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Best way to market a 72 tii?


Gordon

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A long time friend of mine who is self employed recently had some medical procedures that produced a lot of bills and unfortunately he needs to sell his tii. He has owned his 72 tii since high school, he bought it used in 75 and owned it ever since. VIN is 2762289.   It's an unmolested, unrestored sunroof tii that's always garaged. It still has the original steel wheels and hubaps. IIRC, the tii was Sahara in high school and it's been repainted sometime in the past to a red  that looks halfway between granada and verona. I could be wrong on that (being Sahara), I've killed a lot of brain cells the past 40 years.   He asked the best way to sell his tii.  I was thinking bring a trailer, possibly Ebay, etc... Of course he'll need to take lots of pics.  Any other thoughts from forum members on this subject would be appreciated.

 

G-Man 

1919299_1258597032470_5618972_n.jpg

74 tii (many mods)
91 318i M42

07 4Runner

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The new format of BAT seems to get the most attention and better money, especially for honest cars. (the respray may draw some negative comments, but someone will love it)  

 

Looks like a real honey, good luck to him... sad news on him being forced to sell it.

 

Ed Z

'69 Granada... long, long ago  

'71 Manila..such a great car

'67 Granada 2000CS...way cool

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That is too bad your friend has to sell.  That is rough.  My sense is that this type of car gets good play on BAT.  Although, it being an auction, if for whatever reason, the price/value equation works out poorly, you're stuck with what it pulled in the auction.  

 

An alternative could be to put it on the cars for sale section here on FAQ, along with Hemmings or Autotrader Classic.  Then one of us could send the listing to BAT.  They still do that - post cars that aren't their auctions.  I don't think they do it as much as they used to, being it is clearly an auction site these days.  That could be one way of marketing it w/out committing to the finality of an auction.  I suppose you can put a reserve on it, so there's that safety net.  Good luck with it.  Hope your friend is doing OK.

 

Scott

02ing since '87

'72 tii Euro  //  '21 330i x //  '14 BMW X5  //  '12 VW Jetta GLI

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BAT would be the path of least resistance, but like some have mentioned, it's an auction so their will be less control over the sales price. A reserve would mitigate some of the risk. 

 

Selling it here, Hemmings, Autotrader, or BMW CCA classified will be a little more work but provides the seller more control over the process.

 

Rob (Hack Jedi) Siegel talks about the selling process in his new book. Biggest takeaway is to be as descriptive as possible and take as many high quality photos as possible. The $150 spent for a knowledgeable BMW shop to conduct a PPI, the contents of which would be provided in the listing, should also increase the sales price and buyer comfort with a long distance transaction.

 

Good luck to your friend. Sorry his 02 has to go, but great of him to be it's steward for so long.     

1973 Inka 2002tii (2764445) 

1974 Inka 2002tii (2782629) / Sold

1969 Porsche 912 (129000269) / Sold

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I sold my car on BaT a while back and was really happy with the overall experience. The BaT team were easy to deal with and very friendly, the only debate we had was on the reserve price. If your friend chooses to go the BaT route, I'd encourage him to do some research and soul searching on establishing a reserve price first so you know what your lower limit is; obviously BaT is in the business of selling cars, so they may want a lower price than you desire. Msecond piece of advice would be to only put it on BaT if you plan on being 100% honest, transparent, and engaged with the auction as it progresses. The peanut gallery (comment section) can make or break an auction, so don't give them any reason to question to honesty of the posting, and maintain a positive dialogue through the process. Lastly, I'd very strongly encourage lots of well shot photographs, videos if possible, and whatever other supporting documentation you can provide. Take some time to look through a bunch of other BaT listings and see what others have done well and where they have flubbed, it will quickly become apparent how you can set yourself, and the buyer, up for a positive experience.

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If it is a nearly perfect car with a mint interior and engine compartment, then BaT is a good way to go, as the best cars attract eye-popping bids.

 

If, however, the respray has overspray, or the dash is a one-piece from a '74, or the seats are from a later car, or if' it's a '72 with metal intake plenums (which some of them had), or the engine compartment is not eat-off-it-mint, the vultures on BaT will pick it apart. Or, if there is any rust ANYWHERE, someone will start the whole "underwater" discussion that just makes me want to reach through the ether and punch people in the mouth.

 

With this car, people will jump all over it not being the original color. And, if it's not a BMW red, they'll doubly jump all over that.

 

Part of the problem with BaT is that, unlike eBay where you, as the seller, have control over which questions (and your answers to them) you post as part of the auction, on BaT, you have no control at all. So you and the car can get flayed alive by folks with a lot of time on their hands and absolutely no skin in the game whatsoever.

 

It doesn't mean your friend should reject BaT out of hand; he should just be prepared for the attack of the trolls.

 

None of my cars are BaT-worthy.

 

I don't actually spend a lot of time on BaT, as I've gotten very good at not lusting after things I cannot have.

 

--Rob

Edited by thehackmechanic

The new book The Best Of The Hack Mechanic available at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0998950742, inscribed copies of all books available at www.robsiegel.com

1972 tii (Louie), 1973 2002 (Hampton), 1975 ti tribute (Bertha), 1972 Bavaria, 1973 3.0CSi, 1979 Euro 635CSi, 1999 Z3, 1999 M Coupe, 2003 530i sport, 1974 Lotus Europa Twin Cam Special (I know, I know...)

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12 hours ago, saaron said:

 

An alternative could be to put it on the cars for sale section here on FAQ, along with Hemmings or Autotrader Classic.  Then one of us could send the listing to BAT.  They still do that - post cars that aren't their auctions.  I don't think they do it as much as they used to, being it is clearly an auction site these days.  That could be one way of marketing it w/out committing to the finality of an auction.  I suppose you can put a reserve on it, so there's that safety net.  Good luck with it.  Hope your friend is doing OK.

 

Scott

Sad news, tough circumstance for your friend.

 

I like this idea better than BAT.  He can set a price that is comfortable with and doesn't have to deal with the keyboard jockeys on BAT.  The market for Tii's seems so strong that I'm sure a good buyer could be found on the FAQ or one of the other two.

 

70 M2 2.5L 

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I'm really not trying to knock BaT. I think it's a great site. If I had a perfect car, or an eye-poppingly original and correct car, it would be the place to sell it. And there IS something to be said for crowd-sourcing the vetting. But my FB friend John Stoj just sold his E46 wagon with an S54 swap there, and the amount of shit he took because it was exactly that -- an E46 wagon with an S54 swap -- and not a no-expense-spared build of an M3 wagon was kind of ridiculous.

The new book The Best Of The Hack Mechanic available at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0998950742, inscribed copies of all books available at www.robsiegel.com

1972 tii (Louie), 1973 2002 (Hampton), 1975 ti tribute (Bertha), 1972 Bavaria, 1973 3.0CSi, 1979 Euro 635CSi, 1999 Z3, 1999 M Coupe, 2003 530i sport, 1974 Lotus Europa Twin Cam Special (I know, I know...)

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4 hours ago, thehackmechanic said:

or if' it's a '72 with metal intake plenums (which some of them had)

This car's VIN (2762289) is only 300-odd off from the beginning of '73 production (2762630) so would have had metal plenums from the factory,  I think only the first 1900 or so were equipped with plastic runners.  So at least that wouldn't be a problem.  Also if the car has a tobacco or caramel interior, that would go with the exterior being originally Sahara.

 

mike

'69 Nevada sunroof-Wolfgang-bought new
'73 Sahara sunroof-Ludwig-since '78
'91 Brillantrot 318is sunroof-Georg Friederich 
Fiat Topolini (Benito & Luigi), Renault 4CVs (Anatole, Lucky Pierre, Brigette) & Kermit, the Bugeye Sprite

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