Get The Highest
Dollar For Your Used Car
Selling your car can be a stress filled process.
Maybe you have a large loan on the vehicle, and the
new car dealer would not offer you enough money for
your trade, so you need to sell privately to hopefully
get a better price. Or maybe you have your car paid
off, and have taken excellent care of it, and want
to get a better price for it.
The first
step in selling your car, is to research the value
and come up with a selling price. Keep in mind
that people shopping for a used car from a private
seller, may have trouble getting financing.
Banks generally do not want to loan money for a private
car sale, and prefer that you buy a car from the dealer.
If you have a high value car you are trying to sell,
be prepared to wait 1 - 2 months to sell it, since
the buyers pool is much smaller as the price goes
up. I have listed $1200 cars and have gotten
50 responses in a week, and I have listed a $40,000
car and only received one reply. Luckely that
was the person who ended up buying the car, but you
can see the effect that price has on the number of
potential buyers.
When I sell
a car privately, I use a combination of online and
offline advertising. The internet is a great
tool, but a flyer at a local grocery store or an ad
in a local newspaper is still a good way to advertise.
Let's start with the offline advertising strategy
first...
Offline Advertising
Start with your local Auto Trader / Auto
Locator type classified magazine. Generally
an ad costs $20 - $40 and should run for 1-2 weeks.
This will get your vehicle in front of local buyers.
Also consider putting up an ad in your local grocery
store bulletin board and anywhere else where free
advertising is permitted. Here are a few tips
when writing an ad like this...
Online Advertising
I recommend
listing your car online as well, to get the most potential
buyers. There are some special considerations
when listing a car online. How far is a buyer
willing to travel to buy your vehicle? Will
they buy sight-unseen or drive a distance to inspect
the vehicle? I recommend you stay away from
auction sites like Ebay unless you have an older collector
car, which will generate a lot of interest.
Most late model cars do not sell well on Ebay and
you run the risk of getting scammed too. Sites
like Cars.com
are the best places to place an ad. If you
have a lease and want to get out of it, try SwapaLease.com.
You can buy, sell or trade leases, which is much better
than paying penalties.
A note about
selling online... You may get a lot of telemarketing
calls from your online ads. Most will be companies
trying to buy your car at a low low cost, or offering
to list it on another site. I have received
calls from competitors of Cars.com and services offering
to list my car on Ebay. As with most telephone
offers, you have to be leary of scams, and I would
follow my advice and keep your vehicle off Ebay unless
you have a real collector car.