To trade or not to trade

I sold my 1994 Subaru Impreza myself just before my Prius came in.

I'd never sold a car on my own (I traded in my old Camry last time).

I placed an ad with lots of pictures on an BBS (craigslist.org) and created a little geocities website for it. I priced it at exactly what Edmunds and Kelly BlueBook valued it at ($3250 - only 65K miles).

I set up an email address just to handle inquiries and only after I felt comfortable that the person was really interested, I gave them my work number and arranged to show the car from work or from a 7-11 down the street from me. I showed the car 5 times, and sold it within a week for exactly what I hoped - $3,000.

The key for me, at least, was to have lots of photos of everything available - the upholstery, bumpers, trunk space, the dash, a scan of the original window sticker, and even had a spreadsheet of all the maintenance I'd done.

The good thing about your car is that it's still within the manufacturer's warranty period, which should provide more confidence to the prospective buyers.

When trading in an older car, the difference between wholesale and retail is usually only a few hundred dollars - but with a solid newer car like yours it will probably mean thousands.

You can always try to sell it on your own and make the deal that they take delivery when your Prius comes in and if you can't, there's always the trade-in option.

 

ebay motors?

 

That could be a bit sticky since the delivery date of a new Prius is totally unknown until maybe a week before you get it. If Cybele's marketing suggestions were set up before hand, and put out to the public only once you heard from the dealer, it would be fine. Also, since it IS a newer car, it should be easier to sell as there isn't as big a market for 8-10 year old cars since the future reliability is less certain. You could even take it to a dealr now ans ask what they would give you in trade so you have a number in hand for private sale. If you can't do better, trade it in.

Also, I think the value of any car you sell can be taken off the price of the new car for tax purposes, but I could be wrong.

 

If you are looking to sell, try Cars.com or Autotrader.com. Both sites run about $20-$30 per ad and the ad runs until your car sells. The best thing is that you reach a wider audience than just taking out an ad in the newspaper. I sold my car through both of these sites and had the same number of interested buyers from either so I can't say one is better than the other. Hope that helps.

 

I don't think the sales tax savings on trade-ins works here in California. Perhaps someone else from CA can chime in with their experience since the car I'll be selling is a 2002 and probably won't get a good value from a dealer.

 

Ha ha ha. When I told a friend that I had ordered a Prius, he asked me what I'd do with my Civic. I told him I'd sell it, because the Toyota dealer only offered me $300 for it. (Kelly Blue Book around $2,000. - Obviously, the dealer just didn't want it.) Two days later another friend called me. "Steve says you're going to sell your Civic." I told her yes, but not until the Prius comes in. She said, "I'll wait!" So I had a deal to sell my Civic at my original asking price of $2,000 two months before I had my Prius. No ads, no letting strangers take it out to test-drive, no worry, no hassle.

Obviously, I could have gotten more for it had I wanted to hassle. See what the dealer will give you for your old car, check out the Kelly Blue Book price, and decide if the difference is worth the hassle. It might not be for you, if you generally trade in.