How to Sell Your Own Car
Author: LaChelle Neudorfer

Somehow you have ended up with an extra car. You have either already bought a car or you are in the process of getting another one. What do you do with the old one? You sell it! But how? Where do you begin? In this day and age with so many different advertising mediums to choose from, the decision can be daunting.

To sell your car on your own, a.k.a. private party, you need to start with these steps:

First, you need to determine what is the status of your car title. Do you have the title to your car filed away for safekeeping, or are you making payments to the bank and they have possession of the title? If you have the title to your car, then congratulations for owning your car outright, this will make the sales process much easier. If you are still making payments to the bank, you will need to call them to find out your payoff and also find out the procedure for paying off the note bank-to-bank (the individual buying the car has been approved for a loan) or from an individual.

Second, before you do anything else, you must decide what your car is worth. If you own your car outright, then any money you make minus the cost of selling it will go straight into your pocket. If you have a payoff, however, the story could be different. Let me first tell you that you car is NOT worth what you owe. That is a common misconception I find among car owners. It could be more or it could be less. If you just bought your car a year ago and you did not pay a down payment, you have a high interest rate and you financed it for 72 months, then you probably owe more than it is worth. Your car is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it.

Before you go any further, you need to determine what your car is worth in the market. To do this, you will need to do some research. If you have already chosen an advertising medium, you can start here to checkout the competition. If not, then you can search on several sites such as ebay.com or AutoTrader.com. You will need to search for cars as close to yours as possible. You must compare apples to apples! They need to be the same make, model, trim (EX, LT, XLT, etc.), options and mileage. Second, you can go to secondary sites such as Kelley Blue Book, Edmunds or NADA for private party sales pricing. They will all be different and not necessarily right. You are going to have to make a judgment call as to what to ask for your car. You should compare what other people are asking for your car and what the guides say. You will have to be competitive.

A buyer checking on a car sales site is first going to look through all of the competition and probably choose the car he likes with the lowest asking price. Wouldn't you? Second, that shopper is going to check the secondary sites to see what it says (please know that these sites are computer generated numbers and not actual selling data!). This is why it is important for you to do your research first or else you could drop $80 in advertising plus make payments and pay insurance every month and still own an extra car.

You will need to be prepared to negotiate. So, when you are looking at asking prices on AutoTrader.com know that the actual selling price will be below the price listed. It could be anywhere from $500 to $1,000 or more below.

If you are still going to sell your car you now need to get it ready for sale. Would you buy a car that is dirty and smelly? No one else will either. So, you will need to get it washed, take out the trash and vacuum it. Depending on the condition of the car you can either do it yourself or pay someone else to do a more detailed job of it. For an extra touch, you can put in an airfreshner. Try a neutral scent such as NuCar or Vanilla. Don't do any exotic scents that might be over powering. If your car is due for an oil change, go ahead and do it now. For one-stop-shopping, choose a carwash that does oil changes. If you can afford it and your car needs it, get new tires. New tires look great on a car. If you decide not to, and you need tires, be prepared for someone to negotiate later over a new set of tires. You can be prepared for that by stopping by a tire dealer and ask their opinion of the tires and getting a price for a new set.

If you think you will be advertising in a medium that has pictures, now is the time to take digital pictures of your car. I recommend taking a lot and from all angles, inside and out, under the hood and in the trunk. If you have records for the car (receipts for maintenance) you can lay that out and take pictures of it as well. You will not be able to post all of these, but someone may ask you to email them.
Once you choose which site you will advertise with I always recommend springing for the run-until-sells option. If the car sells right away, then lucky you! If not, you can always lower the price later if you are not getting any inquiries. When describing your car, be honest. The person who buys your car will know your address!

The last thing to consider is safety. Selling your car on your own means you will probably be having someone come to your house or meet you somewhere to view and test-drive your car. Never meet someone alone. While you have them on the phone, get their full name, home and cell number. Once you meet them, get their drivers license number and tag number. If they are not willing to do this, then end the meeting. If you feel comfortable enough to go on a test drive with them (the other passenger and car should stay behind and be accompanied by your companion) be sure to take a cell phone with you.

If you have the title to your car do not accept a personal check! Only take certified funds from a bank or cash. Also beware of scams through the Internet. My favorite is the one where someone contacts you saying that they have a check from their bank and it is made out for more than your asking price and if you will just cash it and send them the difference they will buy your car. If you come across something that just doesn't feel right, report it immediately to the site you are using to sell your car.

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