So I’m ready to sell the old 97’ Accord.
Pretty much decided I don’t want to use it as a trade-in for my next vehicle since the dealers don’t give you much for them.
Kelly Blue Book and Edmunds give prices you can expect for 1) Trade-in value, 2) Selling it yourself value (or buying from a private seller), and 3) Price you’ll pay at a used dealer.
I figure if I can sell for just under or at #2 I’m better off than trading it in.
Which comes to my next query. What method is the best for selling my car?
Local metro newpaper classified ad? Yahoo auto? Autotrader.com?
I have time on my side since I can afford to have this car around while I have the new one so I’m not in a crunch to sell it asap.
Any other tips on getting top dollar? I plan to clean it inside and out thoroughly and reinstall the stock stereo system.
I do not know about your location, but you might want to look into the insurance implications. I had an older car I was going to sell myself, with no hurry, but I found that the cost of insurance hurt me in the long run.
True, dealers don’t give you as much as selling yourself, but at the dealer the trade-in price is deducted from the price on your next vehicle and you don’t pay taxes on that delta. Well, at least here in Ontario that holds true. I would save 15% of the trade in price, say $5,000 and therefore pay $750 less in taxes on the next vehicle. YMMV.
As to your Q about how to advertise, I’ve sold a bunch over the years. I’d suggest starting with the free ones: online, Pennysaver type papers, bulletin boards at work or at stores, Craigslist, etc. Some weekly papers don’t charge for For Sale ads.
Then, if you get no good prospects after a few weeks, go for a classified ad.
I once advertised a 20-year old Bentley in a free ad paper just for a lark, and within a week I sold it, to my astonishment.
Adhere to the usual warnings about accepting cashiers’ checks: don’t let the car go until the check (or a personal one) clears the bank.
Don’t let anybody take it for a test drive without you along, even if they want to take it to a mechanic for a checkup.
If you live in a college town, you should be able to turn a Honda Accord in under a week with an ad in the local paper. I sold a 93 Mazda 626, 102k miles, squeaky brakes, dented hood, sun roof semi-functional, AND it needed a muffler (as in, the existing one broke in half), in 3 days for $1,000. A dealer offered me $200 on the trade in. Screw that!
Put the lowest price you’re willing to take in 8-inch high letters in the window.
Put your phone number in 2-inch high letters in the window.
Do whatever else you want, classifieds, on-line, etc. Don’t negotiate on price. You aren’t qualified to get the best price for your car, and at least some of the people who are interested in it will be professionals looking to make their end from you.
I respectully disagree. Psychologically, people love to think they are getting a deal. Leave yourself some wiggle room on the asking price so you can let them haggle you down to what you really want. The buyer will feel good and buy it and you can smirk to yourself.
When we were looking for cars, the places I looked most seriously were the online local classified ads and cars parked in high visibility locations. I also looked at dealerships, but if you’re not trading in, that doesn’t help you much. Putting a sign on your car might work very well, especially if you put the price right on it - saves both parties the trouble of calling if it’s too high for them. If someone calls after seeing a sign on your car, chances are good that they like both the looks of your car and the price.
Make sure you don’t undervalue your Accord - they are very well-known as solid, dependable cars. I made that mistake with an old Toyota Celica I was selling - I thought it was fairly old and crappy so I didn’t ask much, and practically had a bidding war over it. It sold in about 5 minutes, so I think I could have asked much more.
The benefit of Autotrader.com is you can get your vehcle listed both on the Web and in the local publication for your area. Of course, listing in your local newspaper has the same effect if they share their listings with cars.com.
That runs the risk of the vehicle being determined “abandoned” and subsequently impounded.
I think you’re seriously underpricing it. I spent a couple of weeks looking for a car a couple months ago, and finally bought an '88 Accord XL for $2,250, and that seemed pretty standard from what I had seen. For some reason the guy sent me back $250, but he didn’t have to. What’s the KBB price?
It’s an LX Coupe manual with 155K miles. KBB says the dealer will probably give me a grand for it. Private seller about $2K and dealer $3K.
Now I’m thinking of pricing it at 3K and if the best I can get for it is a couple grand I’ll be happy. I’m in the twin cities so there’s plenty of colleges and high school kids who like to trick out old accords and civics.
