The appeal of selling your car yourself boils down to one thing: you have a chance to make more money. What more reason do you need?
Auto mit kennzeichen verkaufen (Selling your car) on your own is a good route if you can manage it. And that’s a big “if”. When selling your car on your own, there are several risks that you may not want to deal with, or that make selling your car on your own impossible.
If trying to sell your car yourself doesn’t do anything else, appreciate those who sell cars for a living. Selling your car is difficult. We like to think that all we have to do is put a “For Sale By Owner” sign in our window and people smash our door until we sell them our car. It doesn’t take long to realize that this isn’t going to happen.
In general, selling your car is the least convenient and least profitable option, while trading is the most convenient and least profitable. Again, this is generally speaking. There are exceptions to every rule.
Based on this rule, if getting the most out of your car is worth the time, effort, and risk, sell it. If not, trade it in. But don’t blindly sell your car without understanding what you’re trying to do.
I don’t need to tell you about the amount of identity theft, robbery, fraud, and other crimes that can take place on sites like Craigslist and eBay. If you want to avoid burns, you need to do your homework. Selling a car is a large financial transaction that should be approached with caution.
Prepare for marketing, sales, photography, test drives, customer care, cover work, vehicle history research, detailing, repairs, closing, contract writing, and even a little flattery. Still scared? In that case, trading might be a better option. If not, read on.
By following these simple steps before actually listing your car for sale, you can avoid legal risks and focus on getting the most money for your car:
1. Title issues
Take the time to consider who owns the car you want to sell and what your obligations are. Who has the title? Whose name is on the title? Are they willing to legally release you the title? What do you need to do to include the title in your name?
If your name is not printed on the front of the title by the Department of Motor Vehicle (DMV), you must take the title to the DMV and have the title placed in your name. This simple step will solve a whole list of potential problems that I won’t take the time to discuss. Suffice it to say: Have the title put on your name. It will save you from many potential headaches.
If you have a loan with the car as collateral, it is impossible to sell the vehicle to a private buyer without first repaying the loan. If you can’t afford to pay off the car and then sell it with title, you need to find a buyer who is willing to take you with their money to your bank, pay off the promissory note and the title or lien to await the release that comes in the mail, and then deliver the title or lien release to the buyer.
If you have a local bank, just take the buyer with you. If you don’t have a local bank, good luck finding a buyer willing to give you their money, not their title. In that case, it’s probably better to trade it in or sell it to a dealer who’s willing to work with you.
2. Get the car ready
Nobody wants to buy a car that’s 2,000 miles overdue for an oil change (this includes the trade-in, by the way) with Burger King wraps on the back seat and child finger stains on the windows.
3. clean it
get everything out I mean everything Look in each compartment, under the seats, and in the trunk. Service records are nice, but how much private information do you want the person buying the car to know? If it were me, I’d go through with it and redact private information. Vacuum the car, wash it, and then you might want to consider detailing it.
4. fix it
Get the oil changed, put some gas in, air the tires, have them serviced, etc. If the car runs rough, you won’t get as much for it and you’ll be selling a bad product. Have the car checked and give the buyer the receipt. You will feel better if you sell it.