Selling a car....do's & don'ts !!! Remember Karma will get Ya !
 

Okay,

It's probably been covered here somewhere but I didn't see it....

What kind of a procedure do YOU go through when selling a car ?
How do YOU advertise it ? What forms of contact info do YOU provide ??
How do YOU weed out the tire kickers and be fair/reasonable to the serious ones ???
How do YOU handle negotiating a price over the phone & in person ?
Do You give each person a fair chance at purchasing the car in the order they contacted YOU ???
Or do YOU blow people off because someone else came along
(supposably) waving $MORE$ CASH ???? And didn't even give the other parties interested, a chance to buy it for more or start a bidding war ?!? Look at who could have profited ? Or do YOU just not return phone calls/emails ?

Or do YOU, after realising that YOU possibly underpriced the car take it off the market, using "I sold it" as an excuse ? Ah gee where is that B.S. emoticon when I need it ?

The last two vehicles that I sold were via eBay because I didn't have to get the absolute top dollar (eBay buyers are well-known for being cheap and looking for a deal) and I didn't want the hassle of showing the car and dealing with people who call at all times of the day/night or who make an appt to come and see the car but who never show up, etc, etc.

On eBay, I priced the cars to start at $100 but had a reserve price that was just a little cheaper than Kelly Blue Book private party price. This ensured that I'd get a reasonable minimum price. I also included many very good high resolution photos and wrote a very detailed and extensive description of the cars. You can never give too much info on a eBay vehicle listing. If you suck at photography, get someone to help you because high quality photos make all the difference on eBay.

I required a 25% deposit to be made within 24-hours of the end of the auction to rule out people who didn't have their money in-hand (I didn't want someone to win the action and THEN spend three weeks trying to line up their financing) and required full payment in 7-days. In the listing I stated that this was a CASH ONLY SALE and that I'd only accept PayPal, bank transfer, or cashiers check. No credit cards, personal checks, payment plans, third party checks, land in Wyoming, or Liberian gold would be accepted (and yes, I actually wrote that line into the listing).

Using this approach, I sold each vehicle in one week (via 7-day listing) and both sold for a few hundred more than the reserve price which was just about equal to KBB private party price. Both buyers flew out to LA and picked up the vehicles in person and drove them back home.

Overall, the transactions were simple and straightforward and I'd sell again via eBay in a second.

To keep it simple, I'd advertise locally and online, provide my number and an e-mail I use strictly for business, and first come, first served. For the last point, what I mean to say is the first person who contacts me with an offer that includes an actual dollar amount, be it a deposit or the asking/agreed price, is going to get my attention, and if they come with that and both parties are satisfied, it's theirs. I'd make it known up front that that is the case, and if people leave me hanging/waiting, they know that if someone else comes along with the money the only way that person's not getting it is if a deposit and a signed agreement was made by someone else before they came around. That's pretty much it.

Money talks.

If it takes someone 5 days to make an offer after expressing interest because they want to make sure it's OK with the wife, kids, dog and someone else comes along with a real offer. The car is sold. The procrastinator isn't out anything.

If too many offers come along at the price I was asking, it's underpriced and I'll say no to all of them and relist higher. The original offerers aren't out anything.

Nothing wrong with a bidding war, buyers should assume they're in a bidding war. If they are, I let them know it and that they have a new price to meet. The lower bidders aren't out anything.

Only if someone has paid for a PPI will I wait to give them a chance to make an offer before I sell the car. In this case there's been an investment made and the party should get what they paid for. I don't expect the results of the PPI to be made available to me, by the way. But I will make the PPI available to the seller when I am buying.

Sierramoto - get over being bitter about missing out on this car. That's the breaks and it happens. :(-ing about it won't help you. It seems like you've never bought a used car before, get used to desireable cars moving faster than you can react, it happens all the time. There are plenty of Boxsters on the market at great prices. Get a different one.

The first guy that shows up with cash in full wins. If a buyer wants to put down $1000 cash I will hold it for 3 days. Sold over 100 cars that way. It's the cleanest way to separate the men from the boys.

Same here, first one with cash and a reasonable offer gets the car, have sold 100+ that way since 1970.

First one with cash in full gets the car. I don't take deposits to hold the car while you "arrange financing". Ya snooze ya lose. You will not go on an unescorted test drive and, if you want a PPI, I will drive it to your mechanic and wait while it is done. If you act like a dick during the negotiating process I will tell you to take a hike in no uncertain terms. There's always another buyer waiting in the wings.

I'm not a dealer and I keep my cars for a long time so I don't sell cars that often, but when I do, it happens my way. Got no patience for wannabe wheeler-dealers.