the bottom end of the competition, if you want the best price, somewhere in the middle but you have to stress in the advert what makes yours worth the money. Extended warranties, desirable extras etc. Then re-price based on interest and come down each week until you get viewings. The dealers also monitor the portals and you will get dealer enquiries, usually low-ball offers which you can use to guage your price. Took me 3 weeks to sell at about 9% less than the initial price. I priced at the bottom to start with. The value of your van is basically what someone will pay for it - and that varies with economic outlook, time of year etc. Good luck.

 

[Princess Doris]

I've had great experience selling a couple of vehicles with Motorway. Recently sold our Ford Puma to buy a new Cali. I got £2,000 more than I expected. And much more than WBAC were offering.

 

[turnitdown]

I think the "just look at the sale ads" advice is incorrect, or at least misleading if that's the end rather than just the beginning of the advice, for these reasons:

1. you have no idea whether these vans are actually selling (reports on this site suggest many ads sit for months with zero inquiries, let alone serious ones that lead to a sale)

2. you have no idea what price they are actually selling for, if they are actually selling (maybe you think this doesn't matter because what you want to know is what you should *list* for, but it does matter, because vehicles that are listed as close as possible to the desired and actual selling price are far more likely to get inquiries and actually sell)

This is especially important because vans are depreciating assets, so every single day the van doesn't sell, it goes down in value (barring unusual things like covid). Sure, the net loss per day is minor, but if you don't sell a van for months it can easily be noticeable.

I think this is especially true at the moment. Vans are dropping in price on auto trader, drive the deal, and so on. They are not even holding steady. If you need to sell, you want to sell in the next few weeks, definitely not in September, October, etc. (Maybe 'definitely' is too strong, because it's possible the T7 will be such a bust that it increases interest in previous versions. But it's just as likely to have the opposite effect, so I'm ignoring that as a factor and focusing on seasonality.)

3. Vehicles, especially something like the Ocean, are pretty standardized items, so with some exceptions the price that matters for comparison is what the cheapest is listed at, not what they tend be listed at, unless of course the cheapest has some problems that make it atypical (high mileage, heavy wear, etc). No buyer looks at three roughly identical vans priced 60k, 65k and 70k and thinks they should be buying a van for 65k since that's the market average. They think they should be buying a van for 60k.

 

[Ch1pbutty]

I think the "just look at the sale ads" advice is incorrect, or at least misleading if that's the end rather than just the beginning of the advice, for these reasons:

1. you have no idea whether these vans are actually selling (reports on this site suggest many ads sit for months with zero inquiries, let alone serious ones that lead to a sale)

2. you have no idea what price they are actually selling for, if they are actually selling (maybe you think this doesn't matter because what you want to know is what you should *list* for, but it does matter, because vehicles that are listed as close as possible to the desired and actual selling price are far more likely to get inquiries and actually sell)

This is especially important because vans are depreciating assets, so every single day the van doesn't sell, it goes down in value (barring unusual things like covid). Sure, the net loss per day is minor, but if you don't sell a van for months it can easily be noticeable.

I think this is especially true at the moment. Vans are dropping in price on auto trader, drive the deal, and so on. They are not even holding steady. If you need to sell, you want to sell in the next few weeks, definitely not in September, October, etc. (Maybe 'definitely' is too strong, because it's possible the T7 will be such a bust that it increases interest in previous versions. But it's just as likely to have the opposite effect, so I'm ignoring that as a factor and focusing on seasonality.)

3. Vehicles, especially something like the Ocean, are pretty standardized items, so with some exceptions the price that matters for comparison is what the cheapest is listed at, not what they tend be listed at, unless of course the cheapest has some problems that make it atypical (high mileage, heavy wear, etc). No buyer looks at three roughly identical vans priced 60k, 65k and 70k and thinks they should be buying a van for 65k since that's the market average. They think they should be buying a van for 60k.

Agree with above to a degree, but its not all about price.

Also depends on the distance you need to travel to view the van and the response time, attitude of the seller. Many sellers make the mistake of thinking that they are doing the seller a favour - but there are plenty of vans available…why should they buy yours?
You only get one first impression. If you want top money you need to put the effort in. Make sure its clean with all the history available, offer a new MOT even its not due.
If you have more viewings booked, show the buyer the email, WhatsApp, and put the pressure back on them.

Also worth noting that 10 year old + camper van doesn't really depreciate from personal experience (T2, T25, T4, T5.1). You should easily get back what you paid for it after 3/4 years, if not more.

 

[sidepod]

For me it’s simple. If I was in the market for an Ocean now I could easily put together a short list of 30. If I wasn’t precious about spec it would be even easier.
Look at as many as it takes, make low offers till I get one. Done.

Trouble is, the vast majority of people are cash poor and rely on credit which is expensive. End result, very few buyers so even if it’s rock bottom it’s still a big chunk of unaffordable credit.

 

[Agnes_Cali]

There seems to be double the amount of Californias for sale than 2 months ago, at least 6.1 version. And new stock is still arriving. Autotrader price tracking pluging for Chrome will give more information about changing prices.

 

[David Worthington]

Mine is up of sale at the moment on the VWC Calis for sale page. WBAC offer two days ago is £48,000, my asking is £53,750, knowing that I'll get chipped for thousand or two and end up around £52ish. It's still not selling though so WBAC beckons. Ho hum... too many around.

 

[SaywellHQ]

Mine is up of sale at the moment on the VWC Calis for sale page. WBAC offer two days ago is £48,000, my asking is £53,750, knowing that I'll get chipped for thousand or two and end up around £52ish. It's still not selling though so WBAC beckons. Ho hum... too many around.

Yours is one of the very few adverts with plenty of photos, so many people are putting up just 5 pictures, two of which are photos of the van on a campsite somewhere…. 5 pictures does not help to sell a van!

It looks a nice van from the pictures and for low £50’s I think you have priced it about right, but with a new van on order suppose time is running out for a sale?

Have you thought about getting in contact with the company that advertises for wanted Cali’s on here in the classified?

 

[Wannabecamperman]

As a potential buyer who has watched the prices of T6.1 (150) Calis very closely for the last 12 months or so, I can give you my 2p worth of insight.

VW Liverpool have a glut of brand new 2024 year Ocean models (no bellows leaks)for £68k inc, 5 years servicing, warranty and breakdown.

Second hand, 2020 Oceans have recently sold as low as £56k, with 2021 often around £60k. There is an abundance of 2022 Oceans at varying prices above £60k, some of which are frankly absurd, given the new ones at £68k.

Obviously this applies to standard spec Oceans with the 150 engine, options and the 204 bhp engine can only help get a faster sale / higher price.

As others have commented, it's absolutely a buyers market and this summer doesn't have long to run, so I'd grab the first reasonable offer if I were you.

 

[David Worthington]

Yours is one of the very few adverts with plenty of photos, so many people are putting up just 5 pictures, two of which are photos of the van on a campsite somewhere…. 5 pictures does not help to sell a van!

It looks a nice van from the pictures and for low £50’s I think you have priced it about right, but with a new van on order suppose time is running out for a sale?

Have you thought about getting in contact with the company that advertises for wanted Cali’s on here in the classified?

Our new van has arrived and whilst some overlap of ownership is fine, it needs to be sold. I will contact them and thank you for suggesting. Ours is a good one, even my dealer says so!

Meanwhile, I don't think it's a good time to sell anything and who knows whether we have done the right thing ordering a run-out T6.1. However, the Multivan California misses the target on so many fronts. It's chic, but the length, height, doors, cupboards, boot, beds, blind, table, hob and more are a step back. It's a car, not a van and we want a van... and not one called Nugget! So, I guess we are paying the price for buying and selling at the wrong time!

 

[2into1]

VW Liverpool have a glut of brand new 2024 year Ocean models (no bellows leaks)for £68k inc, 5 years servicing, warranty and breakdown.

That's a strong argument but I can't find them. Any links?

 

[soulstyledevon]

As others have commented, it's absolutely a buyers market and this summer doesn't have long to run, so I'd grab the first reasonable offer if I were you.

Not just California’s.
The entire car industry is having a low point.
No surprise really, it’s been a long time coming. New prices seem utterly absurd and the next generation have less appetite to own a car when they car call an Uber…