Best place to sell used vehicle in 2023?

[92saturnsl2]

Last few vehicles I've sold private party were through Craigslist. Last time I used Craigslist they were charging for vehicle ads. I have a hunch that's not the go-to place for selling vehicles these days, it's been a while for me.

What have you folks had good luck with as far as selling platforms? Vehicle in question is my '96 Pontiac Grand Prix, which is plenty reliable (can be daily driven) but rough around the edges, like any 25+ year old car. It's sort of in mid-life crisis mode right now where it could be a nice car to restore for someone ambitious that likes this generation, or a daily driver for 2-3+ years if someone looking for a cheap car treats it like an old beater. I realize there's a small market for this type of vehicle, what sites would you recommend?

 

[dishdude]

OfferUp has been working well for me.

 

[92saturnsl2]

OfferUp has been working well for me.

Never heard of that one, thanks for the suggestion. I'll look it up.

 

[14Accent]

FB marketplace. It's a 25 year old W-body, I'd ask $1,300 and take the first grand you're offered.

 

[Nukeman7]

I'd post on Facebook Marketplace if you have a FB account. I'd also pay the $5 fee and post on Craigslist since it will reach other potential buyers who don't play the FB game. The CL fee discourages scammers, so they have migrated to Marketplace.

 

[92saturnsl2]

FB marketplace. It's a 25 year old W-body, I'd ask $1,300 and take the first grand you're offered.

Someone out there likes older W-bodies in decent shape as much as I do. I think it's worth more than that honestly, pretty rare car these days, anything 25+ years old that can be daily driven should fetch a little bit of a premium. I don't live in MN, they've all turned to iron oxide where you live.

 

[andrew_j]

Someone out there likes older W-bodies in decent shape as much as I do. I think it's worth more than that honestly, pretty rare car these days, anything 25+ years old that can be daily driven should fetch a little bit of a premium. I don't live in MN, they've all turned to iron oxide where you live.

Good luck with finding that micro community who wants to pay a premium for a 25 year car that you state is rough around the edges. Not sure we help you with best listing service for that.

 

[addyguy]

FB page ‘Classic GM FWD society’…they love them there.

 

[92saturnsl2]

Good luck with finding that micro community who wants to pay a premium for a 25 year car that you state is rough around the edges. Not sure we help you with best listing service for that.

If you can't help, why post? I don't need luck. Don't need the money and in no hurry to sell, just want a vehicle out of the garage. The car will sell just fine for more than I paid for it. If it's $1K, 2K, 3K, whatever, I hope it goes to a good home to someone that likes turning wrenches and will fix it up-- something I don't have time for. Or drive something out of the ordinary for 2-3 years and run it into the ground if they want to pay full asking price. I'll let it go for a bargain to the right person.

 

[NormanBuntz]

I gladly pay the fee and put the ad on Autotrader.

 

[92saturnsl2]

I guess Craigslist is still a thing after all. Not had much luck on FB marketplace, just a bunch of scam messages or idiots that can't spell and want to trade their dirt bikes / old refrigerators or whatever else they have lying around, or do the usual "what's your lowest offer" stuff.

Have a fella flying in from Maine tomorrow morning to look at it, wants to drive it back. He found it on Craigslist. Going to meet him at the Louisville airport which is right down the road from where I work. I think he's a little more adventurous than I might be, driving an unknown 27 year old car 1200 miles home. But I listed it honestly, nothing mechanical wrong with it (plenty reliable), just the usual GM stuff of the era (interior coating turning to goo in places, cheap plastic bits broken, etc.) I offered him a lower price than I would have otherwise since he's coming from so far away and taking some risk-- also I just want it gone and move onto other things. But if he buys it at that price, I will have doubled the money I have in it, just from maintaining it, driving it from time to time and keeping it garaged for a few years.

 

[CKN]

I'm going to start the popcorn........

 

[dadto2]

My dad just sold a '13 Cadillac SRX and a '79 Caballero in his front yard, with nothing but a for sale sign. Each in under a week. Neither was a need to sell in a hurry. Last time I sold a car (2018 I think?) I put on Craigslist and FB marketplace, got hits from both but all the prospective buyers were lowballing tire kickers. Put in front of dad's house, sold to a passer by in about a week.
Do you have a friend on a busy-ish road?

 

[dumkid]

craigslist for quality (serious) buyers and old people who haven't discovered that all the cheapest stuff (and the scammers) have migrated to Facebook.

 

[92saturnsl2]

The meetup was pretty uneventful-- guy flew in right before lunch, was waiting at the arrivals drive through at the airport, hopped in and I drove to an empty lot near my work so he could check it out. He took it for a spin for a few miles, seemed to like it and was willing to buy it. Guy was intelligent (not from here, haha), easy to talk to, one of those people I could chat cars with all afternoon. I got the impression he just wanted a 90's Pontiac (he already has a 70-something, 80-something, I guess this was the missing link) that wasn't completely deteriorated, a good starting point to fix up.

KY makes you notarize titles on transfers, but I have a notary at work so the whole thing was quite convenient and hassle-free. I suppose he's on the road to Maine somewhere in northern Ohio by now. He has more guts than I do, but he can check off a lot of the reliability questions of buying a used car really quickly with a road trip like that.

I guess the moral of the story is Craigslist still works. Facebook marketplace was a colossal waste of time. I'm still cleaning out my text messages and E-mails of all the spam/phishing/scams and low-ball offers I've received over the last several days.

 

[92saturnsl2]

Put in front of dad's house, sold to a passer by in about a week.
Do you have a friend on a busy-ish road?

I read this and realized I'm an idiot. I live on a fairly busy rural state highway with a nice space out front in which to park it. In fact I sold a vehicle that way several years ago. Not sure why it didn't cross my mind this time around.

But then again, sitting in the front yard would have meant more frequent washings-- this time of year they're plowing and doing stuff in the farm field across the street which would cover the car in dust in no time. All's well that ends well.