How to Sell Your Used Car Yourself and Get Your Price Every Time

It’s a known fact that you can get more for your used car selling it yourself rather than trading it in to a dealer. Dealers want to low-ball you on that nice used vehicle and turn around and sell it for more profit than they can make on a new car. With used car prices holding strong in the market, you shouldn’t feel intimidated or coerced by a dealer into giving up that old friend you’ve been driving since the Clinton administration.

Of course, selling it yourself will involve some work on your part. You’ll have to get it ready to sell…detailed, checked out, oil changed, advertise, take calls, schedule showing times and negotiate with potential buyers. Sounds like a lot of work, but if you want to get your desired price, it’s all worth it and here’s how you do it.

First, determine what’s a reasonable price for the vehicle’s condition? I know you have many fond memories of the car, but here’s where you need to be objective. Look at it from the perspective of the potential buyer. Does it need new tires (or a good set of used ones)? How about a new battery or tune-up? Are there any windshield chips that need repair or maybe some touch-up paint here and there? Remember, it’s used but you don’t want to give the impression it’s abused or neglected. Now that you’ve settled on your desired selling price, price it a little higher that what you think it’s worth. I’ll talk more about this later. After all, won’t everybody want to negotiate a better deal?

Once you have the car running well with some good tires, it’s time to make it look good. Have the vehicle professionally detailed. I’m not talking about sponging it off in the driveway. Make it look like the dealer would have it on the lot all spiffed up. Make a good first impression. Next, take some nice photos of the car. Here’s some rules on photos. If you have a black car, don’t take a picture of it on a bright, sunny hot day. People will think, “Wow, I’ll bet that car is pretty hot.” And they won’t mean it in a good way. Take pictures of darker cars on rainy days – it makes the paint job glisten and doesn’t convey how hot it is inside. If your car is white or a lighter color, take the pictures on a sunny day. It will convey the thought that, “Here’s a car that won’t be so hot on sunny days.” Get the picture?

Advertise creatively. Never pay to advertise your car. It cuts into your profits when you could be spending that money on getting it ready to sell, not selling it. Use Craigslist, any free local pubs, your Facebook page, bulletin boards at stores, the gym, coffee shops, your local car parts stores and other high-traffic places. Tell your friends, co-workers, your mechanic, insurance agent, relatives and anyone else you can think of. Put a “For Sale” sign in the car with your telephone number nice and big along with the words “Must Sell.” In your ads, let people know that you’ve taken good care of the vehicle and treated it like “your baby.” Of course be truthful about things like mileage, and how dependable it’s been. You’re selling a used car but you are not a used car salesman.

The Deal Killer appears. Watch out for the “expert” to intervene at the last minute and derail your sale. The deal killer is the “mechanic inspection” request. This “expert” who many times comes along with the potential buyer, can be the parent, brother-in-law, neighbor, friend or boyfriend of the buyer. They are there to do one thing – prove how smart they are about cars and how much they are “protecting” the buyer. They are there to kill your deal and eat away at your desired profit goal.

Neutralizing the Deal Killer. Be prepared to parry the Deal Killer by having the mechanic inspection done prior to showing the car. Go to a reputable, independently-owned local shop where the proprietor looks like your favorite Uncle. You know, somebody everybody could trust and relate to their knowledge and experience working on cars for many decades. Take pictures of your car up on the rack being inspected from every angle. Get a detailed analysis of the true condition of the car…what it needs and what it doesn’t need. Also, take pictures of the car getting detailed. Don’t just drop it off and come back later. You don’t want anything to postpone closing your deal when people show up to see the car. Having had a trusted expert inspect the car shows that you did your due diligence already, paid for it out of your own pocket, and aren’t trying to hide anything serious. Figure the price of inspection and detailing into your asking price.

Scheduling appointments. Here’s where the fun begins. Hopefully, you will get many calls as you have done such a great job of advertising and prepping the car for sale. When people call on your ad, don’t bore them with a list of “specs” about the car like how big the engine is, does it have fancy wheels, how many miles on it, etc. These should have been covered in your ad. Instead, you need to convey to them how they will feel driving your car.

Paint a picture in their mind and plant a feeling in their heart. Tell the caller about how they will “feel” driving the vehicle. Will they feel safe, can they depend on it not breaking down, will they save money on gas, will it be fun to drive, or easy to park? Will they impress their friends or will people know they’ve “arrived” when they pull up outside the club? You want people to make a buying decision based on feelings because this is the basis of a stronger commitment. You want them to make a decision with their heart and not their head. If you are selling a BMW stress the “driving experience;” an economy car, how they’ll feel driving past the gas pumps; or if you’re selling a camper truck, recall some of the best times you’ve had out camping and how much you’ll miss them. Get it?

A little competition never hurt anybody. When somebody says they’d like to see the vehicle, schedule them to come over on a weekend afternoon, say Sunday at 2:00pm, because that’s when you’ll be home. Schedule them on your time table, not theirs. Give them easy-to-follow directions so they can’t get lost and your cell number in case they do. Be ready when they show up to give them a copy of the mechanic’s inspection to look over….this will eliminate the “I can’t make a decision until I show it to my mechanic” excuse right up-front and move them toward handing over their cash money to you on the spot.

Now, this part is the most fun and is what assures you of getting your asking price. What the potential buyers who called don’t know is that you told everybody who was interested in the car to show up at exactly the same time…2:00pm on Sunday! This injects a spirit of competition into the transaction. Not everybody will want to buy the vehicle, but those really interested will forget about negotiating the price down or niggling over little scratches in the paint, a door ding here or there, or a tear in the upholstery. In fact, nobody will even ask for a test drive. They will be falling all over each other trying to get the money into your hands first!

So, there you have it. Sale made and you got your price just like you wanted. Do try this at home.