Here at Edmunds, we don't just have articles and advice on buying a car, we also have plenty of useful information to help you out if you're selling some iron too.
Unless you are planning on buying a new car and/or:
a) Your car qualifies (and it makes financial sense) for the Cash for Clunkers (aka C.A.R.S. or C4C) program
b) It doesn't qualify for C4C and you don't mind trading it in and taking a big hit
...then you're looking at unloading that puppy on your own. But before you drop that ad in Craigslist, however, you might want to optimize your chances of having a quick, minimal hassles sale by reviewing our 10 Steps to Selling Your Car.
As it emerged from bankruptcy GM announced it is considering selling new cars on eBay.
Car dealers have always had a love hate relationship with the internet. Mostly hate.
In 2000 when the internet was first sending ripples of terror through the car business, dealers fought to beat back the transparency that the internet brings to the buying process. A few years later, at a NADA conference, dealers talked smack, bragging how they had repelled the attack and how "all roads still lead to the dealership."
But now a humbled GM, reemerging from a speedy bankruptcy last week, announced it's working on a deal with eBay Motors to sell its new cars on the internet. The cars would still be delivered by local dealers.
Is this a path to profitability for General Motors? Or just lipservice to a generation of young buyers who currently get their books, music and movies with just a coupla clicks.
With the CARS (aka Cash for Clunkers) program expected to go into effect July 23, Edmunds.com has released a handy list of vehicles that are eligible as trade-ins. You can review this list to see if that old car in your driveway qualifies as a trade-in vehicle (clunker), and note that the list shows in what category the trade-in belongs.
We've also got a complete list of new cars that meet the Clunkers mpg requirements, these are the vehicles which you can apply your clunkers trade-in amount towards. Again, the category is called out so you can see how best to maximize the program.
Edmunds.com is working to make the Cash for Clunkers bill as understandable -- and more importantly useable -- as possible. For more information, and to see a table that describes the fuel economy requirements see our Cash for Clunkers page. Check back often for updates and additional resources.
My 2000 Mitsubishi Galant has a trade-in value of $2,437 but it isn't technically a "Clunker."
Many folk have been asking about Cash for Clunkers, how it will apply to their specific situation and details of how the program will work. I have a clunker. It's a 2000 Mitsubishi Galant. I'd love to turn it in for a $4,500 voucher but I can't. The mileage is too high -- 21 mpg combined. Not only that, but I'm not looking to get into a car payment right now.
But based on the email we're getting about this bill that was passed last Thursday, a lot of you are sharpening your pencils and staying up late at night looking for loopholes in this government program.
"Hey, what if I trade in TWO clunkers? Can I get $9,000?" Or, "Can I tow in a rusting piece of junk and get my voucher?" And even, "Can I put an ad in the paper, find someone with a clunker, trade it in and buy a car for me? Then I'll give the guy $500."
Calm down everyone. You're making this WAY too complicated. Here's how to think this through.
You want to sell your car yourself but you don't like strangers calling your house. Or maybe you've read a lot about online fraud and you're worried about possible ripoffs.
Take heart because a coalition of used car players met the other day, at the Petersen Automotive Museum, here in Los Angeles, to consider ways to keep you safe and facilitate the sales process. Organized by Mota, a site dedicated to used car sales (and featuring a great shot of babes sitting in a convertible on its homepage) the panel discussion included representatives from Carfax, eBay Motors, Cars.com, Pep Boys and AutoTrader.
It was fascinating hearing some of the stories about fraud and used car dangers. In fact, one panel member described the transaction as "stranger to danger." But others on the panel proposed some innovative steps to make the so-called "peer to peer" sales easier.
As half of America tries to sell its old junk on eBay to try to make a few extra bucks, people who have clunkers in the driveway are hoping to offload them for cash. Selling your used car to a private individual has always been the best way to make money on it -- dealers won't give you as much for it. But what about taking a tax write-off if you donate your car to charity? Advertising abounds on television and in the papers, encouraging well-meaning people to help their causes with a used car donation. Sounds like a win-win.
But in 2005, the federal laws changed, largely because people were abusing the system. Today, if your car is valued at more than $500, your deduction is limited to the price that the charity can get for selling your car, which happens at auction. The donor must attach a statement of sale to the tax return in order to receive the deduction. (The charity is obligated to provide the statement within 30 days.) Here are the problems with the new system: You are not entitled to know the deduction amount before donating your car. And auction prices are notoriously low.
There is still a way to deduct full market value of your used vehicle: If the charity uses the car itself to further its specific purpose. For example, the nonprofit organization 1-800-Charity Cars refurbishes donated cars and provides them directly to the economically disadvantaged. Its goal is to help the needy and welfare-dependent to become self-sufficient, tax-paying citizens. But most cars donated to their organization don't qualify as "program cars" and end up at auction, regardless.
The bottom line? Charities still desperately need your cars, but donating one, like any true charitable giving, should be done without expecting much in return.
For more the details on what qualifies and how, click here.
Each Wednesday in the Idle Chat Lounge (read: a bus bench in front of the In-and-Out Burger by Bryn's house), Brent Romans and Bryn MacKinnon, two editors at Edmunds.com, pontificate on a topic that's kinda about cars.
Today's Idle Chat Topic: Do you eat in your car?
Ms. MacKinnon: Cheeto dust. Burrito fallout. Cappuccino overflow. Blech. I do eat in my car, but I try to choose dry, non-crumbly foods that can be popped into the mouth in one shot. I'm not that concerned about the residual values of the cars I own (I tend to keep cars until they must be towed away to the recycler), but I hate the sick, sweet-rot smell of a food-dirty car. So you won't find me nibbling industrial hash browns from a greasy paper wrapper, but you might catch me snarfing a whole box of Girl Scout cookies.
Mr. Romans: Well, yes. Normally, I stick to simple snacks. But a couple of months ago, I was late driving somewhere and in dire need of a meal. I picked up a bean-and-cheese burrito. Bad idea. About half-way through consumption, a blob of leaky cheese and reconstituted bean broke free and landed on my shirt. (At least it wasn't as bad as what happens in this eat-in-your-car video.) Another reason: just like smoking, eating in your car really does leave an odor. I once bought a used 240SX that smelled like Indian food. Even after a year, a friend snarkily remarked, "Dude, since when did you start doing deliveries for Bombay Palace?"
Hoping for a quick sale, I listed our 2008 Mercedes-Benz C300
on Craigslist.com and Autotrader.com for our TMV (True Market Value) price of $29,000. Over the weekend I only got three inquiries about the Benz, two e-mails and one phone call. As I described in an earlier blog
, a young woman offered to pay $27,000 for the car if I got no better offers.
What I'm about to say is going to evoke a chorus of "I told you so" comments. Many of you felt that accepting an offer to buy a car sight-unseen should never be entertained under any circumstances. The buyer hasn't had a chance to inspect the car so adjustments cannot be made for its condition level.
Well, that's exactly what happened to me, when the buyer came for an inspection.
At a time when automakers are desperate for every sale, a remarkable number of shoppers are drifting out of the new car market and purchasing a used car instead. In fact, Edmunds.com has determined that approximately 511,000 used cars sold in the past three months would have been new car sales in a more normal economy.
But how do you determine a fair price -- whether you're buying or selling a used car? The market is so volatile that you can't rely on anything from a book, because it would be instantly out of date.
Edmunds created True Market Value pricing for this very purpose. (For a cool tutorial on TMV, please click here.) Here's how you research a used vehicle's TMV price:
1. click the Used Cars tab from anywhere on the site
3. Select the make, year, model and style of the vehicle you would like to appraise
4. Choose whether you are planning to buy or sell the vehicle
5. Indicate the vehicle's color, mileage, options and condition
6. Finally, click "Get Pricing Report" to generate a customized TMV price for the vehicle. This report will provide you with the vehicle's trade-in, private party and dealer retail TMV prices.
TMV pricing is the most accurate reflection of actual transaction prices in your area. For more information, see How We Calculate Used TMV Prices.
Here are a few bullet points for buying a used car:
Imagine this -- you buy a nice used car from what you think is a credible dealer and after you start making payments get hit with an additional loan to pay off. Huh? Turns out this other loan is left over from when the previous owner traded the car into the dealership. How did this mess happen and why is the innocent new owner on the hook for it?
Americans have stopped buying cars and who can blame them?
With the stock market crashing and dire predictions of Detroit's bankruptcy, people are just not in the mood. But in all the thunderclouds of verbiage coming out of Washington along with the recently announced bailout, there's one word I'm not hearing: "stimulus package."
What's it going to take to get people buying again? Because, buy they must. No car company -- not even the mighty Toyota or Honda -- can't survive at the current sales numbers. So, what we are really talking about is a bailout of the car industry, not just Detroit.
Consider this: in a "normal" year, about 16 million people buy cars. This year, only about 12.7 million people have gotten new wheels. That means about 3.3 million Americans have postponed a needed trip to the car lot.
What will get those 3.3 million people off the dime? When will they say, "It's safe to go back to the car lot?" That's the part of the bailout that's being ignored. It doesn't make sense to carbuyers yet.
Look, it's one thing for a bunch of politicians and auto execs to reach an agreement. But that's not what it's about. It's all about boots on the ground. Or more to the point, customers on the car lot.
We have already seen a massive bailout of the banking industry where the government merely threw money at failing companies to keep them afloat. Notice how the real estate industry is going gang busters now? Maybe that should tell you something.
The stimulus part of the bailout is not an important part of the concept -- it's the most important part of any plan. If we give the car makers a loan, it won't do much more than put the auto industry on life support for another few months. But if the bailout can include a way to get car buyers on the lot, then the tide will turn.
So what's it going to be? For those of you who are reading this, who have put off getting a new car, what would it take to get you in that new car today? For starters, we have to offer loans that people can qualify for. But what about tax credits? Interest-free loans? How about a government guarantee to honor extended warranties and supply parts and service? Or, this is really wild, how about an amnesty program to forgive the negative equity many consumers are now carrying?
Ever notice how the best advertisement for a restaurant is a line of people waiting for a table? Get the stimulus package in order and 3.3 million people will flood car lots and pump cash back into our economy. Just think how that will look on the 5 o'clock news.
My father decided to upgrade from the 2002 Volkswagen Jetta TDI to the new 2009 TDI (which is an amazing car) and it fell to me to sell his faithful old wagon.
Before listing it I discovered there was something wrong with the brakes, the turbocharger had cut out and the back bumper was peppered with scratches and scrapes. I had gotten quotes as high as $1,500 to have just the turbo fixed. So I took it to my friend John Mallet who runs Burke Auto Body in Long Beach, CA.
John was immediately sympathetic. "Yeah, without the turbo, this car's a dead dog." I gave him the car, went out of town and forgot about it for a week.
In the last two months I've sold a 2001 Ferrari 550 Maranello for $120,000 and a 1996 Mitsubishi Galant S for $1,200. I'd say I have both ends of the spectrum covered.
I wrote an article for Edmunds called "How to Sell a Ferrari" but I didn't get a chance to write about the Mitsubishi sale. It was straightforward and satisfying. Without spending a dime on advertising I turned the car into cash (admittedly not much) got it off my back and cancelled the insurance.
Actually, the car was sold by my son Drew who has been driving it for the past four years in college. He's home now so we don't need another car to get ticketed on street sweeping days. I feel it's part of my duty as a parent to educate him in the important things in life -- like how to sell a used car. To add a little motivation, I told him if he handled the sale he could keep the money. Here's how the deal went down.
After nearly two years of faithful service, it came time to bid our 2007 Chevrolet Silverado LT Crewcab goodbye.
It was a faithful steed in which I had taken many great trips, including driving 54 miles of bad road on the way to the Racetrack in Death Valley National Park (shown in the photo).But we were done testing it and it had to go.
Recently, we've been taking our vehicles to Carmax when we're done testing them. They appraise the vehicle and offer to buy it. The process is quick and easy and sometimes we're surprised with the price they pay us. But we decided to try using an autobroker to see if we can improve the figures we get.
As an experiment, we took our Chevy to Carmax and got a price (good for seven days). Then we called the broker and gave him the specs. We paid $41,494 for the truck new, almost two years ago. It now has 32,000 miles on it. Read about all the options on our Chevy on the longterm blog.
So, anyone care to guess what Carmax offered for it? And for bonus points, what do you think the broker offered.?
For the first time since 1991, the Ford F-Series is not the nation’s best selling vehicle. Last month, that honor went to the Honda Civic. With gas prices at an all time high, it is not a surprise.
The entire truck and SUV segments have seen a sales crash, not unlike what we have seen in the housing market...
We try to cover topics that we think you might find beneficial. However, there may be questions you have that we have not yet answered. So, post questions you would like to have answers to, and we will try to address them in future entries.
So, my car didn't sell. It came close to meeting the reserve price, but ultimately bidding didn't reach the minimum price I'm willing to sell my car for. I was expecting lots of bidding within the last hour of the auction, but there was nothing. My car selling think tank and I figure that my end time on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. PST had something to do with it. I have relisted on eBay for an end time of 7 p.m. PST / 10 p.m. EST on Thursday, Oct. 25. That way people can bid at work and at home computers on a night when people don't typically go out (and why would you with so much good TV?). If this auction fails, I'll probably try AutoTrader. Any thoughts regarding the timing of eBay car auctions?
Months of never driving my personal car has finally led me to a sad, but obvious decision: It's time to sell it. It is a 2006 Acura TSX with a 6-speed manual and navigation in Arctic Blue. Dealers never order manuals any more, so I had to special order my car (it took four months) -- it's a safe bet there are an extremely scant few vehicles that match my car's description. Nevertheless, I'd rather have a large chunk of change in the bank than a rapidly depreciating car with only 5,400 miles on it sitting in the garage...
USED CAR BUYING TIP: I had a friend who said you should never buy a used car until you wash it. Why? Well, when you wash and vacuum a car you are forced to go over every inch of the car...
When you're selling your car, it's something you want to get done quickly and with the least amount of hassle. Usually, you're chomping at the bit to get that shiny new whatever you've been considering.
But don't let that make you lazy about preparing the car for sale. I can't believe how many times I've seen photos of private party used cars where the seller didn't even wash the car or vacuum the interior. Not to mention awful pictures that are either too dark or have parts of the car in shadows, which make it appear that the car's finish is messed up.
Folks, first impressions are everything when it comes to selling your car. This is what is known as "curb appeal". Detail the car inside and out and make sure that the maintenance records are all up to date. For example, having to tell someone that the timing belt is overdue for replacement isn't going to make a quick sale for you, and you'd probably end up discounting the price more than it would've cost you to replace the belt.
Now that it's all looking pretty and you don't have to make apologies for it needing a timing belt or brakes or whatever, take some sharp pictures. Don't just take a front 3/4 and call it a day...
Question: Hello Edmunds. I'm trying to find the price of 1960s T-Birds, where do I go?
Answer: We do not have pricing information for vehicles before 1980. There are not a lot of cars that old around anymore, and as a result reliable data about their values is not available. In any event, most cars that old have depreciated to the point where they are not worth very much, and have depreciated to the point where fluctuations in values are minimal...
I recently had to sell two Edmunds.com long term test vehicles. The first was a 2006 Honda Ridgeline, the second was a 2005 Land Rover LR3. Which do you think sold first?
This post is long overdue, but hey, better late than never. A few weeks ago we took our long-term Honda Ridgeline down to CarMax to get an appraisal, and they actually ended up giving us a fair offer, far more than I'd expected. Since there were no more nibbles off autotrader.com, CarMax it was.
Selling your vehicle to them is a fairly simple and straightforward process...
Question: I am looking to trade my car, but I can't remember what the trim level is. It's a 1999 Oldsmobile Intrgue, but I don't know if it's a GX, GL or GLS. Without my original sticker is there any way I can tell from any of the stickers or markings on the car?
Answer: You can look up your car on Edmunds.com's Used Car Appraiser. This will give a description of the equipment that each trim level has...
Edmunds is selling its long-term Honda Ridgeline, so earlier today I took it down to CarMax to get an appraisal. I'd never been to a CarMax before, but I always see the Best Buy color scheme and acres of cars from the freeway.
Speaking of Best Buy, CarMax has very much the same feel as a big box retailer- an open an airy showroom, a casually-dressed staff and a professional courtesy that you'd be hard-pressed to find at most used car lots. Throughout the store, CarMax advertises their car-buying program, which states they will purchase your vehicle for the wholesale cost, meaning what it would cost them to buy the car at auction...
I was in Las Vegas last week at the Conference of Automotive
Remarketing, listening to all the industry leaders give their schpiel,
and during a session on reconditioning, one question in particular
caught my ear:
What is the best bang for the buck when it comes to vehicle reconditioning?
No it's not tires, and it's not even a thorough exterior and interior detailing. It's paintless dent removal.
A few hundred dollars in labor can adds upwards of a thousand dollars
in value to your car. Combine that with a dandy of a wax job, and
you're looking at enough extra dough to buy you those Dodger season
tickets... on the reserve level...
We're in the middle of winter, which normally means that half of our county is covered in rain or snow. While the winter has been relatively mild compared to past years, the weather plays an essential role in deciding when to sell your vehicle.
Here's another question we got from a reader:
"We want to sell our BMW M5 and have had no luck on line or through newsprint...we were thinking of going through a dealer however they charge a fee $400-600 to put it in their showroom. If they don't sell it you don't get your money back. The fee pays for cleaning, advertising etc. I am for it because people can see it in person and they do all the financing. The selling price is the same we were asking on line. I would appreciate any advice or opinions. Thank you!"
Here's a question we got from an Edmunds.com reader concerning the resale value of his car:
"I'm an amateur radio operator and there's a bit of a debate among radio ops as to whether it makes any real difference in the price of a car, if the car has one or more 3/4" wide antenna mounting holes (plugged or otherwise) in the roof or other body panel when it is being bought/sold as a used car.
My own experience has been that unless the car is a beater (junker) and especially if it is a clean new-ish car, any hole in any body panel is going to mean "subtract the price of a panel repair" and that can run a fast $200 around here, often well more.
From your point of view, do antenna mounting holes (with or without the mounts still in them or plugged) make any difference ar resale time? Varying with location, car, etc.?
We wrote back with this reply:
Holes in body panels definitely make a difference in price when you resell the car...
I was supposed to sell the RX-8 to a guy from Arizona on Sunday morning and on Saturday night he called with a question. Why did we have to do front brakes with only 25,000 miles on it? And what about the new tires? I was afraid he was going to show up and ask a million questions. But here's what happened.
