Now before you start rolling on the floor laughing your heads off, I need to know the best way to sell a car fast and for the most money. My friend is moving to New York City to go to graduate school and doesn't want to deal with the traffic and parking issues. She has a 2000 Toyota Echo with less than 10,000 miles and owes less than $6000 on it. She would like to know: A) Best and fastest way to sell it...Classified Ads, eBay, AutoTrader magazine, parking in a large shopping center and posting a sign on the car? B) How do you determine a good selling price? It took a friend of ours two months to sell his Honda Civic because he had overpriced it. C) How do you handle test drives? Do you take the person's driver's license or do you go with them on the test drive? D) When she sells the car, how does she deal with the paperwork since she doesn't have the title to the car and will need to release liability? Any advice or tales of your car selling experiences would be appreciated!! Cynthia
Watch out if she parks it at a mall with a sign. I did that once (I was actually there shopping) and received a 40.00 ticket. Seems there is a muni code that you cannot park a car with a for sell sign on it. I couldn't believe but discovered it was actually quite common. I'm curious about the answer to this one as well. I plan to sell my car in the coming months.
post to local newsgroups autotrader (its free). or ebay it. Just remember. what you think is a fair price is nothing like what other will think. especially for a bottom of the line vehicle. Take your car to "CARMAX" or one of those places, get a cash offer of what they will buy your car for. If its acceptable, take it. But don't expect to get anything near "blue book" value these days. I would never buy over wholesale (used) myself.
What shitty did that happen in? I want to know so I can avoid going into that municipal pissity and encountering the gestapo.
Riverside California, although I understand it is a common practice elsewhere as well. Seems ridiculous but they want you to read the entire muni code before traveling through their city. I was told "ignorance of the law is no excuse"
Cynthia, A) Classified ads and the auto trader works pretty well and are relatively cheap. Ebay also works, but they want $80 to put the car up for bid at their site. Also, there are a couple online sites that will let you put the car up for free (yahoo) is one. I believe it is free for 3 weeks or so. B) www.kelleybluebook.com will you give an idea what price to expect. When I sold my sister's car I asked for $500 more than what the Kelley Blue Book said and also added "or best offer". C) I usually rode with the person (usually just around the block) just in case they had any questions about where buttons were or how does this or that works. D) When the buyer gives you a check (cashier or certified only)...cash also works. You will have to send a certified check to the bank for payoff of the loan (I overnighted) and they will mail you the title. After the person bought the car from my sister I drove it over and took the tags and registration. When the title comes back to you (usually about 7 days) just sign that over to the new buyer and everything is done. Hope this helps and good luck. Dani
Dani, Do you give the person the car the day you send the pay-off check to the bank or do you wait one week and give the person the car after you get the title back? And if there is a week's lag between money given and title return, what kind of contract should you all sign as a good faith type of agreement that you have a deal? Thanks,
Current market the car is between 7800-9350 depending on condition. About 300 less if it's a two door. Retail UC price is around 10,500 (what a dealer would ask for it). She should be able to get 8500-9000 from a dealer which would save a lot of hassle. Ebay is probably a waste. Best bet is probably a local classified or autotrader.
That's my question too. My friend would want to make sure the DMV as well as her insurance company knows she's not responsible for the car. I can't imagine someone handing her a check for the car and not getting the car the same day. Cynthia
Marci, I drove the car over the day they handed me the certified check. But, it is also a good idea to come up with a contract and give a copy to both parties. Something along the lines of: This contract is entered into this 13th day of March, 2002, between Jane Doe (seller) and Jack Black(buyer) for a 1997 Lambourghi Diablo (ID # of car) totaling $200. Upon receipt of title from ABC Company(approx 7-10 business days), title will be immediately signed to Jack Black for purchase of the above said vehicle. Buyer ____________ Seller _____________ Address Address You can go into more detail if you want, but you catch my drift. Hope this helps. Dani
Go to your DMV or you can probably download it from their website and get a "Release of Liability". Have that filled out prior to giving them the vehicle. Immediately take it to DMV. I don't think it costs the seller or buyer anything but if ANYTHING happens the registration will show you are no longer liable. You are still the registered owner but no longer liable for the vehicle. That way you don't have to worry about when they register it (it costs them money so they may not do it right away).
(hope this isn't too off topic) Did someone mention about getting a ticket for a posting a "For Sale" sign? Here's another problem you might run into after you sell your car if it was registered in CA: I sold my LS400 in 98 in Kansas with a CA tag. Several months later, I received a ticket for "[...parking your car with a For Sale sign in CA...]". Also, my brother who moved from CA in 99 but he didn't sell his, only changed his tag, also received the same ticket. I call/sent a letter basically saying impossible, the person I sold it to is so and so and lives at so and so.. I fear that there may be a crook in the CA DMV system that scans for recently cancelled tags and uses this tag number to post cars FOR SALEs. NO? Anyway, just an fyi. hth
