[carlylespicks]

Trying to figure out the value of better marketing media in a sales situation. So if you are selling your car, is just taking some OK shots with your cell phone camera good enough? How much of an edge does the guy with professional photos and a nice video showing the car details have?

So point being, for those bold enough to sell the cars themselves and cut the dealer out, is it really worth it to hire a pro to capture your car for potential buyers? I mean, when it comes down to it, aren't you more interested in PPI results and what you see in person? Do you really care about photos beyond being able to spot weird things like a pink spoiler or wheels with spinners?

 

[dreamcast18]

pictures matter...it provides the first impressions before some one emails/calls you about the car.

it also projects a better taken care car => better value.

my 0.02

 

[key03]

Just like buying a house; if the curb appeal is not there people move on. Photos are very important as the first impression is what makes a buyer fall all over the vehicle and want it.

Look at what Roy Cats has done with his inventory and photography. Every car he has listed looks like candy now.

 

[Michael-Dallas]

Personally, I want to see the car's details so pictures need to be a decent size of great quality. I could care less about artsy fartsy picture angles, but content and proper lighting is important to show the details.

 

[LamboGator]

There are 2 aspects to this:

1. The pictures themselves should be clear enough to show enough details and angles of the car, so cell phone pics are usually not good enough, but I don't think you necessarily need Mr. Professional Photographer-SI Swimsuit Model photo session-quality pics to sell a car. Most average digital cameras are good enough to take decent pics.

2. The car itself makes a huge difference...obviously! Just like sellling a house, the more "neutral" it looks (i.e. OEM-ish), the more buyers it will potentially appeal to. Too many taste-specific mods will always narrow the number of potential buyers - but sometimes this works to the advantage of potential buyers looking for specific cars: for example, when I bought my car, I think I got lucky, because it was a clean car with 99% of every single option I was looking for, but when I first saw it online, it had these HORRIBLE aftermarket wheels on it that f****d up the overall look - otherwise, it was mint! I think this actually turned a lot of potential buyers off who couldn't see past the wheels and the car sat unsold for a while, which gave me time to look for other cars and "sit" on it for while...then when I decided I wanted the car, it was still available, so I snatched it up. After I got the car, I noticed there were a lot of people looking for a car with the same color/options of my car and realized I had gotten pretty lucky finding mine.

 

[Turbo50Mike]

Pictures make a difference. It's just better marketing. Better pictures have more appeal, and will have more people interested just based on seeing them.

I've been fortunate to have both Jason Thorgalsen and Webb Bland shoot my car...Check these out...Let's start the bidding at $160,000!!

 

[Icewarrior]

I asked the seller for specific videos before I bought my car.

 

[HOTAS]

Assuming the vehicle is in good shape, I would expect that the benefit of high quality pictures would be important, but indirect -- that it reflects on you and how you care for the car and everything else in general. It reflects a general enthusiasm that indirectly translates to a better car or leads to more trust in the transaction. It also gives people a basis of what to expect when dealing with you because we all generalize and stereotype as a function of survival.

It's the horrible pictures that say either,
1. I'm lazy and might be a neglectful owner.
2. Something to hide. My mechanic is a Jawa. The car's actual color is Arancio-Dust-Cobweblio.
3. Discouraging, as in, "price firm" or "take it or leave it,"...ok, I'll leave it, seeya, no sale.
4. I'm not enthusiastic about my exotic car that is built for enthusiasts. My lack of exotic-enthusiast vigor leads to neglect or my lack of knowledge about the car also leads to neglect or even abuse.
5. I'm a fly-by-night operation, nothing to trust, or otherwise a scam. The buyer gets the SOL feeling if something goes horribly wrong.
6. Details important to buyers, but not to you would go unnoticed.

Of course since buyers are committing a noteworthy amount to buy an exotic, they want to have some inkling that they won't get raped. Most buyers didn't get their money by not caring about it. It's not unreasonable at all to expect good images of a 150k car, or no sale. Many exotics get purchased without the buyer seeing it in person, so some buyers will be relying on images. On the other hand, if you've got a wreck of a car, bad pictures might help attract attention because buyers on the lookout for it might think they're getting in on a barn find deal...that the seller is a goofball and can be taken, or that bad pictures will somehow magically reduce the buyer's competition for the project car.

 

[recon40]

This is an area where owners of black cars are at a disadvantage.

 

[c2]

...is it really worth it to higher a pro the capture your car for potential buyers?

Higher (the comparative form of the adjective high) means taller or more advanced.

The verb hire means to engage the services of someone

 

[Flash Gordon]

Higher (the comparative form of the adjective high) means taller or more advanced.

The verb hire means to engage the services of someone

Yes, the misspelling and poor sentence structure of the author's post prompted me to dismiss it's subject matter (I just couldn't take it seriously.)

 

[c2]

Yes, the misspelling and poor sentence structure of the author's post prompted me to dismiss it's subject matter (I just couldn't take it seriously.)

+1

I had started a post about first impressions and being professional, but couldn't hit submit. I settled on doing a spell correct supported with dictionary info.

 

[HOTAS]

Mozilla's browser has spell check built in as far as I know. No-brainer.

 

[rpaddicted]

Personally, I want to see the car's details so pictures need to be a decent size of great quality. I could care less about artsy fartsy picture angles, but content and proper lighting is important to show the details.

Exactly my opinion

I wouldn't travel 1000 kms for a car that I can't examine in detail on pictures. But nothing can replace seeing the car for real !

 

[carlylespicks]

pictures matter...it provides the first impressions before some one emails/calls you about the car.

it also projects a better taken care car => better value.

my 0.02

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[carlylespicks]

Looks pretty good! Yeah, those are pictures that make everything look good! Just like those stupid dealership lights. How will it REALLY look though? lol

Just like buying a house; if the curb appeal is not there people move on. Photos are very important as the first impression is what makes a buyer fall all over the vehicle and want it.

Look at what Roy Cats has done with his inventory and photography. Every car he has listed looks like candy now.

 

[carlylespicks]

Yeah...mods are a no for me. I would have to know the company that did all the mods. Still, I don't want to buy from a person who feels they need to mod a crazy car like a Lamborghini. Engine mods anyway. I want a person who thinks the car is fast enough and barely uses the car!

There are 2 aspects to this:

1. The pictures themselves should be clear enough to show enough details and angles of the car, so cell phone pics are usually not good enough, but I don't think you necessarily need Mr. Professional Photographer-SI Swimsuit Model photo session-quality pics to sell a car. Most average digital cameras are good enough to take decent pics.

2. The car itself makes a huge difference...obviously! Just like sellling a house, the more "neutral" it looks (i.e. OEM-ish), the more buyers it will potentially appeal to. Too many taste-specific mods will always narrow the number of potential buyers - but sometimes this works to the advantage of potential buyers looking for specific cars: for example, when I bought my car, I think I got lucky, because it was a clean car with 99% of every single option I was looking for, but when I first saw it online, it had these HORRIBLE aftermarket wheels on it that f****d up the overall look - otherwise, it was mint! I think this actually turned a lot of potential buyers off who couldn't see past the wheels and the car sat unsold for a while, which gave me time to look for other cars and "sit" on it for while...then when I decided I wanted the car, it was still available, so I snatched it up. After I got the car, I noticed there were a lot of people looking for a car with the same color/options of my car and realized I had gotten pretty lucky finding mine.

 

[carlylespicks]

Sorry for grammer

For some reason my writing skills have been on a decline lately. I'm well spoken and in fact speak publicly to large audiences but for some reason I can't type anymore.

Good luck getting spell check to catch "hire" versus "higher". What really bothers me is I KNOW better. The mistakes I make are not because I don't know. It just somehow comes out that way.