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Tips for Selling Your Car Online for the Best Price

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Home  |  Car Carriers • Car News   |   Tips for Selling Your Car Online for the Best Price

With the nation experiencing a serious vehicle shortage, used cars are in higher demand than ever before. If you are looking to sell your car, now might be the best time to do it. While you have the option of taking your car to a dealer, there’s a good chance they will offer you less money than a private buyer. After all, they are going to turn around and sell it so they are looking to maximize their profits. Listing your car online might be a better option, and one that brings more money to the table. Thanks to the ease and convenience of technology, sellers can even reach a broader audience by selling their car online. Here are a few helpful tips to ensure you get the best price when you sell your car online.

1. Choose Your Platform

There are lots of different sites and platforms where you can list your car online and each has its own pros and cons. Therefore, consider the car you are selling to decide which one is right for you. For example, if you are selling an old commuter car with high mileage, you could probably fare well using Facebook. The listing is free and there are no fees to list your car. You can also try Craigslist for free, but do be cautious of scammers. There are other listing platforms such as Kelley Blue Book and Autotrader that can usually bring more traffic, higher prices, and they are better at filtering out scammers. However, these do have fees associated with them. Higher value cars and trucks might bring more traffic and money on a site like Bring a Trailer, Hemmings, or eBay.

2. Know your Car’s Value

It is very important that you know what your car is worth so you can price it accordingly. One of the easiest ways to find your car’s value is by checking Kelley Blue Book. This is a great tool for finding out how much the car is worth on the private market so you can set a floor on your asking price. It’s important that you do a little research to find out what cars with similar mileage and condition are listed for in your area. Pricing a car too high can result in being ignored by buyers but pricing it too low can mean making less money on the deal.

3. Clean Your Car

Your car is going to appeal to more buyers if it is cleaned up. Just as you clean yourself up to make a good first impression, you want to do the same with your car. Wash the outside and don’t forget to shine the tires. You also want to vacuum and wipe down the interior.

4. Take Lots of Pictures

When selling a car online, pictures are worth a thousand words. Buyers want to see your car from every angle, inside and out. Make sure the pictures are taken in proper lighting and they are clear. Be sure to include multiple photos from every angle. Be sure to include plenty of pictures of the engine and undercarriage as well. Many online buyers won’t consider a car unless there are loads of photos to accompany the listing.

5. Include a Very Detailed Description

A car is a big purchase so people want to know exactly what they are getting. When it comes to selling a car online, information is valuable and the more you can offer, the better. People are going to have lots of questions regarding your car so take the time to research the make and model of your car and include as many details as possible. Be sure to include the mileage, the type of engine, what kind of gas mileage it gets, its safety features, all special features, and any other specifications regarding the vehicle. You should also include the VIN number so buyers can easily look up the vehicle’s history report. This will give buyers’ peace of mind about the vehicle.

6. Be Willing to Negotiate

When pricing your car, be mindful that most people are going to try and negotiate. Therefore, leave a little wiggle room for negotiating. Most buyers will also feel better about making the purchase if they feel like they are getting a good deal.

7. Offer Multiple Payment Options

If you plan to sell your vehicle online, electronic payment apps like Venmo, Zelle, and PayPal are increasingly common and make the transaction easy and convenient. Easy payment options can help finalize the sale before the buyer has a chance to reconsider.

Frequently Asked Questions

Honest Answers to Your Car Shipping Questions

Yes, we always ask for your specific pickup and delivery addresses, if the carrier can get right to the addresses you provide, they will. If the addresses that you give us are not safely accessible for a Multi-car carrier, however, you will need to make arrangements with the driver to meet at a nearby location where the carrier can safely get in and out.

People do it all the time (rarely for free) but the official answer is no.

Not what you wanted to hear, we know, but that is the honest answer.

We are not licensed to broker the shipment of household goods and, likewise, no car carrier that operates in the USA is licensed to transport them from state to state either. Despite what you might be being told by other car shipping companies you may speak with.

Remember, at the end of the day we're all salespeople, and the true answer to this question is not a great selling point.

You will hear a lot of companies tell you that you can put up to 100 pounds of items in the trunk, but that is not entirely true. That fact is that items of that amount are fairly common and the department of transportation is probably not going to split hairs and fine the trucker over items of that amount, provided they are not over their weight limit. They could fine them, however, if they see a vehicle stuffed full of personal items so the car carrier will most likely try to negotiate something with you to cover themselves against any costs they could incur. It's not something we can build into your contract though.

We have a short and helpful video on this topic in our user videos.

Only in rare cases and car carriers will usually charge a premium to make it happen.

All dates given by car carriers are typically estimates and projections.

For this reason (and to keep your cost down) we ask that you build in some flexibility and give us the earliest possible date you would be WILLING to release the vehicle, even though it may not be your preferred date.

We'll put you in direct contact with your car carrier and the driver will also typically call you the afternoon or evening before your pick up and delivery (they won't just show up unannounced, and if they do we want to hear about it). However, car carriers are out on the road battling traffic, weather and any number of other factors that can and do throw them off of their pickup and delivery projections from time to time.

If the projected dates we give you come and you are unable to make contact with your carrier, please call our office immediately so that we may help resolve the situation.

The average transit time from pick up to delivery on any vehicle going coast to coast will average 7 to 10 days. From there you can figure your transit time based on how far your vehicle is traveling, i.e. from either coast to the Midwest might average 3-7 days.

Yes!

Even better, we do not even ask for payment until we have you confirmed for pickup by a safe, reliable, fully insured, direct car carrier. If for any reason you do not ship your car with the carrier that we arrange for you, there is no fee.

The fees paid directly to the carrier however, (in most cases, their fees are not paid until your vehicle is delivered) are not directly controlled by us, so any requests for a refund of the carrier's portion would need to be addressed with the carrier directly.

Of course! And you are always backed by our Damage Free Guarantee policy.

Part of what you pay us for is to verify that the car carrier that we put you on is covered by the proper amount of insurance and that everything is up to date.

There is never any additional cost to you for this coverage, and their insurance is always primary.

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