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Used car book values

A

Armitage

Banned
So I'm trying to sell my Tundra to cut expenses due to this.

Various book values:

NADA Average Retail: $19650
NADA Average Trad-in: $16850
Kelly Blue Book, Private Party 'Good': $17,060
Kelly Blue Book, Private Party 'Excellent': $18,140

So it's been advertised for several weeks now ... local paper, thrifty nickel, cars.com, and some flyers I've put up. I've spent probably $200 on advertising so far. Started off asking the KBB Excellent price $18,100

Now I'm down to $17,500. Through all that I've gotten only about 4 call total.

Are book values BS? Is there some unwritten rule about discounting KBB values by some %

I've got an offer of $16,500 now, and I'm wondering whether I should take it, or hold out through the weekend. My advertising is good through the weekend.
 
kbb values are an average of the last quarter's sales for a given vehicle, as reported by dealers. Meaning, when they jack up the price due to a guaranteed $8k trade-in minimum or something, that's the price that's reported.
 
You are misunderstanding how to use those #s. If you actually want to SELL a car privately, you should roughly go in between the retail and private party numbers if your car is in VG condition.

Howevr, your particular market could vary widely. The best thing you can do is to check out those local sources, and see what similar vehicles are selling for.

PS: You didn't mention autotrader.com, which IMO is probably the best/most visible way to sell a car.
 
Originally posted by: Eli
Er, well... how much are similar Tundras selling for in your area?

😛
Click to expand...

There aren't many late model Tundras on the market, and most of the ones that are aren't V6. Of those, they are asking about what I am ... don't know what their selling at
 
Originally posted by: flot
You are misunderstanding how to use those #s. If you actually want to SELL a car privately, you should roughly go in between the retail and private party numbers if your car is in VG condition.

Howevr, your particular market could vary widely. The best thing you can do is to check out those local sources, and see what similar vehicles are selling for.

PS: You didn't mention autotrader.com, which IMO is probably the best/most visible way to sell a car.
Click to expand...

between retail & private party ... I'm already below private party and not getting any calls.

off to check out autotrader ...
 
The private party used car market has sucked pretty badly for the last couple of years. If you want to sell your car, then you have to actually sell. Otherwise, you'll get spammed and pushed around by a lot of assholes with low-ball offers.
Same seems to go with buying one too though. My SO went through a lot of BS with sellers trying to jerk her around earlier this year when buying a used car. Some would accept our offer and then suddenly try to screw around saying they got a higher offer, and more than one attempted to hide significant defects and/or previous modifications.
In other words, it's really ugly out there right now (although I don't think it's ever been pretty).
At this point for you, my advice is to take the $16,500. It's not unreasonable. However, tell the buyer that you want to close ASAP, with no BS. One question though: did you counter-offer? You were asking $17.5k, did he just say $16.5k and you left it at that? Or did you try to counter-offer at all with $17k even as you should have?
 
Originally posted by: Vic
The private party used car market has sucked pretty badly for the last couple of years. If you want to sell your car, then you have to actually sell. Otherwise, you'll get spammed and pushed around by a lot of assholes with low-ball offers.
Same seems to go with buying one too though. My SO went through a lot of BS with sellers trying to jerk her around earlier this year when buying a used car. Some would accept our offer and then suddenly try to screw around saying they got a higher offer, and more than one attempted to hide significant defects and/or previous modifications.
In other words, it's really ugly out there right now (although I don't think it's ever been pretty).
At this point for you, my advice is to take the $16,500. It's not unreasonable. However, tell the buyer that you want to close ASAP, with no BS. One question though: did you counter-offer? You were asking $17.5k, did he just say $16.5k and you left it at that? Or did you try to counter-offer at all with $17k even as you should have?
Click to expand...

I countered with $17K and they didn't take it.
 
If you need to sell it, then give it up at $16.5k but tell them you want the money now, no BS or forget about it. Selling is all about giving and taking while holding your ground. "You want this? Fine, then I get that." (Of course you want to say it nicer than that though). So, "I've decided to accept your offer of $16.5k. You need to come pick it up with a certified cashiers check by (for example) Friday".
This is only if they have seen and inspected the vehicle. No buyer should be discussing price with you without inspecting it first (or if they live out of area, after seeing pictures and arranging for someone, like a mechanic, to inspect it). Otherwise, upon inspection they will only nitpick even the smallest imperfection in an attempt to force the price down even further.

It doesn't take long selling a car to find out why car salesmen are the slime that they are. It's because car buyers are even worse slime.
 
Originally posted by: Vic
If you need to sell it, then give it up at $16.5k but tell them you want the money now, no BS or forget about it. Selling is all about giving and taking while holding your ground. "You want this? Fine, then I get that." (Of course you want to say it nicer than that though). So, "I've decided to accept your offer of $16.5k. You need to come pick it up with a certified cashiers check by (for example) Friday".
This is only if they have seen and inspected the vehicle. No buyer should be discussing price with you without inspecting it first (or if they live out of area, after seeing pictures and arranging for someone, like a mechanic, to inspect it). Otherwise, upon inspection they will only nitpick even the smallest imperfection in an attempt to force the price down even further.

It doesn't take long selling a car to find out why car salesmen are the slime that they are. It's because car buyers are even worse slime.
Click to expand...

Yea, that's another wierd bit about this guy. He looked at it briefly, but didn't test drive it. Didn't even start it for that matter.

I've also heard that cashiers checks aren't all that safe. I plan to give a receipt upon receiving one, but not hand over the title or car until it clears. Reasonable?
 
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