Car sale in Auckland

For the first weekend, we booked accommodation in downtown Auckland so that we could visit the car market there on both Saturday and Sunday.

We were already aware that selling cars would be difficult due to oversupply. Because it is already approaching winter here in New Zealand, hardly any new backpackers are arriving.

However, we have to say in retrospect that the car market on Saturday, despite our low expectations, was a disappointment. It was a small parking lot next to the highway where almost exclusively campervans were sold. This naturally attracted dealers who tried to push down the already seasonally adjusted prices in order to sell the cars in the summer for at least twice as much.

As there was hardly any interest in our $3,000 Honda Odyssey until the end, we decided to ask one of the dealers on site about the price for our car. After a long negotiation, he offered us, as well as our German neighbors, $2000 per car. We were actually tempted to accept his offer, as our hope of receiving a satisfactory bid was dwindling.

Fortunately, the four of us decided against it, as we hoped that the car market would have more to offer on Sunday.

We met again the next day. We were already satisfied when we arrived at the large parking lot, as it presumably brought with it a higher demand due to the high supply.
So it turned out to be. Due to the disappointment the day before, we adjusted our price slightly. It only took about an hour for a young Asian couple to show interest in our car.

At first, we were surprised that this would probably be the first Asian couple to travel the country with a campervan instead of a large bus organization. However, it later turned out that the two of them were from Argentina, had married a week ago, and wanted to take a small world trip for their honeymoon. In this trip, which was planned for our benefit, they also planned to spend 3 months in New Zealand.

From an "Oh i like it" it quickly became an "Oh i love it" and so we quickly went for a mechanical check and while we were waiting, the two of them were already hinting that they had actually already bought the car. After the check was completed, which was good for our car despite a few age-related minor issues, we sold our beloved Honda Odyssey to the nice couple.

Overall, we were relieved that we were able to pass the Honda on to other backpackers and didn't have to sell it to a sleazy dealer.