Advice on selling your own car

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bk7794
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Advice on selling your own car

Post by bk7794 »

So its been about 16 or so months since I bought the 2000 civic. I've been thinking of selling it lately. Biggest problem I have is I can't get comfortable. I drive the car mostly in the city where I can sort of deal with the terrible seating position, but it gets kind of difficult on longer drives.

Plus the tranny I am thinking has been beaten. Reverse issues have plagued me since I took the car home....I didn't notice it on the test drive. If I noticed it I probably would not have bought it.

Anyways, with this being a Honda product I fear I'll have to weed through the riff raff. Any advice?
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Re: Advice on selling your own car

Post by IMBoring25 »

Sorry to derail, especially if there was a thread, but...What reverse issues? Is it just hard and/or noisy to put in reverse? There are techniques you can use to improve that.

On-topic, you're going to get some "riff-raff" regardless. Within the parameters of what's honest, try to write your ad to appeal to the type of buyer you'd want to answer it. Focus on condition, equipment levels, and mechanical soundness if you can. I would probably not go too flowery about "legendary Honda reliability" or anything like that.
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Re: Advice on selling your own car

Post by bk7794 »

Reverse just does not feel solid. Its difficult to engage. I know about the tricks to get it to engage. Sometimes when it does engage it just feels and sounds like shit while its engaging.
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Re: Advice on selling your own car

Post by potownrob »

i know what you mean about reverse. i had essentially the same car but with twice as much miles and not maintained too well. gear oil change helped some. if you're not comfortable in the civic (i assume you mean seat comfort), you may like the accord better. not as fun to drive in my experience, but definitely more comfy and rides smoother. i recommend the 98-02 generation, unless you can find a newer V6 manual in good shape. also rest assured you will not have much trouble selling the old civic.
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Re: Advice on selling your own car

Post by theholycow »

Lack of comfort is definitely a non-starter for me...if I'm not very comfortable I'm going to be very miserable and hate the car no matter how awesome it is. I wouldn't hesitate to sell out of it if I found after a while that it's not as comfortable as I originally thought, unless I thought I could make it more comfortable (e.g. seat transplant). I spent 5 years and 170,000 miles in a car in which I was not comfortable and I'll never do that again.

Don't forget to advertise it in places other than Craigslist. Auto Trader, eBay, For Sale sign in the car window, etc.
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Re: Advice on selling your own car

Post by AHTOXA »

- check CL to see what people are asking for a car like yours with similar miles
- post ad on CL
- get a ton of emails with lowball offers
- set a couple appointments to show the car only to find out the buyer is a kid and doesn't even have the money
- sell car fairly quickly

Being a 2000 Civic, the car will sell fast. They are always in demand and there are always people that want to buy one. Disregard the lowball offers that you're definitely going to get, but the car should sell in a week or less.

I've bought and sold, what, 4-5 cars via CL. The rusty-ass '94 Integra LS sold in 2 days and for a few hundred more than what I paid for it a few months earlier.
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Re: Advice on selling your own car

Post by bk7794 »

That's the big thing. I bought the car a few hundred over blue book. I might be able to get more than blue book by how clean it is. But we shall see.

Now what about the interaction between the potential buyers? Any advice on that? Test drives etc.
potownrob wrote:i know what you mean about reverse. i had essentially the same car but with twice as much miles and not maintained too well. gear oil change helped some. if you're not comfortable in the civic (i assume you mean seat comfort), you may like the accord better. not as fun to drive in my experience, but definitely more comfy and rides smoother. i recommend the 98-02 generation, unless you can find a newer V6 manual in good shape. also rest assured you will not have much trouble selling the old civic.
I think I'm done with Hondas for now. I kind of want something different. I've been ball parking some older focuses maybe a fusion. I like the focus. My parents have one and its super comfortable. Drove almost cross country twice in it.
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Re: Advice on selling your own car

Post by AHTOXA »

You pretty much have to allow test drives if you want someone serious to consider your car. I've bought a few cars on CL as well, and I would not have bought any of those if I weren't allowed to test drive. No way - big red flag.

Before you set time to meet with the person, talk to them on the phone and use your judgement. If it doesn't sound like a serious buyer or the guy can't put two sentences together, or he sounds like he's high or he keeps talking to his wife in the background while on the phone with you - whatever the case - that's probably not worth your time, unless you're desperate to sell it. Since it doesn't sound like you're desperate to sell - take your time.

Price your car a little higher, because you can always come down in price, just don't be ridiculous about it. If it does't sell after a while and you feel that you're not even getting any nibbles, lower the price and cast your line again. Wait for someone to bite.

Don't agree to a low price on the phone, unless you feel that the price is fair. If you do agree on the price on the phone, don't let people push you around when they get there. This happens often enough, where you agree on, say, $2,000 over the phone. The guy comes over, looks at the car likes it, and then goes "well, I only have $1600 with me because [blah, blah excuse]". Don't have the agreed-upon amount? Walk away. Negotiating is fine, but that is a disrespectful way of doing it, by trying to lure you with a lowball cash-in-hand offer after a verbal agreement. Not a square way, I guess, which bugs me when I was on the receiving end of it.
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Re: Advice on selling your own car

Post by Squint »

AHTOXA wrote:Don't agree to a low price on the phone, unless you feel that the price is fair. If you do agree on the price on the phone, don't let people push you around when they get there. This happens often enough, where you agree on, say, $2,000 over the phone. The guy comes over, looks at the car likes it, and then goes "well, I only have $1600 with me because [blah, blah excuse]". Don't have the agreed-upon amount? Walk away. Negotiating is fine, but that is a disrespectful way of doing it, by trying to lure you with a lowball cash-in-hand offer after a verbal agreement. Not a square way, I guess, which bugs me when I was on the receiving end of it.
Yeah, that would piss me off if there was a price agreed upon and then the person showed up with less. Unless I was desperate to get rid of the vehicle, I would immediately walk away if the person said they didn't have the agreed upon amount of money.
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Re: Advice on selling your own car

Post by AHTOXA »

Oh and another thing I forgot.

Write a good ad. This is HUGE.

Be detailed but concise. Don't ramble about it and write up a block of text. Use paragraphs and bulleted lists. In general, do one small paragraph describing the car and giving an overview - mileage, condition, upkeep notes. Start out positive, because the buyer will need justification for the price of your car compared to some dented beater of the same vintage.

The add would normally look something like this:

This is my whatever car and it's got so many miles. I use it daily to commute, so the mileage may rise a little after this ad, but the car is in great shape. Cosmetically it's an older car, but looks great, blah blah blah. [More general positive stuff goes here].

The good:
- low mileage
- good condition inside/out
- pain looks good
- interior is in good shape - no cracked plastics, no torn upholstery
- newer brakes (5k miles ago)
- tires have about 70% tread all around - matching set
- blah blah

The bad:
- needs a driver side from balljoint
- seeps oil from cam cover
- etc etc

Summary: close with either more positive or information on how to reach you with your preferred means of contact and hours.
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Re: Advice on selling your own car

Post by bk7794 »

No doubt on the test drive. Lets say if he starts driving and hes like abusing the clutch. Something I fear. In an automatic I wouldn't fear but in a stick I kind of fear these things. Also do I have to meet a buyer at my house? Can I do it at a walmart or something?

Ugh this is a PIA process...

Definitely understand the critical part of an ad. I have a buddy of mine who has a lot of experience doing that. In all honesty kind of thinking about it bums me out...
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Re: Advice on selling your own car

Post by theholycow »

Doubt anyone's going to abuse the clutch enough to be a worry over the course of just a test drive...how much more likely is that than crashing the car?
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Re: Advice on selling your own car

Post by Squint »

bk7794 wrote:No doubt on the test drive. Lets say if he starts driving and hes like abusing the clutch. Something I fear. In an automatic I wouldn't fear but in a stick I kind of fear these things. Also do I have to meet a buyer at my house? Can I do it at a walmart or something?

Ugh this is a PIA process...

Definitely understand the critical part of an ad. I have a buddy of mine who has a lot of experience doing that. In all honesty kind of thinking about it bums me out...
And yes, you can meet someone at a neutral location - I feel like that is completely normal.
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Re: Advice on selling your own car

Post by Rope-Pusher »

Squint wrote: And yes, you can meet someone at a neutral location - I feel like that is completely normal.
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Re: Advice on selling your own car

Post by AHTOXA »

bk7794 wrote:No doubt on the test drive. Lets say if he starts driving and hes like abusing the clutch. Something I fear. In an automatic I wouldn't fear but in a stick I kind of fear these things. Also do I have to meet a buyer at my house? Can I do it at a walmart or something?

Ugh this is a PIA process...

Definitely understand the critical part of an ad. I have a buddy of mine who has a lot of experience doing that. In all honesty kind of thinking about it bums me out...
Like cow said, even if they abuse it, they won't do it for long enough to cause any significant damage. Although, once a buyer was so bad, that I asked him to step out of the car, got in and drove it back. He didn't buy it, of course.

Yes, do meet at a neutral location. This is best in any case. Pick a public spot.

People are crazy, man. You never know. Let's say that someone buys the car from you and a week later their headgasket goes. Not your fault and you didn't sell it to them knowing this was imminent. However, if they know where you live, they may come and see you about it, potentially creating a tense situation.

Like I said - don't underestimate the crazy in people. No need to be paranoid, but awareness is important.

I always meet in neutral location, no matter what I'm selling. If I'm a buyer, I'm not opposed to going to someone's house.
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