ADVICE NEEDED: Selling an automobile

The classified ad thing is a no-brainer, seeing as work at The Paper and it's free. But, as dixie brings up, I don't want my cell blowing up at 6 a.m., 7 a.m., 8 a.m., anytime before noon really....

 

Your best bet is to use craigslist or autotrader.com, you'll get plenty of hits that way. Be wary of craglists, though. My brother posted a motorcycle he was selling and go more than enough spam responses.

 

Thing is, most newspaper employees - can't speak for KM, obviously - get a free ad from time to time. Drop an ad there. I sold a car like that almost 10 years ago ... yes, back in the Stone Age. (No jokes usually reserved for poor S-P necessary).

Got three calls that same day. One of them tried to haggle me down on the phone ... didn't bite because I knew the market, set a price and stuck to it.

Look up the value on Kelley Blue Book (www.kbb.com). If you want to sell quickly, go under that figure. You should be able to entice someone, depending on the region in which you live. Good luck.

 

Appreciate the advice, Sam. If I do use the free ad, I'm hoping to sell it quickly.

I went to the Kelley site a week or so ago. Already having a price in my head before looking, I was surprised that I was in the ballpark. I'm willing to take a couple hundred to $500 less than what the asking price will be, but I do have a rock-bottom price that I refuse to go under. What I'm asking for is about $600 less than Kelley says.

Looking at autotrader and eBay I'm shocked at what some people are asking for a the same model - most with more than 100,000 miles. That's gonna be one my selling points - low miles, not driven a lot.

 

If you're doing all the above - and have the maintenance record on that truck in the glove compartment or somewhere accessible for those who might want that verification - you should be set. Your mindset is very sound ... this shouldn't be too tricky.

Thing is, if you think that allowing them a couple hundred will push the deal home, then do it. No point in gumming up the works ... unless you already have strong feelers at the price you've set. Then don't back down ... you KNOW the market will bear your asking price.

 

do not, repeat, do not sell to a co-worker or a friend.

 

Or family member. Especially not a family member.

 

I recently had a really bad experience selling a car myself (short version: the guy took it to a mechanic after buying it, instead of before, and tried to get me to take the car back because there was stuff wrong with it that I didn't know about). A few things:

1) Make sure to print out a bill of sale, available various places online, and be certain it spells out that the vehicle is being sold "as is," which is important protection for you. Both of you should sign it, and you hang onto it.

2) Check to see whether your state requires an odometer disclosure form.

3) File the title change -- you should be able to do it online -- as soon as the buyer drives away. That protects you in case the buyer wrecks it/abandons it/gets 100 parking tickets.

Luckily I had done my homework and did these things, otherwise it could have meant huge trouble for me.

 

Whoa, this is weird. I just sold my '99 Ford Ranger 4x4 last week.

Kohane...my best success was with going to True Value and spending $2 on a pair of 'For Sale' signs. I went through craigslist ($0), I also went through my newspaper ($17). I got a couple of feelers on Craigslist, none from the paper. With the signs, I had an offer the next day. Stuck one in the windshield and one in the passenger window.

My Ranger had 191,000 miles, and I owned it since it was new with 5 miles. I took care of it and wrote down everything that I did to it (it wasn't much, that was worth every penny I put into it). If you did the same, great. That will really make a difference if you show a prospective buyer about the maintenance. If not, just be honest, that's all. I think people can tell if you're trying to be dishonest.

 

Yeah, the ad you post might save a job...

 

A few years ago I sold my car on Ebay and got $500 more for it than I had hoped and $1500 more than the dealer offered me on trade.

Set your reserve price at your rock bottom amount and provide good detail (and as many photos as you can) about the vehicle and you'll get some response.

I had to list it twice because of a non-paying buyer the first time, but IIRC, the second listing was free.

(Odd sidenote: the couple who bought it from me flew up to pick up the car and drive it home to Mississippi. They arrived the day before Katrina hit. I have no idea what happened to their home, but I'm pretty sure they were from a town that got hit pretty hard.)

 

Second the Craigslist. That's how I sold my last car.