New MOT's and selling

[spider]

Although this sounds obvious (read on) do you think a car will sell better with a new MOT ?

This is compared to say x months remaining. I sort of think if its less than about 8 or 9 months left then a new, fresh one will help. Trouble is with doing it early is you lose the potential to have 13 months at least as far as I understand it (someone correct me if I'm wrong here as I'm out of date with current regulations)

In my particular case its about five months.

Thoughts ?

[myglaren]

If you are MOTing it as an aid to sale it won't matter that you lose the 13 month option as it will be gone.

I'm sure that a nice new MOT will always be an added inducement to a potential buyer, as will a few months road tax.

[spider]

Yes I was thinking that too although I sort of wondered if more than a few months MOT would make a difference. If I was buying I'd want at least six months.

Tax, yes already have about nine months remaining so that's not an issue.

I feel the need to return (properly) to the fold here shall we say.

[Citroenmad]

What is appealing with a new MOT is that everything safety wise is in check with the car, in theory. The tyres are legal, there is no play in suspension etc. Peace of mind for the buyer and that will help sell a car.

[Vulpinity]

Don't know why, but I'm always slightly suspicious of a car for sale which has a brand new MOT - I've had rather a lot of cars over the years, and almost all which came with a brand new MOT in my opinion must have had a few crisp fivers slipped to the tester just to get the magical 12 month ticket for the sale. One in particular claimed to have had an MOT three days before I bought it, but upon getting it home and having a good look underneath would more likely have been assigned to the scrapyard if it had gone through a proper test.

I always feel more comfortable with about 9-10 months MOT when buying a car. Long enough to still be at least semi relevant, but short enough to know that it hasn't been bodged through to try and make it more appealing.

[spider]

True.

Might be a trade in sale although I guess a new ticket will still be of (some) value to them. I'm aware they are not really worth the paper they are printed on though so to speak.

[Citroenmad]

True. I went to see a 2cv a few months back which had just passed its MOT. Only the full beam headlights worked, not the dip, one sidelight bulb holder was missing and some of the switches inside didnt operate, the fog light couldnt be turned on etc. One tyre was on the wear markers. It seemed a little odd to me that it had just passed an MOT.

I would prefer to buy a car with a new MOT though, as they should really be, at least, road legal.

If its a trade in then I wouldnt bother, so long as it has an MOT they will be ok with that. They will probably just auction it anyway.

[Timmo]

i always like to see 6months plus on the mot, as then its not so much a case get it mot'd and sell it, or sell it before the mot expires, never keen on buying with less than 2-3 months remaining, bit suspicious! Although with modern mot's they do say if advisories have been made and with a little nouse you can check up through the reg on the dvla site to see how bad its mot history is since it went all computerised! i'm a stickler for keeping all the reciepts for the cars we have and putting them all in a hostory folder, with my Bx, ive a Big folder fullof all receipts for anything ive had for it, yet when we bought the Xant we got a coupl eof previous mot's and a couple of receipts from a local garage and thats it,

tax wise as long as its got a month or so left is enough as then new owners have time to get insurance details through the post and be able to sort out the tax for them selves, but the longer it has the more you can ask for the car technically!!

generally as long as its a good clean and tidy car with receipts etc to prove whats been done then isnt so much of a problem, i'm a lot more sceptical of cars that are Too clean, especially engine bay wise, as would be inclined to think the sellers trying to hide something!!! - this from someone who's cleaned cars in the trade since the 90's! - much prefer a good clean and tidy car with dirty/used engine bay, less things to hide!

[spider]

Very true I'm aware you can view previous advisories etc online.

Also true about engine bay, the phrase I like to use here is "honest dirt" , a spotless engine bay is slightly suspicious as it may of been jetted to hide a selection (!) of oil leaks or worse. Having said that I kept the bay clean on the 205 to a good degree.