What's the best way to sell a car?

In My Humble Opinion
1

My aging grandmother recently moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota from Arizona to be closer to family in her final years. Minneapolis is where most of the family has ended up and it’s easier to have her here, rather than down there.

We set her up in a great place and she’s in the process of getting settled. Part of that getting settled is tossing out year-loads of crap. Tons of it. Most of it the family can adsorb, the knickknacks, the heirlooms, the pictures, etc…, but not her car. None of us wants it or really needs it. Too bad because it’s a damn nice car. It’s a 1986 oldsmobile with only 40,000 (Arizona) miles on it and in great shape. Most of the miles on it were going from her house up to the store and back. That’s it. Even with that kind of limited routine, the car was serviced religiously- that was my grandfather’s last wish. But still, given all of that good stuff, none of us wants it. We went back and forth on what to do with it.

In all of this, “You take it.” “No, You take it.” bickering within the family, it was decided that it was best to ship the car up here and have me deal with it. I’m currently looking for a car, so it made sense. But I’m after a car that’s far more economical and sporty than the ‘Grams-Mobile’. So, here I am. I have the car to do with whatever I want and I still don’t want it. It just doesn’t “fit” in right now.

I think selling it now, straight out of Arizona, makes the most sense. I get to tell a great story of it’s limited usage history, and I’ll hopefully get more money out of it than I’d get if I drove it a year and then tried to sell it.

So, my question(s) is this: Does my strategy make sense? Sell it now or later? How best do I advertise this thing to get the most out of it? I’m afraid saying all the good stuff is going to make it sound like I’m running a scam, ie., “Little old ladies car from Arizona. Low mileage and one owner. Need to sell. Must See!!! Don’t let this one pass you up!!!” That sounds like a serious load of bullshit, but it’s the truth, right? I should be able to say all that and more, but I’m reluctant. It just seems too over the top.

Anyrate, assuming I do try and sell it, what have you, the teeming minions, think is the best way to go about it? Newspaper, Internet, fliers? What experiences have you had? Good/Bad? What should I do to increase the cars value?

** While what I wrote is my own particular story, I think others here might like the advice this questions receives. So, feel free to hijack it or add things of your own on to it if it fits in the general selling a car topic.

Cheers.

2

If you absolutely must sell the car, you should either list the car very cheaply or sell in on Ebay with no reserve. Internet or newspaper will work fine. If the car is relatively common then the newspaper is better, but slightly more expensive.

If the car has many enthusiasts and most have much higher mileage than yours, you might want to consider Ebay or a site geared specifically to fans of your car. An MR2 of your car’s age and condition would fetch 3-5 times the amount that a comparable car with 120k miles would.

I think it would be unwise for you to drive it. The one owner/grandmother is a selling point and you’d be hurting the car’s value and punishing yourself if you drove it for a year.

Getting the car detailed will usually improve resale value.

3

Lawmill-

The reference to the MR2 threw me. I was thinking, “Why is he talking MR2 when all I mentioned in the O.P. was Grandmothers Olds? How the hell does this guy know I’d rather sell her call and get another MR2 with the money instead? Doo [sup]doo[/sup] dooo [sub]doo[/sub]”

You really creaped me out. Then I remembered the thread awhile back discussing MR2’s.

Yes. I’d like to sell her car, a 1986 Olds Cutlass Ciera something-or-other V8 , get as much out of it as I can, and get another MR2. You don’t know the pain I feel driving that floating boat, compared to the nimble little Toy. I’m bummed.

But E-Bay?

4

If the car is rare/desirable enough to be worth a buyer’s trip, you could do very well on Ebay. I don’t know whether that’s the case with the Cutlass. Try a low starting bid, reasonably high reserve. It should be much cheaper than a newspaper ad.

I feel your pain. The only 4 seater 80s American car I’d even consider would be a nice Buick GNX. Mmm, 0-60 in 4.7. Until then, it’s 0-60 in 6.5 out of 1.6L.

5

I had really good luck with the plain old newspaper classifieds last year when I sold my Mustang. I’m in Chicago and I just put it in the Sun Times and the Tribune. Sold in 2 weeks. I listed it for $1000 more than I wanted for it and so got what I wanted after the ritual dickering, which was more than enough to payoff the loan. CarMax wanted to lowball me $1000 below my loan payoff and the internet didn’t get any results. Didn’t try E-Bay though.

When I listed the classifieds it was the same stuff, low miles, must sell, etc…

6

Goddammit Lawmill! Once again I have to look up your references. GNX? I’m sorry, I’m only somewhat knowledgeable on cars, and you’re showing my weakness. I have no clue what you’re talking about. Is GNX referring to the turbo Buick regal?

If so, my God, I had no idea they even considered turbo-charging the regal. Heh heh. That’s actually funny- this all-American car that I normally associate with retired geezer’s is actually super-charged? …And they wonder why the Japanese were able to build market share in the U.S.

Anyrate, no, my grandmothers car isn’t anything like that. Yes, it’s old, it has low mileage and is in nice/excellent condition, but Grams wasn’t into turbo-charged anything, let alone a car. She can’t understand why people buy microwaves, for Chrissakes, I doubt she’d have understood an olds cutlass turbo, if it even exists.

Hers is low end, definitely. I doubt it’s anything most people would go out of their way to buy- it’s basic, but nice. So I think E-bay is out, unless someone else here voices an opinion otherwise.

As I type that, however, I do recall that my grandmother did have a few people asking her whether or not she was willing to sell it. And I remember her saying they were very interested. Shoot, I don’t know, I just want to sell it and get out. Get the most out of it and move on.

KitKhat-

Can you write good copy?

7

http://cars.dozer.com/features/gnx/gnx.html explains the whole Grand National/GNX history. A very impressive car that was had the misfortune of being faster than the Corvette. A new version is being released in the next few years. Funny, I could’ve sworn that it was supercharged and not turbocharged.

8

CNote, the best way for you to sell that car is to hang on to it for a couple of months til opening fishing weekend. Then drive it up to Rice (just north of St. Cloud) and park it on my sister’s lawn.

<shameless plug> While you’re there you might as well try the infamous Chex mix I make for their annual garage sale, which hasn’t yet pulled in less than $1500 per year(and that number does NOT include 2 cars and one RV they’ve sold during said sale). </shameless plug>

So whaddaya think? :wink:

9

Sure, CNote, I guess I write okay copy. I still have the stuff I wrote when I called in the ads last year. When you call the paper, they’ll prompt you on what needs to be in the ad. You can email the details you want included to me if you wish, and I can write up a sample with the least words, then you can go from there. When I called the first paper they gave me all the details and helped me hash out the wording, I have no idea if I just got someone in a good mood…

10

Fine Lawmill. It’s supercharged, not turbocharged. How many times do I need to tell you I don’t know dick about cars? I even admitted that back in the MR2 thread, but you still talk to me like I know them up and down, inside and out. I don’t. I don’t even claim to know. That’s why I started this thread.

Come on, you trying to make me cry, or what?

Chique-

You wait for the men to get out of the area to throw your mother of a garage sale? The Achilles’ heel of most women? That’s mean… I like it.

I’ll be there for the Chex mix, fer shure. Just look for a lone guy hanging out at the party bowl with a look of amazement at the women in the feeding frenzy around him. I’ve seen women at garage sales, it’s scary. Especially with the men miles away from the carnage sight.

I need to see that scene.

Kitkhat-

You got it. I’ll print it up here when the time comes and see what you think.

11

Wow, the fact that this is an oldsmobile might complicate the picture a bit. I mean, would it scare people off, that the brand is being discontinued? Or does that raise its cachet a bit? If anyone makes noise about that, tell them that GM dealerships have agree to continue servicing all Oldsmobiles. Get documentation for that, if you can.

I think low mileage is the #1 seller when it comes to a car. It’s miles, not time, that ages a car. So I think you’d be wise to sell it before you drive it around for a long time and add miles to it.

We sold our Honda Civic last spring and it took awhile. I tried multiple strategies so I feel like I know what works, now.

We had poor luck with newspaper ads. We got our buyer with autotrader.com, I think. It was FREE, and it lets you edit your ad easily. We had also paid $20 to put an ad on Stoneage.com and got nothing. Nada. However, I wrote to the guy at http://www.carbuyingtips.com about this and he said he hears that experience really vary, and he can’t account for why. At any rate, the guy at http://www.carbuyingtips.com also has a page or two on SELLING your car, and I found it helpful.

[NOTE TO MODS: Sorry about the semi-commercial link. The guy’s page is free, although I know he gets money for the ads he displays and the services he promotes. His advice is mostly sound, and he’s not selling anything himself]

Get a picture of the car and make sure you put it with your online ad. And don’t be afraid to brag about the car’s points. So what if “old lady’s car” is a cliche. It’s true, and you’ve got the paperwork to prove it. (mention that you’ve got the service records) People are going to be looking at a lot of cars and car ads, and you’ve gotta have a hook so people remember yours. We hit people over the head with the good points of our car, so they’d always be foremost in their minds when they were weighing ours against the heap being sold by some slimeball. I also tried hard, in our ad, to make it sound like we were people, not some anonymous salesman. You know, go ahead and say “I’m selling my grandmother’s car” instead of “One owner! Old Lady Driver!” I wanted people to know that they would be dealing with a real person, just like them. Not some wheeler-dealer.

We got several valuations on it, from Edmund’s and Kelley Blue book, I think, and printed those out from the web (they take mileage into account). We set a lower selling price, of course, and harped on what a great deal we were offering.

Another thing we did was pay $60 to get the interior of our car detailed. This was more than worth it; the “wow” factor of people feeling like it was a new car (on the inside) was noticeable.

Good luck.

12

CrankyAsAnOldMan-

I agree that it’s complicated. That’s one of the reasons why I asked for some advice from others here. Before, I’d simply put an ad in the paper and sell it to the highest bidder within the first week. Now, I think I need a better strategy. Maybe let it float out there for a while before I finally agree to a price.

Thanks for the advice.

I’m convinced now more than ever that selling it right away is the best approach. I was initially skeptical of listing it on the internet, but your success has changed my mind. I’ll take a look at those links.

And, best of all, thanks for the picture idea. It sounds stupid, but I completely overlooked that aspect of it when planning this all out. I’ll snap off a few pictures of it this weekend and hopefully get it in on those sites, and probably the paper, the following week.

Thanks again.

Oh, the detailing? Already done. She’s sparkling like she’s never sparkled before. She’s just dying for someone to burn that carbon off her soul and live a little.

Later…

13

No, no, no! Both you and the link I posted stated that the car had a turbocharger. It looks like I was the incorrect one. I was surprised because I had always thought that it was blown.

14

My sincere apologies then. I thought that since you knew I didn’t know anything about cars, or I didn’t know them the way you were talking about, you were talking down to me and making me look like a fool.

When I freely admidt I have no idea of what I’m talking about, and the other person decides to take advantage of that fact, and goes on and on about what he/she knows I know nothing about, I get ticked.

It’s a pet peeve of mine.

I see that wasn’t your intent and apologize for jumping to conclusions.

Now then. Onward and upward.

What kinda MR should I get Lawmill? T-1, T-2, T-3?
Go easy on me.

15

An Olds is not a Mustang.

If you want money quick, take it to some cheapo used car place, they buy them. Or put it on the street with a for sale sign on it on some major road.

16

For pricing and a window sticker, I’d go to Edmunds and use their “T.M.V.” service. It stands for true market value. It helps in pricing, lets you know what the car is really worth, you can even price for different options. When you’re done, you can print out a nifty window price sticker. It looks professional and tells the buyer all about the car.

17

Mark I(85-89)
NA-112hp, 0-60 in 8.2
SC-150hp, 0-60 in 6.7
+great fun
+cheap
+excellent handling
-ugly
-slow
-rare

Mark II(91-95)
NA-140hp, 0-60 in 8.0
T-200, 0-60 in 6.0
+awesome styling
+the turbo is very fast
+comfortable
+nice interior
-expensive
-later models are rare
-handling can bite you in the ass

Mark III(2000-?)
NA-140hp, 0-60 in 7.0
+handles very well
+really fast for an NA
+convertible
-convertible
-expensive

It’s up to you. I owned a MKI NA until that was hit. It took me about a year to find a decent SC. They’re very rare, but offer the speed of the turbo with the fun and handling of the MKI. The MKII is beautiful and very fast, but it deviates from the go-kart concept of the first and third generations. These cars are getting rare, but you can still find a good MKI for under $2000 and a good MKII for under $7000.

http://board.mr2pages.com/

18

Thanks.

I’ll keep you informed.

19

Tommy-

Thanks for the suggestion. I’d been there before when I was trying to get a base price for her car. Unfortunately, their data base only goes back, or down, to the 1990 model year. Her car is a 1986.

Oh well. It would have been nice.