Should I fix a faulty stereo before selling my car?

Telegraph

19-03-2025

Our 2017 Peugeot 2008 suffers from an intermittent problem whereby the radio stops working, with no sound from the parking sensors, satnav or phone. After many attempts the main dealer gave up trying to fix it; another Peugeot dealer says it needs a new radio at a cost of £1,350. The car has only done 45,000 miles and is in otherwise good condition, with a full service history. I want to sell it, but should I replace the radio or offer it for sale as-is, with the radio 'gaga'?
– MM
Dear MM,
Dicky radios in Peugeots of this era are not uncommon. As you've found, they can be very expensive to fix. Indeed, many 208 and 2008 owners report a similar intermittent functionality in the infotainment unit – the box with the screen that sits in the dashboard – with some even saying that the radio can shut down completely from time to time, then spring back to life for no apparent reason.
Some of these owners say that updating the radio's firmware (the software on which it operates) can fix many of the problems. Your Peugeot dealer should be able to do this (and shouldn't charge very much) so it might be worth a try before you go any further.
If that doesn't solve the problem, contact an aftermarket head unit repair specialist, such as Cartronics, to see whether they've heard of this issue before; even if they haven't, they might be able to offer a fix at a fraction of the cost of a new head unit.
Either of these options would be preferable to selling the car with a head unit fault. However, if neither works out it's worth trying to sell the car via one of the car-buying websites, mentioning the fault in your description.
Hopefully a dealer with the contacts to sort the problem cheaply will emerge. Note that because of the fault you'll probably get slightly less than you would have for a fully functioning car, but not as much of a loss as the £1,350 that a replacement head unit would set you back.