Reason I say this, I sold a 1999 Chevy Tracker 4x4 in less than an hour. The car was in great shape mechanically but the interior was trashed as well as having the windshield and passenger side window broken out by an evil person my stepson dates.
My wife bought the Tracker used a few years ago but her 36 year old son "needed" transportation so she let him drive it. This poor car has been through you know what and back. To make a long story short, it was towed here back in May after he was arrested and his gf had finished trashing the car.
We decided not to invest any money in it as it made my wife "sick" to look at it. Her son had sent several people here to look at it as we wanted to sell it for towing costs, just to get rid of it. That or scrap it out. Funny thing is that none of the guys wanted to give us the 350 dollars we were asking for it. The engine, 2.0 liter, auto tranny and drive train are worth that much! Plus, the engine only had 87K miles on it.
So I put an ad on CL, with pictures, and sold the car to a guy who drove 80 miles to get here. I'm not even going to begin to count the number of calls I got before he got here!
Someone could have sunk a grand in it and have a good running, cheap 4x4 but the guy that bought it is going to use it as a parts car as he has a 99 Chevy Tracker as well.
Don't know why I am posting this other than to make myself feel better. Anyone with a similar story?
Everyone have a Merry Christmas!
Oh yeah, now I don't have to mow around it next year!
Craiglist is not that bad...
- Thread starter ddrumman2004
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My 9yr old 1995 Civic with 225k sold for $2500 in 1 hr on CL. It was in need of $1000-$1500 of work (timing belt, struts, got high temp at high speeds). Buyer could care less.
My 2004 WRX wagon asking $10k got $9k took 1.5months and annoying process. My single interested buyer who actually showed up asked about 25 questions via email before coming and during purchase. Constant offers of under $7500 for it via email.
I think price point is key on CL. I think the masses look for something under $2000 and $3000 for a running car. Above those amounts it gets harder to find folks with the cash to spend.
Agreed. I had a large tree cut down in our backyard and posted "Free Wood" on CL after I moved all the giant logs (6ft high, 8ft diameter pile) to the driveway. 7 hours later, multiple people came by and took every last log.
I have had two great experiences with CL, involving car parts and a cat.
But my wife is now scared of CL since her bosses sister made a deal to meet someone in front of a store to sell something and got robbed at gunpoint.
John
Couldn't agree more. Bought a 1996 Ford Escort for $1200, 9 months later I got it inspected and sold it for $1300. I did this all on the same day that I listed the car.
Earlier this year, I also sold a car within one hour on Craigslist. I had more than one person call and inquire about the car in that hour, too. I sold it for $150 less than I listed, but $100 more than I was hoping to get for the car. (listed for $1750, was hoping to get $1500... I got $1600) 
I have had good luck on CL (or Kijiji as is more common around here).
I sold a travel trailer in a day. I was realistic about the price. I sold my previous car to a guy who lived 2,500km away in a few weeks for a decent price. On both of those, taking the time to make really good quality pictures and having the equipment scrupulously clean (showroom condition) was the difference. That an setting a competitive price. I have a buddy who is trying to sell an SUV and he wants 20-30% above market. It's been for sale for 2 years during which it has depreciated a few grand and has had insurance bills all the while. I don't get this.
I gave away a working condition 10 Y.O. washer and dryer almost instantaneously. I figured I would give it away to someone who needed it rather than letting the delivery guys take it away and sell them for a few hundred bucks to someone who needed them.
Posting free ads with strict rules around when you can arrive etc is a great way to get rid of unwanted clutter or things you can't be bothered to try to sell. Plus in this economy, you're probably kind of helping someone out.
Works well for me. I accidentally underpriced a car I sold once, it was fairly priced, but the first week of March, and all the other reasonable cars for sale weren't for sale, they were stuck under snow drifts.
I kept my word and held it then sold it to the first guy to get back to me. He then had the nerve to try to whittle me down when I had emails coming in every two minutes, then hunted down my mechanic, who inspected it, to nag him over a hole that was covered by undercoating... that legitimately, mechanic and I both missed.
I could tell by the whiney emails and insistent questioning the guy was going to be trouble. The only question I respond to, really, is "what time is good to come look at it?" A paper trail, or email trail, can only bite me in the behind.
I get idiots asking for VINs etc, I usually give that up, as they're carfaxing, and therefore idiots, when searching for a $1500 car, and not judging it by its condition.
I sold a snowblower to a lady from two states away that collected them. She brought pictures of her three other identical clones of my machine! Then she did a (pro-level) inspection and tusk-tusk over my shoddy one, made an offer, and hauled it away.
All I ever get is spammers when I try to sell a vehicle be it a motorcycle, car, truck, etc. I have sold a couple but they were just quick flippers that I made a few bucks on. Nothing that I really needed to sell. The stuff I do need to sell, like my motorcycle and the Mountaineer don't even get so much as a txt inquiring...ugh.
I sold 1991 Honda Accord for my friend and sold few other items, I also bought few items on Craiglist. The Accord was sold within 2-3 hours at $100 less than asking price, the other items were sold at asking price within 1-2 days.
I bought 3 Dell laptop 9-cell batteries for about $50-55, I needed 1 and sold 2 on Ebay for a total of $100-110.
My personal experience with CL is positive, may be I was lucky.
I've had good luck when the item I am trying to sell is priced right. Sold my last truck in less than 12 hours, and had three other people lined up to look at it within three hours. All were told first one in with cash in hand took it.
If you aren't getting offers, odds are its priced too high.
Originally Posted By: MNgopher
If you aren't getting offers, odds are its priced too high.
dwcopple, short answer is that I finf NADA is overpriced as well. As I understand it, that is a compilation of what dealerships are asking on price, not what they are actually getting in the sale.
Around here, I've found edmunds pricing to be a better guide. When priced reasonably relative to that, it usually moves quick.
Craig' list is even better when using this:
www.statewidelist.com
Originally Posted By: MNgopher
dwcopple, short answer is that I finf NADA is overpriced as well. As I understand it, that is a compilation of what dealerships are asking on price, not what they are actually getting in the sale.
Around here, I've found edmunds pricing to be a better guide. When priced reasonably relative to that, it usually moves quick.
When we remodled the house I stuck a ton of stuff at different times out in front of the house and put it up as FREE on craigslist. Gone within a few hours. Saved me quite a bit of cash since I didn't have to haul it to the dump.
About 6 months ago I think divine intervention,karma, or just plain luck arrived via Craigslist when my adult daugther's POS Sebring was totaled. Finishing up her nursing degree, we had just a few days to find a decent car. We scoured all the sources without luck, but then this awesome '02 Taurus showed up with only 50k miles on it, no rust, new tires, new front brakes and some suspension work..... $4,000 +/-. It was driven by a "grandpa" who passed away and his very nice children were looking for a good home for the car. The car is MUCH better than her '04 Sebring that was on the verge of needing major repairs.
A true blessing.
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