Selling a used car: How to set the price and write your ad

Posted on March 14, 2008
Filed Under Cars |

I recently sold my car which I owned for 4.5 years; the car was a 1991 Honda Civic which I had purchased used. Selling a used car is an interesting experience and I thought I share some of that with you.

The first thing to selling a used car is to figure out what the current market price for the car is. You can get this via official channels such as the little black book or you can survey online buy and sell sites such as Craigslist to get an idea of what other people are selling similar cars for. The price you set for your car will depend on many factors including the current condition of the car, the mileage, extras (CD player, ladder racks, ski rack, etc.) and what kind of repairs you did in the last year. Hopefully you have kept all your receipts for the last few years to show potential buyers that you have taken good care of the car or at least that nothing major will need repair soon. For example, if you recently rebuilt the engine or replaced the transmission or the timing belt, you can request a higher price for your car because these are major components that are expensive to fix and at some point need to be replaced.

Once you decide on a reasonable price for selling your car (that would also be satisfactory to you in terms of how much you would hope to get for your vehicle,) add another 200-300 dollars to it. Buyers always want to bargain with you. They expect that your price is inflated to give you room to bargain and you should play the game or be prepared to make less money than you expect.

Before you post your for sale ad, clean your car inside and out. Wash the car before you take photos for your ad; a nice looking car will attract more buyers even if the price seems a bit too high. Also, clean the inside. Prospective car buyers always want to test drive a car before they buy it. So, make sure that when they get inside, the car looks nice and clean. After you clean the car and take photos (don’t forget to take a photo of the engine if it is in good condition,) you are ready to write your ad.

Keep your ad brief and to the point. Don’t oversell and be truthful. Give the mileage shown on the odometer and list any extras that most people look for such as CD player and radio. If you have recently replaced the tires then mention it in the ad; similarly for any major repairs such as replacing the transmission. Other than that, mention in the end some of the benefits of owning the car, i.e., good for students, very good on gas, and sporty (use these only if they describe your car, of course.) If you are selling a small car such as the Civic that I was selling then emphasize its good performance on gas consumption because current gas prices have many people looking for small, fuel efficient cars for commuting to work on a daily basis.

Now you are ready to post your ad for other to see. I strongly recommend that you start by posting your ad on Craigslist because it is free and has a huge reach. I received 10 calls about my car withing the first 2 hours of posting the ad on Craigslist; 2/3rds of the people who called made an appointment to see the car the next day and one of them bought the car. If you are not having any good luck posting online then consider lowering the price by $100 and waiting for a few more days. Reduce the price every few days until you sell the car.

This is what I learned from selling my car recently. I wish you the best of luck and a high return if you are selling a used car.

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