Hi,

Due to rather drastic changes, I will most likely be selling my TSX. I'm hoping that some of you will be able to advice me on 2 questions. First, what is a reasonable price? I got the car in January and it has 7500 miles on it. It’s silver, non-nav and manual transmission. I have not added or changed anything on it. The only web site I could find to appraise it is the Kelly Blue Book site, and the value seems inflated. It states that for a private party sale, its worth $24,675 (good condition) or $26,205 (excellent condition), and claims that the used retail value (price of a used vehicle at a dealer) is $28,670. That’s about $2000 over the list price for a new one, so you know its bogus. So, any idea what a fair price is?

The other question is how should I sell it? I've never sold a vehicle before and am quite a lousy salesperson in general. What's the best method to sell a vehicle for someone who feels uncomfortable with the whole process? I was thinking of just putting a sign in the car's window with a fair and firm price. Presumably, I can't just trade it in to the dealer since I won't be buying another car.

Thanks
time2sell

 

You can sell your car to a dealer without buying another, just don't expect to get anywhere near what it is worth. Still, it's a decent option if you just want to unload the car quickly with minimal effort. I would suggest placing an ad in autotrader and pricing at around $25k. If you get any calls, sweet! If not you can always lower the price. The important thing to remember is that if you want the most money possible out of your car you HAVE TO BE PATIENT. You have to be willing to stick to a price and let a potential buyer walk. They'll usually call back (unless your price is flat out unreasonable). Anyway, good luck.

 

assuming you are not trading the car in on something else, here is what i would do...

1) take the car to a carmax used car center. i see you are in NJ.. i don't think they have a location in NJ, but they do have a few in MD. they will buy your car even if you don't buy one from them. if you like the price, take it. otherwise, you have your 'floor price'.

2) assuming you don't sell to carmax, place an ad in your local paper for 2 - 4 weeks selling your car at some number between the carmax price and the KBB price. when you have people show interest, tell them that you have decided to be firm on the price for 30 days. if they don't bite, tell them you will call them at the end of 30 days when/if you have decided to lower your price. in the book "The Millionaire Next Door" there is a good section on this very subject. this is pretty much an abridged rip of their recommendation.

i understand and empathize with your fear of not being a good salesman. i think that is the genius of this strategy. set a price and just tell everyone who expresses interest that you are holding your price for a month. you've got a sweet ride... anyone who is really interested and realizes that they are going to get a reliable, well maintained car at a reasonable price is going to cough up the dough and do the deal.

boat drinks,
dave

 

First, check Edmunds.com. I found their prices were far more reflective of market reality than KBB came up with. One caution is that they usually take a while to get data because they base their information on actual recorded transactions, not the kinds of "projections" that KBB often uses. They may not have enough resale date on the TSX yet.

Keep in mind that non-navi TSXs can be purchased for $25-26K new (plus applicable taxes.) You can expect to get at least 20-25% less than what a new one would cost. When I do that math that means something like $22,500, and that's assuming:

$26,000 dealer price
appx. 10% tax+fees on new vehicle = $28,600 out the door
loss of 20% of value, which is pretty good = $22,800

That's probably the high end of what you could expect to get. The old adage about losing 20-30% the second you drive off the lot usually holds true.

I agree that you try to hold firm, but if you're getting a lot of offers well below that number, you may need to re-evaluate quickly. Especially true if you're making payments on the car. Every month you wait, you're paying interest, and your car isn't worth any more.

I did pretty well with cars.com. Sold two cars within a week, at approximately the numbers I expected to get (but of course less than I asked for).

 

Thanks for the advice. Maybe I'll take a trip to the White Marsh, MD Carmax next weekend. I don't there are any equivalent places around here. I don't have to sell immediately, so I could afford to be patient. It has been a great car, but now I can't place much importance in having a great vehicle. No big deal.

 

Well, let's dismiss KBB and Edmunds for a second and do the math the classic way.

*You bought a car that retails at $26,500, 27,050 including destination fee.

Deduct .15 for every mile, .15 x 7500 = 1125.

Deduct $2000 for driving the car out of the lot.

= 26500 - 3125 = 23375 (+ 550 = 23925)

You should at least get $23,000 for your car, if it's still in mint condition.