Selling a Car

2 parent questions ▼
Archived Q&A and reviews ▼

Parent Q&A

Select any title to view the full question and replies.

  • Best way to sell a VW SUV?

    –
    May 5, 2023

    Does anyone have a recommendation on the best way to sell a car? We have a 2017 VW Tiguan with low mileage, all new wheels, new shocks, new brakes that we need to sell since we only need one car.

    Thanks

    May 5, 2023

    Best is a relative term.  Websites like shift will give you an offer.  Carmax is a option if you don't want to list it on autotrader which is a party to party website.

    May 10, 2023

    I had a very good experience in early 2016 with Buggy Bank in Berkeley.  The car was parked there; interested people could take test drives without my involvement.  When the car sold, all the paperwork was handled right there, too.  Really, pretty painless for me.  I assume things are the same, but it has been 7 years since my experience.

    May 10, 2023

    Try the Buggy Bank in Berkeley! It's a place that facilitates private car sales. I have shopped and test drove cars there but have not sold a car there. Seems friendly though!

    May 11, 2023

  • Hoarder's estate going into probate; need help evaluating cars

    –
    Jun 19, 2019

    My relative has died, leaving just about everything undone that it's possible to leave undone.
    The estate is going into probate because of course there's no will. I have an attorney who's filed for probate, and I've been given authority by the court to gather information and secure the estate's assets.

    Among these items, relative had a number of cars in the yard, in various states of disrepair. Only one runs and I suspect none of the others have been running for at least 5 years. My relative fancied himself as a collector so there is a possibility of value beyond the obvious, even though everything he owned was neglected to the point of abuse. There is a vintage car that may be quite valuable, but it's been damaged through neglect over the years. I've spoken with a broker and with an automotive writer and they have given me *wildly* different evaluations of their potential value - by hundreds or thousands, depending on the vehicle. And I need, somehow, to get through to DMV for far more than a 3-item window of discussion, to find out the fines/liens/registration info/ etc. associated with the relative's name.

    Has anyone been through this process before? How do I get someone trustworthy to evaluate their worth when I can't actually sell them for the next few months? How did you deal with the DMV? Do you have leads for reliable, honest experts who can help me figure out what gets towed away for scrap, what gets repaired to running condition to improve its sale price, and whether the estate should put money into the vintage car or unload it as-is? I'm sure there's a tipping point between selling it as-is, putting wheels on it and having it towed away, auctioning it off or trying to find a collector who'd want to restore it. I'm in danger of being low-balled because a broker might want to get the items as cheap as possible.

    Thanks for any advice you might have! If you have direct experience that is best; well-intended speculation won't be of much help (I already have PLENTY of that!)  
    :-D

    Sincerely,

    Perplexed.

    Jun 19, 2019

    "Stuff: is the biggest headache for the executor, and the "stuff" you have to deal with sounds a lot like "junk". Here's an overview of the "stuff" part of a probate. First of all if your attorney fee agreement is the usual statutory fee, your attorney should advise you, and it would not cost you any more in fees. And be sure to take your attorney's advice.

    If you have rceived your Letters of Administration by the court, you are authorized to give and receive information about the decedent's assets.

    Make a list of the cars with Brand, Model, License Plate number, and VIN number. List any obvious condition issues, such as "does not run".  You can look online for approximate valuations, based upon location and condition on sites like Kelly's Blue Book. You can find out if there is any monetary value in any of the cars.

    When the estate is ready to submit its Inventory and Appraisal, the cars with any value will be listed. The probate referee will assign a value probably based upon Kelly's blue book, or other subscription appraisal sites.

    If they have no value, your attorney will probably advise you to donate them.

    However please consult the estate's attorney for specifics.

    Jul 3, 2019

    For value, you may want to try sending pictures to an appropriate auction house. Google "collector car auction." 

    Jul 3, 2019

    The bible for classic-car buffs is the Hagerty company, https://www.hagerty.com, where you can find information on what cars are worth in ranges from perfect (#1) to fair (#4).  "Fair" means "vehicles are daily drivers, with flaws visible to the naked eye. The chrome might have pitting or scratches, the windshield might be chipped. Paintwork is imperfect, and perhaps the body has a minor dent."  I.e., cars that are running and look to be about 10 years old.

    My Dad bought a new T-bird in 1957.  By the time we pried the car keys away from him, the T-bird, which had gotten pretty beat-up, was partly dismantled and awaiting restoration.  We got an offer for $3000 as-is.  Instead, based on the high prices cited in classic-car magazines and websites (now about $150K for a #1 '57 T-bird), my family decided to get the car fixed up and use the profits from selling it to help compensate for Dad's failure to plan well for his old age.  Ultimately the car sold for about $1000 more than we spent on the repairs, from which I would subtract the cost of considerable aggravation.

    Those gorgeous classic cars that sell for gazillions of dollars were either always maintained meticulously and rarely driven, or were lovingly restored by classic-car buffs without regard to costs.  Beat-up cars are worth a great deal less, and I suspect can never be fixed up at a profit except by experts who are in the business.  The fact that the cars you're dealing with have been stored outside and aren't running tells me that they are (like my Dad's T-bird) somewhere below the #4 level, where prices drop off catastrophically.  Be wary of folks who you can hire to restore cars that claim a beat-up car can be restored for any reasonable cost -- if it could be done cost-effectively, the prices on beat-up vintage cars would be a great deal higher. 

    Jul 7, 2019

Archived Q&A and Reviews

Questions

How can I sell/donate/junk car with problem title?

Feb 2015

My troubled young nephew, who is estranged from his parents, stole money to buy a used 20-year old vehicle in poor condition from a Craig's List ad. The male seller gave him a title with a woman's name and address typed on the front and a man's name and address handwritten on the back. He didn't give him a bill of sale. I don't know if it was his name on the back but I called the woman and she said that she sold the vehicle a year ago to someone whose name she doesn't remember. Apparently, whoever it was never got the title in his own name, nor did he register the car. The DMV tells me that I will have to pay the 2014 registration just to get a junk title, plus about $300 in other fees if I want to get the title in my own name. The car needs engine work but I don't know how much it will cost. I'm reimbursing the victims of my nephew's theft, who very generously didn't call the police, so would like to sell/donate/junk this car with as little additional expense as possible. Apparently, I'll have to obtain title to do anything with the car, but frankly I'm afraid to identify myself to the seller, who sounds like a tough guy, and have no confidence that he'd cooperate in any case. The DMV has been useless in terms of telling me my options. Any ideas? Frustrated aunt

My daughter bought a car from someone on Craig's List and paid cash. Turned out he had never transferred the title when he bought it from the prior owner and she had no way of tracking him down. She found the last registered owner per advice from DMV: (her memory of dealing with it follows) I think I had to go make a statement, then send the letter certified mail to the last owner on file and bring evidence that I had sent the letter and they let me register it after I proved I had done all I could... (The car also had lots of problems that this guy had covered up) anonymous

Has anyone sold a car on Craig's List?

August 2008

as anyone successfully sold a car on Craig's List? The fraud warnings are really intimidating. If yes, what did you use as your form of payment since personal and cashier's checks can be fraudulent? If Craig's List isn't the solution, what is?

Try the Buggy Bank kitty-corner to the Berkeley Bowl on Shattuck and Oregon. We sold a car there; it was an easy, hassle-free experience. Ian

We sold a car through CL. Once we reached an agreement & completed the paperwork with the buyer, what we did for the money transaction was to take the buyer and 2 cars to the nearest branch of the buyer's bank. The buyer withdrew cash from his account for the sale. After the cash exchange, we went our separate ways from the bank in our own vehicles, with the new owner driving off in our former car. We drove to our bank to deposit the cash. Even if the buyer has a money order, it is reasonable to ask him/her to convert it to cash at his/her bank before you hand over the car. That way the check trail leads to the buyer, not to you. The buyer has the car and you have the cash, as agreed. tried it

We sold our car on Craig's List for cash. I suppose we would have taken a cashiers check. We BOUGHT a car on Craig's List using a cashier's check. If you trust these forms of currency then I would be more afraid of someone taking off with the car I'm selling. If that is a worry, you might want to try the Buggy Bank on Shattuck in Berkeley. We never tried using it, but a friend sold her car through them and was very happy. Francesca