Okay so my sister moved to New York last year for her job and is going to be there permanently and her 2007 BMW 328i has just been sitting here at home... She says she doesn't need her car anymore and my parents want to stop paying the payments on it so they want to sell it. They want me to take care of this since they're both real busy and won't get around to it. I was wondering what are the basic stuff I need to do/know to sell this car? The car is in good clean condition (has 50,600 miles) as it hasn't been driven in a year besides periodically to make sure the battery doesn't die. We bought it exactly 2 years ago for her graduation for around 25k used from a dealership. I know I probably need to order a carfax on the car so I'm guessing I can do that by just going to their website and paying 35 bucks. I plan on taking it to Bubbles car wash and getting it detailed it so looks crisp and new for pictures. Looking on their website it says 67 for an interior and exterior detail. Does anyone know somewhere I can get it done cheaper? I looked up the book value of the car online and it says 21K, I did a quick search on craigslist and I see similar cars with around the same mileage going for 18-23k. I figure I'll put it on Craigslist for 21k and my parents are willing to let it go for 20K if someone can pay all in cash. Do these price points sound reasonable? Am I listing for too high/low? Besides Craigslist, what other websites should I list the car on? Also, what kind of fees will be associated with these sites? I could try ebay but that is so annoying with their fees and shipping and BS. Also, does anyone think I can get an offer from a dealership for around 20K? This would be the easiest way and I can avoid all the hassle. My biggest concern is on Craigslist, how do you deal with payments on big ticket items like this? Am I supposed to expect cash only and upfront? Or is some financing expected? And if so, how do I let some random guy finance the transaction and ensure my parents don't get ripped off? I'm going to go Google around for a while but I figure I might as well start here since I trust y'alls advice more. Hell, one of y'all might even be interested in buying it. It's Navy blue, with a beige leather interior. I'm pretty sure it has the premium package also. If anyone is actually interested just reply back on here with your email and I will email. I don't want to list my email address as it has my full name in it. Thanks! Reps for all good, non-sarcastic answers.
The buyer should be the one figuring out the financing, not you. They can get a quote from a credit union or bank and if they want to buy they get a check from the bank to pay you in full.
You/your family sound perfectly suited for CarMax. Why haven't you considered that? At least get a quote, you aren't forced into anything. I've sold a car through CarMax, on my own, and to a dealership when trading in. Selling on my own was by far the most painful experience. I got a premium, but to me, not enough for the difficulty and time it took to do it. You may decide otherwise, especially if you go to CarMax and they quote you $17k or $18k... a couple thousand dollars is definitely a difference. But if they quote you $20k or higher, which your parents said they'd take, you should take it, rather than holding out for the extra $1k you'll list it for.
Exactly why I came to Clutchfans haha. So whatever Carmax quotes, thats generally what a dealership will pay? Edit: Nvm. So Carmax will buy it straight from you. I just looked online and it seems I have to go get it appraised at their store correct? Or can I get a quick estimate online too?
find naieve 19 year old in need of a chick car. tell him its a mustang. ask for 19000 and finance it to him at 25% apr.
carmax is nice due to convenience but you certainly don't get top dollar. I'm not sure how that compares to a dealership though. Online classifieds like autotrader, cars.com or kelly blue book offer packages where you can post info and you can pay extra to have that add distributed elsewhere Nothing wrong with a good old fashion "For Sale" sign on the car in the front yard
Not necessarily. Especially if there is a trade-in involved. CarMax has to make a profit. A dealership might buy your used car at effectively no profit when they then flip it, in order to get your business on the car you trade in for. This happened to me when I leased my Optima last year. The Kia dealership offered me $2k more on my car than CarMax did. The dealership offer, frankly, was in line with 3rd party sales. And the price on the new leased car was great. This is because Kia is trying to build their brand. They also offered me more than the other dealerships (VW, Toyota), fyi. In other instances, CarMax might get you more than a dealership. In any case, CarMax definitely won't get you top dollar. You are leaving money on the table for convenience. CarMax will literally buy it from you an hour after you take it in. You can't get a quote online. You go in. They take your car for a drive, check it out, 45 minutes give you a quote, and probably start pressuring you to sell. You might be able to negotiate there a bit. One caveat is that the quote is only good for a week. If you go back in a month, it is likely they will quote you less. So you might want to have all your thoughts and analysis together, then go to CarMax and see what they say, being prepared to make a quick decision.
I've sold 2 cars to Carmax and bought 1 from them and I was never pressured by anyone to do anything. And I'm like George Costanza-paranoid about that kind of thing (greasy car salesmen). I dealt with 3 different sales guys on those 3 transactions and had the same pleasant experience each time. True, Carmax doesn't give you much more than blue book value for your car, but to me it was worth it not having to place an ad and deal with a bunch of weirdos calling me about it. I actually like that the quote is good for 7 days. I would feel much more pressured if they said it was only good for 24 hours or something shady like that. When we sold our last car to them, we ended up coming back 5 days after they gave us the original quote. They honored it without anything more than the sales guy giving the car a quick look to make sure it was still intact.
I know on the weekends, 610 or 97.5 or one of the other sports sstations has a show where you can call in and they give you an estimate for your car. I think it is through Texas Direct Auto, so they'd probably even offer to buy your car.
So should I just drive the car to Carmax as is, or should I wash it first and make it sparkle a little bit?
I've gotten a bunch of cars quoted there, sold 2, it isn't commonplace, but the last time I went I was pressured a bit.
take it to carmax, get it appraised, they won't lowball you, they'll even print out the kbb value on it easy peazy
The morning of the first day I put that sign up on my old truck, I got 3-4 offers. But it helped I had a Nissan pickup. Good, light-duty work truck.
They will do that after they buy whether you have done it or not. I would say just take everything out of it that belongs to you (not part of the car) and give it a dusting, just so it is pleasant to appraise.
give it a $10 dollar car wash and take a hand vacuum to the interior I've never sold any cars to carmax, I use it as leverage should the dealer try to low-ball me, which has happened 3 of 3 times
