Advise on selling my car

December 20, 2005 1:18 PM

I need help selling my car.

I just bought my first car about six months ago and unfortunately I was a bit too agressive. Everyone told me that I probably would not be able to afford it but being young and just out of college I decided to buy it anyway. Now (because of bills i've accumulated since then) I would like to sell my car but I'm not sure where to start.

I've looked at the kelly blue book value and it's significantly different between a trade in and private sell. This makes me lean more towards just selling it myself. What all do I need to do before I post it? What should I do afterwards? Are most sites the same or is one better (autotrader, yahoo, cars.com, kbb.com)?

posted by ButWhatDoIKnow to Travel & Transportation (11 answers total)

I've bought and sold cars on autotrader.com. A couple things to do before you post it:

1) Look up the private party Blue Book value. Determine how low you will be willing to sell it for below Blue Book and how closely the condition matches the Blue Book value. If your car is in good/excellent condition, list it at the price value for "excellent" and let someone talk you down. You'll get more interest in it if you list it slightly below Blue Book.

2) Take good, sharp photos from all angles.

3) Take down the odometer readings, look at your service records and make notes of any work done to the car and when your last oil change, etc. was. Include all of this in your ad.

Also, definitely list it in your local newspaper in addition to whatever online service you decide on.
posted by booknerd at 1:44 PM on December 20, 2005

CarMax. and Google. and specific questions.
posted by kcm at 1:53 PM on December 20, 2005

You should also be prepared to go through a fair amount of hoops in a private car sale - especially where you still owe money on the car. You are going to have to pay off your car before they will give you the title - you'll need that before you can transfer it to the new owner. Good luck asking for money from your buyer with a promise of the title in a few days/weeks. And if your buyer is getting financing - you will likely have to go with them to their bank with the car - very few people will loan you money for a used car that they haven't seen. The only upside there is that the buyers bank may be willing to cut a check directly to whoever holds the title now and could save you some hassle there. Ask yourself if you can or are willing to do these things before sucking it up and taking the hit on trading it in for a cheaper car or just selling it back to the dealer. Consider it a lesson learned about debt and buying beyond your means.
If you are committed to selling your own car and have a strong Craigslist community where you are - I'd start there. Its free and if nothing else you can gauge your price point by the level of interest
posted by Wolfie at 1:56 PM on December 20, 2005

The title thing is not that big of a hassle- in most states, a Bill of Sale is legally binding and the buyer can present it to bank in lieu of a title to release financing.

The chronology in my case:

1) Buyer test drives car
2) Buyer has car inspected by his mechanic
3) Bill of Sale is drawn up and signed by both parties
4) Buyer takes Bill of Sale to bank
5) Bank writes a check to Seller for purchase price
6) Seller writes a check to his lienholder to payoff the loan
7) Lienholder sends title to Seller
8) Seller signs off title to Buyer (which is going straight to Buyer's lienholder, but that's not your job)

Not sure how applicable that is in all states, IANAL, etc., but that's how it worked for me, and I just performed step 8 about two hours ago.
posted by bobot at 2:01 PM on December 20, 2005

Never forget the power of a simple "For Sale" sign in the window. My last two sold to local buyers who had seen them running consistently in the area.
posted by FredsinPa at 2:04 PM on December 20, 2005

It's been a while since I sold my car to a private buyer, but I seem to remember that step 5:

5) Bank writes a check to Seller for purchase price

was a bit different - the buyer's bank wrote a check to the lienholder (seller's bank).

In general, banks and credit unions that make car loans know exactly how the process works - they do it all the time, because private cars sales are quite common. So if you're at all on friendly terms with the folks that loaned you money to buy the car, talk to them about the process.

[Which doesn't address how to price the car properly (in general, you need to be selling it at less than dealers would, and at a price roughly comparable to others who are selling the same type of car, if any) and how to find potential buyers (presumably any place that you can list the car for little or no money is a good possibility; classified newspaper ads are probably a last resort, even if they also put the listing on the web).]
posted by WestCoaster at 2:43 PM on December 20, 2005

I used eBay to sell two of my vehicles, and purchased my new car there as well. (Actually, outside of eBay, but I found it through the auction.)

When selling, I made sure to list everything I could think of about the car. Go over the condition of the vehicle's interior, exterior, paint, transmission, features, trim, etc.

Check other eBay auctions for a good idea of what you want to include when making a listing or even classified.

Also, it's my belief that eBay is a fantastic determiner of the market value of just about anything. Look for similarly equipped vehicles on there and see what your vehicle is going for. Check for late listings with bids, naturally.

Set your price somewhere around there. Does your car have anything that pushes it above KBB? My Eclipse had an aftermarket exhaust, stereo, rims and other random stuff that easily pushed it the $1,000 over I paid for it... Plus it was in phenomenal condition.

Stress the condition of your car, as well. If it's something to be proud of, make sure people know that you're selling it for reasons that aren't such that "it's a lemon." No one wants to buy into a headache, so peace of mind that you're selling for different reasons goes a long way.

Stress that the vehicle is worth their while and you'll get a fair price. But, even if you're not selling through eBay, definitely use it to get a ballpark price.

And talk to your lienholder about paying off and transferring the title. They should be the ones holding the title, so you're going to pay them off with the buyer's payment and they'll pony it up.

Bobot has it spot-on.

Good luck!
posted by disillusioned at 4:33 PM on December 20, 2005

If you end up selling it to a private buyer, go get your car detailed first. It'll make a HUGE difference if it's all shiny and pretty.

And you might want to check out these articles on cars.com -- they're pretty thorough.
posted by awegz at 5:09 PM on December 20, 2005

I assume you have a loan. If you sell the car, you will probably not cover the loan. So you'll be in the hole. You'll also need to find an alternate means of transportation, which might be $50 or $100 a month. Are you sure you can't find another way to cover the payments, such as a part-time job or cheaper rent or something like that? Perhaps you've already done everything you can. But I just wanted to point out that you might end up owing on the loan after you sell the car.
posted by acoutu at 5:10 PM on December 20, 2005

Have you considered refinancing the car with a credit union? It's possible that they offer a lower interest rate and will refinance for the full 60 months. They could save you a little extra every month.
posted by blackkar at 6:49 PM on December 20, 2005

Have you considered refinancing the car with a credit union?

YMMV, but it's pretty common for car financing (at least through banks and car dealers, the most common ways that cars are financed) to have a significant prepayment (penalty) clause if you try to pay it off early (aka refinancing). So you should look at your contract first before considering refinancing.
posted by WestCoaster at 9:41 AM on December 21, 2005