How to best sell a car

[stessier]

I'm (hopefully) going to be getting a new car within the next month. I'm looking to sell my current car, but I've never had to do that before. Anyone have any suggestions? Also how to price it?

Current ride is a 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid with 228k miles on it. Single owner, non-smoker. Interior is clean with the exception of the driver's arm rest (and I think I can get that clean with the correct shampoo). Exterior has some hail damage dents (nothing severe, but definitely dented), a single crack in the passenger mirror, and paint flaking off the same mirror (is separated from the body of the car by plastic parts, so the paint flaking won't touch the body). Check engine light is on (code says it's either the O2 sensor or catalytic converter) and the IMA light is on. Front tires are new and the rears have 7/32".

[dbt1949]

I wonder at the viability of selling it to a dealer.

[coopasonic]

kbb.com says Private Party Value $2,069 with a range of +/- $1k and a trade-in value of $271. The private party value is shockingly high for a car of that age, in my personal opinion. I don't have much else to add as I have pretty much always traded in out of laziness and suspicion of strangers.

[LordMortis]

I didn't think so. I thought the trade in value was shockingly low for someone to incentivize you in to buying a new car. It always seems to me that used cars, no matter the shape, always have these pricetags so I high I don't understand, irrespective of the age.

I have no frame of reference for actually selling a car though. I have always driven cars until they were either junk or junky enough to give away to an acquaintance down on their luck with the caveat that the car is junk.

[Lorini]

I sell my used cars to CarMax, noting that I'm a woman and not comfortable getting into a car with an unknown male buyer. They give better prices than the dealers I've tried to use.

[DOS=HIGH]

I wouldn't expect to get much from a dealership on a 15 yr old car with 200k+ miles on it. You could consider donating it and using the KBB private sale amount as a tax right off if you really don't want to deal with actively selling it.

[stessier]

I wouldn't expect to get much from a dealership on a 15 yr old car with 200k+ miles on it. You could consider donating it and using the KBB private sale amount as a tax right off if you really don't want to deal with actively selling it.

I'm buying an electric car and getting a federal tax credit that will zero out my tax burden this year.

[ImLawBoy]

I sell my used cars to CarMax, noting that I'm a woman and not comfortable getting into a car with an unknown male buyer. They give better prices than the dealers I've tried to use.

At a minimum, I get a quote from CarMax. That way if the dealer tries to low ball me, I have both documentation to haggle with the dealer and a fallback if they won't move.

[Jeff V]

I wouldn't expect to get much from a dealership on a 15 yr old car with 200k+ miles on it. You could consider donating it and using the KBB private sale amount as a tax right off if you really don't want to deal with actively selling it.

Better make sure you still qualify though. A whole bunch of crap I no longer need is not going to get donated to Good Will this year because it's unlikely itemized deductions will exceed $24,000.

[Kraken]

I've always managed to talk a good trade-in price, comparable to the private sale price, as part of the new-car negotiation process. So it's been a long time since I sold a car outright. I would think that check engine light is going to be a big obstacle, though, unless you're factoring a new sensor or converter (whichever costs more) into your price. I'd look into fixing it with a salvage part.

[Scuzz]

I sell my used cars to CarMax, noting that I'm a woman and not comfortable getting into a car with an unknown male buyer. They give better prices than the dealers I've tried to use.

I plan on trying to do that with my Ford F-150 when I get a newer one in the near future. Sure, maybe I could get more holding out to a private buyer but it just isn't worth the hassle.

With my business closing I have donated a 1981 Ford F-350 to the local PBS station. It even has a lift on the back. Somehow someone has determined the truck has value in auction, which amazes me. It does only have 30k miles on it. But no first gear.

[Brian]

This guy seems to have some ideas.

[Drazzil]

I'm (hopefully) going to be getting a new car within the next month. I'm looking to sell my current car, but I've never had to do that before. Anyone have any suggestions? Also how to price it?

Current ride is a 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid with 228k miles on it. Single owner, non-smoker. Interior is clean with the exception of the driver's arm rest (and I think I can get that clean with the correct shampoo). Exterior has some hail damage dents (nothing severe, but definitely dented), a single crack in the passenger mirror, and paint flaking off the same mirror (is separated from the body of the car by plastic parts, so the paint flaking won't touch the body). Check engine light is on (code says it's either the O2 sensor or catalytic converter) and the IMA light is on. Front tires are new and the rears have 7/32".

I wish you lived near me. I'm looking for a car for a friend. an 02 sensor or a catty converter mean nothing to me. I could have either very cheaply replaced.

[Drazzil]

I'm (hopefully) going to be getting a new car within the next month. I'm looking to sell my current car, but I've never had to do that before. Anyone have any suggestions? Also how to price it?

Current ride is a 2003 Honda Civic Hybrid with 228k miles on it. Single owner, non-smoker. Interior is clean with the exception of the driver's arm rest (and I think I can get that clean with the correct shampoo). Exterior has some hail damage dents (nothing severe, but definitely dented), a single crack in the passenger mirror, and paint flaking off the same mirror (is separated from the body of the car by plastic parts, so the paint flaking won't touch the body). Check engine light is on (code says it's either the O2 sensor or catalytic converter) and the IMA light is on. Front tires are new and the rears have 7/32".

Intergrated motor assist... SHIT. No wonder the trade in value is so low. The regular gas engine doesent work well without it...

Shit, shit, shit.

[wonderpug]

I had good luck using Autotrader recently. If you do any sort of online listing, I recommend getting a Google Voice phone number you can use as a temporary contact number. A new temporary Gmail address helps as well.

[Drazzil]

I had good luck using Autotrader recently. If you do any sort of online listing, I recommend getting a Google Voice phone number you can use as a temporary contact number. A new temporary Gmail address helps as well.

Something else I thought of, how mechanically adept are you?

I had an acquaintance who instead of selling his car whole, disassembled what he could, sold what he could, pulled out the seats, craiglist localed em, then tore the frame apart and recycled the rest.

WMMV.

[Drazzil]

I had good luck using Autotrader recently. If you do any sort of online listing, I recommend getting a Google Voice phone number you can use as a temporary contact number. A new temporary Gmail address helps as well.

Something else I thought of, how mechanically adept are you?

I had an acquaintance who instead of selling his car whole, disassembled what he could, sold what he could, pulled out the seats, craiglist localed em, then tore the frame apart and recycled the rest.

WMMV.

Which is kind of a dumb idea if you have a professional career though. It takes time to disassemble and sell a car part by part.

D'oh!

[stessier]

Intergrated motor assist... SHIT. No wonder the trade in value is so low. The regular gas engine doesent work well without it...

That's not exactly true. The motor runs fine, it just isn't as efficient as it could be with the IMA. Right now I get about 40-42 mpg. With the IMA working perfectly, I was getting 45-48mpg.

[stessier]

I had good luck using Autotrader recently. If you do any sort of online listing, I recommend getting a Google Voice phone number you can use as a temporary contact number. A new temporary Gmail address helps as well.

Good idea - I hadn't thought of that. Thanks!

[stessier]

I had good luck using Autotrader recently. If you do any sort of online listing, I recommend getting a Google Voice phone number you can use as a temporary contact number. A new temporary Gmail address helps as well.

Something else I thought of, how mechanically adept are you?

I had an acquaintance who instead of selling his car whole, disassembled what he could, sold what he could, pulled out the seats, craiglist localed em, then tore the frame apart and recycled the rest.

WMMV.

Which is kind of a dumb idea if you have a professional career though. It takes time to disassemble and sell a car part by part.

D'oh!

Yeah, that ain't happening. Thanks for the thought though!

[LawBeefaroni]

My neighbor does a car share with his old car. He gets a hundred or two a week and just leaves it parked in the street.

[em2nought]

I sold my '93 Cheyenne to the scrap dealer for $500 after I siphoned the gas out, swapped the battery, took off the hitch and sold that separately, and then swapped the tires unto my old Durango. The Cheyenne had distributor problems and I didn't want to saddle someone else with those problems. Maybe a hybrid might bring decent money at scrap due to the batteries? I've never had a Chevy that didn't have electrical problems.

[Scuzz]

My neighbor does a car share with his old car. He gets a hundred or two a week and just leaves it parked in the street.

Does he need special insurance for that?

[LawBeefaroni]

My neighbor does a car share with his old car. He gets a hundred or two a week and just leaves it parked in the street.

Does he need special insurance for that?

Not yet. The service vets the renters for their insurance and provides liability and theft coverage for the owner. Rental companies are up in arms about it though so days may be numbered.

I think he uses Turo.

[DD*]

The real question is what is your time worth, since that is what you are spending to sell the car.

To me, you're looking at (best) a couple of grand - probably less. The check engine light is the killer combined with the high miles; maybe it is $50 sensor, but maybe it is a $500+ cat. That may scare lots of folks off - how did you determine why it is lit? Did you pull the code via an OBD II reader? If not, I would - most local auto parts places will let you borrow one for free and then you'll have a better idea just what is wrong with it. Might help knowing that.

Donation is always an option as well - maybe wait until after the first of the year and then use the donation for tax year 2019?

[stessier]

Yes, pulled the code and it is either the O2 sensor or cat coverter.

I'm just looking to cover the cost of my charging station install. It might be as low as $1200...I'll know in about a week.

[stessier]

I had good luck using Autotrader recently. If you do any sort of online listing, I recommend getting a Google Voice phone number you can use as a temporary contact number. A new temporary Gmail address helps as well.

So I am finally ready to do this. I have my car pictures and I went to get a Google Voice number but it keep directing me to my Project Fi account. Any idea how to get around this? I can't even get information on what Google Voice is to figure out what I should be doing.

[wonderpug]

Are you trying to use the same account for both? From a quick search, it looks like you can't have Project Fi and Google Voice on the same account, you'll just need to set up a separate Google account for Google Voice.