Used car selling help

I've sold through craigslist a few times and even Carmax once. All went well. 

Price your vehicle correctly, give an accurate description, and weed out the idiots. 

Carmax will give you trade in value and not much more. But if that's the $$ you are looking for, it's a simple transaction (I was in and out with a check in hand within about 45 minutes). I went this route when I bought a truck 1500 miles away with no way to trade in my current vehicle at the time. 

craigslist, no comparison.

Price it higher than what you want out of it, the first question you will get asked is "what's the bottom dollar."

I would say I sell 70% of my cars off of craigslist, and I've used EVERYTHING.

I sold my Corolla on Craigslist a few years ago.  Blue Book was $2,800 (IIRC) and I went to Carmax first.  They offered me - no joke - $400.  I was actually speechless, and I walked out the door.  As soon as I went home I put an ad on Craigslist with a few pictures.  Within literally 15 minutes my phone was ringing with calls from multiple people.  Less than twenty-four hours later I had the cash in my hand - $2,800.

Carmax sent me a survey a few weeks later, and I told them exactly what I thought of their "offer" and how it turned out.  Funny, I haven't heard from them since. 

x2.  I have had similar experiences.  One word of advice.  Accept cash only and buy one of those counterfeit detection pens for $5 at an office supply store.  Put "cash only, in person" in your add to weed out the potential scamsters.

I sold my last car on Craigslist as well.

I priced about $200 above what I really wanted for it. I got what I wanted and they got to feel good about talking me down $200.

I would also say in the add, no payments, no trades.

I got all kinds of people calling asking if I would take payments, or asking if I would trade for a dirt bike and a guitar, etc.

ETA: My wife is in the same boat. 2003 Mazda 6 with 107,000 miles on it. She saw one of the newer Subaru's a while ago and has been begging for one ever since.

One other thing to consider is it might be worthwhile to call the dealer and ask what trade in value they would give. Remember that used cars are selling hot these days because not many are coming on the markets with the economy the way it is. Less inventory means these places can charge more for a used. With the number of miles on yours not sure if that will hold up but it is worth asking.

If that does not net what you want I would go the craigslist route right now also and follow the other advice given above.

We just got my wife a new car a couple fo months ago.

The dealer offered us about $5,000 more than Carmax did ($13k vs $8k offered by Carmax).  We were offended by Carmax and their lowball offer.

We might have gotten a little more selling the car ourselves, but the ease of transaction with the dealer was worth it.

This. 

I just sold a car that I had since I was 17.  It had 150,xxx miles, but was in good shape for the year.  KBB.com set the values at $975, $1100, $1450 (fair, good, excellent).  I listed the car at $2100 and sold it the same day I listed it for full price.  I kicked myself because I had so many e-mails and calls that I probably could have sold it for $2500.

I've had pretty good luck with Autotrader.com, don't bother with the print version if they still have it.  I've sold 3 cars on there and pretty good luck but it was a few years ago.

I sold a car privately years ago, but will be doing so again soon.  What type of paperwork do you need to have ready when selling for cash on hand?  What is responsibility of buyer & seller? 

Thanks!

I sold mine several years ago on www.cars.com.  It was great.  I didn't list it anywhere else.

Just sold our popup camper this spring on Craigslist, and had 3 hits on it in less than 10 minutes, so that works well too!  It sold in less than 24 hours.

If it is paid off just have the title ready for the buyer when you get the money.  That's pretty much it.  if you owe money on it call your lending bank on the car note and see what they say.  When the buyer leaves they can show the title and the fact they just bought it as documentation if they get pulled over for not having tags.  With that they can get tags the next day at the clerks office when they pay their fees for the tags as well as applicable taxes.  Seller just takes the money to the bank and alerts their insurance agent the car is sold and on what day so they can cancel that policy.