If you’ve privately sold or purchased a car, what are some things I need to know? I have a pretty popular but older model car to sell and have gotten only lowball offers from dealers. |
Cash only |
Yep. Go with them to the bank and have them withdraw and hand it to you. Then you can deposit it at the same bank under a new account (you don’t want rando seeing you walk out with $10k in cash). |
Fake cashier checks, charge backed wires, it’s all terrible.
Just sell to CarMax. |
For lower-priced cars, Facebook marketplace, but watch out for scammers. Just bought a car there that was a decent deal, had a mechanic look at it beforehand, then met the seller at a bank and paid cash. I think people also list on cars.com and craigslist. |
I sold a car for $50k recently. We drove to buyer's bank and I stood next to him as he got a cashier's check, then drove to mine and deposited it. |
I have sold a few cars. I always meet them at the bank. My bank. I hand the cash to the teller and they count it and deposit it right there. Never take a large sum of cash from a stranger and just drive away. You never know! Dealers never give you what you want bc they need to make their profit but if your car is a wanted item it will sell. Facebook market place, auto trader and car guru are great platforms to sell. Good luck! And if by chance it’s a Land Cruiser let me know! 😂 |
Expect a lot of lowball offers from individuals that are actually working for dealerships. You will know because the amounts they offer will be almost identical. |
Carvanna |
We had the best experience with Carmax. I know it's not private, but the price was good - multiple times what car dealers would give us. Process was fairly quick and painless. It's a good time for used cars, so prices were good. |
In addition to the money advice you were given above, always complete a Bill of Sale that states you are selling car “as is”. This is mostly for private sale transactions. |
I had a Volvo and the dealer told me it needed $4k of repairs. I’ve had multiple Volvos and used this dealer for routine maintenance for ten years, so I trusted them. I immediately went online to CARMAX and got a quote good for 7 days. Turns out, the quote was higher than Csrvana’s and my dealership’s. I got the car washed and interior cleaned, took it to CARMAX, got my offer and avoided $4k of repairs. By avoiding the repairs, I got more than the private market value. |
Where do you list your car to sell privately? I want to sell my like new car 2020 for $35k. Went to Carmax to get a quote and they gave me $28k, so we walked away. |
Facebook marketplace is the best site by far. I've bought/sold several cars without issue. Just FYI, anyone looking to buy a reliable vehicle should bypass ads with photos of vehicles without license. Those are almost all auction vehicles. Most are probably fine, but not worth the risk. |
Is it an enthusiast/semi speciality car or a Camry? If it’s an enthusiast you could sell it on an auction site like cars and bids. Otherwise FB, cars, and cargurus. |