About 20 minutes later, he told me the firm had slashed its valuation of my bike by a third! Hearing that could have sent people spiralling into a pointless rage that would help absolutely no one, or a depressive state that could have seen me hand over the bike for a lot less than it was worth – or what this company would resell it for. 

But I didn’t do either. I took a deep breath and kindly asked him to go back to the beancounter behind the curtain to see if they could do any better, because I wasn’t accepting their lowball offer. A few minutes and a phone call later, some of those serious issues must have not seemed that serious, because a few hundred pounds had been added back to my bike’s valuation.

To cut a long story short, after about an hour and some back-and-forth, we got the supervisor on the phone and hammered out a final price, which ended up being very close to the original valuation. But even at the end, the bloke tried to unsuccessfully haggle me down another £50. 

So my advice is to be prepared for a last-minute haggle, and when the buyer tries to lowball you, keep calm and carry on. At the end of the day, it’s your car and you have the power to walk away if they don’t want to pay what you’re asking.

Did you know you can sell your car through Auto Express? We’ll help you get a great price and find a great deal on a new car, too.