The time has come to sell our beloved MX5. Its a beautiful car, but we’ve only done 6,500 miles since new and its hard to justify keeping it. Plus, someone else could be really enjoying it to the full so it feels a bit selfish hanging on to it! I’ll try the MX5 OC forum of course, because I’d like it to go to a good home, but what are people’s views on other outlets?
There’s only two for sale (at the time of writing) on Auto Trader, both soft tops. One has lower mileage than yours, the other a more normal mileage. The former is with a private seller and the latter is with a dealer. The private sale looks like it’s been up for just over three months and is only just over £2,500 more than the dealer one with 30k more miles on the clock and of course a level of dealer warranty. I would go into two or three Mazda dealers and ask what they will pay to buy the car off you for stock. Ideally you want a dealer that is willing to pay above book (sometimes referred to as above CAP clean) for it.
Aside from listing on Auto Trader, other options include Motorway (read this thread for some experiences, I personally have none: Selling through Motorway - Z4-forum.com ) or Collecting Cars (buyer pays fees when it’s an auction, not the seller AFAIK): https://collectingcars.com/
I sold my ford mustang through car wow, it’s my first experience of them and the money was very fair, not much less than a private sale but quite a bit less than dealer price. I tried motorway before that but the dealer wanted to take the car away and pay me within 24hrs, I wasn’t comfortable with this.
Worth a look if you don’t want the hassle of selling…
If you can’t sell it on the Forum you can try eBay classifieds.
Was very successful with a big Motorcycle and a couple of cars.
up for Motorway too very recently.
Sold my daughter’s car for far more than any other outlet.
Near as damn it the private sale price.
You agree your lowest price and then the dealers bid privately on it.
You “don’t” have to accept the sale either if you change your mind, (but that sort of defeats the point really).
The dealer who wins the bid has to pay Motorway, so actually costs you nothing, (commission).
The winning dealer also has to set up pre approval of payment too, so you actually get paid “before” handing over the car.
You set up with your bank details prior to any sale.
I would never let anyone take the car without paying first anyway.
Good luck with the sale which ever route you take. 
You could get Marcus @ manor cars to sell it on your behalf, I think he takes £1500 commission. He can offer finance & is a great guy to deal with.
We bought our 30AE from him last summer.
mailto:sales@manorcars.co.uk
The MX-5 Restorers buy MX-5s to sell (don’t know if they sell on behalf of customers as well or not).
We know from their videos that they also collect the vehicles in question.
Many thanks for all your advice. We just sold a Discovery Sport on Motorway and it was a very positive experience so I might turn to there if the OC doesn’t generate any interest. Thanks again!
1 Like
I’m sure you will sell it privately with little trouble, given its mileage (and assume condition). It took me about eight months to get one. I was a cash buyer who pursued the cars on AT. I am most meticulous and 5-6 were gone within a day or two. There was a couple of cars which appeared to be “phantom” advertised on the club site where the owner never responded and the second wouldn’t tell me how much he wanted for it! Don’t jump to selling via trade, there are genuine buyers out there
Wait a few weeks for better weather.
I’m looking for an anniversary car, I can’t see how to message directly but if you are still selling please let me know…
Martin
Pistonheads is a good platform where to sell a car for the enthusiasts