When you want to sell your car, you assume putting a bright sign in your windshield and popping an advertisement in the local paper will have you selling your car in no time, but this isn’t always the case. A picture in an ad does not do your car justice, and your car just sitting in a vacant lot with a sad little sign does little to promote your vehicle. From my experience, the best way to sell your car is to get your car around town.
I sold my 1992 Mercury Sable back in 2003 for $1,300 within 72 hours of posting my car for sale in the local paper. I put a picture of my car, mileage, MPG, asking price ($1,500) OBO, and my phone number to be reached, of course, and also put a sign in the back window of my car and continued to drive it around. It wasn’t a respond from the local paper that got my car sold, it was a member at the local health club where I worked who saw my car parked out front, asked me if I knew who was selling that “pretty little Sable” and informed the guy that it was me. As luck would have it, I was about 15 minutes from getting off shift, so I told the guy I’d let him drive it in a few minutes, and the rest is history. He loved it, offered me $1,300, went to the bank while I waited for his wife inside the club to come out to pick up the keys, signed over the title, and grabbed my jacket out of the back and bid them farewell. Of course, I had to get a ride home that day, but it was nice to sell my car so quickly.
Drive your car around town if you want to sell it. Keep the interior spanking clean and don’t keep a lot of your personal stuff in there, because someone walking out of the grocery store may tap on your window as you are starting your car and inquire about it. You have to be willing to sell your car on the spot and not have to dig a lot of stuff out of it. Driving it around also affirms that the car does indeed run, and allows people to see it in a variety of areas when you park, rather than just one lonely parking lot on the side of the road. You should keep the title with you (or in your purse) so if you are lucky enough to have a spontaneous sale you are ready. Also, make sure to have a ride home somewhere, and if not, explain to the potential buyer that you will meet them at your home to finalize the sale- this way, you can have a place to sit down and trade title for cash, and you’re good to go.
An advertisement works, but to be honest, I only got one or 2 calls from my ad, and it was from people who never even came to see the car at all since they lived too far away to bother driving down to see it. Rather, it was local interest that got my car sold, and had I not been driving my car that day to work, I likely would have taken longer to sell it.
