Ways to Sell Your Car as Quickly as Possible
Unforeseen circumstances can present themselves at any time, and sometimes, these unforeseen circumstances may call for you to need to sell your car as quickly as possible.
Perhaps you need to move abruptly, out of state, or internationally.
You may have no way to keep the vehicle insured or registered.
Maybe you’re going through a divorce or need to pay off debt or creditors. Whatever the reason you need to sell your car quickly, you have several great options available to you that can absolutely save the day.
Whether you’ve had enough of your vehicle or are sad to have to get rid of it, this article will help you understand what the more popular options are to offload a vehicle.
When you sell your car quickly, you may be forced to take less money than you want because you’re in a hurry.
Selling the car could also take a lot longer than you want it to. Before you list your vehicle for sale at an arbitrary price, you should do a little research to find out its fair market value.
Then think about how much money and energy you’re willing to invest in repairs, advertising, and detailing.
Factor in the estimated cost of this to your fair market value. Then list your car for sale using one of these top options.
Keep in mind that you’ll need a clear title and full ownership of the car to sell your vehicle legally, so be sure to take care of any title or ownership issues before moving forward with one of these options.
For Sale by Owner
One of the best ways to avoid low book sales when you want to sell your car quickly is to do a private sale, as-is. If you want to price your vehicle to sell, consider pricing it a little lower than market value.
You have several outlets you can sell your car through.
AutoTrader and Cars.com are quite popular online sites as is Craig’s List and Facebook Marketplace. You can also leverage word of mouth, newspapers, and a “For Sale” sign in your vehicle’s window.
Although modern society leans heavily on technology, some of the older, tried and true methods like parking the car in a well-trafficked area with signage are still very effective.
When adding your vehicle to one of the online platforms, be sure to take plenty of pictures of the inside and outside of the vehicle.
Write a detailed description of it, and to further gain trust, you can list its repair history.
Good pictures and a solid description will get your car noticed, so take your time on this part.
Private Sale
If you know someone personally who is in need of a car or has been eyeing your car for a while, you can certainly engage in a private sale with them.
If you’re not in too much of a hurry, you should be able to get close to the true market value of your car.
When conducting a private sale, you don’t need to worry about advertising, and if you’re lucky, you won’t even have to worry about detailing it.
There is a potential downside, however. If something goes wrong with the sale, the negotiations, or the vehicle, your relationship may be in jeopardy.
Sell to a Dealership
Given the right conditions, a dealership will buy your car from you. Don’t be afraid to shop your vehicle around.
Take it to a few used car dealerships and see what their manager is willing to offer you for it. You’ll likely have better luck at dealerships that specialize in your vehicle’s make.
You might just get paid on the spot if your model is one that they’re looking for. Selling to a dealership doesn’t always net you the best amount and they’re not very likely to negotiate on the offer price either.
If your car has high mileage, is in poor condition, is too common, or is otherwise undesirable, they may not want to buy it from you.
It’s in your best interest to get your car detailed and repaired before attempting to sell to a dealership.
Sell to a Car Buying Service
Many car-buying services are looking to buy used vehicles. Carmax is one such popular service.
What makes this one so popular is that they have physical lots that are accessible to the general public, so you can drive your car right in to get an inspection and potentially an offer.
Alternatively, you’ll find small dealerships that are willing to offer top dollar for used vehicles.
When you’re selling to an online car-buying service, you need to upload pictures of your car along with a description.
You’ll also be responsible for handling the paperwork and arranging delivery. Typically these services want the car cleaned and inspected before finalizing the sale.
If your car is particularly aged and you aren’t expecting to get a lot of money for your vehicle, you may want to try one of those tow services that pay up to $1,000 a vehicle.
Trade It In
If you know you’re interested in buying another vehicle, you may want to consider visiting a dealership and trading it in.
Depending on the condition, mileage, and year of your car, you can get a fairly decent amount credited towards your new vehicle.
Trade-ins are fast and pretty hassle-free if you don’t want to deal with all of the stress of trying to sell your car on your own. Think of the dealership as a one-stop shop.
Now that you’ve got an idea of some of your choices for quickly selling your car, you can make an informed decision.
Selling your car isn’t the biggest life decision you’ll make, but at the moment it seems pretty monumental.
It’s not the kind of thing you want to get wrong because it can majorly impact your finances.
