Anyone sell a car privately?

[Anonymous]

Any thoughts on doing so? I have a 10 year old minivan that the dealer is offering me very little on trade-in. I’m thinking of trying to do a private sale. Last time I sold a car was many, many years ago, so I’m wondering if anyone has any recommendations for going through the process these days.

[Anonymous]

Always sell anything privately when humanly possible.
Paying someone to sell something for you is ridiculous.

List it on some websites, with plenty of pictures and details. A "carfax" is nice to add if you want. Expect lookie loos and calls hemming and hawing around.

If you get serious buyers, meet them in a police parking lot or local fire department for safety reasons. Get cash or USPS money order only, no checks obviously. Give them the pink slip.

Alternately you could arrange for the purchase to take place at your local vehicle registration office. Have them meet you inside the office and then go look at the vehicle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Always sell anything privately when humanly possible.
Paying someone to sell something for you is ridiculous.

List it on some websites, with plenty of pictures and details. A "carfax" is nice to add if you want. Expect lookie loos and calls hemming and hawing around.

If you get serious buyers, meet them in a police parking lot or local fire department for safety reasons. Get cash or USPS money order only, no checks obviously. Give them the pink slip.

Alternately you could arrange for the purchase to take place at your local vehicle registration office. Have them meet you inside the office and then go look at the vehicle.

NP. Agree with the police parking lot idea, but what about the test drive?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Always sell anything privately when humanly possible.
Paying someone to sell something for you is ridiculous.

List it on some websites, with plenty of pictures and details. A "carfax" is nice to add if you want. Expect lookie loos and calls hemming and hawing around.

If you get serious buyers, meet them in a police parking lot or local fire department for safety reasons. Get cash or USPS money order only, no checks obviously. Give them the pink slip.

Alternately you could arrange for the purchase to take place at your local vehicle registration office. Have them meet you inside the office and then go look at the vehicle.

NP. That's a lot of work, and when you factor in the value of your time and the risk that you will be dealing with scammers or potentially dangerous people, the additional money you make on a private sale is likely not worth it. I would always, always just sell to dealer or CarMax.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any thoughts on doing so? I have a 10 year old minivan that the dealer is offering me very little on trade-in. I’m thinking of trying to do a private sale. Last time I sold a car was many, many years ago, so I’m wondering if anyone has any recommendations for going through the process these days.

A 10 year old minivan is not likely to be worth the effort to sell on your own. Would go with the dealer, CarMax, or consider donating it.

[Anonymous]

10 year old minivan can easily be $10k plus. You can probably get 1-2k over CarMax if you sell privately. Don’t ask for 10k in cash, ask for a cashiers check and call the bank to authenticate.

[Anonymous]

Carvana usually beats carmax and the process is super easy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Always sell anything privately when humanly possible.
Paying someone to sell something for you is ridiculous.

List it on some websites, with plenty of pictures and details. A "carfax" is nice to add if you want. Expect lookie loos and calls hemming and hawing around.

If you get serious buyers, meet them in a police parking lot or local fire department for safety reasons. Get cash or USPS money order only, no checks obviously. Give them the pink slip.

Alternately you could arrange for the purchase to take place at your local vehicle registration office. Have them meet you inside the office and then go look at the vehicle.

NP. Agree with the police parking lot idea, but what about the test drive?

You have their keys and car as collateral. Perhaps ask for DL. Nobody will run off with your vehicle from a cop shop location.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Always sell anything privately when humanly possible.
Paying someone to sell something for you is ridiculous.

List it on some websites, with plenty of pictures and details. A "carfax" is nice to add if you want. Expect lookie loos and calls hemming and hawing around.

If you get serious buyers, meet them in a police parking lot or local fire department for safety reasons. Get cash or USPS money order only, no checks obviously. Give them the pink slip.

Alternately you could arrange for the purchase to take place at your local vehicle registration office. Have them meet you inside the office and then go look at the vehicle.

NP. That's a lot of work, and when you factor in the value of your time and the risk that you will be dealing with scammers or potentially dangerous people, the additional money you make on a private sale is likely not worth it. I would always, always just sell to dealer or CarMax.

For you.

Did you read OP? OP is asking about doing a private sale. If money were no object, then OP wouldn't even be asking this.

[Anonymous]

I have always sold my cars privately. I never had to wait more than two weeks for a buyer, and it was usually a matter of days.

I agree with everything said by the person who recommended meeting at, or near, the cop shop or DMV.

It really doesn't take much time or effort, although I have paid for detailing before advertising.

[Anonymous]

Have you taken your car to carmax to get their price?

[Anonymous]

Yes I used Facebook marketplace and Craigslist. You will get a price between retail used and trade in

[Anonymous]

I used craigslist and got a lot of phone calls but no one shows up. I had the car parked on the front yard and a lot of people showed up, A neighbor six blocks away paid full price. It helps to have a sign that says inspected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any thoughts on doing so? I have a 10 year old minivan that the dealer is offering me very little on trade-in. I’m thinking of trying to do a private sale. Last time I sold a car was many, many years ago, so I’m wondering if anyone has any recommendations for going through the process these days.

A 10 year old minivan is not likely to be worth the effort to sell on your own. Would go with the dealer, CarMax, or consider donating it.

A 10 year old mini van is worth more than you'd expect. I sold my 2003 Honda Odeyssy for 2k 2 years ago. It still ran and the outside had no visible damage and it had never been in a wreck.

Op Carmax or one of those companies is the easiest. I've sold a high mileage older volvo and the minivan and got higher than the blue book from them.

My dh and I have sold 3 cars by ourselves and it is a crap shoot if you're going to run into problems. The best situation is if you sell to a neighbor or someone a friend knows. The time we engaged with an out of state stranger was a nightmare and we backed out of the sale and he harassed us for a month. In every case we were barraged by calls from crackpots who would leave messages screaming at us demanding we lower the price.

In the cases in which we sold the car ourselves, we let them test drive the cars by themselves and let them take them to mechanics and drive away with the plates. They did everything as they should and paid cash and brought plates back. I would not do that now.
For the last 10 years, dh and I have sold our cars to Carmax. I would never buy a car from them but they are great if you are selling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Carvana usually beats carmax and the process is super easy.

Until they screw up the registration/title. Many customer complaints about this.