Selling a Used Car in 2024

June 3, 2024 7:01 PM

I'm looking to sell a 8 year old car in good shape this year (something like a 12-14k car in the US). I don't need the money to buy a new (used) car, nor do I get any tax benefits in my state by trade-in. So what will get me the most money for a low-ish amount of hassle? Think of the quadrant in one corner of trading it in the dealership I buy my new used car, and in another quadrant selling it through craigslist or facebook marketplace. What's in the middle?

i don't have the time to sell it on private sale and worried about scammers, annoying buyers etc. But I want to make more money than tradeing it in.

posted by sandmanwv to Shopping (8 answers total)

Best answer: Carmax, Carvana, and similar seem like they would occupy that middle ground.
posted by sacrifix at 7:22 PM on June 3 [5 favorites]

For me, Craigslist and Auto Trader. Have worked best.
List the car according to blue book value. Only accept/respond to calls and be patient.
If you are offering a fair price for your car, good people will make themselves available to look and buy.
Carmax and Carvana are very easy but you will only get about %25 of the car's value.
posted by Lucky Bobo at 7:31 PM on June 3

Look up a local Facebook group for your make/model of car. A surprising number have active enthusiast/DIYer crowds. Post it to a private group and be explicit in your wording. List the VIN, have Carfax report ready, price it reasonably, get your bill of sale ready, etc. You'll be reducing your audience size but hopefully improving the quality.
posted by mullacc at 8:06 PM on June 3

I sold a car via craigslist in 2022, and it was pretty painless. Posted the ad on a Thursday, fielded texts on Friday, did test drives on Saturday, sold that same day to a wonderful and reasonable human. We went together to a bank to complete the transaction. If anyone was going to lowball me, it would have felt easy to say “No thanks, I’ve got several other people to test drive it today.”
posted by danceswithlight at 8:35 PM on June 3

Here’s my approach that I’ve used for 3 or 4 cars over the years.

Carmax will look your car over in person and give you cash offer good for 7 days. Start there, that’s your backstop. It might be little low but you can walk away from the private party sales process at any point with that amount. Maybe that price is high enough you won’t want to bother with the next steps.

(They’ll also give you an offer online, as will Carvana, but I’m not clear on the nuance. Is it even lower, how much could it change, etc)

Then you take a bunch of pictures, write up everything wrong with the car in brutal honesty, and list it everywhere - craigslist, Facebook, etc -for the Bluebook perfect condition private party price with clear direction that people can make you an offer based on the list of problems. You’re listing it for the highest reasonable price while optimizing for no negotiation by the time people come to see it in person.

I’m serious about brutal honesty. It’s in mint condition? Great, mention the month of wear on the tires. Show that you aren’t hiding anything. You aren’t wasting their time so they shouldn’t waste yours.

You also mention that you’ll take cash only, and will only meet at a bank, or police station, auto shop, or other safe easy place. List specifics but also be sensitive to the fact that someone carrying 5 figures in cash might want to meet at their bank or their mechanic.

Now you take a week of fielding offers. Anyone who offers cash above the Carmax price gets to see it in person. Anyone not paying cash is a scammer you don’t engage with. Anyone asking how low you’ll go, or what’s the condition of X/Y/Z on the car, or can you drive the car to them, or anything else that shows they aren’t following directions, is too much hassle and you’ll skip them too. You aren’t obligated to respond to anyone.

Also balance the hassle of an offer against your backstop. $100 over Carmax might not be worth driving to the far side of town. Or maybe no one is gonna be worth the hassle! But that’s ok, you have 7 days to see if someone offers a million bucks.

Now you’ll meet up with a protection buyer. They might want to test drive it, depending on your comfort level you can either come with, or hang on to their drivers license while they leave for a set amount of time.

By this time they already know what’s wrong with the car so it should be a done deal once they see it drives and matches up with what they expected.

Bring along the title to sign over. Pay attention to any location specific details about Bills of Sale and license plates so that you aren’t on the hook for new parking tickets tomorrow. They give you the cash, you give them the title and keys, done!


You won’t necessarily get a lot of messages but that’s ok, you’re avoiding hassle. This process gives the potential buyer all the information they need to make a decision, and you’d rather them decide they aren’t interested at home instead of after a test drive.


And if nothing comes through that’s worth the premium above Carmax then that’s fine too. Head back over to Carmax and get your check, nice and simple.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 9:36 PM on June 3 [8 favorites]

Do you know someone else who might have time to list the car and meet with potential buyers if there was something in it for them? You could estimate the difference between what you'd get by trading it in and what you'd get in a private sale and offer half that amount to a friend or relative if they'll take charge of selling the car.
posted by Redstart at 5:16 AM on June 4 [1 favorite]

I inherited a car last year and was in much the same place and state of mind as you (and the car had about the same value). I offered it to my friends via FB and had no luck.

Then I tried Carmax and Carvana. Carvana offered me significantly more than Carmax (ymmv, but point is, it's worth testing both). Carvana came right to my door with a flatbed truck and picked up the car. The sale went smooth as silk, no last-minute change in the offer, no hassle at all. I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
posted by martin q blank at 7:42 AM on June 4

Unfortunately there is no middle ground that doesn't involve you knowing a friend of a friend who's looking to buy your car. The loss you take from selling to a dealer is for the convenience of not answering "is this still available?" posts for a month. Or getting a fake cashier's check. Or getting robbed during a test drive.

If you have a car with any amount of enthusiast following, one of the specialty online auctions such as Bring a Trailer might be an option.
posted by Huggiesbear at 11:36 AM on June 4