First Time Seller

Hey guys, just wondering if you have any tip or tricks for someone who hasn’t done a private party car sale before. Best places to advertise?

here, craigslist for a local sale.

Dont take anything that isnt cash in person, dont take payments, and dont hand the title over until you are paid.

Best case scenerio, is the cars still on the road, so you can meet in a public parkinglot, public protects both partys better.

Yea, always have someone with you when you sell it unless you are a friend
in a public place. Don’t allow joyrides unless you’re in the car, and if you have cash in hand for it

Try craigslist, if it doesnt sell in a few weeks, try autotrader. On craigslist if there are a lot of listings for a similar car as yours, you will have to make a new listing like once every two weeks

this last part should be stickied in the classifieds^^

I have always been able to sell my cars for a great price and here are a few of my tips.

  1. Detail the car so it looks PERFECT then get a photographer friend to take some amazing pictures of it.
  2. Make a easy to read FS ad and include all modification and maintenance history.
  3. Make sure to fix and cheap and easy things wrong with the car. There is no sense in losing money or a sale over something you just don’t feel like fixing.

Try to get the car parked on a well traveled road. I have had success talking to small business owners and giving them 20 bucks for a space for a week or so. Maybe you know someone or shop at a place like this. I have a few locations and could probably help out.

when using craigslist, expect to be offered some odd things in trade in addition to multiple tries to scam you from a third world country. be aware…

forums and craigslist are good for wasting time, but I find autotrader sells cars best.

+1 I have gotten plenty of “interest” on forums but my last three cars sold from autotrader.

eBay. I have sold 4 cars through eBay. You will never meet a larger market to show your car. What kind of car are we talking here? If it is that 328i, I would go eBay for sure. Craigslist has worked for me in the past too, and is getting much more popular.

A proper ad with many pictures is going to make or break what you will get for the car too. Presentation is everything. Take time to type up an ad in word, or notepad, or something along those lines a day or two ahead, have someone proof-read it and be as detailed but professional as possible. Don’t USE ALL CAPS EVER. It looks like you are yelling and that a 2 year old wrote it. Use proper sentience structure for your description, and break down the features in bullets, not in a long hard to read list.

my .02

If someone pays in cash, no matter if they are a friend or not, and if it’s $100 or $1000, count it in front of them.

It seems like common sense, but I bought a parts car a couple years back, gave the cash to the kid and 20 minutes later he called me saying I shorted him. I am 100% sure I didn’t but since I knew better than to just fork over a wad of bills without having him confirm the amount but forgot this time, I made a u-turn and dropped him the $20.

Could of saved myself 40 minutes of drive time and $20, if I would of just had him or myself count it out to him.

Hey guys thanks for all the info, it helps. Its a 2001 Corolla so its nothing special enough for an out of towner to come buy. (My new car is a 2007 328i :slight_smile: Its probably great for a college kid or a winter beater but that’s about it.

Do you guys usually get close to private party blue book? I set my asking price to $6,500 and the private party blue book value is $6,300. The first offer I got was just $5,500 so I turned it down.

I would check edmunds.com to see what kind of value they give your car and compare it to kbb. $5500 seems like a really good first offer for an '01 Corolla. Did you counter-offer? If that buyer could meet you at $6k, that would be awesome, but even $5700 would be good. Depends on the car, but for your average DD, I don’t think many come close to getting blue book value.

shoulda counter offered like 6300 he goes to 6 and deal

Well he started at $4,800 and eventually moved up to $5,500. (KBB lists trade-in value at $4,700) I have another guy coming to see it on Friday so I’ll see where that goes. I am in no huge rush to sell so I’d like to hold out for something around $6k. The car has been really babied, no rust, 58k miles, everything works so I don’t think KBB value is unreasonable. Edmunds shows $6,100.

where are all these people finding you from?

and I would say that most people get somewhere between trade in and private retail, all the factors about the car that make it desirable will determine where in that range.

I originally posted an ad on craigslist. I just put another on eBay…

So what should I do if someone wants to take the car to a mechanic for an inspection? I am not too keen on the idea of letting someone take possession of the car long enough for an appointment.

Go with them to the shop if they want their mechanic to look it over. Does it have a recent inspection? If so, you could use that for your argument against taking it anywhere if it’s too much of an inconvenience to you. Also, do you have some or all maintenance receipts? Those would also help put the buyer’s mind at ease.