I sold my car in an hour. OK, it wasn't through a dealer trade-in. But I did employ pricing techniques that I use to price homes in Sacramento. The only missing ingredient was I couldn't look up precise sold prices, just estimates of value. Kelly Blue Book is a good place to look, as is Edmunds. You can pull up private party values, trade-in values and estimated retail value. You can do a CMA on a car.
The dealer offered me a paltry sum. It wasn't even close to the trade-in value for a car in poor condition, it was much lower, and my car was in great condition. That astonished me a little because I've had dealers in the past offer a number that was pretty close to trade-in, even when I wasn't buying a new car. What this told me was the market for my car might be saturated.
I went to Craigslist and looked, including Autotrader, the Sacramento Bee, Yahoo and a few other places. There were a large number of Mercedes for sale in my Class and Year. When I grouped them by Model and a Year older with a Year younger (the way a buyer would look), the number of cars shot up even further. It's a hot little car so I figured there would be a big demand, but there was also a large number of vehicles for sale in inventory.
The next thing I looked at was price points, above $15,000 and under $15,000. Being under $15,000 was better, obviously, it would attract more buyers. I'm not gonna bicker over a couple hundred bucks. The difference between SOLD and UNSOLD isn't worth it. I don't have days or weeks to spend on selling my car. My time is precious.
The cars below my asking price were not as nice as my car. The cars above my asking price were unlikely to sell because they were offered by dealers, with higher mileage and there were too many of those. I carefully positioned it. Although it was raining cats and dogs outside, I consider myself to be a pretty good photographer and stood in the rain, getting drenched. I chose the most flattering angles and didn't bother with photos from the front. Lightened the shadows. Created a fast flyer in vflyer and uploaded it online, then copied the html to Craigslist.
First guy who called made a lowball offer. I rejected his offer. Second guy was very excited and called 3 times. He asked if I would negotiate because my ad said I would negotiate. Sure, I'll negotiate. You can pay me more than I am asking. He told me I was tough. What do you expect from a Sacramento short sale agent? I negotiate short sales all day long! He then said he would meet my price and was driving up to Sacramento from Modesto. Ten minutes later he called to say he was short $500. That's too bad. My car had been for sale for 30 minutes.
The third person who called drove down from El Dorado Hills and bought it.
It's kind of sad, in a way. That's because I've owned my car for more than a decade. That's a long relationship. It's been good to me. As emotional as we may feel about our homes, let me tell you, I was a little astonished at how I felt after shaking hands to sell my car. It's sad to say goodbye. Even if it's four walls and a roof or just a hunk of metal, our surroundings and possessions mean something to us.
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Certified HAFA Specialist
My Sacramento Real Estate Listings
Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout the four-county Sacramento area. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. Broker-Associate at Lyon Real Estate. DRE License # 00697006.
The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available at Amazon.com.
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The views expressed herein are Weintraub's personal views and do not reflect the views of Lyon Real Estate.
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