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Originally Posted by Lil bastard
... Private sales always are priced higher than they should be (people ALWAYS think their car is worth more than it actually is.
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lil bastard is right that people overvalue their cars. But that doesn't mean the seller will be willing to part with his car for a true market price. Just because a seller "should" move, as Mike Yi is suggesting, doesn't mean he WILL.
A search for "Boxster" cars on ebay illustrates this truth better than our discussion could. If you look at "completed listings" for Boxsters on ebay, you will see that about 95% of the cars listed have failed to sell because buyers were not willing to pay the minimum [called the "reserve" price] that sellers want. Almost all completed sales [about 5% of all listings] are no-reserve listings [i.e. a desperate seller].
Ebay gives the best picture of the national market, because it shows
actual sales: where willingness to sell intersects with willingness to buy. I reckon that the presence of ebay fees, car transport costs, and the buyer's inability to inspect the car [all tending to lower the price] are balanced by the presence of a large base of potential customers [tending to raise the price].
If you look at these completed listings [which requires that you register on ebay], you will have a really good idea of the actual market, and whether you would be able to unload the car if necessary in the near future.