What's the best way to sell a car?

"razorbeamteam" (razorbeamteam) 01/08/2020 at 13:34 • Filed to: None

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So, the sad time has come to part ways with my A4. The realities of buying a house and starting grad school means that hard truths must be reckoned with. Also, my wife is not a fan of driving a manual in the city.

This has been my trusty companion over the last 4 years and has served me well. This has been one of the most reliable, fun, luxurious, and comfortable cars I’ve ever owned and it will truly be missed. I’d really like if I could find someone who appreciates it for what it is.

That being said, I truly hate the process of selling a car. Dealing with tire kickers, no-showers, low ballers, people who like to argue for no reason, and just general asshats that seem to love car shopping on the internet. I’ve never had a good experience with it including the time I got scammed when the buyer arrived early to cut my transmission lines then lowballed me a crappy offer.

Any tips for finding a buyer who would appreciate it for what it is? I don’t have immaculate service records, but it has been serviced regularly. I took good care of it, I just didn’t save every receipt.

I’d rather not just take it to Carmax or a similar cash offer dealer and take a trade-in price, but it certainly saves me a lot of hassle.

Bonus doggo pic for your time

ranwhenparked > razorbeamteam 01/08/2020 at 14:04

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Depends on your definition of “best” .

Fastest/most painless - Carmax or similar dealer

Best price? You're going to have to deal with Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace flakes and idiots. 

HammerheadFistpunch > razorbeamteam 01/08/2020 at 14:04

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If you want top dollar, its private sale. If you don’t want the hassle, take to any old lot, if you want to make sure it ends up in good hands, take it to a dealer (in this case a nice audi is likely to go to someone who will appreciate audi vs some audi on a random lot)

GLiddy > razorbeamteam 01/08/2020 at 14:05

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Sell it at a commissioned car broker if you have one convenient to you.

LimitedTimeOnly @ opposite-lock.com > razorbeamteam 01/08/2020 at 14:22

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Based on my recent experience , I recommend Carvana over Carmax to get more money from the car. 14% more, in my case, and the process went smoothly. If you want to hit the easy button.

Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo > razorbeamteam 01/08/2020 at 14:25

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Some helpful Op recommended I try Facebook Marketplace and I am doing that. Better than Craigslist by far, IMO.

RPM esq. > razorbeamteam 01/08/2020 at 14:37

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Quickest : take it to CarMax, walk out 30 minutes later with a check in your hand. I usually get an appraisal there as a fallback option/baseline price, but have only once actually sold them the car when we were in a hurry to sell before a cross-country move and they offered almost exactly what we planned to list it for.

Top dollar: private sale. I usually post on both Craigslist and either Cars.com ( free option available )   or Autotrader , with good pictures, a CarFax available upon request, and a simple, honest list of pros and cons/quirks and features. I would post on Facebook marketplace too but don’t have an account. I   definitely get less scams and lowballers from the non-CL sites , but haven’t given up on CL because I get more responses there. It’s been an even split for where the eventual buyer came from for the last 4 cars I’ve sold this way—2 from CL and 1 each from Autotrader and Cars.com.

If the car is worth more than about $20-25k : consider c onsignment. If the car is worth enough that nearly all buyers would need a loan, this is a nice option where you don’t have to deal with any part of the process, and the buyer can easily get a loan or do a trade-in, and can have the dealership experience rather than meeting you in a parking lot with $20k in their pocket . Worth it for higher-end sales in my opinion. Sold my SQ5 this way.

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > razorbeamteam 01/08/2020 at 14:45

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i sold my panda by just parking it on the street with a note stuck to rear side window

for sale $500

nr73

if you see the car im home

Chariotoflove > razorbeamteam 01/08/2020 at 14:50

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C ongratulations on your marriage; condolences on your breakup (with your Audi).  Everyone else here has covered the car-buying advice.

razorbeamteam > RPM esq. 01/08/2020 at 16:19

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Thanks for the lengthy post! This will probably sell for ~$5K so consignment wont be worth it. Good call about getting a baseline price from Carmax, I forgot their appraisal is free.

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > razorbeamteam 01/08/2020 at 16:34

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Are you replacing it or just pocketing the money because you don't need it anymore?

razorbeamteam > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 01/08/2020 at 17:41

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Just pocketing the money. We are down sizing from 3 cars to 2, so selling two of them (the other is my wife’s Prius and, we’ll trade that one in) and buying something newer and more practical. 

Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available > razorbeamteam 01/08/2020 at 17:52

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The A4 seems far more valuable to you than $5,000 but it seems as though it can’t coexist with the Land Rover. Seeing as how you are living in a city, selling the Audi might be the lesser of two evils.

razorbeamteam > Who is the Leader - 404 / Blog No Longer Available 01/08/2020 at 18:01

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Living in the city and taking the train to work its hard to justify more than one car between the two of us, let alone 3. She’s not gonna daily a 28 year old Land Rover, so we need something for her if I’m gonna keep it. 

ITA97, now with more Jag @ opposite-lock.com > razorbeamteam 01/08/2020 at 19:46

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With any mildly interesting, or better, car, I’ve often had good luck selling them via parking in a visible place along a busy road with some fore sale signs. When I’ve done the list o’ Craig, I’ve found putting some specific directions to follow (like call only) and ignoring any inquiry that doesn’t follow them weeds out a lot of the scammers and tire kickers.

I've also had some good luck selling cars on Craigslist by listing them as a non-negotiable sale at the lowest price I'll take for the car.