How in the heck do you sell a used car these days

I have been trying to sell my wifes '05 Nissan 350Z since the beginning of summer. Have it in local paper and Autotrader online. Only one call on it and one sight unseen low ball email offer which I did not even respond to.

I dont get it. We are listed at $17,900 which is the lowest listing by $2k. The car has only 27k miles, is clean as can be, always garged and even garaged at her work which is only 2 miles from the house. Its a Touring roadster w/ automatic w/ manual mode. Plus a non-smoking car ( which is impossible to find in the midwest where everybody smokes )

She works for the largest rent a car company on the planet so we can always have it sold at auction, but I was hoping to get a few thousand more than wholesale.

What should I be doing? We want this thing sold.

Wheres the ad? I sold my 95 Integra in a few weeks, but my buddy sat on his Audi A4 for months. He had me take some new pictures, and it sold in a few days. It all came down to the description (that I re-wrote), and the pictures. If you want me to take a look, I can offer some advice.

Could it be that it's an automatic? Maybe it's just me, but it seems that most 350Z drivers want the fun and racy feel of the stick.

Maybe ebay? Any way to get more attention. Do you have a ton of detailed pics? Inside and out? I know when I am car shopping, great pics peak my interest first. A picture is worth a thousand words and some are too lazy to read. (Did I just say I was lazy?) Good luck with the sale.

Okay, I checked your ad - I should have been a detective! The pics are decent, but not great. Detail the car out. Armor-all is your friend. What about under the hood and under the car. The car is low, so most won't get under there. Carefully clean the engine compartment - it is probably just dusty. Spray everything down with armor all and close the hood. Come back in an hour, the white will be gone and it will look new. Next, armor all the dash and seats. Make'em shine. Get some top dressing too. The top should be really black, just like the tires. Will A.T. allow larger pics? Bigger is better for the enlarged ones. Everyone can see the little pics on the main ad for the bandwidth challenged. The large ones are for the serious customer who wants to have a close up view of just how clean and like new this car is.

Okay, last observation. You don't state your age and that it is a woman driver. This has not been a party car. Get the cat out of the pic too. I am extremely allergic to cats. It would turn me off thinking that a cat has been on the car, and since it is a convert, inside too. Again, good luck!

a lot of great info there, thanks. The pics are kind of weak. She took the photos and I should of handled it. Its my description, which does need a bit of massaging.

I dont know if the A/T is problem. I mean, its really a chick car and I dont know if chicks need a manual tranny. But I dont know.

Seriously just the local paper and auto trader ? Might as well just put up a sign on a telephone pole next to the garage sale stuff. CRAIGSLIST!!!!! welcome to the internets. I will be your guide.

Definitely throw that bad boy up on craigslist. I know for a fact that is the first place I look, and usually the last place when I want to get something, especially a car. Everything akadirtbikingdad said is great information, especially mentioning that it was a lady driver, and not some 17 year old punk kid thrashing the car. That was a large selling point for me on the last car I bought. Anyways, good luck with the sale!!

I think CL sucks a@@. We listed there at first and just got pounded with calls from brokers or some type of bottom feeders. After a couple days you add gets buried, too much hassle. I was not impressed.

And yes, we do also have the sign on the telepnone pole down there on the corner. But its one of the BIG ones.

Autotrader is mostly dealer listings. They are ALWAYS priced on the high side. So the fact that you are $2k lower doesn't mean you are "low." Just checked on Edmunds and they say private party "clean" the car should be at $17,900. So you are right in the ballpark, but by no means priced low.

I agree with listing on CL. When you take better pics, make sure you privately host them and put a bunch of pics on your CL ad using the image tag (i.e. not the four tiny pics CL give you). Wax it, armor all it, take nice pics at sunset or sunrise like the auto mags do. Take a pic of your stack of maintenance records. Take some vids, walking the car and showing that everything works, and post them on youtube.

Put some "no baloney" language in your CL ad and you should have good luck in keeping the yahoos away. Yes, you need to relist your CL ad on occasion to stay to the top, but it's free (make sure you delete your old ad at the same time). If you save the text of your ad on your computer, relisting to get to the top takes about 3 minutes.

Or be lazy about it and take it to a wholesaler.

I guess I feel CL is not good is because I never buy anything off CL. I dont like the site, no search engine, and I aint the type to pick thru hundreds of adds to save a nickel.

Having said that, I am gonna take the advice, do a CL listing, take new pics, etc. thats why I posted here, I was getting a little tunnel vision and needed some fresh ideas. Thanks for all the input.

I thought I was priced below book because I checked both NADA and KBB. According the both those, my suppose value was around $19,500 ish. And was told by the VP of car sales from her Co. that the midwest relys most on KBB for used car values. I thought I was right in there. Plus when I looked at all the Z adds from private sellers from 04-06, I was the cheapest and lowest miles.

^^^What do you mean no search engine? It is right at the top of every category. I have sold at least 5 cars using CL only. I agree that the site could use an
update though. I will usually use my cell # and screen all calls through voice mail so I don't get late night phone calls (cell off at home) and I don't have to talk to anyone I don't want to. If you really want to weed out the undesireables don't put a phone # and ask them to email you with theirs.

Don't put your phone number in the ad if you don't want marketing calls. The fact that you're not on CL is reducing your visibility a LOT. I pretty much never check the paper or Trader for anything, but I'm on CL pretty much daily, whether I'm looking for something specific or not. Newspaper classifieds are pretty much dead around here, not sure about the midwest. I have also been jerked around by Trader a couple times, and they will never get another cent from me.

Check out edmunds.com used values - it is usually one of the more accurate bluebooks. Just remember that book value is what it is - the book isn't going to buy your car. IMO a good starting point in this economy is to set your asking slightly under private party resale, but don't expect more than trade-in value.

A car is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it. Not what bluebook says it's worth.

I search for (and have purchased) stuff from all over the country searching craigslist with craiglook.com. Now don't use this information to go out and poach me on a good deal on fly high sacks or something!

Ive sold a few cars the last couple years, some for co-workers some for me. If you want to sell it put it on craigslist and price it to sell! Ive moved all mine in a matter of days. Usually have people lining up. As mentioned Blue Book isnt that realistic. Unfortunately everyone looks there and if you car isnt below blue book it wont move.

yeah, the other thing to consider is that it's not the most practical car in the world and current economic conditions aren't really encouraging people to go out and blow a wad of cash on a weekend plaything. Result? Depressed prices for 2 seat convertibles, esp when you scrape out the enthusiasts because it's an auto trans. You are looking for a girl who's feeling flush with $$$. Fewer of those than there used to be.

I buy and sell stuff on CL all the time. Sold my 1988 Formula 350 in 4 hours.

I've sold a couple of my wakeboats (40k'ish per transaction) on CL when I had them listed other places and never got a serious bite. Yeah, you have to put up with some stupid stuff, but there are lots of serious buyers out there looking at CL. And its free so you have nothing to lose. The key is linking high res pics from another site and providing lots of details so it doesn't look like every other halfa$$ed attempt of an ad on there.

Originally Posted by stanfield

I've sold a couple of my wakeboats (40k'ish per transaction) on CL when I had them listed other places and never got a serious bite. Yeah, you have to put up with some stupid stuff, but there are lots of serious buyers out there looking at CL. And its free so you have nothing to lose. The key is linking high res pics from another site and providing lots of details so it doesn't look like every other halfa$$ed attempt of an ad on there.

+1

Cars.com is a good site as well. We found our newest used car on there back in february.. good easy way to search for exactly what you want.

Ebay lets you market your car to evryone in the USA not just your market. It costs more money to sell it on there but you reach a lot more people that way.
Good Luck

I've had great list with CL on my cars selling.... sold my Civic in 2 days and only for $500 less than I paid for it 4 years earlier.... sold our old boat in 2 days also.

I always just make sure I leave my phone # and not deal with email, then the scammers leave it alone (at least more so).



I think the problem with selling a mid/late year Z is that someone can get an 03' from a old person who drove it only on sundays for a lot less and it looks exactly the same. I was looking at getting a 350z a while ago (still want one but not practical) and CL was loaded with first year or two models WAAAY cheaper than the rest with the same miles and usually more options.

I park my cars on Redwood road where I live. Works every time. I've sold 4-5 cars by paring them on the street with a 4 Sales sign. I suggest finding a busy area where you can park it.

i second cars.com we searched there before buying our 370z. the touring roadsters are attract a specific market. i would never consider a convertible. im sure others feel the same way. in order to attract buyers that may be on the fence you gotta dump the price. otherwise just wait for the right buyer. ebay also offers a classified section that pulls up with a normal search. good luck

The Key is to take GOOD PHOTOS, post em on CL big... The 4 little photos you get to host on CL are weak. Most people shoot them with their damn phones and the photos are worthless. I find a ton of detail on my listings is helpful. People want to know where the vehicle has been, whats been done to it, how you care for it. If you have nothing to say about those things well then it doesn't sound like a very nice car to begin with.

I've sold several vehicles on CL, and autotrader... Just listed my 08 Saturn Vue on CL and if I don't get a few hits in the next day or so I'm going to post on Cars.com... More often than not Cars and AutoTrader are worth the $55-$70 for the listing. Here's my Saturn ad if you'd like something for reference. Photos galore and detail... If you need help posting big photos, let us know. Parking your vehicle detailed out in a busy spot works well too! Wal-Mart parking lots get more foot traffic from 4-10pm any day of the week than most business do in a month.

http://springfield.craigslist.org/cto/1896366965.html

Dang, a ton of great info guys, thanks. I guess I was using the methods that appeal to me. I dont care if I see a ton of pics when I go to buy something. I usually just zero in on what I want, and I am picky as hell, then I go after it. I didnt realize that potential buyers were so picky about the ads. I guess I am outta the loop. Plus I really thought my price was right. But common sense says if it aint sold it prob. listed too high. Anyway, thanks for opening my eyes. Gonna make the changes, we need this thing sold. And most likely, the buyer is gonna be a lot younger than me and looking at it from all the prospectives listed above.

Originally Posted by sdub

Dang, a ton of great info guys, thanks. I guess I was using the methods that appeal to me. I dont care if I see a ton of pics when I go to buy something. I usually just zero in on what I want, and I am picky as hell, then I go after it. I didnt realize that potential buyers were so picky about the ads. I guess I am outta the loop. Plus I really thought my price was right. But common sense says if it aint sold it prob. listed too high. Anyway, thanks for opening my eyes. Gonna make the changes, we need this thing sold. And most likely, the buyer is gonna be a lot younger than me and looking at it from all the prospectives listed above.

Few things to note on craigslist when selling Cars:
1) Good photos like everyone mentions are important. Complete details on the car are also very important. It's not like a classified ad, there's no shortage of text.
2) Use the headline of your ad, rather than like "2005 Nissan 350Z Touring" put "Smoke Free, Always Garaged 2005 Nissan 350Z"...
3) I'm not sure what area you're in, but here in Phoenix we get something like 10,000 craigslist auto ads a day, so post yours at least a couple times a week and try different headlines in the ad and different text in it, keep track of what you tried before...

If you have a problem with scammers on craigslist, just don't list your phone number, have buyers e-mail you and just ignore the idiots...

I sold my '07 F-150 on Autotrader. I didn't get anything serious for 2 months and then in 3 days got 4 calls and sold it to the first person that looked at it. To me, a lot of it is luck and finding the person looking for YOUR vehicle. I didn't have any luck on CL. I agree that pictures help, but I am much more interested in the vehicle than what the pictures look like. If the car isn't the color or doesn't have the options I'm looking for, I will skip over good pictures way faster than I would poor pictures of something I'm looking for. I would have to say though that the more places that you can post it the better. Local selling seems to be a thing of the past. I had my truck parked in a very high traffic lot at work for 4 months with signs and had 1 serious call.

Rob Sanchez, your #3 is what i was gonna say. Unless someone is looking specifically for a 350Z, it'll be hard for them to see your car if you're in a larger metropolitan area, especially in a category as broad as Cars/Trucks. A lot of people who are just shopping/browsing will check in from time to time and just go down the list. you don't want to be any further down than page 2. I sold my Vmax on CL and always got the most response the day of or one day after refreshing my add. you have to do more than just repost it i believe, or it won't pop back to the top. you have to re-word the add or rearrange the pics or something so that their app thinks it's a new posting.

CL is great. I've sold a bike and bought 2 dirtbikes from there w/no problems. If your car is priced right, it'll move. I was way high on my initial price. but in the end i wanted to sell it to use the money to buy dirtbikes...not to retire on the earnings. once i got where it needed to be on price, it sold.

Listed my Prius on Craigslist on Tuesday, it sold on Sunday. If you are not getting any interest either your ad is bad or you are asking too much. If you are over the Kelly Blue Book for private party value in excellent condition then you should consider lowering your price.

We have our 2007 for sale on CL and have gotten a couple of lowball offers. Here is the current add using www.use.com for a template.

http://columbus.craigslist.org/cto/1905317832.html

I know I need to add more pictures for the outside of the car and redo the text some. I plan on adding like cars in the text also so when the search for a corvette this will also showup.

Also the wrong point in the year to sell it, sorta like a boat. If you can hold till spring it will bring more.

PRICE TO SELL is what will sell your car in a few days. I've never had any problems selling my stuff if it was PRICED TO SELL, Can't stress that enough. You wont get top dollar, but it will sell in a few days. Also like others have mentioned, use a hosting site and throw up a lot of pic using the img tag. I had a buddy trying to sell a dirtbike for right around what everyone else was asking with no luck. My brother and I kept telling him price it to sell, when he finally did it sold in a few days.

One more thing,

PRICE IT TO SELL. hahah

Patrick, don't add different cars at the bottom so your ad pops up when when searching for different cars. I cant stand when I searching for something and get 100 different things because people do that. Hate to tell you but a corvette is NOT like your 350Z, if someone is searching for a corvette their not looking for a 350Z. you might try putting 350Z and nissan as many different ways as you can think, but don't put different cars in your add, it's annoying.