My wife and I have recently decided to buy a new car and I am thinking of selling my car myself rather than trading it in.
How do I sell my car?
I am thinking of putting it on autotrader.com and maybe in some of the local papers. Is there anywhere else I could advertize?
I have cleaned the car myself but I am thinking about getting it professionally detailed and seeing how much it would be to fix a couple of minor body problems (a scratch and a couple of door dings). Does it make much of a difference to do things like that? Is it a worthwhile investment of time and money?
My area has a freebie newspaper just for selling stuff…think it has a whole section for cars. The ads aren’t free, of course, but they are reasonably priced, and people seem to get a lot of response. think it is called the Thrifty Nickel or something similar…and it is given away at convenience stores…
Car guy here! First of all, what kind of car is it? This matters for the market you have to aim towards.
Autotrader is always good, but remember that you are usually competing with a lot of dealers, and you have to be lower than them. People tend to go to dealers first for the fact they can finance through them, get some kind of guarantee, etc.
Door dings and scratches are worth fixing sometimes, but it definitely depends on the car. If it were a 1995 Toyota with 150,000 miles, I would say no. If it is a 2005 Mercedes-Benz SL500 with 2,000 miles, I would say definitely.
If it is a truck, there are magazines geared towards trucks, etc. Also, I hear good things about CraigsList.
Remember that when you sell it on your own to be prepared for a lot of things. You will have people making crazy offers. You will have people trying to finance through you. You can not take personal checks. You might have to test drive crazy people and you have to keep people away from your house.
FormerMarineGuy, my car is a Subaru Forester which is one of the smaller SUVs, 1999 with about 110,000 miles. I am a little worried about people knowing where we live incase they do have an issue with the car 6 months or a year down the road and wanting to come back.
The only experience I have with private car sales in when we were lookng for my current car. We test drove a Toyota RAV4 and the guy who owned it had us meet him in a store parking lot, which seemed odd. Is that the best way to do it?
Does anyone else have any experiences with this, any anecdotes?
Not sure where you live, but where I am, Craigslist should be given a shot. I put a car up for sale on a Sunday and sold it on Tuesday above asking price (also above Blue Book price). Be sure to have a reasonable asking price. I kept mine a bit below Blue Book, but my car was in superb shape, so I had multiple buyers. Meeting prospective buyers in a neutral open area is best. And insist on cash if you can. Of course, have the paperwork ready to quickly close the deal if you get your price.
be honest about the condition of the car and specific about its features.
post a reasonable asking price - not your “oooh, if only I could sucker someone into paying that much” price.
If your experience is anything like mine, you’ll get several dozen calls before the end of the first day, and you’ll have sold the thing within a week.
If you’re asking a fair price and your first taker tries to lowball you, stick to your guns. You’ll eventually get the right offer.
If you’re nervous about people coming to your home, choose a large parking lot convenient to your home and arrange to meet prospective buyers there. You don’t need to tell them why - for all they know it’s because you’re working at that time.