Need help selling used car

[Mrs.Reese]

Hello All!
I need a little advice on selling my old car. After the radiator blew on it and I was by myself, DH decided that I needed a new car. We did fix it and it has had a lot of work to it this year. (New brakes, New ABS computer, new brakes).

I priced it $300 below NADA and am willing to accept lower because I just really need to sell it. I put an ad in the flyer, autotrader and craig's list. What else would you do to sell it. NADA says it's worth 3000 but to be honest I would take 2300. Any suggestions?

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

The only other things I can think of are, if it doesn't sell the ways you listed you could try ebay. We sold a car on there and it went fairly smoothly, but of course you have the fees involved.

Also, if there is a Carmax in your area you could sell it to them, I've heard if you go in there with the KBB page printed out and know your stuff you can get a pretty good price for it. You can check their locations on www.carmax.com.

 

[ducklite]

I sold mine in one day on Auto Trader a little over a year ago--I listed it at $100 under book, and took $200 under book. I think it depends on the demand for your make and model. I got lucky, the guy who bought mine was looking for exactly that car. He actually flew in from the Biloxi area to pick it up.

Anne

 

[IDoDis]

I used to sell cars and then worked for a credit union auto buying service. First of all, what is your make, model and year of the car? How close you can get to NADA book value depends on what type of car it is. For example, a Ford won't get nearly as close to average retail than say a Honda or Toyota. Your car is only worth what someone else is willing to pay. You should scour online auto dealers for similar makes & models (same year) to see what their asking prices are. Keep in mind that the dealer prices are inflated.

When someone trades in a car, the dealer typically buys it an average wholesale price which is lower than average retail. On paper, it will look like the buyer is getting retail for the vehcile, but that's just taking part of the inflated mark-up on the car and saying they are buying your car for X amount of money. It's not what they are really paying. You have to deduct things that will bring the value down, like a cracked windshield, minor body damage, tire wear, not to mention mechanical issues. Even though you have put money into your vehicle, don't expect to get it back. The average retail price assumes the car is running fine anyway.

If your vehcile is a gas hog, it will take longer to sell with today's gas prices. If it is a vehicle priced over $10K, most buyers would need financing and many of those (not all, but most) will shop at dealerships where they can get financing on the spot).

If the vehicle is not an expensive one and you can hold out another month, you might have better luck with a college audience. Place an ad in your local university's newspaper right when school is starting. I sold two older model cars that way to kids needing cheap transportation to school. Also, like another poster suggested, try Craig's List, and put a for sale sign on your car while keeping it in visible places.

Good luck!

 

[Ishy]

I would be happy to take a look at your ad on craigslist and make suggestions on how to get more people interested.

I rencently sold a truck and listed/sold a sailboat and powerboat for a friend that owns a marina (his customers had these things up for sale for a year - no bites) they were pleased to sell so fast - gave me little gifts of appreciatation.. thats fine with me.

But remember - SELL -


Let us know how you make out and I am sincere about looking at your listing

 

[ducklite]

You also want the car to look as spotless as possible. Before I sold mine, DH detailed the entire car. He washed the floor mats, vaccuumed the car extensively, wiped down the dash and all non-upholstered surfaces with Armour All. He put a heavy wax on it, and wiped off a little dust that was under the hood. (The car was only two years old with 30K miles, so the engine compartment was clean, no leaks or anything, just the dust that blows up into it while you drive down the road.) He put that shine stuff on the tires.

It had never been smoked in, and I stated that very prominently in the listing. That's really important to a lot of people. There were still 6K miles left on the warranty, I made sure I put that in the ad as well.

Anne