I would like to hear, the good, bad and ugly when selling a used car with sites such as Carvana, Vroom, CarMax and others. We have always sold out cars ourselves, or traded in if the car wasn’t worth much. We need to sell my husband car, hopefully next weekend while my son is in town; the car is a manual transmission which I don’t drive!
We have plugged in the information into some of the sites, and the price varies. My mechanic said I should check with nada.org to know what the price I should expect to get if selling myself. There is a $4K difference between that and the online sites, because duh, the online sites need to make money when they turn around and sell it! The kids want me to be done with the car and have money in hand, but my husband would be looking down on us if he knew we didn’t try to sell it. I tried to get him to sell it before he passed, but he didn’t want to. I am not excited about showing the car alone, although my BIL would help.
When using the online sites, or the local CarMax, does it matter if the car is newly detailed; does that really make a difference in the price? The car is not filthy by any stretch of the imagination, but not pristine like my husband would like; he hand washed our cars often. We can always take it through a drive through or even hand wash place, but not looking to have it waxed, carpets shampooed, and leather treated.
Do you know anyone who would be interested in buying the car, or does the car have any collector or niche interest value?
If it is not something of specialty interest, you can get offers from CarMax and others to see what you can sell it quickly to them for before deciding whether to try selling it privately.
@ucbalumnus It is a 2018 Subaru WRX Limited. My son has plugged in the information into a few of the sites, with prices varying between $16K-$19K. On the Nada site, if we sold ourselves, looks like we can expect between $20K-$22K.
I thought I would call the Subaru dealer and see if they have any interest without a trade in. Not sure their offer would be any better than others, but couldn’t hurt to check it out.
We don’t know anyone that would want the car, mainly because no one knows how to drive a 5 speed other than my son, SIL, and BIL My mechanic has been keeping an ear out for a buyer, but at the moment, there isn’t anyone. My BIL has a friend that offered to sell the car for us, but now he is back peddling. I am just ready to have it gone, have the money, and get a credit on my insurance. We kept it up until now so my son would have a car to drive when visiting while husband was sick.
I haven’t sold via an online broker but we’ve bought several used cars recently. I use AutoTrader.com to look for cars. We use Kelly Blue Book kbb.com and Edmunds.com to get the base value of the car. The market in the past few years is crazy though it seems to be settling down a little more so the blue book value is only a starting point. Look at AutoTrader and see what comparable cars are going for.
@snowball A dilemma to be sure. Unless the money is really critical to you, my suggestion would be to do whatever you have to do to make the car be gone by the time your son leaves. But of course good advice costs nothing, and it’s worth the price!
We just sold our Subaru to Carvana last week. We are moving out-of-state next week, and decided that we would rather have funds in our pocket for the move and try life out as a one-car family, as husband retired just a few months ago. We also figured in the cost to ship the car, plus some soon-to-be-needed repairs, insurance costs, etc, and decided to sell. I checked prices on Kelley blue book, and Carvana offered me about 3k over the dealer trade in price.
It was so dang easy. Literally the easiest thing ever. I input the car info, etc. online and got an instant price quote, Uploaded photo of title, made appointment to drop it off, dropped off car and title, received check, which I took to bank and deposited.
I have traded cars in, in the past, or sold them, and this way is far, far superior in my book!!!.
After we sold the Subaru, DD decided to sell their second car to Carvana, and had an equally positive experience. (I am totally surprised at the amount that they got for their little car. It was in good mechanical shape, but had a cracked windshield and the dented door. I imagine they have mechanics who will do all the repairs and gussy the cars up so they look nice and are in good repair.). They are moving, too, and figured they would rather buy a new car in their new state.
I don’t know if Carvana’s business model is sustainable, but hope so, because it was such a nice, painless way to sell our car.
@anxiousmom While only one person’s story, it is nice to hear that your family had a good experience with Carvana. Their offer is higher than CarMax, although I don’t know if my son entered the correct info. I have the original sales sticker from the car, so know all the specifics on the car. We are going to reprice all sites again this week and hope for the best.
I did call Subaru, and without a trade in they were not looking to buy, especially with the 86,000 miles on the car. It was worth a shot! I forgot my cousin know someone that deals with used cars, so going to check with him and see if he has any interest.
A new car dealer may be willing to pay a bit more for a car that they will keep to sell on their own lot, versus sending to auction (with additional auction-related expenses). But, while some may prefer same-brand used cars, many also prefer newer used cars with lower mileage.
I can let you know if a few weeks, how younger S’ deal goes. Older S sold his through CarMax 3 years ago and they gave him far more than I thought it was worth. Granted it was a 2010 Elantra that had been dinged in an accident, driven roughly by a teen/college student and had 4 bald tires. I think they gave him $3500? And he said it was super easy.
Younger S just bought a new car (RAV4) that came in the day before he flew to see us. Dealer is keeping it in their garage until he gets back, and then takes his (ours) to sell at CarMax. But I don’t care to get the best price. Again, it’s not a great car. 2012 Ford Focus that’s been driven hard by a teen/college kid - oh and also recently in an accident! (not his fault). I just want it sold easily. And get him off our insurance! (he set up with own with the new car)
Checked with my cousin’s friend; without seeing the car in person, he thinks they will be near the Carvana price my son got a couple of weeks ago. He did say not to expect it to be much, or any higher; his company deals in high end cars now, so guessing he is doing this as a favor. When I priced on Carvana a couple of days ago, it came out a bit less than my son got; not sure if we do it again after this one expires on Sunday if it will be less again.
I am inclined to go with the friend; my son want to go with Carvana. The friend will most likely sell it at auction and get about 4K more than he would offer me, but I think he would fix the little dings and scrapes as they have a full body shop.
The issue I may run into, and I was honest with the friend, I had my husband sign the title before he died. I thought I read on Carvana that the title holder needed to be present with a drivers license at exchange. Not sure if that will become an issue with them, whereas the friend knows us and the family and can overlook that. I guess we could try Carvana, and if they won’t take it at the end, we can go with the friend. I just want this done now. When my son gets to town tonight we will talk more. We are very alike and stubborn; wonder where he got that from May the best man/woman win this argument!
Call them and ask. In our case, younger S is going to sell the car to Carmax in new city, even though the title is in H’s name 600 miles away. I called asking what to do, and H just had to fill out a form and get it notarized giving him permission to sell it on his behalf. (and younger S has the title) I know it’s different than your situation, but a phone call should clear it up what to do. I am sure they encounter this all of the time.
We just went through this exact scenario. My father died mid-October and his car was titled in his name only. All my mother had to do was take the death certificate and title to the DMV Title Bureau and they changed the title to her name on the spot. Check your state’s documentation requirements, but it should be straightforward as this is a scenario they see frequently.
She asked me to handle selling the car for her. I reached out to the local dealer for the make of his car, as well as to Carmax and Carvana. The dealer wasn’t purchasing used cars at that time and the Carmax and Carvana offers were within $100 of one another. However, Carvana had significantly fewer hoops to jump through so I began the sale process with them. As others have said, it was by far the simplest vehicle transaction I have experienced. Handled all of the paperwork and even scheduled the appointment for them to come pick it up online. They came out as scheduled, gave it the once over to make sure I had represented its condition accurately, took it for a brief test drive, had my mother sign a few documents electronically, loaded it onto the truck and drove away. My mother was as blown away as I was…she appreciated the convenience and simplicity during a time when everything else is so complicated for her.
We also sold a car to Carvana and it was much easier than any previous car transaction. They even sent two guys to pick up the car so that we just met on our driveway for them to verify the information provided earlier and were done in about 15 minutes.
I recently requested a quote on another car we want to sell and it was several thousand better than the local dealer’s trade-in quote. We’re just waiting to find a replacement before selling.
May the best man/woman win this argument!