Best way to sell car?

[tmitchell]

We are considering going down to a 1 car family in HCOL area. Seems like walking/transit/uber will be perfectly doable.

I bought new 3 years ago (paid with cash) so I know I'll take a hit, but milage is still low and it's in great shape.

What's the best way to sell a used car these days? Last one was sold with a sign in the window (but the car was Japanese 15 years old & in great condition so easy to deal with). This one is a lovely German one .

Thanks!

 

[ChrisC]

I've had good luck with Craig's List. Sold a Volvo Turbo 940, 1994, with 260K miles in 2013 -- car had some oil leakage issues. One interested person passed on it; the other interested person bought it and believed he could tinker and fix the leakage issues. The Volvo was listed in Craig's in the DC Metro Area.

A few weeks ago we sold a 2016 Chevy Sonic, with 23K miles and in excellent condition. We received multiple offers, including 2 low ball offers from dealers, and settled with a young lady and her mother. The Sonic was listed in Craig's in the Charlotte NC Metro Area. We also listed the Sonic in Nextdoor, which has free listings, and received a few interested, low ball offers.

You can list in Craig's for $5; take and upload good pictures for the car. However, beware of scam offers. Take cash only is my advice. For a high end vehicle, I'd close the transaction at the buyer's bank (which would work out well if you need to get some things notarized). You can also document the sale with a Bill of Sale document you can get from Rocket Lawyer. When we did the sale in Virginia several years ago, we simply signed over title on the Title Certificate to the buyer. In NC, the process was a bit more complicated for us, as we were selling with a POA for BIL, and needed added documentation.

 

[SecondCor521]

Facebook marketplace is also good. I get the impression it has more eyeballs that CL, but that may vary by region.

 

[chassis]

Craigslist - I sold a car in 8 hours last year using an ad on Craigslist
FB marketplace
cargurus.com
cars.com
car brand-specific enthusiasts' sites: mbworld.org, rennlist.com, bimmerpost.com

 

[SecondCor521]

You also might see what Carmax will give you. I've seen one good datapoint from them, and it should be low hassle, but you might get less than a private sale.

 

[rk911]

just today a buddy listed his 10-yr old/low mileage for taurus on craig's list. while we were at dinner on our deck he recieved 9-inquiries. i'd start there.

 

[CaliKid]

Go to Carmax, autonation.com, and carvana.com. See who will pay the most. WAY EASIER than selling yourself and way less interaction with strangers which is important for many right now.

 

[Golden sunsets]

We have sold 5 cars on Craigslist all in a minimal amount of time and for several thousand dollars more than trade in. A few rules to follow. Cash only. Use a counterfeit pen. Use caution when meeting the buyers. There are a lot of scammers out there, but they are generally easy to spot.

 

[Midpack]

I sold a car to CarMax and got more than any dealer or independent lot offered. They don’t offer much on older cars, but they’re very competitive on newer cars like yours OP. I’d get a quote from them, it’s good for 7 days. You could make more selling it yourself, but if you want a hassle free arms length transaction, CarMax was the best option we found. There’s no way I’d risk trading directly with some random “buyer.” YMMV

 

[Aerides]

What's the best way to sell a used car these days?

Define best (for you).

Most money? Gonna be more work, private sale, hassle, dealing with buyers and offers, etc. Craigslist, Facebook local ad, signs, etc.

In and out one and done with a fair offer? Carmax.

 

[sengsational]

Mileage and age will determine the aspects of selling in the various ways.

I sold 2 cars this year. Both over 10 years old. One 200K+ and one with super low mileage for the age.

Both sales were from my neighborhood Facebook page (not FB marketplace).

I took lots of pictures, including the original window sticker with the list of options, and screen shots of the KBB private seller range. Described the good and the bad in a "no surprises" approach. I put it on Craigslist, and FB marketplace, and just a post in my neighborhood FB group (neighborhood has 350 or 400 houses). The junk inquiries were mostly FB marketplace and some Craigslist. One call from some scammer... tried to convince me to take some payment scheme instead of "standing in his bank" as outlined in the ad.

The high mileage car got dozens of "is it still available" inquiries, even though the first words in the ad were "If you are reading this, it's available". And dozens of "will you take X", where X is half of what I'm asking (finally I changed the ad to include "no, I'm not going to sell for a fraction of what I'm asking", but that didn't change the number of those messages).

With the high mileage, cheaper car, I finally got exasperated and put another post on the neighborhood group and said "if you live in the neighborhood, you get a 15% discount". I wanted to deal with a level-headed person, and selling an inexpensive car, I was seeing that the inquiries were from people who seemed hard to work with, for various reasons. When a neighbor comes to test drive, I was totally chill. She wanted me to take a picture of her driver's license and to park her car in my driveway and all this stuff, and I knew of her, and where she's lived for decades, so, no problem. Drive it around, over to your mechanic, bring it back tomorrow, whatever.

CarMax would not make an offer on either car (too old). And the online quick offer things were about 1/3 of what I ended up getting. I wanted to offer a win-win deal, and I think I did. Got the KBB private party price, on the low side, but dealing with neighbors, it was low stress.

 

[misanman]

Earlier this year we sold our 2008 Mazda MX-5 Miata to Carvana. Their bid was more than I was going to ask for in a private sale and it was pretty painless. They showed up with a truck, drove the car around the block to make sure it was functional, gave me a check and loaded it up and we were all done.

 

[The Cosmic Avenger]

As Aerides said, what do you consider "best"? Fastest? Best price? Lowest COVID risk?

I recommend starting with Carmax if you have one near you; then you can decide that you're fine with that amount, even if you could make a little more on a private sale, or you can list it on local boards for more and see how it goes. I posted listings (with lots of photos) on Nextdoor, Facebook, Cars.com, and a local buy/sell group, and twice I sold cars to people I didn't know. However, one was a Federal employee for the same agency that I worked for, so I knew they had passed a background check, and the other had a history of posting on the local forum, and owned a house in my neighborhood, so I felt confident enough to take a cashier's check from both.

 

[eytonxav]

Depending on what type of car it is, you might try to post it up on a local car club forum with good pics and description. CarMax will certainly give you a lower price quote, but usually better than what dealers offer in trade. Also if you know anybody at a local dealership, they may have a customer shopping for a used car they could refer you to.

 

[38Chevy454]

Since your car is 3 years old and low mileage, you will probably do better with some of the carmax/carvana/etc type places. Most people will not have the cash to buy a 3 year old German car, so you will have to deal with their loan process and some delays with that. Private sale may get better price, or might not since many buyers of cars in your range will not be looking at craigslist or FB marketplace as much as they will be at dealers. Think of a person looking for a 3 year old trade-in, that is essentially what your car is competing against. It certainly doesn't hurt to drive around with for sale signs in the windows and parking in conspicuous spots when you are out; it's free exposure and people can see the car in person to decide to call and get more serious look.

I have had good luck with both craigslist and FB marketplace, but for older vehicles. Not the type that the internet buyers or dealers would be interested in.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

You can go onto Carvana and they will give you a price in a matter of about 5 minutes. We recently sold my DW's ride (2012 Toyota Highlander w/ 80K miles) and they gave us a very fair deal for it...several thousand more than what the dealerships would entertain. It was the easiest way to sell a car in our lives. They didn't even drive it around the block. They had us start it and let it run while we spent 2 minutes signing two pieces of paper and giving them the title. The Carvana rep then drove it down the driveway and straight onto the truck.

I was curious about it what they might offer for my 2018 F-150 and at the time it was a fair deal in my mind. About a week later (I didn't sell it), I got a revised offer by email that was actually MORE than I paid for for the truck TWO YEARS AGO. Yes, you read that correctly. **The price did reflect almost $1500 additional consideration to the "base offer" because of locality and demand so YMMV.

Also, my DWs ride was listed a couple weeks later for about $1300 more than they paid us for it, so in my mind...they gave us a very good deal. Also, we have gotten ZERO spam emails and/or calls from them so that's an added bonus in my book.

 

[Nick12]

We had a 2011 Honda Accord with 60K miles. We washed, waxed, vacuumed interior and posted the original window sticker of $24K. We had for sale signs on the car windows. It was parked in front of our house. It sold in less than 24 hours.

 

[JoeWras]

This is why I don't like using Craigslist. I actually don't like any means of private sale.

Man disappears after trying to sell car.

https://abc11.com/suspect-connected-to-missing-raleigh-man-arrives-in-nc/6425429/

Banks has not been seen or heard from since Saturday, when he told friends he was going to the Cameron Village area to meet a man who was interested in buying his SUV.

The stolen SUV was found Monday afternoon in Danville, Virginia.

 

[AreWeThereYet0]

Carmax. No one will bother you after if anything goes wrong with the car. I sold my last car there and was very pleased.

 

[teetee]

We had a 2011 Honda Accord with 60K miles. We washed, waxed, vacuumed interior and posted the original window sticker of $24K. We had for sale signs on the car windows. It was parked in front of our house. It sold in less than 24 hours.

Are you being serious? A 9yr old accord sold for 24k? No way!

I would drive car until the repair cost is beyond it's value and I have to get it fixed to be road legal, one of those drive the car into the ground type. When I am done with the car, I don't bother cleaning it. I call junk cars and get it off my lot within a day and get $150 or $200 cash back.

 

[Ronstar]

I used Autotrader when we last sold a car. Took a few photos. Put them on Autotrader online with a description of the car. Got a call and I sold the car in a few days.

 

[ransil]

Get a quote from the online dealers carfax ect. Then list locally / put a sign on it for more than that as you have your easy bottom dollar number.
Stand by for lowball guy....and a bunch of people with no money.

 

[mystang52]

I sold 2 cars privately, a long time ago. They were both old and high mileage, and there's a big market for those cars. My remaining cars were always traded in to the dealer; I took a hit of course but the peace of mind was a nonmonetary benefit to me.
To OP: I'd be afraid to sell a newer no-doubt-still-expensive used car privately. It would involve a significant amount of cash trading hands. For me, I'd always be nervous knowing the buyer knew my name and address; if something were to go wrong with the car shortly after the purchase, I'd worry the buyer would come back to me legally or otherwise. I'd sell my newer car to Autotrader, Carvana, etc. for the aforesaid peace of mind. Since you paid cash for the car, whatever you get for it would be "found money" in a sense, and who cares if you could've gotten some extra via private sale. That's my thinking anyway. YMMV.

 

[Out of Steam]

I don't have any experience with this company, but there's a place near here that handles used car sales on consignment.



https://www.carlotz.com/locations/

 

[Katsmeow]

I'm the OP has figured this out by now. But, in August we sold our second car to Carmax. This is the second car we have sold to them in the last 2 years and both times we were offered a little above the suggested range on Kelley Blue Book. It was a painless process and worked very smoothly. The pricing was more than fine and it wasn't worth the hassle to try to get a little more selling to someone directly.