Marantz2270

These are all great points. I’m a bit put-off by the consignment route at the moment. I’ll either sell to the dealer or do it myself for now.

Marantz2270

Good word. I just need to get it cleaned up and photographed. I’m not a pro photographer by any means.

ipse dixit

This might be the understatement of the week.

Private party sales, unless you are extremely fortunate, always involve tire kickers, guys (and gals) who don't return phone calls (yes, it's not just dealers), and then when you have everything finalized, you will have to worry about DMV paperwork and that little detail about how to transfer funds.

Personal checks and even cashiers checks are obviously not a good way to do this, unless you are either extremely trusting or just ignorant (and I don't believe OP is either).

Venmo, Zelle, Square, Paypay etc all have dollar limits, which means if you are selling your car for anything over 100k, you're looking at multiple and multiple transactions over, potentially, several months.

Cash exchange? Only possible in person, and not sure I would want to be in a public place with that kind of cash, unless I have like 3 former Navy seals with me.

Wires are good obviously and the best option, but then not everyone is willing to wire.

So, while a private party sale will net you the most $$$, it is by far not the option with "very little hassle".

Good luck to the OP.

Call me lazy, but if I wanted out of a car, I would just go to a dealer. Walk in with car, walk out with $$$ (either check or cash in bank account).

achilleas101

You've just detailed everything I thought about if I were to have to sell my car (I work in big tech and wasn't sure about how safe i was in all these layoffs). Private party sale is not that easy when you consider everything.

Has anyone used Bring a Trailer? Seems like a great way to do private party sale for high value cars, and can default to wire transfer for that aspect of the puzzle. I imagine most people do not come in person to see the car.

Motorin Mark

Absolutely correct on all of these points. Selling yourself is much easier said than done. Especially again since most folks really do finance these cars.

Marantz2270

I own the car outright…but the thought of dealing with tire kickers is what’s put me off of private sale in the past.

siberian

No one mentioned PCarMarket or BAT?

You can use a realtor or save 6%, same with dealers. I'd rather do it myself.

siberian

CubsFan1

I'm sure I get some flack for suggesting privately, but my experience has been different. And, a smooth transaction goes both ways. You own the car outright, which is the first big hurdle, as title in hand is key. I don't find it difficult dealing with people who are interested vs. someone who is a serious buyer. The last car I sold privately on here, I didn't even have to officially list it. Instead, I merely suggested I was selling it and there were 5 RL members who reached out. I gave priority to the first person. I exchanged the typical information such as maintenance records. I then scheduled a PPI locally at the buyer's expense. The buyer setup payment with the dealer prior to the actual appointment. What would I be out if the buyer paid for a PPI, which I had a copy, and then backed out. I would then have a recent PPI I could provide the next person. Realistically, I knew it wouldn't get to that as the car had 5k miles. This was just standard procedure for a buyer doing their due diligence on a +200k car. Inspection was done and deposit wired. Remaining balance wired one week later. I overnighted the title after confirming funds cleared via wire. Buyer arranged shipping and that was it. I get it, this may be more the exception than the norm for others. But as the seller you're in control. There are plenty of members on here like you, enthusiasts with the means to facilitate a smooth transaction for a car they really want. Good luck

siberian

Personal reputation does it for me more than service record from some unknown dealer or garage - it was done but was it done right?.

Always sold my cars personally which were all very modded with piles of documentation/receipts, a beer and a handshake. The last one was my 2015 Audi RS5 for $45k.

siberian

Marantz2270

Service records will be easy for this car...there's only one. 😂

siberian

Maybe, the wonderful folks here refused to perform the courtesy service on the wife's Macan (bought there) so I did it as everything else myself. Have filed a long list of grievances with PCNA on our 3 dealers in 10 years. A disgrace. Will see what PCNA does, including refusal to perform update according to Bulletin#2229. So he may or may not have.

siberian

digits

I've gone both routes. In my state there is a like-for-like sales tax offset that generally makes trading in on a new purchase the most beneficial route i.e. you only pay sales tax (over 10% in Washington state) on the difference between the new car sales price and the trade-in amount. I usually go that route, but there was a time (I guess about four years ago) where my newly ordered car was finally delivered and the dealership wouldn't budge from a ridiculous lowball trade in number. That's my fault - I didn't get a trade-in valuation up front, but this all happened several months after my order was initially placed. I chose to go ahead and purchase the new car outright and shortly afterward sold my old car on consignment through a local private company that specializes in used high end cars. I negotiated their commission up front, had them explain their vetting process to prevent abusive test drives (never unaccompanied), and ensured the car would be otherwise kept safely indoors the entire time. My car sold for a fair price to an out-of-state buyer (who is also here on RL) in less than a week and even after sacrificing the tax offset and covering the commission I netted $10k more than if I had traded it in (the lowball offer was just that bad). I could have gotten more for the car selling it myself, but I didn't want to deal with tire-kickers either. Since you aren't trading in, see if there is a company near you that sells a lot of used Porsche/Ferrari/Lambo/Aston/McLaren/etc. YMMV, of course, but a reputable secondhand dealer will treat your car respectfully, insulate you from the tire-kicker hassles, handle the financial transaction, and you get to set the listing price. If it doesn't sell within the agreed time window, all you've lost is a (hopefully reasonable) fee to compensate the dealer for listing your consignment.

3rdpedal

I seriously doubt there is a massive dealer collusion scheme to sell at no inventory order only. Remember when lots were full and we hammered them on pricing. They got volume discounts, made tons of money, and moved a lot of cars.

Now with no inventory, order only, their sell rate/volume has dropped to almost nothing comparatively. And while they are making ADM or near/above MSRP, and not selling low, they are doing so on such small numbers by comparison that they are making less than when they had a small profit per vehicle on a larger volume.

GeneTakovic

I just sell to my dealer. It’s not worth the hassle to sell privately to make a bit more. Learned that early on.

Marantz2270

Well, when it was all said and done I sold to the dealer. Just drove my car in one afternoon and let the receptionist know I had a car to sell. I was funneled to the used car manager who, never looking up from his computer tablet, asked, "Where's the car?" I pointed out to the parking lot, and said, "It's that one out there." He walked past me and started looking over the car. I walked out to ask for his name and introduce myself real quick, and he made it very clear I was hindering his process.

He walked back in and started click-clacking away on his computer. Gave me an offer, I took it. Then, he had me sign the paperwork, and he told me they'd inspect the car and get me a check in few days as long as the car checked out.

The whole process was as chilly and sterile as can be. Some of you may say, "These folks aren't your friends, business is business," but my goodness, it sucked. One introduction, one smile...something resembling a service-oriented approach would have been nice. Feel free to defend them, but I think some common courteousy goes a long way, and I didn't get an ounce of that. I'm very kind and polite in these settings, and felt pretty poorly treated. I'm done with P-cars for awhile.