How to sell my car these days?
- Thread starter CarLuver
- Start date
First off, sorry about your mom's passing.
I've been down that road a little while ago, sigh.. ok the car..With how strange people are out there in society lately, I wouldn't even bother with selling it on your own. Too many odd scams, etc.. I'd contact CarMax and see what they'll give you for it, from my experience they usually give a decent offer. Carvana is another but don't have any experience with them, others probably can give their opinion on them..
Might want to check edmunds used car values, maybe NADA online. I'm not really liking Kelley Blue book lately after they got bought out. Just so you have a value in mind before the offers come in..
- Joined
- Dec 9, 2002
- Messages
- 1,305
When I sold my Rav4 (to a coworker) I checked Carmax, Carvana and the like and they offered around $1500. I found similar cars on Carsoup, Autotrader and looked up the values on KBB, NADA, Edmunds, etc and saw anywhere between $3500 and $7000. We settled on $4500. I'm happy and my coworker is even happier. I probably could have sold it for more on Craigslist, Facebook but having to deal with all the scammers is a nightmare.
I'm sorry for your loss.
As others have said, start with seeing how much Carmax or Carvana will pay for it, and use this as a baseline. Keep in mind tax season is starting, which may be to your advantage on pricing.
Since you're asking on BITOG how to sell it, you might want to start with posting it in BITOG's For Sale section. Be as detailed as possible with pictures, as if you're posting it on Autotrader or other car-selling sites. State that feedback on pricing and other parts about the post which may be improved, or should be removed, are welcome. Link back to this post.
Even if it doesn't sell here, you're assured of getting feedback from people genuinely interested in helping a fellow forum member.
Sorry to hear about your mom. I'd throw in that due to it's a manual and fairly new maybe cars and bids or bring a trailer, the only caveat is that you might get a low bid or high bid just depends. Car max won't likely give you a ton but a check free and clear. How about your neighbors or church congregation possibly? I've heard way too many horror stories from private sales as of late.
givemethevin.com paid more for my dads car than carmax and carvana
Selling it by yourself you will likely get more money for it, but it may take more time and some hassle dealing with scammer and/or tire kicker/low ballers. And that really means ignoring them.
How good are you at spotting scammers and scam messages?
How good are you at spotting scammers and scam messages?
You could trade this car and your own in. I suspect most dealers would be just fine with handling 2 trade-in's instead of 1 (I recall being at a dealer one time where they admitted to accepting a travel trailer on trade-in). Only mentioning that in case you might be thinking of upgrading. Otherwise, as others say, see what KBB and NADA say, Carvana also, then determine if you want to deal with private sale or not.
I've traded a few cars into the dealer and a few to Carmax. Carmax gave me more money but when purchasing a vehicle from a dealer trading it in makes life a bit easier. I hate dealing with private party sales. You'll probably get more money but you might also get a big headache.
A 2020 Accord is going to be right up Carmax's alley, they will sell them all day long. Especially if it has reasonable miles, say less than 100k.
I had a 2008 Tacoma that I brought to Carmax in 2013-ish. I detailed the heck out of it and made it look better than they probably would have. It was pretty much ready for sale. They commented on how clean and perfect it was and I got $1k more than the KBB value for "good" condition.
So my advice, wherever you bring it is to make it look as perfect as you possible can.
A 2020 Accord is going to be right up Carmax's alley, they will sell them all day long. Especially if it has reasonable miles, say less than 100k.
I had a 2008 Tacoma that I brought to Carmax in 2013-ish. I detailed the heck out of it and made it look better than they probably would have. It was pretty much ready for sale. They commented on how clean and perfect it was and I got $1k more than the KBB value for "good" condition.
So my advice, wherever you bring it is to make it look as perfect as you possible can.
I sold my 4 year old Subaru to Carvana and it was a pretty easy transaction. There was one hiccup but I don't blame Carvana for that.
Chase (who held the Subaru Motors Finance loan) applied the payment that Carvana sent in to the wrong account. I couldn't get anywhere, but luckily they had enough staff and connections to Chase bank that they were able to get it reversed and applied to the right account.
Chase (who held the Subaru Motors Finance loan) applied the payment that Carvana sent in to the wrong account. I couldn't get anywhere, but luckily they had enough staff and connections to Chase bank that they were able to get it reversed and applied to the right account.
AZjeff
$50 Site Donor 2023
The first step to selling a car is cleaning it really well top to bottom front to back, especially if you're going to sell it yourself on Craigslist etc. If you don't want to hassle with people Carvana, Givemethevin.com or Carmax will give more than a local dealer. I helped my father-in-law sell his truck to Carvana and he got $5000 more than the Chevy garage offered. Private sale wasn't possible.
My experience has been the higher the value of the car the harder it is to sell private party and the more discount people expect.
My experience has been the higher the value of the car the harder it is to sell private party and the more discount people expect.
harbor
Site Donor 2026
I’ve had good luck selling cars & parts through Craigs List.
Many dealers will buy cars even if you aren’t buying from them. You might try a local Honda dealer. Most will tell you a manual is hard to sell, and for that you will have better luck on Cars & Bids or BaT. Make sure you mention the manual in the title and be up front about any imperfections or history. As mentioned above, go through the car to give it a thorough clean and detail. Pull and shampoo the floor mats, clean the jambs and all that. Remove any bumper stickers, cell phone mounts, air fresheners, fuzzy dice, and whatever frippery that didn’t come from the factory. Spend a day on it. Private selling might be a hassle, but if you know the common scams from the buyer, you’ll know what to look for. Some will bring a buddy who plants some “evidence” of a major engine issue while you are distracted, trying to get you to drop the price by several thousand. They might pour some oil into the coolant or on the outside of the engine - as an example. Obviously, don’t hand over keys until you have gone to the bank and deposited the cashiers check. You can do much of the final transaction at the bank.
AZjeff
$50 Site Donor 2023
DO NOT sell to a dealer until you've price checked Carvana, Carmax, Givemethevin.com, yes they might buy the car but odds are very high they're going to try to steal it.
Autotrader is going to give you many calls from wholesalers wanting to buy your car or sell your car for you. They will really bug you. Also Craigs list. Marketplace is getting that way also.
Might also be good if selling on an auction site, just to get all the common services done - oil & filter, air filter, cabin filter. Filters and fluids. Buyers like to know that they can just drive it and not worry about anything for some time.
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I have a coworker who sold his Infiniti to givemethevin.com and seemed happy with the deal. He's a guy who knows what things are worth so I can't imagine he sold it to them too cheap.
Assuming low mileage and very good condition, I think it will be in demand. Get a carmax offer as your base sale price, and see what the local dealers sell a similar car for? $20k? See if they will give you more than the carmax offer.
Or offer it to friends and family at the carmax offer price.
Or offer it to friends and family at the carmax offer price.
