seeking car-selling advice

[chhotii]

I'm going to ask the probate lawyer tomorrow whether I need to do anything before proceeding on this front, but I want to sell the Scion. Where would I fare best: a Toyota dealer? One of those seedy used car dealers? I don't want a lot of hassle. Jon R. found it such a pain to deal with all the con artists on craigslist when he tried to sell his Honda there, he wound up just giving it to NPR.

Comments

[sensesurfer.livejournal.com]

I know someone looking for a vehicle...... Do you have a price in mind?

[chhotii.livejournal.com]

Not until I look at the mileage (I have NO idea what it is) and consult the blue book.

They don't make the xB like they used to; I'll bet there are some fans looking for a "classic".

[skreeky]

Ah, the scammers. Almost all the contacts you get are scams, but you just delete anything with obviously poor English, anything wanting to buy the car sight unseen, any mentions of wire transfers, and anything that the buyer is theoretically in another country. Done.

Jon's main problem was that he wasn't being as flexible as he needed to be on price. He needed to either take 30% under what he wanted, or to be patient for another buyer to come along.

Your main problem would be all the flakes that say they want to come look at the car and then after you go out of your way to be there, fail to even show up. Which seemed to be about 80% of the people saying they wanted to look at the car.

I wouldn't add that kind of stress just now unless you need the money pronto.

[candle-light.livejournal.com]

Kriss, could you contact me with your email address? I'd like to make arrangements to give you video stuff, and I can't find your email address... Thanks!

[skreeky]

Oh, not a big seekrit, my gmail is also skreeky. Thanks.

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

And don't forget the scammer that has a check for twice the asking price and would like you to give them back the other half.

[skreeky]

Yup, that one usually mentions wire transfers.

[(Anonymous)]

With a check clearly xeroxed from a totally different organization...

[deguspice.livejournal.com]

If you can't find a friend to buy it, I'd sell it to a Toyota dealership and be done with it.

[frotz.livejournal.com]

I've had good luck finding relevant car-enthusiast sites and posting there. Good place to find motivated buyers who know exactly what they want and won't fuck around. That surely won't get you *only* people who won't fuck around, but it wasn't bad for me the times I've done it.

[frobzwiththingz.livejournal.com]

going to a Toyota dealer will get you the worst price and the least hassle.

Going to Craigslist, etc will get you the best price and the most hassle.

Posting to elbows/suspects/burners/etc will be somewhere in the middle, and is probably worth it as a first shot to see if there is anyone out there already looking for such a thing.

[drwex]

This.

I got extremely lowballed by the dealer so I didn't trade in my vehicle when I bought a new car recently. I put it on Craigslist and sold it within five days. I could've sold it in two if I'd been willing to take the cut-rate price offered by the guy who had cash in hand. In fact, I ended up getting cash in hand, and relatively close to my asking price.

MA law requires you to have two documents for a private sale; if you decide to go that route they're pretty easy to find or I can share with you the ones we used. One is a contract that states the terms of the sale - and that has to be customized to your circumstances - and one is a bill of sale, for which I got a PDF off the state Web site. I can share that with you as well.

In my case I did not transfer plates with the car; if you do that you might need an additional form. I advertised my car as having no license plates and all potential buyers were OK with that.

[ron_newman]

Posting to davis_square is probably comparable to posting to elbows/suspects/burners. (disclaimer: I'm a moderator of that community)