ARH
w. beach
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So I'm selling my car. I don't want trade in value because I am going carless, I just want cash. I'm planning on posting it on Craigslist and possibly eBay as well, and putting a sign in the car itself's window.
Any other ideas? I looked at CarMax briefly, do any of you have any experience with them?
Help, I need to get rid of it!
ChrisSunami
King-Lincoln District
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CarMax is simple and fast, and they'll take anything, but you're not going to get much of a deal on it. A & I unloaded our last car there. We hardly got anything for it but I was just grateful they didn't charge us to take it off our hands.
turbo ninja
Crumb Bus, Oh.
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Don't shy away from a Sunday classified in the Dispatch - I'm all about the Internet for car shopping but I still check the Sunday classies regularly, if only to compare asking prices for similar cars in the area.
Supplement that with Craig's List and eBay if you have pictures and a comically thorough description of the car's condition, and be prepared to provide even more information.
turbo ninja
Crumb Bus, Oh.
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Roland wrote I got pretty close to KBB when I sold a car to carmax. I had the car detailed before taking it in.It was painless.
May I ask how old the car was and how many miles it had when you sold it? I'm looking at breaking up with my 117K mile '98 Honda Accord and I'd rather use something trustworthy and turnkey like CarMax than press my luck with private buyers.
Not a huge fan of people I don't know taking my car out for a test drive.
Paul
Vancouver, BC
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I can't believe nobody has mentioned Autotrader.com yet.
It's by far the single best place to buy or sell a car. I have done both off there, with much ease.
E-bay is a terrible place to buy or sell a car.
I'd list it on Craigslist, since it's free. If you don't get any promising hits in a week and you need to sell it, list it on Autotrader and you're good to go.
vestanpance
Harrison West/at work OSU
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Paul wroteE-bay is a terrible place to buy or sell a car.
why do you say that? That's where I found my latest car and had no problems.
myliftkk
Columbus, OH
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We sold our car through craigslist over the course of 2-3 months for what we expected, but we weren't in a rush and were actually storing the car miles away from our residence. If you're going to sell it yourself, you had at least better have a pretty good handle on what's wrong with the car (and all maintenance records) to keep from scaring off buyers. When I went to buy a car out of the autotrader years ago, I ran into more buyers than I care to mention who either outright lied about their car's condition, or were just trying to flip a car quickly that they picked up somewhere else. I actually had a guy tell me his Datsun 280z had never been in a wreck only to look under the car and see the welds on the frame plus a leaky fuel injection system.
We sold mine without a working AC compressor (I cut the belt because the pulley was bad and would make a horrible knocking noise), but we were up front about it, and the people who bought it didn't mind since the rest of the car was in good condition.
Make sure you tell them cashier's checks (from a major bank) only, though. Don't take a personal check.
Tigertree
771 N. High St.
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Anyone know if its possible to sell a car financed through the manufacturer in another state? Because it is ridiculous that Niki and I have two cars, and we're trying to make up a 900 dollar deficit to move into the apartment we want to.
Paul
Vancouver, BC
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vestanpance wrotePaul wroteE-bay is a terrible place to buy or sell a car.
why do you say that? That's where I found my latest car and had no problems.
I guess it was a bit of an overexaggeration. However, it's my least favorite venue for cars, for several reasons.
For sellers, you have to deal with no paying high-bidders, which are quite frequent, a multitude of scam artists, the hassles of listing and re-listing after a deadbeat bidder, and people wanting you to make special arrangements to ship the car, etc. Plus the listing fee is higher than autotrader or your local paper. Or Craigslist (free).
For buyers, I guess if you buy local it is probably not so bad. For buying sight-unseen, I've heard many many horror stories, as one might expect. You do have to deal with people misrepresenting cars (like you do everywhere else), shill bidders, worrying about meeting their 'reserve', and other hassles. E-bay might be a good place to find a car locally to buy, and then ask the seller if they will take a firm price offer to end the auction early.
Do whatever works for you, though.
vestanpance
Harrison West/at work OSU
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good points. I found mine on ebay and it was in cincin so I just drove down to see it before the transaction was complete. We also bought a jag s-type from ebay from a dealership in NJ. But flew out to finish the transaction and drive it back. Your right in I would never buy the car and have it shipped. Always finish the transaction in person and see the car.
Roland
Clintonville
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turbo ninja wrote May I ask how old the car was and how many miles it had when you sold it?
It was a 2003 Mazda with 35k miles.
ARH wrote Where'd you go for the detail and how much $$?
I picked one of the highly rated detailers from on Angie's List. The name was Best Investment Auto Details, they are located on High Street. They did about 4 hours of work for $95. Then even picked up the car from my home.
Fantastic service and good price. If you want more contact info, PM me.
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