Below we break down the process to selling your car privately step-by-step, but if you have further questions feel free to give us a call directly.
If you want to sell your used car, Sell Us Your Car wants to make you an offer! We operate throughout Arizona, including in Phoenix, Mesa, and Tucson. Find out how much you can get for your car, truck, SUV, or van today.
Step 1: Choose Your Platform
The first step in selling a used car online is to decide where you’re going to post it. Here is a list of the most popular websites for selling cars by owner:
1. Autotrader
Autotrader is an online marketplace for buying and selling cars that was established in 1997. Automobiles listed are from dealers and individual sellers and they include brand-new, used, and certified pre-owned vehicles. Users may also find reviews of vehicles, buying tips, and comparison tools for data on auto insurance and finance on the website.
2. eBay Motors
Customers buy new and used cars on eBay Motors, as well as accessories, parts, and maintenance supplies. Users shop by vehicle type, product category, deals, events, or brand and by make of car, motorbike, truck, or SUV.
3. Craigslist
Craigslist is a website that is used for posting advertisements for goods and services in the form of classified ads. The website has sections for jobs, housing, for sale (which is where used cars are posted), goods sought, services, community service, gigs, resumes, and discussion forums.
4. Facebook Marketplace
Facebook Marketplace is the social network’s classified ads area that focuses on assisting people and companies sell goods locally. Facebook is entering new areas with Marketplace to compete with websites like eBay and Craigslist.
5. Edmunds
A popular resource for automobile selling and purchasing, Edmunds has been around for more than 50 years. On their website, you can find in-depth video evaluations, new and used listings, free appraisals, and price comparison tools. Edmunds intends to help buyers and sellers at every stage of their vehicle journey.
Step Two: Know Your Car’s Value
After deciding on one or more of the websites you want to post your vehicle for sale to, you’ll need to know a few other things – namely how much it’s worth.
There are several easy ways to quickly find out how much your car is worth. Perhaps the most common is to use Kelley Blue Book. Simply enter your vehicle’s information, including its condition and upgrades, and KBB will provide you with a private party value.
You can also call around to a few companies that buy cars, like Sell Us Your Car, and within seconds get a cash offer for your vehicle.
Similarly to KBB, you can go to Carmax, Wheelzy, or Peddle, to name a few, and enter your vehicle’s info to get an offer to buy it.
If you’re not in a rush, you can always take your car to a dealership, but know that they’ll likely be the company that offers you the least for your used car.
Step Three: Get ‘er Ready for Sellin’
If you want to get the most for your used vehicle, you need to make sure it looks the best that it possibly can. What does this mean? It means the car, truck, SUV, whatever you’re trying to sell is clean and anything that can be fixed, is fixed.
The cleaning part is fairly easy, assuming your car doesn’t need too much work. Take it to the car wash, clean up the brake dust from off the wheels, vacuum the interior, and give the trim a nice shiny polish.
A trick car dealers use when selling cars they’ve taken in on trade is to use a permanent marker to touch up the rock chips on the front and hood of your car.
If there are inexpensive items that are broken, a side mirror or chipped windshield for example, get these items repaired.
3 Things to Keep in Mind
Before jumping right in, here are a few things to consider.
1. The Art of the Negotiation
The majority of people will think that there is some wiggle room on the price you posted. So keep in mind that there may be some negotiation needed in order to sell your car.
To get around this, one option is to bump up your price a bit, but if you go too high, you might limit the number of offers you receive. If you can come down off of your initial by at least a few hundred dollars, most purchasers will feel more confident about the deal, which could work in your favor.
Don’t undersell yourself, but a little pragmatism may go a long way and speed up the sale.
2. Accepting Payment
If you’re selling a car online, electronic payment services like Venmo, Zelle, and PayPal may seem like a good option. But be sure to review the processor’s payment policies for the service you want to use, just in case.
Before the buyer has second thoughts, a cash transaction may be completed with the use of simple payment choices. You may close the sale more rapidly the sooner you get the buyer’s payment.
3. Get a Deposit
When selling your automobile online, you don’t want someone to commit to purchase just to back out after you’ve already pulled down the listing. As a precaution, you can request a deposit. The amount is up to you, but typically determined by the pricing.
For lower valued cars and trucks, $500 is a fair starting point, but asking for 50 percent or more of the total price is totally normal.
Conclusion
That’s basically the ins and outs of selling a car yourself online. It’s fairly straightforward if you have the time and want to get the most you can for your vehicle.
You can increase your odds of getting more offers by posting your car on multiple listing websites. Keep in mind that several of these sites charge a fee.
Watch out for scammers! Scams originating from all around the globe are specifically designed to target car sellers. The most common is the fake buyer over paying with a bad check and asking for you to send back the difference before the check is rejected.
Keep in mind that if you want to sell your car quickly, Sell Us Your Car wants to make you a fair, market-value offer.
