Selling a car?

[Lathum]

Anyone ever sell a car?

My wife will have a company car starting in July so we are selling our older car. I looked up the value on kelly blue book so I have some idea of the value. I am just wondering where the best place to list it, ebay, classified paper or some other outlet.

Also, once I find a buyer do I just get cash or a certefied check, remove my plates, cancel the insurance and hand over the title?

Any advice is appreciated.

[MikeVic]

I looked through an "Auto Trader" magazine to buy my car, so if i were to sell I'd list it there and in the paper.

[Raiders Army]

You can find a lot of good advice at www.edmonds.com

[Raiders Army]

dola, specifically here: http://www.edmunds.com/advice/sellin...les/index.html

[Mustang]

Does it have a lien on it?

There are different considerations then for selling. Namely you have to pay that off first before you can pass the title along.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Mustang

Does it have a lien on it?

There are different considerations then for selling. Namely you have to pay that off first before you can pass the title along.

no, it is fully paid off.

[lighthousekeeper]

I strongly recommend ebay - I've sold 2 cars there. You get market value (since eBay is the great-determiner-of-market-value) and the good thing is knowing that the car will be sold in 7 days.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by lighthousekeeper

I strongly recommend ebay - I've sold 2 cars there. You get market value (since eBay is the great-determiner-of-market-value) and the good thing is knowing that the car will be sold in 7 days.

did you use a reserve price?

[lighthousekeeper]

Originally Posted by Lathum

did you use a reserve price?

no. i have faith in the ability for items to sell at (or above*) market value on ebay.

if your reserve is < market value there's no point in setting a reserve price.
if your reserve is > market value, you'll never sell anything.





* (case in point: my old band has had our CD for sale on our website for $7.25 for roughly 4 years now. i just sold a copy on ebay for $9.34 )

[jeheinz72]

I used Craigslist and it was a piece of cake. I sold 2 cars using that.

[chesapeake]

I sold my last car, a Ford Explorer, to Carmax and was very pleased with the experience. I got the full bluebook value for it. They inspected it thoroughly, but the process was quick and painless. From driving up there to walking out with my check, it took about 3 hours.

Note that they will not buy a car that has been in an accident -- even if the repairs were good.

[Radii]

Originally Posted by chesapeake

I sold my last car, a Ford Explorer, to Carmax and was very pleased with the experience. I got the full bluebook value for it. They inspected it thoroughly, but the process was quick and painless. From driving up there to walking out with my check, it took about 3 hours.

Note that they will not buy a car that has been in an accident -- even if the repairs were good.

I went to carmax for a trade-in, but the process is the same for simply selling a car as well. If you already know how much you expect to get for it then it wouldn't hurt at all to take it to Carmax and have them inspect it and make you an offer. If you don't like it you of course don't have to take it.

[Lathum]

I haven't kept the best maintence records but the car has never been in an accident, would that be a problem with Carmax?

[Radii]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I haven't kept the best maintence records but the car has never been in an accident, would that be a problem with Carmax?

It shouldn't be. I don't think I had my entire maintenance history when I traded my car in there, I am generally terrible about keeping those things.

http://www.carmax.com/dyn/webuy/steps.aspx

A full maintenance history isn't mentioned anywhere. Its a no lose proposition IMO(unless you have to travel 6 hours to get to a Carmax of course). They'll give you an appraisal and offer but in buying two cars from Carmax and selling one to them as a trade-in, they take the no haggle, no pressure approach seriously. I've had nothing but good experiences with them.

[Lathum]

thanks Radii, looks like the closest one to me is about 90 minutes north in Columbus. Why would Cincinnati have one, there is nothing else here

[RendeR]

What kind of car is it Lathum?

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by RendeR

What kind of car is it Lathum?

97 ford explorer

[lordscarlet]

Carmax is going to offer you less than you could get on the open market. Significantly less in most cases.

[chesapeake]

Originally Posted by Lathum

I haven't kept the best maintence records but the car has never been in an accident, would that be a problem with Carmax?

That shouldn't be a problem. One way to tell if a car has had body work is to check out the bolts and joints to see if the paint put on by the manufacturerhas been disturbed. They have other things they look at as well.

What Carmax offered me was the full bluebook value you can expect on a trade-in, which was $5k on a 2000 Ford Explorer Sport at the time. Had I sold it myself, the same Bluebook said that I could expect about another $700-900. Gas-guzzling SUVs with rollover problems aren't scorching the market.

Since you are selling a car that is older than that over a year later, my sense is that the difference between the expected values would be less. I think you can find both numbers at Kelley's website -- kbb.com.

[RendeR]

Originally Posted by Lathum

97 ford explorer

Ahh, well good luck to you, I'm in the market for an SUV or pickup truck, but thats a ford, so well, it doesn't qualify as a drivable machine