Used Car for Sale by Owner: How to Get It Sold

It’s every car seller’s dream: plaster a “used car for sale by owner” sign on your vehicle and watch the phone ring off the hook. But passers-by are often in a rush, with an attention deficit, and pre-occupied with traffic, cell phone conversations, doing their makeup, and any other myriad things. So if you are an owner attempting to sell your car yourself, you’ll need to rethink your strategy.

Attempting to Sell to Private Buyers

We all know that private buyers will pay more for your vehicle than any dealer will. So sellers often try the private market first. However, this can be time consuming and ultimately expensive - cutting into your potential profits. You’ll have to run and pay for ads, list your car on various websites and/or print publications, and knock yourself out trying to become a professional photographer and copywriter so that your ad will actually convince someone to call you.

Unfortunately, even a dynamite ad can’t guarantee you’ll get in front of the right eyeballs. Especially if you’re in a large used car market, there will be dozens of other sellers with your same make and model. Worse, if you purchase advertising online, the car dealerships often get the front page results, leaving your ad unseen.

Too bad it doesn’t stop there. Not only do you have to spend time and money trying to reach potential buyers, you have to spend time and money getting your car ready to “show.” It has to be clean, running properly, with all the paperwork in order - and you have to be ready to take calls, schedule test drives and haggle over the price.

But once you find your potential buyers, the headaches are over, right? We wish. Unfortunately, you’ll likely have to pay for a smog check, vehicle title report, and an auto inspection. You have to handle the delicate and complicated matter of filling out and filing your DMV paperwork properly. And you may be asked to produce detailed maintenance records. This is getting messy, isn’t it?

So Why Not Sell to a Dealer?

If you choose this option after you’ve been through the hoopla of selling to private buyers, you’ll really be losing money. So if you choose to trade your car in at a dealership, reconcile yourself with the fact that the purchase price will be thousands of dollars less than a private buyer would have purchased it for, but be glad for the ease and speed of the process.

But I Want a Fair Price! Why Is Having a Used Car for Sale by Owner So Impossible?

Well that’s where we come in. If you don’t want to be stuck in the Catch 22 of more money, more aggravation vs. less money, less stress, you may want to consider working with an auto buying service.

We’ll appraise your vehicle at your earliest convenience, and then give you a cash offer on the spot. That means you’ll have a guaranteed, instant buyer at no cost to you. Plus, we guarantee to offer you more for your vehicle than any car dealer would. We also handle all DMV paperwork, smog certification, and transportation of the vehicle. That way, you get that extra 5%-15% over dealer trade-in value without paying out of pocket for advertising, smog check, auto inspection, etc.

Sounds like something worth looking into, doesn’t it? Find out, right now, exactly how much money you can get for your vehicle and get that cash in your hand today. Just click here, fill out a brief form, and one of our trusted valuation experts will phone you shortly.