Tell me what I need to know about selling a vehicle

In My Humble Opinion
1

I have a 27 year old truck that is now more liability than asset to me.

I have a couple options for dealing with it:

  1. hang onto it until I’m ready to buy a new-to-me vehicle and use it as a trade in but that will continue to cost me with registration and insurance.

  2. Junk it. I’ve investigated this and found the junker who will pay the most for it and, since it can still move under its own power, I’ll will get the most possible from that deal.

  3. I have had a local mechanic make me an offer for the truck. He has inspected it so he knows even better than I do what is and isn’t good about it. In fact, this is the mechanic I hired to make an inspection of my truck to see what work might be needed in the near future. We have not settled on a definite price but it would be more than option #2.

The condition of the truck: well, it’s 27 years old. The body still looks good (some scratches/paint damage but otherwise intact). Many systems are intact and working. It has passed its most recent emissions test. No weird electrical problems. However, the frame/spring at the right rear under the bed is deteriorating and needs work that would involve welding, and the transmission is starting to show signs of trouble so that needs work, too. Two years ago I decided that I wasn’t doing any more thousand-dollar repairs on this vehicle. It’s gone past the point I feel it wise to try to maintain it given my resources/money. So I need to off-load this.

I know I need the title to transfer ownership. I have the title. Apparently after my husband passed away I even remembered to have his name removed so that shouldn’t be an issue. The only possible hitch is that this dates from before I got my RealID and thus was part of “different parts of the bureaucracy insist on different versions of my name” BS so it doesn’t quite match my current name. Not sure if I need to get a new title with my proper name. May not matter to the folks I’ll selling to.

I asked the mechanic why he wanted to buy my truck needing a lot of work. He’s one of the owners of the local shop and said he’d probably have his guys fix it up and give or sell it to one of the younger guys working for him so he’d have a reliable way to get to work. OK. He’s got the gear and the skills and the place to do the work.

I’m ignoring my one friend who is insisting this mechanic is cheating me. I don’t think so. Like I said, owning this truck is now a liability for me and he’s offering more than the junkers. I also suspect that given the defects the trade in value would be close to nil. In a sense, this is a way for someone to pay me for what (ouch - this hurts to say) is essentially my trash. That doesn’t rule out the mechanic getting a deal on the truck, too. It’s becoming useless to me, hanging onto it seems… petty.

I’m thinking both the buyer and I, if I go with the mechanic should sign something to the effect that the truck is being sold as is,without guarantee of any sort. After all, the mechanic has already had an ample opportunity to examine it himself. He should know what he’s buying.

Meanwhile - what I get for the truck I’ll park in my savings account, which I’m trying to build towards getting a new-to-me vehicle (my car is 24. In slightly better shape, but still elderly). I’ll be paying less in insurance and registration, which I can then put towards keeping my car running until I can replace it.

Anyhow - have I overlooked anything here? I have never sold a vehicle before (the last time the spouse handled the trade-in when getting a new vehicle… come to think of it, that was when we got the truck). I have never sold to a private buyer before.

Facts first, please.

After that I expect we’ll move to opinions and this will get moved.

2

What factual answer are you looking for that isn’t just advice? I think I missed the point of your OP.

3

I need a “clean” title - correct?

I should probably have the “as is” agreement - correct?

Anything else I need to know?

Um… I should probably notify my vehicle insurance company when this is a done deal.

Anything else?

If not - OK, maybe this should have been in the opinion section from the start?

4

When selling a vehicle to a private party, you simply sign over the pink slip to them in exchange for whatever money you agreed to (cashiers check usually). If you don’t have the pink slip, the DMV can supply it. Then you get on your local DMV website and fill out a form indicating the vehicle is no longer registered to you - the new owner has some time to register it in their name, but once you submit the form to DMV the vehicle is no longer your responsibility. Last step is calling your insurance to have the vehicle removed from your policy.

As for all the other stuff about settling a price and trust and all that, I can’t help you there. If you don’t want to bother with feeling ripped-off, just donate it to a charity.

5

It probably wouldn’t hurt to draft a bill of sale (sample language is almost certainly available with some Googling) in which you can state that it is being sold as-is, with no warranties. Make two copies, you each sign both and keep one.

6

Donating it to a charity gets me nothing - I don’t make enough for such a charitable contribution to do jack for my taxes. For other people, though, that might be a more valid option.

7

Where are you?
In some states when a vehicle reaches a certain age you can get collectors plates and not have to run emissions or pay registration ever again. And basic liability insurance isn’t that much.

As previously mentioned selling a used vehicle isn’t the big deal that you’re making it to be.

How much are you hoping to get for a 27 year old truck anyway?

8

You’re better off not bringing the truck to the dealer. This old truck doesn’t actually have much of a trade in value. The dealer might say it does, but they’ll use it to play games with the trade in value and negotiated price to confuse you about how much you’re actually paying.

You’d get more from a private party sale, but that’s a lot more work and hassle. People who can do fix up work themselves would be interested in your truck, not necessarily just professional mechanics. Even without fixing anything it would be useful to people who just need a truck for work.

9

If you do other business with the mechanic, I’d absolutely sell it to him. I wouldn’t even care if he’s lowballing me - I’d even welcome it “I’m happy to make it a sweetheart deal for you - I know you always give me a good deal when I get work done.” That’s a trust-based relationship, and I’m happy to reinforce it.

10

IMO having been in the used car game for years, albeit long ago …

@snowthx nailed the admin and @Munch nailed the attitude.

One last point:
If you are dealing with somebody known to you you might be willing to accept a check in payment; might. For anyone else, you need cash as in Benjamins. If they proffer a check, even a cashier’s check, drive with them to their bank (the one the check is drawn on), have the teller convert the check into Benjamins, then you take the Benjamins and sign over the title. No Benjamins, no sale.

The small name mismatch will not matter. If the place the seller signs wants you to print your name, print it however it is pre-printed on the form. Same format for the sig. Whether that’s Jane Smith, Jane C Smith, Jane Catherine Smith IV or whatever. As long as the signed-over title is consistent on its face it’ll be fine.

11

Moving to IMHO, as this covers a lot of legal and general opinion territory.

12

Now that we’re in IMHO … yeah. You nailed this part, and – IMHO [!] – the importance of this can’t be understated.

I love fixing up old bikes. I have the tools and the know-how, which makes lots of bikes economically viable to me that simply wouldn’t pencil for somebody who had to pay retail to get the work done.

13

It sounds like you have a clean title already.

In Oregon, we don’t have/use pink slips. To relinquish ownership of a vehicle the current owner simply signs the back of the title and gives it to the new owner. That is literally it. The new owner takes the signed title to the DMV, pays whatever the title transfer fee is, and presto! They’re the new owner.

The above is the only legal requirement for selling a vehicle. It’s laughably easy to do if you own the vehicle and have a clean title. If you’re still making payments on the car, or if you’ve lost the title, or the car was once in a wreck and declared a total loss by the insurance company then things get a bit more complicated.

After you sell the car you go to the DMV website and fill out a form that tells them, basically, that you no longer own the vehicle. This is seperate from the title transfer and acts as some insurance/CYA in case the new owner does not go to the DMV and put the car in their name. You can also do this via snail mail by filling out the same form, which is printed on the back of your registration form. Because until the new owner goes to the DMV and pays the title transfer fee as far as the government is concerned you still own the car.

Filling out a bill of sale is also a good idea. Make double sure there’s language in it that states the car is being sold “as is.” Keep one copy and give one to the new owner.

Finally, notify your insurance company that you sold the vehicle.

IMHO time: sell it to your mechanic. If it needs structural work then he has the means and desire to fix it, fix it right, and then pass on the now-safe vehicle to one of his workers who needs a safe and reliable vehicle. He may be low-balling you but he certainly isn’t “cheating” you. (How do you even cheat someone in this scenario? You know what you have, he knows what he’s buying, you both know the blue book value and the cost of needed repairs… there no way either one of you can blindly take advantage of the other one.) If you use it on a trade-in the lot will not only cheat you on their trade-in offer, because that’s what they usually do, but likely turn around and sell it to some unsuspecting dupe who then will be the owner of a potentially unsafe deathtrap.

Plus, as Munch noted, selling it to your mechanic would likely buy you some goodwill and ensure a long and healthy relationship with that particular grease monkey. Not a bad thing to have.

14

There are differences in how states handle this. For example some states require notarization. Some states require a bill of sale (and for others it is optional). As to a bill of sale my state has a sample form on their website. Some states you keep the plates and it others the plates stay with the car. Some states require emissions/safety inspections.

So look up your state department of motor vehicles and get the specific information needed. This private site summarizes the information.

As to where to sell this is very generally a time vs money tradeoff. The best selling approaches vary as to where you live: Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, just putting a sign on the vehicle if you live on a well traveled street, etc.

15

Selling the car yourself using online websites is a bit of an adventure. You have to expect a wide variety of people will contact you. They’ll want to meet at odd times at places near them, and want to bargain. Some people might be scammers. You can get more money, but you’ll have more work and hassle to get it. If you go the online route, be realistic about the process.

16

FYI, “grease monkey” is a pretty gross term. I got rightly put in my place for using it here in my early days on the Dope. Mechanics are smart, knowledgeable specialists.

17

I have never heard of this “pink slip” you are talking about. Is it the physical title, the piece of paper? Something else?

That is an option in my state, but there are more qualifications than just age. My truck does not qualify.

Thanks for the replies everyone.

18

Yes. It’s a common euphemism for the title whether it is actually colored pink or not.

19

This sounds like a good deal. I sold a car with a serious engine problem to a young guy at my mechanic’s shop, once. I got rid of an undrivable car that would have been expensive to fix, and he was excited to have it, knowing it needed a lot of work. Win win.

20

My Two Rules: 1. Get a photo ID copy of who you sold the thing to, so when it turns up abandoned in the desert full of bullet holes, you can direct the authorities to the proper location. 2. Name a price, tell them its FIRM in the ad, tell them its FIRM when you talk to them on the phone, ask to see the FIRM price when they show up. End of sale. Either they give you the money or they wasted their time. I’m never had anybody leave without the vehicle.

Funny story: I had a vintage Mercedes for sale. I knew, Bob Dole knew and The American People knew what it was worth. I did the Three Stages of FIRM with the buyer before they rented a trailer and drove 300 miles (second clue not to take offers).

They made me a lower offer. I counter with a higher than asking price. Took them a few rounds of this to get the message. :laughing: They took the car at the price I was asking, and I think they felt lucky about it. I more than once told them to leave the property. I guess they didn’t want to drive 4 hours back home with an empty trailer over $100