where do private parties go to sell cars now?

Is this a case where value matters? I'm probably not going to use CL to sell a $20k vehicle and I'm not going to ebay a $500 one.

I did sell my last car on a forum in the for sale section; it was a website dedicated to VW TDI's and that worked. So I guess if the vehicle has a bit of a following, you could try that. Although you probably "need" to have been there for a while (a few years and posts under your belt) in order to have street cred.

I dare say, you just have to surf them all. Autotrader, CL, FB. Also, I don't know what you are looking for, but I would think there might be value in looking at dealer sites too. If it sits for a while they may be willing to sell for a reasonable cost, so as to open up retail space, or just to get rid of it. Sometimes private owners can cop the "I know what I got" attitude and a dealership might be competitive.
 
Originally Posted by demarpaint
I found cleaning the car and parking it near the local Home Depot entrance or exit sells them pretty quick. Over the years my brother and a few friends took my advice and sold their cars fast and free doing just that.

Most retail stores here don't allow that. It's one thing to park your car there for 2-3 days and maybe not get noticed but as soon as there's a "For Sale" sign in the window, they don't allow that and will threaten to have it towed.
 
CarGurus is where I sold my last car and found my Lucerne. But as some have said parking it at busy location works, my FIL had an office on1st and Main here in town and was a good spot.
 
I listed mine on cars and guru. Minor traffic. I posted in FB market and had three inquiries in the first day.
 
Yep craigslist is still #1. The $5 fee gets rid of most scam listings now. That and keeps people from posting the same car 12 times.

eBay is also still decent to look.
 
Wife posted her '07 Mazda 6 for sale on FB marketplace. We had a committed buyer the same day. Showed up the next day to see/drive it. He drove it home and didn't even attempt to haggle me on price. He lived about 2 hours away.
 
Also Craigslist is socially acceptable to surf at (my) work while Facebook is a glaring red no-no.
 
Originally Posted by eljefino
Also Craigslist is socially acceptable to surf at (my) work while Facebook is a glaring red no-no.


I was happy when they put in a freebie wifi at work. It's supposed to be for visitors but... it's a loosely guarded secret.
wink.gif
Meant so that all visitor traffic is kept off on its own problem areas. Not that I want to waste time on FB (I don't even have an account) but it's nice to have that availability.

I always get sad when there is a hiccup and BITOG gets blocked, but thankfully it's always been a hiccup with the filtering software and the problem is quickly resolved. BITOG being the social media place that I waste the most time at...
 
Originally Posted by JohnnyJohnson
If you have a really clean car the For Sale sign in the window still seems to work. Park it in a spot that gets lots of traffic.


That's called curbstoning and many cities will ticket you for doing it.
 
Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by JohnnyJohnson
If you have a really clean car the For Sale sign in the window still seems to work. Park it in a spot that gets lots of traffic.


That's called curbstoning and many cities will ticket you for doing it.

Curbstoning is when a dealer does this trying to mislead that they are a private seller.

A for sale sign will get people's attention so if you are parked illegally, sure expect a ticket sooner than if it didn't have the sign, but otherwise it is rare for a city to have an ordinance that you can't have a for sale sign in a vehicle that'd otherwise be legally parked, but again if the sign gets it noticed and there is an ordinance about how long a vehicle can stay parked in one place, it could be an issue even if parked on the street right in front of your home.
 
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I bought my last car 20 months ago via CL. I checked within a 200 mile radius of what I was looking for. Found about a dozen cars that met the general critiera. Had it down to a couple after a few days. Then another car popped up at that same time I was first to call on it. Price was right at $3700 and I bought it. I saw some other very worthy low mileage, one owner cars but stayed closer to home. CL is still a good source to buy and sell.
 
We still use newspapers here. We also use Southern Illinois Trader.

I never look in those "free" papers you find at hardware stores.

I also use Master Cars of St. Louis, they operate a Vehicle Finder Service.
 
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Originally Posted by Dave9
Originally Posted by atikovi
Originally Posted by JohnnyJohnson
If you have a really clean car the For Sale sign in the window still seems to work. Park it in a spot that gets lots of traffic.


That's called curbstoning and many cities will ticket you for doing it.

Curbstoning is when a dealer does this trying to mislead that they are a private seller.

A for sale sign will get people's attention so if you are parked illegally, sure expect a ticket sooner than if it didn't have the sign, but otherwise it is rare for a city to have an ordinance that you can't have a for sale sign in a vehicle that'd otherwise be legally parked, but again if the sign gets it noticed and there is an ordinance about how long a vehicle can stay parked in one place, it could be an issue even if parked on the street right in front of your home.


Most of the suburbs around here prohibit selling cars in that manner.
 
^ Define suburb. There is no such ordinance in my city or state and a busybody neighbor that wants to impose any kind of (anything) on me, better have a signed HOA agreement with a clearly defined penalty, except I'm not bound by any HOA.

If you have a HOA limitation or law, sure that's a shame, but I'm not aware of anywhere that I've lived that had this limitation.
 
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Texas law allows you to deduct the full value of your trade from the sales tax paid on the new car, so trading in has made sense for me.

Just need to find the right dealer to give you a good value for your trade.

I'm not sure if other states do this.
 
I've always had excellent luck on Craigslist. Usually have a car sold within a week or two on CL, and surprisingly the last two paid full asking price with zero haggling.

I've also had good luck parking cars at the end of the front yard which borders a semi-busy state highway. I usually get at least 4-5 calls the first day if it's a reasonably priced vehicle that doesn't require financing. (cheaper/older cars sell quicker around here). For newer/more expensive vehicles, I've had better luck on CL.
 
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