Hi Moms,
So I've the read the replies about my car! Thank you! I was wondering instead of selling it privately would it better to sell it back to the dealer??? I haven't done this before. My first car was paid off and I was able to get the van. The dealer had given me $6,500 for the used Matrix and I put that money towards the van. I will have to go on KBB again. I'd like to make the same amount if I can! I've already paid off over $10,000 on the van not including the money I put down on it or for any services that the van had to have.
Any suggestions? Sell is privately or take it back to the dealer?
Thanks!
Have you tried CarMax? I've had good luck selling my cars there. Twice now they have given me substantially more than the dealer offered. I could have probably gotten a little more selling myself but CarMax was cash in hand and I didn't have to mess with weird people coming to my house (or meeting them somewhere in public) and going for test drives, etc. That gets old real quick!
First, remember a car is NOT an investment. You WON'T get back all the money you put into it. Not even close. You paid to drive it while you had it :(
Is there a CarMax near you? I had success selling my car to them before I moved cross country. It's basically like doing a dealer trade in, but they don't require you to buy a car from them for them to buy your car (they don't even ask... it's a whole separate thing). In general you get a LITTLE more than the trade in value, but LESS than the private value.
The nice part is, they handle all the paperwork, so you KNOW the loan is taken care of and title documents are fine.
The quote is good for 7 days, so take the car in, get an offer from them and then decide if it's worth it to you. I got my offer and then went back 5 days later and had a check in my hand in 30 minutes. They paid me $15500. I could have gotten $18000 on my own, but it would have taken a LOT more than 30 minutes, and I would have had to deal with the hassles of money transfers, paying the loan, transferring title etc. I owed 10k, so walked away with 5.5.
You will probably make more money selling privately. However, you don't have title in hand so I'm not sure that you will get many takers. People aren't going to care about how much money you have put into the van. All they are going to care about it having a clean title, the condition and the KBB value. People also like pictures....lots of pictures, including one of the engine.
I listed a car on craigslist and had it sold within a day....but then I didn't have a loan on it.
Cars devalue the minute you drive off the lot. That is why we always buy used cars. They don't devalue as much because the original ower took the "hit". That being said, you aren't going to "make" money on this deal. Its not like a house. Depending if you have high mileage, condition etc. If you have a carmax, go there and they will give you an estimate of how much your car is worth. You can sell to them as well and you don't have to buy!
Selling without a clear title is tricky but can be done. Just remember how much you owe.
We've never owed money on a car and we have our title's etc in our safe.
That said... I had a 2001 Mazda Miata that was in perfect condition. In 2007 we listed it on Craigslist with pictures, it had less than 10,000 miles and looked like a new car on a lot. We are very picky with our cars.
A man flew to Dallas, met us at the bank, never drove the car, just looked under the hood and gave us the exact price we had asked for on CL by cashier's check. We went into the bank with the title, etc and did paperwork.
We paid about 27,000 and sold it for $17,000... but it did look brand new... We keep all our cars that way and keep low mileage.
Look up the value (private party sale) on KBB.
The thing is, when you trade a vehicle, they give you wholesale value for your trade and apply it to another vehicle's retail value--not cool.
It's always smarter to do a sale to a private buyer will pay you RETAIL value for your vehicle.
You will get more for your car/van selling it privately. Dealers will give you just below KBB value for it and if you still own money that will leave you in the negative on your next purchase.
You can list it on Craigslist, Autotrader and/or your local paper. If you know of a busy intersection maybe try having it sit for a day or two with your phone number on a for sale sign. There is a spot down the street from my development that people use for selling cars, since people can see them there they go quick.
You'll always get more selling it privately than selling to a dealer, whether it was the dealer you got if from or not. Cars depreciate by the minute. Since you don't have it paid yet it could be tricky trying to sell it privately, unless it's a reaallly good deal. You need to check your kbb value (www.kbb.com) and check it's private party value, not retail. Also, chances are it's not excellent condition as only 3% of cars fall into that category. Compare the kbb to your payoff amount and then decide if it's going to be worth it to try to sell. When I was younger I was in this predicament too. My car was worth around $10,000. to a car lot but I owed over $13000. I ended up selling it to the car lot (didn't have any takers for a private sale) and I got an unsecured loan with my bank to pay the difference. Seems like a waste but if I kept the car I would have been paying close to $500. a month for the car payment and insurance vs $130. a month for the loan. I've never had a car payment since, and hopefully never again!
You will probably get slightly more money selling it privately, but it will be much faster and easier to go through the dealer. Make sure that it is spotless when you take it to be assessed and have all of the paperwork with you to expedite.
When we bought our Odyssey, my husband initially wanted to sell his Acura privately. In the end, having to advertise it and "show it" seemed like a lot of hassle for a few hundred dollars (especially with a new baby).
Good luck!
