Best way to sell this specific car?

September 7, 2016 5:45 PM

My beloved Subaru has to go or I'll be homeless within a couple months. Given the specifics below, what is the best way for me to move forward?

I owe $3,600 on the note, payments are $320 per month.

There is a bumper owie, but otherwise the car is in great shape.

It is currently under the Takata AB Inflator Recall, and Subaru notified me of this in particularly drastic language - no front seat passengers should be permitted until the part has been replaced. Although there is no time frame given for the replacement part being available, I gather that this recall is wide and deep.

Under normal circumstances I would pay off the note, get the car detailed and sell it to a private party on Craigslist. Blue Book and whatnot, I believe I could expect $18k easily.

Obviously I can't sell it to someone without disclosing the recall, so I don't even know if it would sell on Craigslist. I can't get a grip on how much the recall is effecting sales.

I tried the evil that is the Kelly Blue Book scamarama and got a cash value of $10k.

I think I've covered everything.

If you were me would you run the Craigslist route? Take it to a Subaru dealer and roll the dice? Other options I haven't thought of?

Oh, also, I have to pay off the note to sell it to a private party on Craigslist, says everyone. No way around that?

posted by The Noble Goofy Elk to Work & Money (9 answers total)

Best answer: Try edmunds.com for a second opinion on its value, for one thing.
posted by pmurray63 at 5:59 PM on September 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Craigslist, for sure. There are hundreds of thousands of vehicles with that recall notice - my old 2006 BMW has one similar, I have seen other manufacturers with the same one too. Do some research on the recall notice, disclose it with the additional research (printed, put together neatly) and be open to people backing up your research - "If you're concerned but interested in the car, I'll take a deposit and let you have a few days to check the facts I have here".

The Takata recall is kind of serious, but extremely widespread. It is a massively well known issue and scandal precisely because it is so widespread and hard to remedy. It shouldn't stop someone buying a Subaru, as you can't get it fixed before sale, and no Subaru they want to buy that is subject to the sale has been fixed yet, so they're all the same.

As for the note, I'm pretty sure you need to pay that off. You could take a deposit of $3000 so you can clear the note maybe?
posted by Brockles at 6:01 PM on September 7, 2016

Having a note on it makes it slightly harder to sell because it's a bigger hassle for the buyer. You need to do some legwork with your financing company to see how they would handle this and who currently holds the title.

If it's with a bank, if you want to use the buyer's money to pay off the note, the safest way for the buyer would be to accompany you to the bank, have him write a check to the bank to pay off the note, then fill out the forms for the title transfer right there, then write you a second check for the balance.

No intelligent seller is going to give you money first to clear then note on your own.
posted by Karaage at 6:43 PM on September 7, 2016 [3 favorites]

I don't know which Scooby you have, but I'd try listing it on a Subaru forum. Cars like that tends to have loyal owners, many of whom have more than one model sitting in their driveway. I'd suggest forums like NASIOC or Outback Forum or Club WRX (note I just did a quick search for these and can't speak to the quality of the forums or their classifieds). If you can find forum for both your model and your geographic area, even better.

Since these are Subaru enthusiasts, they'll have a very good sense of what the cars tend to be worth on the used market. They'll also want to know details about the car and its maintenance history.

Autotrader should also be on your radar when it comes to posting it for sale online.
posted by sardonyx at 7:15 PM on September 7, 2016 [3 favorites]

Best answer: When I wanted to sell a car I still owed money on, I sold it to a dealer that specialized in this. I could have gotten more for a private sale but they were set up to deal with the lien, etc. so it was a decent trade off for me. They just paid me the difference between the payoff amount on the loan and what we agreed the car was worth and called it a day. I was a little worried about trusting them to deal with the payoff but it was fine.

I found them by googling "[My city] used car buyer" and checking out Yelp reviews.
posted by lunasol at 8:53 PM on September 7, 2016 [1 favorite]

So many cars (including mine) are affected by the Takata air bag recall that it's a non issue. It's not that you haven't fixed it - the parts are not available, right? I see plenty of cars with liens advertised for sale on Craigslist. Someone who really wants the car will work with you.
posted by fixedgear at 2:45 AM on September 8, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: If there is a Carmax in your area, it is a good and easy way to get a baseline quote for your car. Their quotes are good for a week, so you can get a price from them and then see about selling it yourself and see if you can do better, if you want. Their price will be lower than what a private buyer might pay, but in exchange it is easy and straightforward, rather than dealing with the usual set of no-shows and flakes that used cars attract.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:05 AM on September 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

Seconding Carmax if one is close. It's really hassle-free and I have always been pleasantly surprised by the price they paid me. As Dip Flash said, it will be lower than what you would get from a private buyer, but they can handle the situation with the bank to pay off what you owe and it's the most simple process ever, so for me it was worth it. We have sold three cars to them as they always offered more than the trade-in at the dealer.
posted by thejanna at 8:15 AM on September 8, 2016 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: I took pmurray63's advice and got much higher numbers from Edmunds (dealer trade in: $23k; private party: $25k).

I left a message with the local Subaru dealers and am going to compare them with Carmax. The more I think of it, I am in no emotional shape to be dealing with private party sales.

My ex husband is on the note and the title and the other side of the county, but I understand this won't be a serious issue since our names are joined with OR not AND.

Thanks so much for all your answers. Big metafilter love.
posted by The Noble Goofy Elk at 11:29 AM on September 8, 2016