Buying and selling vehicles without getting ripped off is important.
Outside of a house, it’s often the biggest purchase any of us ever make.
It’s easier to sidestep the pratfalls of dealership sales tactics now than it was pre-internet. Although it still requires homework, diligence and patience (or even a bit of stubbornness).
Even if you’ve mastered how to buy a new or used car, selling a used vehicle presents its own set of nuances.
A good place to start: What is the best platform or website to list your vehicle if you want to sell?
What’s the Best Way To Sell My Car?
Where should I sell my used vehicle?
That’s what a listener recently asked Clark.
Asked Greg in California: “Well Clark, you’ve gone and done it. You’ve convinced me to take the leap into Tesla!
“In doing so, we will have a car to sell. For many years I’ve been selling cars through Auto Trader with great success. However I am finding it not as good now.
“What would you recommend as a good platform to list my car? Is eBay Motors a good option? I don’t want to go to Carmax or the like because they will only give me trade-in value.”
It’s not always this cut-and-dried. But often, when selling your vehicle, you’re trading convenience for less money.
Do you want to trade in your vehicle at the dealership where you’re buying your next car? Or do you want easy cash via an instant offer from a giant online car-buying site?
You’ll save time and stress. But most of the time you probably won’t max out the dollars you can get selling your vehicle.
It’s good to first take stock of your circumstances. Are you on a tight deadline? Do you have time to wait and get the best possible price for your car? Are you willing to spend weeks trying to sell your car? And if so, how much additional money do you need to get for your effort to be worth it?
“I find that usually you’re going to get about 40% of the way between what a trade-in would be and what a dealer would sell that car for,” Clark says.
“So about 40% up that scale between those two is [what] you should be expecting that you would be able to [get if you] sell it on your own.”
By Clark’s estimation, if a dealership offers you $10,000 for a used vehicle and sells it themselves for $13,000, you’d have missed out on about $1,200 by selling it yourself.
What Platforms Should I Consider To Sell My Vehicle?
Of course, there’s no way to know what that second variable is — the dealership’s own markup when they go to sell the car you give them.
But you can collect price quotes fairly easily. Even if you want more money than you’d get offered by a dealership as a trade-in, or by one of the major car-buying sites, getting quick quotes from them gives you a starting point.
And it may give you an idea about the effort vs. reward decision if you sell the car on your own.
“First thing’s first. Go to CarMax. Or you may be able to get a price at CarMax.com. And go to Carvana online. And they’ll make you an offer. That gives you a base to then establish what you’re going to ask,” Clark says.
“Because the prices have been changing so quickly in the used car market that you aren’t going to find the online pricing guides to be as accurate today as they would normally be. Don’t know what the problem was that you had with Auto Trader. But I know a lot of people have had a lot of success with eBay Motors selling a car.
“But definitely before you try your next platform, get the value you’re offered by both of the big sellers, Carvana and CarMax. Because that will give you the frame of reference to figure out what you should be expecting.”
Things To Consider if You Want To Sell Your Car Privately
Want to list your car on a third-party website and sell it on your own? Or stage it somewhere with an old-school “for sale” sign and a number to call?
You’ve got options. Again, there are tradeoffs. Quick and easy, such as listing it on Craigslist or Facebook Marketplace, may force you to wade through some scam attempts or some game players who aren’t serious buyers.
You also usually have the option to list your vehicle for sale on a few sites that specialize in private vehicle sales, although you may have to pay a fee to list your car.
No matter what option you use, know that there are a few things that you’re going to probably need:
- Research the value of your vehicle. Sites such as Kelley Blue Book and Edmunds can give you good value estimations. Although Clark points out that the current vehicle market has been so dynamic and so model and location-specific that you shouldn’t anchor yourself to that information.
- Take the best possible photos you can take of your vehicle.
- Get your car detailed before you show it to a prospective buyer (and keep it clean if it takes a while to sell).
- Pull a list of your vehicle’s trim level, including any and all features. Be as specific and thorough as you can, as this can significantly impact the value of your vehicle.
- Make sure you have a clean title for the vehicle you’re selling.
- Be prepared to accommodate test drivers.
- Depending on how old your vehicle is, you may also consider selling it to a scrapyard. They often will give you a check as long as the vehicle starts no matter what the condition.
- Time. And probably patience as well. It’s almost always going to take more time, often significantly more time, to sell your vehicle privately.
Final Thoughts
Want to sell your car without getting ripped off? Be prepared to spend a lot of time and energy maxing out your sale price.
Even if you think you want to sell your car privately, it’s a good idea to get quick quotes from buyers such as CarMax and Carvana. Use those as extra data points in your research.
That way you have a baseline for the value of your vehicle and you know how much of a markup you need in order to make the extra effort of selling your car on your own worth your time.
