S L I C K

This might be a dumb question, but can you sell a car that hasn't been paid off yet?

danny25

Yes. You still have to pay it off though, if you sell it for more than you owe, you're good to go. If you sell it for less than you owe, you're upside down, then you have to come up with the remaining money, or roll that into a new car loan. If you trade it in or sell it to a dealer they usually take care of that process for you.

NSXNEXT

iTrader: (2)

If you owe money to a lending institution, the title cannot change hands so you cannot sell a car that is not paid off.

As mentioned above, trading it in is a different story as the dealer will handle the transaction under good faith.

daemonicus

another great reason to finance...

S L I C K

So you can sell it to the dealer only? Sorry, I'm a noob at this.

te3point5

you can trade it into the dealer and the value of the car could pay off the remainder on the loan... for example:

your car is worth 10,000 to trade

you owe 3,000 on the car.

you wish to purcase a new car for 25,000

$10,000 (Trade in value) - $3,000 (Pay off reminder of loan)= $7,000 down payment for new car

$25,000 new car - 7,000 down = 18,000

__________________________________________________ _______

Now, if your car is worth LESS than what you owe, it would look somethin like this:

your car is worth 10,000 to trade

you owe 15,000 on the car.

you wish to purcase a new car for 25,000

$10,000 (Trade in value) - $10,000 (Pay off reminder of loan)= $0 + $5,000 remining balance on the car

$25,000 new car +$5,000 owed on previous car = $30,000

zamo

The dealer can even help selling the car to another person, so you do not need to pay sales tax on the remainder of the loan.

Lease or Loan, same story.

Person to person is tricky, as the buyer pretty much needs to wait for the title release after the loan (or lease buyout) has been paid off. Double tax is charged tho.

joerockt

Uhhh, no.

I've done this before. All you need to do is get the payoff amount from the bank. Buyer makes out a cashers check, bank fills out a paperless title transfer, you sign, they take to DMV, register it and they print them a title.

jupitersolo

You can sell it to anyone, you just have to have the payoff amount before the bank will give you the title. The thing for you to decide, is how hard up are you to get rid of it. If you want to sell for a loss and come up with the difference or you get a offer large enough to payoff the loan.

Either way the person or dealer you sell to will have to wait to get the title from the bank, 30 days or so.

edit... like he said^^^^

NSXNEXT

iTrader: (2)

Uhhh, no.

Re-read the title.

The answer is , you have to follow the steps you outlined. Then the car is paid off.

WdnUlik2no

I sold my Maxima to a private buyer that was only 17 months into the lease. Of course I owed some money for the negative equity. Me and the person buying the car both had to make the checks out to the Dealership, and in turn the dealership sent the money to the leasing company. A few weeks later, the leasing company sent me the title, and I transferred it to the buyer. The dealer wanted to charge the buyer another destination charge, but we got out of that because it was like I was buying the car not him and I had already paid the destination charge at the lease inception, I also had to pay 6% taxe on the car.

As far as selling a car to a private buyer that is on a finance, the process should be a little easier, because you don't nessecarily have to do it through a dealer. If the buyer trusts you enough to do what you are supposed to do (pay off the car with the money he/she gives you). NSXNEXT is right in the sense that you have to pay off the car before the company will release the title; but it can be the buyers money and/or yours. I am pretty sure the title would go to the original owner, then he/she has to transfer it.

Example: Say you are selling the car for $22,000, and you owe the finance company $18,000. The buyer gives you $22,000, and you send $18,000 of that to the finance company to pay it off. The finance company sends you the title, and you transfer the title over to the new owner. The two parties would have to decide who keeps the car during the interim, but until the title is transferred to the new owner, the seller is still the owner of the car. With my Maxima, I let the guy take the car the same day, and when my title came, he came back over to my house and got it.

joerockt

I think you're taking his question too literally. Paying it off would be a part of the selling process, so yes, you can sell it if its not paid off...

joerockt

Dont know where the OP lives, but in CA, title transfers are instant. The bank will send you a paperless title transfer form once its paid off and all the buyer has to do is take it to the DMV to process.