How do you advertise a car for sale?

[granpajohn]

I have bought and sold my fair share of used cars. However, not so much since online advertising displaced printed classified ads.

Have looked at Craigslist, EbayClassifieds, and Autotrader. Also, my local paper affers a mixed online/print combo, but the online listing was as lean as the traditional print versions have become.

I'm talking about a car in the $1000 neighborhood, so you can guess my market.

Anyone care to suggest a method?

 

[firefighterjake]

I've almost always been the type of person who drives a car until it is nearly dead . . . or at least to the point where I cannot easily fix it or keep it going with my skill set.

Here in Maine we have a "shopper" called Uncle Henrys which was around a long time before Craigslist . . . while CL is gaining in popularity, it seems as though Uncle Henrys is still the preferred way to go since you get a lot less folks trying to scam others.

The other suggestion . . . try putting a "For Sale" sign on the car and parking it at the end of your driveway.

Best suggestion . . . I've always priced the vehicle for a quick sale . . . generally the price is in the price range of KBB, NADA, Edmunds True Value Pricing . . . but I've typically priced it fair . . . I would rather make a quick sale and only have to deal with one or two prospective customers . . . and customers willing to pay in cash . . . then to squeeze every last dime out of the car, have to deal with selling the car over several weeks and have a steady parade of strangers checking out the car and kicking the tires.

 

[mayhem]

I'd say local paper type of thing. For a $1000 car you're wasting your time with EBay and they'll nail you with fees. If the car is decent, safe and will pass state inspection, frequently a local ad is the best...always someone with a 17 year old kid that needs a car.

 

[ironpony]

(type of car ford,chevy) FOR SALE $1000.00

at that price theres not much to say
and buyers shouldnt be expecting alot

not knocking your car, in that price range if it runs its good

 

[Flatbedford]

We sold my son's $1000 Buick on Craigs List last year. Asked $1100, got $1000 in a week or two. You will just have to wade through a bit of spam when you list.

 

[granpajohn]

(type of car ford,chevy) FOR SALE $1000.00

at that price theres not much to say
and buyers shouldnt be expecting alot

not knocking your car, in that price range if it runs its good

Hmmm....maybe I should be asking more.

Thanks for the replies all. FWIW, I found the Autotrader site to be quite slow. Searched it, but expected better.

 

[Flatbedford]

I used Autorader to sell my F250 a couple years ago. It sold pretty quickly and I got what I wanted. It cost $60 or $70 but I sold the truck for $6500 so it wasn't a big expense. I don't know if I would pay that much to list $1000 car.

 

[homebrewz]

Sounds like you're not sure about the price either. One trick you could try, is looking on a few local craigslist sites to see what the same/similar car is being sold for. You'll have to adjust for differing mileages and conditions, but you get the idea.

It depends on your area.. we have a local free "Pennysaver"/trade paper/etc here, but CL is much more popular. Depending on your local CLs activity, if you post a really good deal you can expect to sell within a day or two. Maybe less. Just don't accept offers to ship it overseas to any Nigerian kings and you should be fine.

 

[granpajohn]

Well since all our gearhead instincts are up now...I guess I may as well give the specifics. (Because I did check the others for sale etc.)

The good: 1997 VW Jetta, gas, 5 speed, 4 door, 115k miles. Runs pretty well.
The bad: Been in 2 wrecks, (both repaired and repainted), and has a salvage title.

On KBB.com I classified it as "Fair" condition and it returned a private sale price of $1830. So I figure with the unclean title and a few other minor troubles, maybe $1200-1300.I
I note on Ebay, (and elsewhere), the mere addition of the word "diesel" to this thing doubles the price/demand. No surprise there.

I would keep driving this car but it was my wife's, and she just had to have a new car. (long story). In fact, my daily driver is a 1995 with twice the miles...but no wrecks.

Thanks for all the advice.

 

[SolarAndWood]

Any car in the $1K range we have put on Craigslist has been gone in days. Put something like respond to ad with a phone number and good time to call to deal with the spammers.

 

[WES999]

I vote for CL, I had a Ford escort that ran but needed a lot of work, listed it for $150, had about 5 or 7 inqueries, one junk yard ofered me $175 so I sold it to him.

 

[nate379]

Is Uncle Henry's the same as the Swap, Buy, Sell? (I grew up in Maine)

I've almost always been the type of person who drives a car until it is nearly dead . . . or at least to the point where I cannot easily fix it or keep it going with my skill set.

Here in Maine we have a "shopper" called Uncle Henrys which was around a long time before Craigslist . . . while CL is gaining in popularity, it seems as though Uncle Henrys is still the preferred way to go since you get a lot less folks trying to scam others.

The other suggestion . . . try putting a "For Sale" sign on the car and parking it at the end of your driveway.

Best suggestion . . . I've always priced the vehicle for a quick sale . . . generally the price is in the price range of KBB, NADA, Edmunds True Value Pricing . . . but I've typically priced it fair . . . I would rather make a quick sale and only have to deal with one or two prospective customers . . . and customers willing to pay in cash . . . then to squeeze every last dime out of the car, have to deal with selling the car over several weeks and have a steady parade of strangers checking out the car and kicking the tires.

 

[firefighterjake]

Is Uncle Henry's the same as the Swap, Buy, Sell? (I grew up in Maine)

I've almost always been the type of person who drives a car until it is nearly dead . . . or at least to the point where I cannot easily fix it or keep it going with my skill set.

Here in Maine we have a "shopper" called Uncle Henrys which was around a long time before Craigslist . . . while CL is gaining in popularity, it seems as though Uncle Henrys is still the preferred way to go since you get a lot less folks trying to scam others.

The other suggestion . . . try putting a "For Sale" sign on the car and parking it at the end of your driveway.

Best suggestion . . . I've always priced the vehicle for a quick sale . . . generally the price is in the price range of KBB, NADA, Edmunds True Value Pricing . . . but I've typically priced it fair . . . I would rather make a quick sale and only have to deal with one or two prospective customers . . . and customers willing to pay in cash . . . then to squeeze every last dime out of the car, have to deal with selling the car over several weeks and have a steady parade of strangers checking out the car and kicking the tires.

Same idea I think . . . but up here in Maine most everyone who wants to sell something puts an ad in the Uncle Henrys . . .

 

[Highbeam]

Craigslist for sure. The newspapers and print ads in general are going the way of the dinosaur. The younger generation, the ones buying a 1000$ VW don't read the paper anymore. I write a long CL ad, always use the most pictures allowed, and am brutaly honest. While it is listed on CL I also put a for sale sign in the windshield and set it out by the street. No reason to hide it in the garage. Use CL to find comparable vehicles to establish asking price since that is what the buyers will have done.

 

[Flatbedford]

Also check Ebay motors to see what similar models are selling for.

 

[granpajohn]

Well here's another interesting thing; somewhat contradicting our current line of thought.

I had listed a FP insert; Hearth Heater sort of Tube Grate with blower style. Had it on CL and here on Hearth.com. Only got one reply, even though I lowered the price and included 4 very nice photos.
Our local newspaper offers a free classified ad for items listed at $299 or less. This includes a corresponding online version at marylandclassifiedads.com, which allows one photo, (or more if you pay something). So I did this, and it runs for one week.
Got 6 or 8 replies by telephone from that ad. All of the callers said they saw it in the print version of the paper; none saw the online version. I asked a few if they ever look at CL, and they said they did, so I referred them there for the better photos. The guy who ultimately bought it ($50) lived close by and did not check online.

So interesting direct comparison which surprised me. By the Highbeam theory of age group; he may be on to something. I figure the insert was not a young person type item.

 

[Chargerman]

I have sold three vehicles and some auto parts in the last three months. Most were sold on website forums dealing with the brand. You usually have to register but it is free. One car was on Craigslist and would have sold but someone from town bought it 2 days after I put it in my yard for sale.

My advice is to set up a Gmail account or something similar and use that for the contact. That way your regular email is not being sent out all over.

 

[bjkjoseph]

i posted a little note in the laundromat,and it worked..it took about 3 weeks though.