[gobears157]

I have a 2013 Lexus CT-200 that I just paid off, and plan on either selling this car or trading it in for the Subaru Ascent. My current plan is to take it to CarMax to get a quote on it, then negotiate with my local Subaru dealer on how much they're willing to pay for it (obviously take highest offer).

• Does anyone have any advice on how I can get the most value from selling this car?
• Are there other companies that would buy cars similar to CarMax at reasonable prices?

I considered selling the car privately via Craigslist, and still might test the option, but there are obvious risks to that.

 

[FoRealz]

I'm in a similar situation with my 2007 Tacoma with a whopping 40k miles on it.

Carmax is the easy check the same day... I'm just hoping they hit the magic number in my head.

 

[Carl Abrams]

I have a 2013 Lexus CT-200 that I just paid off, and plan on either selling this car or trading it in for the Subaru Ascent. My current plan is to take it to CarMax to get a quote on it, then negotiate with my local Subaru dealer on how much they're willing to pay for it (obviously take highest offer).

• Does anyone have any advice on how I can get the most value from selling this car?
• Are there other companies that would buy cars similar to CarMax at reasonable prices?

I considered selling the car privately via Craigslist, and still might test the option, but there are obvious risks to that.

Give me the VIN dot com says they'll beat a CarMax offer or give you $100. Other than that, KBB Instant Cash Offer.

Here's the secret about CarMax offers versus the dealership offer (presuming the CarMax does it right). Their appraisal of the car is almost ALWAYS going to more accurate than the one by the dealership. They put it on the rack and do an inspection of the car, versus the dealership simply taking it for a five minute drive. So if my customer comes in with a CarMax offer, we're probably not going to beat it, but most of the time we'll match it, because we have confidence in their number. Sometimes it really wildly inaccurate, in which case I have no issue telling my customer to take their offer and I'll pick them up when they're done.

 

[Leon Braginski]

There is nothing beats private party selling. I just sold my 08 Sienna van. Toyota and Subaru dealers offered 8-9k. I sold for 12.5k with line of people wanting to buy it. Sold in one weekend.

I sold 3 cars on Craiglist with no problem.

The key is to have desirable car and price it right. Yes, it's more headache. But amount of money totally worth it.

 

[Karpediem]

We are planning on getting the carmax value and then see what the dealer offers. I know you leave money on the table, but sometimes it's worth it just to avoid the hassle.

 

[Trey T]

The decision is based your priority, time or money.

Choice 1: sell it to carmax and get money immediately
Choice 2: trade in and potentially get less than carmax, but less time spent
Choice 3: sell it privately and spend a lot of time and risk of depreciation of long hold-time

 

[mikeizzy]

Depending on your state's tax laws, you may also need to factor in that you could pay less in tax with a trade-in during the purchase process. In PA, the value of your trade-in is subtracted from your purchase price before tax is calculated.

 

[imalittle1]

There is nothing beats private party selling. I just sold my 08 Sienna van. Toyota and Subaru dealers offered 8-9k. I sold for 12.5k with line of people wanting to buy it. Sold in one weekend.

I sold 3 cars on Craiglist with no problem.

The key is to have desirable car and price it right. Yes, it's more headache. But amount of money totally worth it.

We have a 2012 Toyota 4Runner that could have around 70K miles on it when our Ascent arrives (currently has almost 65K) and it's worth quite a bit here in Portland. We are debating between selling private party and the CarMax/trade in route. We know that selling private party will get us more money, but we are a little worried about possibly getting robbed for the $20K-$23K we could sell it for. Plus, since we've never sold a car this way, and we will be getting financing from our bank, we aren't sure whether we'd be able to go directly to the dealer with whatever we get from the sale of the car or if we'd need to deposit the money before. Still have some time to decide since we had to do a new preorder a little over a week ago (after getting an amazing deal using TrueCar pricing) and our current ETA we were told is October.

 

[Leon Braginski]

Request to conduct transaction in the bank: witness bank to draft cashier check first hand (this what I did this time, since buyer took loan anyway). Don’t accept any transaction unless you witness funds in the bank (even casher check can be fraudulent )

I deposited Casher check in the evening on my iPhone app, funds became available next morning. Plenty of time to pay any dealer by writing a down Payment check.

For cheaper car cash maybe ok, but always conduct transaction in public place or In the community police sub station.


Yes, it’s more efforts (mostly meeting people for rest drives). But you can quickly weed out non buyers over the phone. for extra $4k I am happy to do it. I just could not make myself to give my dealer 4K, since they will turn and resell my car for the same 12.5 or even more !


Look at kbb dot com. See dealer trade in value vs private party sale and decide if headache worth the gain.

 

[Sparkland]

You can sell it a number of ways.

Here in Denver, EchoPark will offer you the most money for a buyout. They consistently offer around $1,000-1,500 more than CarMax. We have used them 3 times. They are low key and do not pressure you to buy or sell.


We also have, Blinker.com. They take care of all the financing for the purchaser of the vehicle. They have a nice website and when you list with them, they put it on Craigslist and handle all of the inquiries. They only operate in a few states though.

Another company I have recently been looking at is: Vroom.com. They have some nice late model cars for sale with a great 7 day warranty. You might look at selling your vehicle to them.

By far the easiest route is to trade-in the car to the Subaru dealer. With the tax advantages, their trade-in offer may be lower, but the dollars might actually work out the same in the end.

Good luck and don't be afraid to walk away from the Subaru dealer. They are not all created equal. Many of them will attempt to "steal" your vehicle because they know you won't walk away with that shiny new Ascent waiting on the showroom floor.

 

[Leon Braginski]

You can sell it a number of ways.

Here in Denver, EchoPark will offer you the most money for a buyout. They consistently offer around $1,000-1,500 more than CarMax. We have used them 3 times. They are low key and do not pressure you to buy or sell.


We also have, Blinker.com. They take care of all the financing for the purchaser of the vehicle. They have a nice website and when you list with them, they put it on Craigslist and handle all of the inquiries. They only operate in a few states though.

Another company I have recently been looking at is: Vroom.com. They have some nice late model cars for sale with a great 7 day warranty. You might look at selling your vehicle to them.

By far the easiest route is to trade-in the car to the Subaru dealer. With the tax advantages, their trade-in offer may be lower, but the dollars might actually work out the same in the end.

Good luck and don't be afraid to walk away from the Subaru dealer. They are not all created equal. Many of them will attempt to "steal" your vehicle because they know you won't walk away with that shiny new Ascent waiting on the showroom floor.

I checked one of these companies (don't remember which one exactly, not all available in my area) before selling myself. Their internet assessment came pretty close to the dealer and of course thousands below private party sell.

Yes, tax is a very good point. In my area sales tax is 10%, so I just had to sell for 10% more then dealer would offer to make financial sence. That was not that hard to do, given low ball offers from dealers.

 

[imalittle1]

You can sell it a number of ways.

Here in Denver, EchoPark will offer you the most money for a buyout. They consistently offer around $1,000-1,500 more than CarMax. We have used them 3 times. They are low key and do not pressure you to buy or sell.


We also have, Blinker.com. They take care of all the financing for the purchaser of the vehicle. They have a nice website and when you list with them, they put it on Craigslist and handle all of the inquiries. They only operate in a few states though.

Another company I have recently been looking at is: Vroom.com. They have some nice late model cars for sale with a great 7 day warranty. You might look at selling your vehicle to them.

By far the easiest route is to trade-in the car to the Subaru dealer. With the tax advantages, their trade-in offer may be lower, but the dollars might actually work out the same in the end.

Good luck and don't be afraid to walk away from the Subaru dealer. They are not all created equal. Many of them will attempt to "steal" your vehicle because they know you won't walk away with that shiny new Ascent waiting on the showroom floor.

What tax advantages are you referring to? I live in Oregon (no sales tax here) so I'm assuming that is what you're referring to. I'll have to explore what options are available in Oregon. Thanks!

 

[Leon Braginski]

What tax advantages are you referring to? I live in Oregon (no sales tax here) so I'm assuming that is what you're referring to. I'll have to explore what options are available in Oregon. Thanks!

In WA (and I assume in other states) new car purchase is subject of the sales tax (which is actually is a bit higher then normal sales tax, from I was told). Trade in car offsets the value of the new car purchase (New Car Price - Trade In Value), so your tax base to pay sales tax is lower.

Like I said, all you have to is to sell old car for more than sales tax on the value of old car (vs dealer trade in) to make it worth, and it's trivial to do.

If OR does not have sales tax (or other tax) on new cars, then this does not apply at all.

 

[Flarpswitch]

I have a 2014 Forester that has an extended warranty to 2020. Option one it to use the Guaranteed Trade In Certificate. Option two is to keep the car for a short time and then sell it privately. I would prefer to sell it to someone I know who needs a car and I would use the trade price. We won't need a third car; I just got a new BRZ and frankly, I don't really need to squeeze every penny out of the Forester. Believe me when I say that I got my money's worth in five years of use. It got me to where I absolutely had to go under very iffy conditions. I have not problem with selling it to someone for a fair price. The question is; how fair is the guaranteed trade from Subaru?

 

[Leon Braginski]

The question is; how fair is the guaranteed trade from Subaru?

Compare guarantee trade in with kbb.com value for Dealer Trade in and Private Party sell for your car with all the options you have.
You can also do market research (autotrader.com) to see what car identical (or similar) to yours sell for. It will give you a good idea or the "spread": what you get paid by selling to a dealer and what consumer will pay to buy the same car.

 

[calimomofboys]

Word to the wise, take the danged plates off your vehicle when you sell or trade in. We traded in our Tahoe in April of 2016 to the dealership when we bought our last vehicle. The dealership sold it later that same month. The guy who bought it, come to find recently, is a bad, bad man so when he registered it and was issued new plates he knew better than to put them on. Because the car still has plates that were once registered to us we have gotten FOUR red light violation tickets in the last 16 months- EVEN THOUGH WE SOLD THE VEHICLE AND completed the release of liability through DMV more than 26 months ago. The VIN shows registered to this other man but the plates are still leading back to us. They suspended my husband’s license once already (he buys & sells cars for CarMax) and he had to go to court where the judge promptly dismissed the case since clearly my husband wasn’t the man driving in their video. We have completed a second release of liability, sent the red light enforcement company documentation to show we don’t own the vehicle and haven’t for over 2 years and just this month we got another, this time in Bakersfield, a 5 hour drive. They refuse to clear it up over the phone even though the Highway Patrol themselves called to explain the situation. The man who owns it is wanted in numerous states and we just keep hoping the cops don’t come knocking on our door when a really bad crime is committed in that vehicle. I have an appointment with DMV for next month in hopes they can finally disconnect my husband’s name and that license plate but in the meantime, TAKE YOUR PLATES OFF YOUR CAR when you sell it. When my husband bought his FJ Cruiser in 2013 the man selling did just that and we were puzzled about why anyone would do such a thing. Now we understand better..... hours of our life spent on this mess.

 

[Leon Braginski]

And if you have HomeLink enabled car/mirror that opens garage door, make sure to clear it in front of your garage, so you can witness that it no longer able to open your garage.

 

[calimomofboys]

And if you have HomeLink enabled car/mirror that opens garage door, make sure to clear it in front of your garage, so you can witness that it no longer able to open your garage.

Thanks for nothing, Leon! Now we have to think about this fine chap getting into our garage as well!
I kid, good point. Thankfully we live in a neighborhood full of cops. Can’t wait for them to find this guy and put an end to this.

 

[Carl Abrams]

Word to the wise, take the danged plates off your vehicle when you sell or trade in. We traded in our Tahoe in April of 2016 to the dealership when we bought our last vehicle. The dealership sold it later that same month. The guy who bought it, come to find recently, is a bad, bad man so when he registered it and was issued new plates he knew better than to put them on. Because the car still has plates that were once registered to us we have gotten FOUR red light violstion tickets in the last 16 months- EVEN THOUGH WE SOLD THE VEHICLE AND completed the release of liability through DMV more than 26 months ago. The VIN shows registered to this other man but the plates are still leading back to us. They suspended my husband’s license once already (he buys & sells cars for CarMax) and he had to go to court where the judge promptly dismissed the case since clearly my husband wasn’t the man driving in their video. We have completed a second release of liability, sent the red light enforcement company documentation to show we don’t own the vehicle and haven’t for over 2 years and just this month we got another, this time in Bakersfield, a 5 hour drive. They refuse to clear it up over the phone even though the Highway Patrol themselves called to explain the situation. The man who owns it is wanted in numerous states and we just keep hoping the cops don’t come knocking on our door when a really bad crime is committed in that vehicle. I have an appointment with DMV for next month in hopes they can finally disconnect my husband’s name and that license plate but in the meantime, TAKE YOUR PLATES OFF YOUR CAR when you sell it. When my husband bought his FJ Cruiser in 2013 the man selling did just that and we were puzzled about why anyone would do such a thing. Now we understand better..... hours of our life spent on this mess.

Now, here's the bad news.

Your information is state specific. I'm from Indiana, the license plate was for the owner, and would transfer from vehicle to vehicle. So if I traded in a car, I could take the plate off and simply put it on my new car. In Oklahoma, the tag (NOT a plate, although it still looks like a plate) is REQUIRED to stay on the vehicle. If you have a tribal tag or a personalized tag / handicap tag, you get to take THAT one off the car when you trade it in, but you STILL have to have the original tag on the car. In other states, when you sell the car, you're required to take the plate off and send it back in to the state. It behooves you as the person selling / trading your car to know your own state law. (I have people in from out of state all the time that trade, due to the large military presence here. I do NOT know the license plate / tag laws of every state in the country.)

What it does sound like is that your DMV and the private company that is issuing the red light tickets are basically incompetent - which, you're in California. I'll shut up now ... :devil:

 

[Leon Braginski]

Try checking your garage opener manual (or call their support line). It may have a mean to reset it (via some dip switches, etc). Then you will just have to re-program yours existing garage door openers, as they will stop working.