The average person owns and sells a handful of cars in their lifetime, and many times, double that number. It varies drastically from person to person so lets say 5-10 cars. That means you should know how to sell a car! This article will show you how to sell your car, private party to private party. Although it takes more time and energy, it also gives you the opportunity to put more money in your pocket verse trading it in to a dealership.
Selling a car sounds intimidating to the person who’s never done it, but quite frankly is easy, but many people miss the last step, that covers them from any crazy shenanigans the car might be involved in post sale.
There are 6 steps to go through.
Presentation:
Being in the industry, we can’t stress enough how important that first impression is. You want to clean it up, and make it look nice, as best you can. Ideally getting it detailed is best, there are many mobile detailers on craigslist or local shops that can do that for you for about $100-$200, if the car is really dirty can go even higher.
We always advise at least an easy car wash even if your car is junky and tore up to make your car look “somewhat” presentable. Trust us, it makes a world of a difference. If your car doesn’t start, try jumping it to make sure it turns on. If it just needs a new battery makes big difference in value verse if you can’t turn it on and the prospective buyer can’t verify that the engine runs.
Research your car value:
The two most popular valuation websites are NADA and Kelly Blue Book (KBB). California is more known to use KBB for their valuations; it will show the retail value, private party value and trade in value. You also get the option of choosing the condition of the car to adjust its value.
This is the basic search for valuing your car/truck/SUV. If you have the energy to take it a step further, you want to do a search on AutoTrader.com or Cargurus.com or any auto marketplace to compare retail listing prices, to private party listing prices and then come up with your fair listing price. (To make it easy, we recommend getting a few dealer offers, comparing to the average retail values with your mileage, and try to sell somewhere in between). Cargurus and craigslist (only up to 30 days) shows how many days a car has been on the market, to give you a little insight how long cars are staying on the market without selling. Here are some sites you can do some research:
https://orangecounty.craigslist.org
Selling your car
Next you want to get a for sale sign, to show the local community that drives by that its on the market. Make sure to put at the least your contact number so they can call you to set up in appointment, but its also good to add basic details about your car like the year and miles.
Next you want to list on a few online marketplaces. We recommend listing it on every free website; cars.com, craigslist, facebook marketplace, OfferUp to name a few. The more detailed your ad is, the less hassle you will get from prospective buyers. If you have all the information, plenty of pictures, explanation of condition, you won’t get repetitive questions that will drive you crazy if you don’t put a thorough ad. Make sure to list the vehicle identification number (vin number). The vin number only shows the car history (number of owners, accident history, service records, etc), it will not provide personal information. Include the miles, and brief description of how it drives and if it needs anything. Here are some sites you can list for free.
https://www.craigslist.org/about/sites
https://offerup.com (best used on mobile phone/ipad)
Adjust your price accordingly with how much activity you’re getting for your ad. If you’re getting multiple calls a day, you have the right price. If you haven’t gotten a call in a week or so, maybe you should reconsider your price. Expect calls from dealers, mainly the first 24 hours of the listing. After that it’s usually normal private party buyers, with some occasional dealer/broker inquiries still.
We recommend setting up appointments at nearest public location that is well lit and enough people around like a bank or grocery store, you never know how the person on the other end of the phone is. Let them inspect, test drive and start negotiating a fair sale price.
Money Exchange
This can get tricky for some, especially when the sale price gets to a big number. Very important for the seller to not release the car, sign off the title until the funds have cleared. The easiest way would obviously be cash for the bank to verify right away, but when sale prices get upwards of $10,000 it’s not always possible, and not the safest. A safe way to do the money exchange is to do a Cashier check or wire transfer. You want to verify ID, as you will need later anyway for bill of sale and release of liability, but also for the seller and the buyers safety.
With Cashier check meet at their bank to watch them walk into to get the cashier check. We don’t like people just bringing a check, as fraud is still out there. Go straight to your bank to deposit and have them verify that its a legit check. Although usually they say it won’t clear into your account until a few days, a cashier check is just like cash. It is much more difficult to cancel or put a stop payment on a cashier check as there’s a long process for that.
Wire transfer is faster, it should hit account same day if done before the cutoff time. Each bank is different, Wells Fargo cutoff time is 2pm Western time to give an example. They are done on normal business weekdays (no holidays and no weekends). So if you’re thinking of doing your deal over the weekend we suggest the cash or cashier check route verse the wire transfer.
Title Transfer & Bill of Sale: VERY IMPORTANT
You will need to fill out the title to transfer to new owner. There are two sections on front side of California title the seller signs. You’ll see in the middle it asks for “signature of registered owner”, and then one towards the bottom that says “transferor/seller signature.” If there is only one name on the title, that person can sign it and be done. If there are two persons on the title, it’s extremely important to note if it says “and” in between the names, signatures of both persons are required at the portion of “signature of registered owner.” If there is an “or” or if there is a “/” in between the names, only one signature is fine, either is okay.
The buyer has one signature on the front, and he will then put his information on the back to now make him the new registered owner of the car.
It’s very import not to cross anything out, scribble, white out or put any markings on the title. The DMV is very strict and if anything is on the title incorrectly, you will need to file for a new title, sometimes having to fill out a “paperless title” form from the DMV
Bill of sale (262 DMV form) is not required but good to have for records. It’s actually more important for the buyer to have one, just in case the DMV requests it when they do the transfer. You can get one from the DMV for free, and fill out the buyer and seller section, along with the odometer reading and car details. It will clearly say if the seller or the buyer fills out any particular section. Just go through it, and it’s pretty straightforward.
Post sale: Release of Liability
You just sold your car, congratulations! There is one last step that is crucial for your protection; you must fill out the release of liability. Match the ID with buyer to the information on the release of liability. There are plenty of scams now on craigslist and private party market where people buy, and look to resell the car while still leaving it in the previous owners name. That puts you at risk, so doing the release of liability and getting a copy of their ID is very important. Here is a link to the California DMV release of liability to do it online, and make it instant.
https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/online/nrl/welcome
Following these steps may seem overwhelming, but it’s a simple process. Anyone can sell a car, and this will help you maximize how much you sell your car for.
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