I have a 2006 Tacoma pickup that I want to sell. It’s mechanically sound and low mileage (72,000) but the paint is in pretty poor shape from spending a decade parked outdoors near the ocean, and there is rust in the undercarriage. I went to the edmunds web site and they say a private party value in “rough” conditions is $8294, while a trade-in value is $5227. I took it to a small local used-car dealer. He has very good yelp reviews which say he’s very trustworthy. He looked at the truck and offered me $3000 for it. He says the price is so low because “appearance is 90% of the value”. He said if I tried to sell it myself I might get $4000 for it.
Well, I definitely would prefer not to go through the hassle of selling it myself, and if he’s correct about the $4000 figure, it’s worth the $1000 to me to avoid it. (Also before selling it myself I would have to get it smog-checked and probably detailed, which would cut into that $1000.) But is the huge gap between the Edmunds estimate and his offer reasonable?
I don’t know if appearance is 90% of “the value”, but it’s pretty much the only thing that gets people in the door in the first place. If someone looking online sees an ad for a beat-up truck, they’re likely to just keep scrolling, rather than tease out if the truck is otherwise acceptable.
I suspect anyone who would be willing to look at a beat up truck would also be looking for as cheap a truck as they can get, likely because they can’t (or don’t want to) spend a lot of money on it. So most people clicking the link to this truck would be looking for a deal.
Just about everyone I know that owns a rusted out, old but dependable truck got it for cheap. It’s a cheap persons status symbol to use one as your everyday transportaion.
Rule of thumb from my time years ago in the used car semi-biz: If it looks like a beater sell it private party. It’ll go quick, but for not much money.
You can look at that dealer’s offer of $3K as him giving you a put option. If you can easily sell it for more, that extra money is pure profit. If not, he’ll take it off your hands for $3K and zero hassle…
Advertise it as a beater in whichever sort of website or old-fashioned classified ad newspaper is available where you are. “Workman’s truck. Not pretty, but runs great. Real reliable.” It’ll be gone easy & quick. Albeit not necessarily for Edmund’s-like money. But as the dealer said, most of the salablility at “normal” = Edmunds-like prices depends on appearance, appearance, appearance, and mechanical condition.
You might also hit Kelley Blue Book (kbb.com). I have seen significant deltas between those two sites on ordinary run-of-the-mill cars. Sometimes one is higher, sometimes the other. But in general I consider both their “sell it for $X” numbers to be pretty darn optimistic. In the event you find a significant split I’d bet that the lower of the two is much closer to reality. That’ll help calibrate your expectations to avoid disappointment.
A limited number of people will buy a car with serious cosmetic issues no matter how low the price. The people who will buy them won’t pay much either. I have kept a few cheap pickups and SUVs that were in good mechanical condition but were getting seriously rusted and had picked up body damage before I bought them. Eventually each one need more repairs than they were worth and I got between $200 and $400 for each from the junk yard. A bad looking car that a friend left in my driveway for a week two years earlier got just $50 from the scrappers. At some point a car’s only value is from a few useful parts and it’s weight in iron.
Speaking for myself, I would not touch a car with a rusted undercarriage. I once had the engine fall out of a car. It was still running and I was able to pull it over to the curb, leaving a gigantic scratch in paving. Called a tow truck and abandoned the car.
A body-on-frame truck is different than a car, though. And a work truck or a farm truck doesn’t have to look good.
Rusted out cars are worth little because if the rust extends to the rails, or strut towers or other parts of the unibody, the car is unroadworthy junk. And people generally want to drive decent looking cars.
On the other hand, a truck can be a rusted hulk, but if the frame is okay it may be completely usable for a long time. And although poseurs want fancy trucks with fancy paint and chrome wheels and all that, many farmers and workers just want value and don’t mind a beat up truck - that way they don’t feel bad beating it up some more.
Your problem is trying to get people to overlook the visible body condition and look at the fine mechanicals underneath.
Rust is the killer, not only does it increase risk of failure, but basic repairs become more expensive and time consuming. But mechanically sound, poor exterior condition can be a great cheap ride, a beater, that some people appreciate, partly because they cheap and partly because the owner can do anything with them.
Unfortunately my opinion doesn’t do much for your offer, It’s a double whammy, it’s for someone who wants a beater but doesn’t need it long due to rust. Basically a stop gap vehicle to tide them over till they buy a better one.
When I was in my 20s, I had an MG Midget. I loved the car, but it was my daily driver and horribly impractical. The body was pristine, but there were numerous mechanical problems.
I advertised it for sale, as is. The first guy who looked at it fell in love with it. He wanted “his mechanic” to look it over, so he left his car and took the MG for a few hours. I figured he’d return and cancel the sale. Nope, he came back and gave me the cash for my asking price.
I don’t know if his mechanic friend was an idiot or what, but I was so happy (yet sad) to see that car go.