Originally Posted By: Smoky14
Why if the dealer sells my car it suddenly becomes worth $2000 more.
Just wondering
Generally, folks are more comfortable buying cars at dealerships because they believe they have less of a chance of buying a reconstructed car, have less of a chance of buying something that'll blow up on the way home, and are sometimes offered a warranty at a dealership. Additionally, it's often easier to deal with dealers if you have a trade or if a private seller's car still has a lien. For these comforts and conveniences, folks are often willing to pay more. Whether or not these additional value-adds are real or perceived probably depends on the situation.
You can look at it from the perspective that dealerships mark the cars up compared with private sellers, or you can look at it from the perspective that private sellers have to discount their cars compared with dealers to attract buyers. Either way you look at it...it's the same thing. On average, folks prefer to buy from dealers. We know this to be the case because dealers, on average, get more for used cars than private sellers do.
Edit: some of the things that you can do, as a private seller, to more equalize the playing field:
1) Don't try to sell a car with a lien still on it (you don't have the title). This adds uncertainty to the situation for prospective buyers.
2) Clean the car to better-than-new. How often do you see something on Craigslist and it looks like the guy just got back from vacation when he took the picture? Maybe the picture's out of focus or it's foggy. Recondition your car at a professional level (steam clean carpets, cloth seats, etc), take professional-quality pictures, etc.
3) Consider buying an extended and transferrable warranty to sell with the car. Not unlike you do when you're selling a home. Home buyers like home warranties. Used car buyers do, too.
4) Buy the Carfax and Autocheck and everything else appropriate and advertise that with the car.
Basically, do everything that a dealer will do to provide assurance to prospective buyers that YOUR car is the real deal. With these additional boxes checked, you should be able to close the gap of value between your car and a dealer's car.
