Wheel leaving question when selling

[vikz55]

I'm going to be getting my 428i vert up for private sale in the next 6 weeks or so. The car is otherwise in immaculate condition but all 4 of my wheels are kerbed. A couple of them quite significantly. They have diamond cut wheels.
Now I'm sure there are lots of people who wouldn't look twice at kerbed alloys when buying a car (am I wrong about this?) but clearly many people would.
My question is to get some advice about whether I should pay to get them properly returned by Lepsons or the like before sale or put the car onto sale as is and offer £500 off to any serious buyer who takes issue with the state of the wheels to do it themselves. That way I'm not forking out to repair what a potential buyer may not care about anyway. Bear
in mind the car will be very keenly priced to sell anyway.

Thoughts?

Ps anyone already having interest in buying pm me!

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[marks]

Virtually all cars will have wheels that have been kerbed. I suppose it depends on the extent they've been kerbed and the type of car. Assuming been kerbed within usual norms, I don't think your average 428i convertible buyer is going to be too bothered or even notice. So yep I'd leave it and offer a discount if someone notices it.

 

[Centurion07]

Depends on the buyer.

Personally I think it speaks volumes as to the level of competence of the driver which then follows onto the level of care they've taken (or not) with maintenance. But that's just me. If the rest of it is immaculate then maybe everyone else could see past the wheels.

 

[SteveS]

Well I'd notice, and would echo Centurion's comments above.
However, I assume it would cost you about the £500 you mention to have them refinished? Any prospective buyer is going to want a bit off the car anyway. Rather than spend the £500 to have the wheels done then having to give the buyer more off the car as a sweetener I'd be tempted to leave the wheels and offer only the £500 off the car (if they ask of course).
But it should be noted that i'm terrible at privately selling cars... ;)

 

[Monty]

At the second hand BM dealerships, they seem to get the wheels refurbed on all cars, so they obviously think it's worth doing. It's a tough call though, spending £500 for potentially no benefit.

Again to echo Centurion's and Steve's comments,

You can tell a lot about a man by the state of their shoes!

 

[vikz55]

I'd be very surprised to see someone with a car over a couple of years old without either kerbed or refurbed wheels on a daily driver. Thanks for your opinions

 

[jord79]

Buy a set of rimblades to cover the scuffs?

 

[davidathomas42]

As I say to everyone selling a car thinking of doing some repair work (DONT!)

All buyers like to haggle and get a "good deal" Having an angle to do that helps. If I buyer can't find anything to pick spots on and there not a good negotiator they have no angle to get the price down and might not like that as it leaves you as the winner and them as the loser (basic phycology) Let them have a tool to win with.

 

[Pnasty]

I'd be very surprised to see someone with a car over a couple of years old without either kerbed or refurbed wheels on a daily driver. Thanks for your opinions

what.... I have literally never once in my life curbed a wheel. It always amazes me to see 35k ++ cars curbed, it really isn't that hard to stay on the road in a little sports car. I would be very very hesitant to buy a car with curbed wheels because it speaks to how the car was treated and driven

 

[SteveS]

what.... I have literally never once in my life curbed a wheel. It always amazes me to see 35k ++ cars curbed, it really isn't that hard to stay on the road in a little sports car. I would be very very hesitant to buy a car with curbed wheels because it speaks to how the car was treated and driven

Yeah, but accidents happen. I'm careful but have run the rubber rim of my Potenzas (BMW) against the kerb whilst parking on the extreme edge of an end parking bay (our bays are a lot smaller than ones found in the US). As much as I'd notice a kerbed wheel I'd tend to look elsewhere for indications about whether to buy. Wheels can be fixed and it's a great bargaining point as per [MENTION=24094]davidathomas42[/MENTION] above.

 

[Enoch]

I would walk away from a car with scruffy wheels.......:eyebulge: I'd be wondering what else's been neglected.

 

[Nookie]

I agree with a few of the posts above... if I was going to look at a premium motor and found it riddled with kerb rash, I'd (personally) walk away without hesitation.

Things like that would just set alarm bells ringing for me (as they usually go hand-in-hand with things such as shoe scuffs all over the interior door and sill panels and seat backs, scratches to the interior plastics/trims, shiny/sticky steering wheel, shiny creased leather seats, small chips to the paintwork on the doors, scratches all over the edge of the boot sill, and an engine bay that looks like the aftermath of a sandstorm in a Kuwaiti oil field) and wouldn't give me confidence in the previous owner/s of the vehicle.

One or two very very minor scuffs and I'd consider my options, but all 4 wheels as the OP states - no way.

I share Pnasty's views as I've never kerbed a wheel on any of the new cars (9 in total) that I've owned as a result of my own driving (but have had an £1100+ alloy replaced courtesy of another driver's insurance after being forced into a kerb which was fortunately caught on my dash cam).

The roads over here in Jersey are bloody narrow in some places and the granite kerbs very unforgiving, but anticipation of the road ahead/conditions/other road users is what I was taught when I learnt to drive and it's helped to keep my wheels (as well as the rest of my cars) as new, plus just about every car nowadays has electric mirrors so if you don't have the auto dip function on selecting reverse it takes seconds to do it manually so you can see the wheels in relation to the kerb when parking... so no excuses there in my mind.

It's each to their own though as we all view our vehicles differently, so the OP's ability to find a buyer (while sporting a full set of kerbed wheels on his car) will depend if that buyer views the purchase as something that will be a prized possession or just a utilitarian means of getting from A to B - so yes, it'll be a negotiating point for some, but a reason to walk away for others!

 

[Belly]

what.... I have literally never once in my life curbed a wheel. It always amazes me to see 35k ++ cars curbed, it really isn't that hard to stay on the road in a little sports car. I would be very very hesitant to buy a car with curbed wheels because it speaks to how the car was treated and driven

You are living in a place where your road system was built for cars. Many UK city's road networks have improved / widened little for 100's of years. The costs of history and beautiful old buildings and cobbled streets is having narrow roads (part of the reason many UK reviews say the mustang is so big, but you don't think so). A year of driving around Oxford, Cambridge, London or any other of the 1000's of small village high streets you WILL curb a wheel at some point, or hold up traffic behind you everyday. You will wonder..'can I fit through that gap between the bus and steep curb' most if the time you can, sometimes it's a little tight and throw in an idiot cyclist or 1000 in Cambridge and you have yourself a curbed wheel. It happens, a lot, and it is sod all to do with your wonderful driving skills.

 

[slowhand99]

what.... I have literally never once in my life curbed a wheel. It always amazes me to see 35k ++ cars curbed, it really isn't that hard to stay on the road in a little sports car. I would be very very hesitant to buy a car with curbed wheels because it speaks to how the car was treated and driven

In Florida; I would agree. In the UK, not so much. I do 25k miles a year in my DD Mondeo and some car parks are almost impossible to enter/leave without brushing the crazy vertical kerbs and chicanes the planners draw in the comfort of their office. So far so good with my Mustang but I'm not going over Hammersmith Bridge or parking in a multi-storey anytime soon.

 

[SteveS]

I'm personally delighted that there are so many who would be happier buying a car where the seller had taken the time to hide all his misdemeanors. Leaves the honest ones for the rest of us ;)

I'd be a bit suspicious of an older car with spotless alloys.

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