Selling a car & also Carmax

[Deleted]

I want to sell our 2002 Rav 4.  I have never sold a car before (only traded a POS to dealership for $500).  Besides the obvious of Craigslist where else should I list it.

Also, does anyone have experience selling a car to Carmax?  The car has less thank 50k miles so I would like to get a good amount of $ for it even though it is over 10 yrs old.

[rachelgreen]

Cars.com. I have no idea what they charge though. I know I have seen private sellers listed on their website.

Local paper classifieds is another. Our local paper is very reasonable their classified ad costs.

I don't have any experience with Carmax so I can't help you there.

[adlove]

It's been a few years, but when we relocated my H and I sold both of our cars through Carmax and had an awesome experience. Both vehicles were sold for much higher than we expected, I think mine lined up with a private party sale in excellent condition. He's car had been in a wreck with significant body damage which was repaired, but even then we got a very fair deal.

We actually just bought a car from there too and that side of the business was a good experience as well.

[rubytue]

Lots of carmax experiences here: pandce.proboards.com/thread/120871

[Deleted]

THANK YOU ladies!

[halfpint]

I sold my car through Carmax, then bought a new one from them. It's a pretty pain-free process, they do make it easy. I think you can more selling it privately, so you have to decide if it's worth it to you to do the legwork yourself.

[Deleted]

Jan 21, 2013 11:57:43 GMT -5 halfpint said:

I sold my car through Carmax, then bought a new one from them. It's a pretty pain-free process, they do make it easy. I think you can more selling it privately, so you have to decide if it's worth it to you to do the legwork yourself.

The car is worth almost $10k and I  am just so nervous dealing with a private party for that kind of $.

[stumpy]

You won't get $10,000 or close to that if you go with carmax. You might get $7500 or $8000. (guessing)
You have to figure out if it is worth it to you to try to sell it on your own and deal with people coming to see the car, ask for a test drive, deal with paper work, etc.
For me, I would trade my old cars in even though I know I am going to lose money. Carmax is probably a tad better than a trade it but not that much more in my experience.
I would not sell a car privately. Just not my thing.

[jewel]

I just sold a car this weekend. I listed it on Craigslist. I also listed it in the local paper for $50 for 10 days, which came with a full ad on cars.com for 10 days as well.

Carmax offered $7500. They said that it was too old (2004) and too many miles (91k) to sell on their lot, so it would just go to auction. It took about 45 minutes to get a quote, and they were absolutely no pressure. It was worth a shot, at least.

I sold it to someone from Craigslist for $11,500. Blue book private party was low-mid $11k.

[Deleted]

Jan 21, 2013 13:12:42 GMT -5 jewel said:

I just sold a car this weekend. I listed it on Craigslist. ....

I sold it to someone from Craigslist for $11,500. Blue book private party was low-mid $11k.

What form of payment did you accept? Did you let them test drive?  How did you ensure that they were not going to steal the car?  Where did you meet them to show the car (home or public place)?

[jewel]

I met them all in public places. This particular buyer I met at a Starbucks. She brought a mechanic friend. They checked out the car and we chatted. When she wanted to test drive (same goes for everyone who asked), we asked to see their DL and wrote down their info. My husband rode with them on the test drive. I made him take a few pocket knives, just incase they tried anything funny.

I stated in my ad that I would accept cash or cashiers check/bank check at their bank or mine, only. This girl paid via cashiers check, which I watched her get from a teller at her bank, she gave it to me, and I transferred the title to her.

I've sold 4 or 5 cars this way, and haven't had any issue yet. We make sure that our cars are fully insured, take down as much info from the buyer as we can, and hope for the best. I'll only meet at a bank so that I can confirm the payment is legitimate, and can deposit immediately. I don't want to go anywhere with $10k in my purse.

In comparison, we just bought a 2012 car from a private party (he'd had it 9 months). We met him at his business. When we asked to drive it, he just handed over the keys and said he'd see us back in a few. He had no info on us and he didn't go on the drive. Turned out fine, and we bought the car. Some people have a different comfort level.

[rubytue]

Kind of related - we bought a boat on craigslist. We used cashier's checks. The owner didn't go to the bank with us, but his wife did work at our bank and very carefully checked the two checks we gave them (one deposit pending survey, the other for the balance).

[Deleted]

thanks for the feedback everyone

[stumpy]

Good luck in whatever you choose!