How did you get rid of your car before moving?

Good luck. I took the tags and insurance off mine and left it with my parents. They've got a farm, and can drive it a few times a month on the property. We're hoping to move back in a few years, and since it was paid off and in good condition, I couldn't bear the thought of moving back and having to start all over with two car payments. One will be enough. Country taxes per year will only be about $100.

The only negative about Craig's List is that it's inevitable you'll get a ridiculously low-ball offer.  Someone offered me $300 for my car the first day, which I turned down.  Basically, have a number in your head that you'll settle for and don't take less than that.  Since you know you need to payoff the car, I'd make the figure the amount you need for the payment, but list it slightly higher (like you said, it's blue book value is worth more than you owe, so I'd start with the blue book value). 

I had one person ask me what the lowest I'd take was, and I was honest with the guy, and that's the person I sold my car to.  He came over to look at the car, handed me $300 cash as a downpayment, and brought the rest over the following day. 

Another suggestion I have is to give out a reciept if you get a downpayment to show the buyer you're serious about it.  I also purchased a "car sale kit" at Staples that had a legal form for selling a car and I had the buyer fill it out with me to prove the sale of the car (and this document could come in handy if you need to prove with your visa ap where the large deposit came from!)

I had one person ask me what the lowest I'd take was, and I was honest with the guy, and that's the person I sold my car to.  He came over to look at the car, handed me $300 cash as a downpayment, and brought the rest over the following day.  

Random tangent, but this sort of thing bugs me.  If you're trying to be a cheapskate on the price before you've even seen the car, why should I tell you what my must-sell price is?  If the car's listed on the ad at $5,000, but I'll take $4,000, that's my business, unless you come look at the car and say "based on the fact that it has ______, will you take $4,500 for it?" in which case I can say yes or no.  (Or perhaps we go back and forth and eventually settle on $4,100 or something.)

Sorry, just a pet peeve of mine...negotiation should be a "meet in the middle" process, IMO, not just a flat-out "how low will you go?".

Glad the sale worked out for you, though.

Random tangent, but this sort of thing bugs me.  If you're trying to be a cheapskate on the price before you've even seen the car, why should I tell you what my must-sell price is?  If the car's listed on the ad at $5,000, but I'll take $4,000, that's my business, unless you come look at the car and say "based on the fact that it has ______, will you take $4,500 for it?" in which case I can say yes or no.  (Or perhaps we go back and forth and eventually settle on $4,100 or something.)

Sorry, just a pet peeve of mine...negotiation should be a "meet in the middle" process, IMO, not just a flat-out "how low will you go?".

Glad the sale worked out for you, though.

Oh, I totally agree with you, and I think if I hadn't been desperate at the time to sell my car, I'd have told the guy to come over and make an offer instead.  But I was leaving for 2 months in Canada within the week and wanted to get the car situation sorted out before I left.  But yeah, I hate when people do that too.

Actually, I hate when people try to low ball you on something in general. If I list the price on Craig's list for something as $20, that means I want $20 on it. It does not mean you can tell me you'll give me $10 because you know blahblahblah about the item.  (sorry, I was trying to get rid of Tupperware I don't want and this lady who sells tupperware tried to tell me the item was only worth $10 since it's currently a free gift for hostesses or whatever and I'm still kinda annoyed!)


LOL, more random tangents.

Huh.  I never had really any problems with Craigslist.  I actually got more than Blue Book value too. I had a load of people wanting my car though, so I'd just tell people the price- and say there are seven people coming after you just this afternoon if you have complaints about what I'm asking.  

I think Craigslist is a great resource, especially if you're a bit patient about it.

Huh.  I never had really any problems with Craigslist.  I actually got more than Blue Book value too. I had a load of people wanting my car though, so I'd just tell people the price- and say there are seven people coming after you just this afternoon if you have complaints about what I'm asking.  

I think Craigslist is a great resource, especially if you're a bit patient about it.

I just ignored the emails that were completely ridiculous.    I got a decent number from teenage boys who wanted to give me less than half the (very reasonable) asking amount.  My favorite was a very persistent guy who mentioned that "he might be able to kick in a little more if his parents helped him out."  I was totally stressed out getting ready to move, so it was good for a laugh. 

thanks guys for sharing your personal experiences

I'm a bit discouraged because I put my car up on Craigslist on Monday among FIVE PAGES of other cars for sale in Maine!  I've gotten one response, and she never came to see it.

When you all sold your cars on CL, were you up against 100s of other cars being sold?

Yes, but I was a bad girl and deleted my posts and put a new one on every day.

I'll take my demerits. 

Before I moved to the UK, I sold my car the old fashioned way. I put a for sale sign in my car window and the same day, a guy working in the parking garage where I parked near my work bought it.

Interesting story about the guy, he was from Ethiopia and had won the visa lottery. He was working in two parking garages so he could study during the down time. So two jobs and going to college in the evening. He bought my car to sell it and make a bit of a profit. (I was selling it for a good price because I needed to get rid of it). I thought "good for him".

Anyway, I picked him early one morning and we went to the MVA together to do the paperwork for the transfer of ownership. It was so easy and worked out well for both of us.

thanks! I am taking notes... car window for sale sign, Craigslist, vehix, in the paper, autotrader

 

Tell everyone you know that you are selling it. I put up ads in local shops too. In the end mine sold to a friend of a friend, and they worked with me by taking it on the last day I was in the country- which made my life so much easier. So talk to everyone, mass e-mail everyone, list it in the classified on this site or any other site you can find...

Good Luck

I'm a bit discouraged because I put my car up on Craigslist on Monday among FIVE PAGES of other cars for sale in Maine!  I've gotten one response, and she never came to see it.

When you all sold your cars on CL, were you up against 100s of other cars being sold?

We sold our car to someone in Portland!   

One thing to keep in mind is that they're not all looking for the same car.  When I've used craigslist, I do keyword searches to weed out all of the irrelevant (to me) crap.  So are there 5 pages of other cars the same brand/model as yours? 

We were selling a nearly new car that was also a new model, so there were only ever a few other cars like ours, so I made sure we had good pictures and descriptions so it stood out from the other ads. 

Aw, thanks guys! I appreciate it!

What's Vehix?

I sold mine at Carmax.